Among baseball's many one-game wonders, Ron Wright had the misfortunate to hit into 6 outs in 3 at-bats in his only major league game. While batting against the Texas Rangers' Kenny Rogers as the Mariners' designated hitter on April 14, 2002, Wright struck out, hit into a double play, and hit into a triple play. A couple of days later, he was sent back to the minors when the Mariners needed another relief pitcher. An injury at a collision at home plate in the minors the next year ended his playing days before he ever got another chance to get a hit in the Majors. Wright was a power-hitting, big-time prospect ,who made 3 minor-league All-Star teams, and was traded with pitcher Jason Schmidt by Atlanta for Pirates pitcher Denny Neagle. In 1997, he was a September call-up by the Pirates, but he never got into a game because of a sore wrist. In 1998, he felt a sharp pain in his back while stretching in the outfield grass and collapsed. He had a disk removed from his back and missed the entire 1988 season. After the surgery, his back was fine, but he was told that doctors had clipped his sciatic nerve during the operation, causing his right leg to feel numb the rest of his life Although he made it back to the minors in 1999 and played in a single game in the Majors in 2002, he never regained his full power. In a New York TImes interview in 2007, Wright said he felt lucky, not bitter, to get into that one game. He added that his only regret was not swinging at Roger's first-pitch, a 84-mile per hour fastball over the center of the plate. |