(Its been another one of those busy patches. Jury duty and a bunch of other little things including the start of the baseball season have all occupied my time of late.)
Joel looks like he has other things on his mind than baseball when this picture was taken. Drafted by the Pirates in the 1979 draft he was taken by the White Sox in 1982 Free Agent Compensation pick. In the minors with both the Pirates and White Sox he was an average hitter with a little bit of pop but by 1983 he was already being heralded as future Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk's heir to the catcher's gear. The draw back was in 84 he was only 23 and Fisk was 36-one was too young and the other too old (or so they thought) to keep playing. Called up for a brief stay in 83 and 84 he hit .341 in 85 in just 22 games. The next year he was sent to the Yankees for Ron Hassey. In 89 it was on to the team he is pictured with here for Mel Hall. Spending his last three major league season in Cleveland here he is coming off a .230, 1 Homer and 13 RBI season in 49 games. He had a WAR of -0.1 and a dWar of 0.2. Another two years and his career ended with an overall WAR of 0.0 and a dWAR of 3.9. As for the player he was originally envisioned to replace in Chicago, Fisk played until 1993 and his career ended at the age of 45.
