The 1996 Johnson City Cardinals

Our Johnson City scribe Shawn Kerrick checks on the St. Louis Cardinals’ Appalachian League entry of ten years ago.

1996

It was Walt Jocketty’s second year as General Manager of the St. Louis Cardinals and his second draft.  The 1996 Johnson City (JC) Cardinals are currently at an age (team average of 30.6 years old) where most major league players are transitioning from the prime years of their playing careers to the “past-prime” years. 

(jccardinals.com)

So how did they do?  Are they still in baseball?  Did any make it to major league baseball?  Were there any interesting stories for the players over the last 11 years?  This article serves as a brief, ten-year retrospective on the 1996 JC Cardinals.

Team Results

There a variety of ways one might assess the success of a minor league baseball team.  One commonly-used measure is determining how many made it to the majors.  Using that metric and given that five of the 32 members of the 1996 Johnson City (JC) Cardinals made it to Major League Baseball (MLB), the team was quite successful.  However, none of the 1996 JC Cardinals are in MLB today and their stats were not very noteworthy (more below). 

Another way to judge success is to review player individual awards.  JC had the Appalachian League MVP/All-Star shortstop in 18-year old Brent Butler (.343 AVG, .404 OBP, .532 SLG) as well as an Appy League All-Star outfielder in Todd Hogan (no stats available) and the All-Star closer in pitcher Jose DeLeon (3-1, 2.12 ERA, 15 saves, 1.12 WHIP).  The fact that the Cardinals captured three individual awards of the dozen or so available, with competition from ten Appalachian League teams, also seems to indicate success.  

Brent Butler (Durham Bulls)

How about looking at the post-season performance, team statistics, and year-to-year statistics?  The 1996 JC Cardinals finished the season with a 42-26 record (tied-second) and posted the second-most wins for a JC team in the last 20 years (44 wins in 1986); definitely a successful season by that measure. 

However, even though JC’s record was very impressive, they didn’t make it to the Appy League championship game, losing out to their primary division rival, the Kingsport Mets.  Somewhat surprisingly, the 1996 team was the last JC team to finish the season with an above .500 winning percentage.  JC’s team offense was much better than their team pitching. 

What about measuring success with other sports?  One of the ’96 JC Cardinals played in the National Football League and played against St. Louis in the 1999 Super Bowl (more below). 

Draft Status

There were ten players drafted in the first ten rounds of the June amateur baseball drafts:

SS-Brent Butler     (3^rd rd-1996, Scotland HS, Laurinburg, NC)

1B-Billy Deck         (3^rd rd-1995, Potomac HS, Richmond, VA)

C-Pepe McNeal      (5^th rd-1994 by Cleveland, Armwood HS, Thonotosassa, FL)

C-Jimmy Gargiulo (6^th rd-1996, University of Miami-FL, Queens, NY)

LHP-Rich Mear      (7^th rd-1994, Rowland HS, Rowland Heights, CA)

*P-1B-John Geis    (9^th rd-1992 by Montreal, Moore HS, Central Square, NY)

P-Shawn Hogge    (9^th rd-1996, West. Warriors HS-Las Vegas, Newport News, VA)

OF-Antonio Abell  (9^th rd-1994, Meade County HS, Jefferson, KY)

RHP-Matt DeWitt  (10^th rd-1995, Valley HS-Las Vegas, San Bernardino, CA)

OF-Cordell Farley (10^th rd-1996, Virginia Commonwealth Univ., Blackstone, VA)

*Geis attended Le Moyne College 1994-6 and signed in 1996 as an undrafted free agent.

Major Leaguers

Even though five made it to MLB, none of them had a significant impact: 

Career Major League Statistics for 1996 Johnson City Cardinals

Player	G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	K	AVG	OBP	SLG
Brent Butler	203	553	137	28	6	11	60	4	7	24	60	0.248	0.285	0.380
Jose Leon	88	209	47	5	0	5	18	0	0	8	57	0.225	0.262	0.321
Stubby Clapp	23	25	5	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	7	0.200	0.231	0.280
Luis Saturria	25	10	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	4	0.100	0.182	0.200
Totals	339	797	190	36	6	16	80	5	7	34	128	0.238	0.270	0.359

Pitcher	G	ERA	WHIP	BAA	W	L	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K
Matt DeWitt	29	4.95	1.75	0.304	1	3	40	48	23	22	7	22	24

Brent Butler, Jose Leon (22^nd round, 614^th overall, 1994), Stubby Clapp (36^th round, 1058^th overall, 1996), and Luis Saturria (undrafted, 1995) combined for a .629 OPS (avg. MLB OPS from 1994 to 2004 was .784).  Right-handed pitcher Matt DeWitt (was 1-3, 4.95 ERA, 1.75 WHIP.  Stubby Clapp (June 18, 2001) and Luis Saturria (September 11, 2001) made their MLB debuts with the St. Louis Cardinals while the three others were involved in trades and made their debuts with other MLB teams. 

Stubby Clapp (Edmonton Cracker-Cats)

Clapp and Saturria combined for a rather meager 48 G, 35 AB, 6 H, .171 AVG, .211 OBP, .257 SLG, and .468 OPS.  Saturria’s only MLB hit was a pinch-hit double off the Pirates’ Bronson Arroyo on May 17, 2001.  Clapp, a native of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, went on to have a rather prolific Triple-A and Independent League career and played in several international competitions for the Canadian National team, including the 2004 Olympics and the 2006 World Baseball Classic.  Shortstop Clapp was a player/coach for the Northern League, Edmonton Cracker-Cats in 2006, was named MVP of the Northern League All-Star game on Juyl 18, 2006, and was named to the Baseball America 2006 All-Independent League Team (.323 AVG, .447 OBP, .429 SLG, 303 AB, 61 R, 98 H, 1 HR, 34 RB1, 32 SB). 

Trader Walt

Catcher Pepe McNeal was obtained (with David Bell and Rick Heiserman) from the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Ken Hill on July 27, 1995.  McNeal’s last year in the minors was 1998 for Prince William (A-Advanced) in which he posted a .209 AVG and .600 OPS in 57 G.  Utility infielder (3B, 2B, SS) David Bell posted a .225 AVG and .586 OPS in 171 G with St. Louis through the 1998 season before being claimed off waivers on April 14, 1998 by the Cleveland Indians. 

Pitcher Rick Heiserman pitched 3 G for the 1999 St. Louis Cardinals, posting an 8.31 ERA and 2.77 WHIP in 4.1 IP and played his last year of pro ball in 2002 with Memphis.  Heiserman was in the Carolina (A – Advanced) League at the time of the trade in 1995 and had posted a 9-3 record, 3.74 ERA, and 1.23 WHIP in 19 starts.  Pitcher Ken Hill went 4-1 with a 3.98 ERA during the rest of the 1995 Indians’ regular season and went 2-1 with a 1.84 ERA in the post-season.  The Indians lost the 1995 World Series four games to two to the Atlanta Braves and Ken Hill became a free agent after the season. 

Right-handed pitcher Matt DeWitt was traded (with catcher Alberto Castillo and left-handed pitcher Lance Painter) to the Toronto Blue Jays for right-handed pitcher Pat Hentgen and left-handed pitcher Paul Spoljaric on November 11, 1999.  DeWitt had just completed the 1999 season at Double-A Arkansas in the Texas League at the time of the trade.  Hentgen won 15 games (10^th in NL) in 2000.  DeWitt made his MLB debut on June 20, 2000 with the Toronto Blue Jays at the age of 22.

Shortstop Brent Butler was traded (with right-hander pitchers Manny Aybar, Rick Croushore and Jose Jimenez) to the Colorado Rockies for right-handed pitchers Darryl Kile, Luther Hackman and Dave Veres on November 16, 1999.  Butler had just completed the 1999 season at Double-A Arkansas in the Texas League at the time of the trade.  Kile won 20 games (second in NL) in 2000 and was a NL All-Star.  Veres posted 29 saves (tied for sixth in NL) in 2000.  Butler made his MLB debut on July 4, 2001 with the Colorado Rockies at the age of 23.

First/third baseman Jose Leon was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for first baseman Will Clark and cash on July 31, 2000.  Leon had just completed the first half of the 2000 season at Double-A Arkansas in the Texas League at the time of the trade.  Clark posted a .345 AVG, .426 OBP, .655 SLG over 51 G of the 2000 season and a .412 AVG, .500 OBP, .706 SLG over five G in a losing effort against the Mets in the 2000 NLCS.  Leon made his MLB debut on June 16, 2002 with the Baltimore Orioles at the age of 25.  Leon hit 17 home runs and posted a .348 AVG/1.096 OPS in 47 G with the Piratas de Campache in the Mexican League in spring 2006.  Leon was named the starting third baseman for the South Division for the Mexican League All-Star game on May 28, 2006.

Jose Leon (Getty Images)

Minor League Summary

How long did the 32 members of the 1996 JC Cardinals remain in professional baseball and what was the highest level they achieved?  The following table provides a summary.  The last column shows how many ended their pro careers in the year listed in the first column while the last row shows how many ended their pro careers at the level listed in the first row:

Year	Rookie	A-SS	A-LS	A-Adv	AA	AAA	MLB	Indep.	Last
1994	10								---
1995	13								---
1996	32								7
1997	5	9	8	3					5
1998			6	10	2	1		1	7
1999				1	9	2		1	5
2000				1	2	3	2		2
2001						2	4
2002						3	3		1
2003						2	2	1
2004					1	3	1
2005					2	2		1	1
2006						1		3	4
Best	9	1	7	4	5	1	5	---	32

The distribution in the table wasn’t too unusual other perhaps than that only one player finished his career at the Triple-A level, that five (16%) made it to MLB, and that four were still playing pro ball 11 years later.  More than one third were out of baseball after the 1997 season and two-thirds were out after the 1999 season.  About one-third never made it to a full-season minor league team. 

The one player who finished his career by making it only as far as Triple-A (eight years total at Triple-A) and never played a single game of MLB was also the first 1996 JC Cardinal to make it to Triple-A, right-handed pitcher Clint Weibl.  Weibl was drafted in the 59^th round (1511^th overall) by the Houston Astros in 1994 but decided to attend Odessa Junior College in Odessa, TX. 

Clint Weibl (Taipei Times/Sinon Bulls)

He set numerous team records for Odessa before playing for the University of Miami, FL in 1996.  He played in the College World Series in 1996 against David Eckstein (U of Florida), J. D. Drew (Florida State), and Braden Looper (Wichita State) just before being drafted in the 37^th round (1088^th overall).  The native of Dawson, PA spent ten yrs. in the minor leagues (67 W – 65 L, 4.26 ERA, 247 G, 166 GS, 1100 IP, 800 K, 1.40 WHIP) before spending the 2006 season pitching for the Sinon Bulls in the Chinese Professional League of Baseball (CPLB).

NFL

Centerfielder Isaac Byrd was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 73^rd round (1662^nd overall) out of Parkway Chesterfield High School in St. Louis in 1993 but decided to attend the University of Kansas to play both baseball and football.  Byrd was a two-sport star between his junior and senior years at the University of Kansas when he was drafted in the 11^th round (308^th overall) by St. Louis.  Byrd signed late and spent the month of July with the 1996 JC Cardinals before leaving the team to fulfill a commitment to play his senior year as a wide receiver for the Jayhawks’ football team. 

Isaac Byrd (Getty Images)

Byrd started in centerfield for 23 games (.275 AVG, 15 RBI, 5 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 4 SB, 1 E).  The Kansas City Chiefs drafted Byrd in April 1997 in the sixth round (195^th overall) and it was decision time.  Byrd chose football and then was released by the Chiefs on August 24, 1997.  It looked to be the wrong choice.  The Chiefs signed him to the practice squad on August 26 and then the Tennessee Oilers signed him from the Chiefs practice squad on November 5.  Byrd played two games for the Oilers in 1997 but didn’t make any receptions.  Byrd made six receptions in four games in 1998 and his career began to improve. 

Byrd’s best year was 2001 with the Carolina Panthers (15 G, 37 REC, 492 YDS) but he may be most noted for his two receptions in the 1999 Super Bowl for the Tennessee Titans against the St. Louis Rams.  Byrd’s teammate Kevin Dyson was the wide receiver lunging inches short of the goal line on the last play of the game that gave the Rams a 23-16 victory.

Others Still Associated with Sports

Outfielder Cordell Farley started “Gametime Sports Management” in Richmond, VA in Feb 2004.  Outfielder Todd Hogan was Manager of the Southeastern (Independent) League, Macon Peaches in 2003 and won the Gerogia state championship for USSSA slow pitch softball with the Dublin Merchants of Dublin, GA in 2005.  Hogan recently spoke to a group of 10 to 11-year-old boys about how important it is to learn the game when you are young and how much he enjoyed playing with his boyhood idol, Mark McGwire, in spring training.  Catcher Pepe McNeal is an instructor for the “DuBose Baseball School of Hard Knocks” in Pinellas Park, FL.

Pitcher-outfielder Tim Onofrei is the co-author of a 2004 instructional video “Baseball’s 28 Baserunning Plays” which presents, with on-the-field demonstrations, steal plays (before, on, and after the pitch), eleven types of bunts, nine types of delayed steals, hit-and-run options, and fake bunts (including steals and slash hits).  Onofrei, a two-time All American at Albertson College of Idaho, has been the head baseball coach at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, ID since 2001.  Pitcher Tim Riegert, who led the University of Central Florida in G, IP, and CG in 1996, returned to campus to participate in an alumnus vs. varsity game on Feb 12, 2006.  The only unique rule to the game was each team hit vs. its own pitchers.  The alumni took a 16-7 lead off Riegert in the sixth and then held on for a 16-15 victory. 

In Summary

1996 was an outstanding year for the JC Cardinals: Three Appy League awards, the best team record in the last 11 years, five major league players, and an NFL player with Super Bowl highlights.  Today, no team members remain active in Major League Baseball, however, many are still active in the sport of baseball and will forever remember their time in Northeast Tennessee.

Disclaimer

The information in this article was mostly obtained from Internet sites such as baseballcube.com, baseball-reference.com, jccardinals.com, and many Internet searches on the player’s names.  Notes and records collected over my years of following the JC Cardinals were also used.  Direct information from the players was not available.  Additions or corrections would be appreciated.  Specific references to sources for the information can be provided upon request.

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