Periodic Unknown Animal

Every so often I like to search the internet with my massive amounts of free time and find hidden gems in the sports world. I do this not only for the pleasure of discovering treasure, but also to educate myself and give these players the credit they deserved but never received.
Now that you've heard my intro, I unveil one of my favorite baseball players of all time (yes, I do own his rookie card in a hard plastic case) and a player I guarantee most people have never heard of...

UNKNOWN ANIMAL #1: Turner Ward



Turner Max Ward
Born: April 11th, 1965
Selected by New York Yankees in 18th Round (470th overall) of 1986 amateur entry draft
College: University of South Alabama
Height: 6-2 Weight: 204 Bats: Both Throws: Right

Impressive stats:
-Was both a pitcher and an OF in the minors 1990-1992 (Cleveland/Toronto)
-In 1990 (CLEV AAA) Ward pitched 43 games 63 Innings posting a 2.00 ERA 56 SOs 9 Saves 4-3 WL and a 1.19 WHIP
*Also in 1990 at the same time he was pitching for CLEV AAA, Ward batted in 133 Games with a .299 Avg in 495 ABs including 65 RBIs, 22 SBs, 70 BBs, 89Rs and 6 HRs.

If that 1990 season is not one of the most impressive minor league performances in history than thats silly.

-Ward played in only 80 MLB games until 1993 when he was given a chance with the Blue Jays in 72 games...he batted only .192
-The Brewers gave him another shot, in 1994 through 102 games he only batted .232, 1995-44 games batted .264, 1996-43 games batted .179
-He was cut by the Brewers and picked up by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1997 now at the age of 32...playing CF and RF for the Pirates, 1997 in 71 games Ward batted .353 avg (that earned him an $825,000 contract) but in 1998 Ward batted .262 in 123 games and it was back downhill
-Turner bounced around between Arizona and Pittsburgh before ending his career at age 36 with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2001

-Other notes:
*Through 510 MLB OF appearances, Ward finished with a .987 Fielding % (only 12 Career Errors)
*In 3 Postseason games (1999 all with ARI vs. NYM), Ward was 1-2 batting including a 3 RBI walk off HR, 1 walk and 2 runs. (Age 34 at the time)
*Career MLB .251 avg, MINORS .287



SB POST