Danny Jon Boitano was a Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 pitcher

Pitcher

In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...

 from to . Boitano holds the distinction of having been the Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...

' first round pick in the secondary phase of both the and amateur draft. A highly touted prospect, he had also been drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers

Milwaukee Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...

 (seventh round), St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...

 (18th overall pick in the first round of the 1972 amateur draft, secondary phase) and Montreal Expos

Montreal Expos

The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...

 (second round, amateur draft, secondary phase). He signed with the Phillies on June 19, 1973.

Phillies prospect

In his first professional season, Boitano got off to a fast start, going 8-3 with a 2.08 earned run average

Earned run average

In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...

 for the New York-Penn League Auburn Phillies. From there, his minor league

Minor league

Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...

 numbers tailed off a little, and his Win-Loss record was 37-43 when he made his major league debut on October 1, in a 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...

. During Spring training

Spring training

In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play...

 the following season, he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for Gary Beare

Gary Beare

Gary Ray Beare is a former Major League Baseball player. He batted right-handed and threw right-handed as well.-Early life and education:Gary Beare was born in San Diego, California and attended California State University, Long Beach....

.

MLB journeyman

Boitano toiled in the Brewers' farm system for two seasons, making sixteen major league appearances when he was purchased by the New York Mets

New York Mets

The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...

 prior to the season. At the end of the season, he was traded with Doug Flynn

Doug Flynn

Robert Douglas Flynn Jr. is a former Major League Baseball infielder from -. He is best remembered for being one of the players the New York Mets acquired in the infamous "Midnight Massacre."-Cincinnati Reds:...

 to the Texas Rangers

Texas Rangers (baseball)

The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...

 for Jim Kern

Jim Kern

James Lester Kern is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. Kern had a thirteen-year Major League career from 1974 to 1986 with the Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies.Kern was elected to the American League All-Star...

 (who was then packaged with Greg Harris

Greg A. Harris

Greg Allen Harris is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball for the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees from 1981 to 1995. Harris pitched in 703 games in his career, starting 98...

 and Alex Trevino

Alex Treviño

Alejandro Treviño Castro is a Mexican retired professional baseball catcher. Trevino played 13 seasons in the Major Leagues beginning with the New York Mets for four seasons , followed by the Cincinnati Reds for two full seasons before splitting the 1984 season between the Reds and the Atlanta...

 for George Foster from the Cincinnati Reds

Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....

). After one season in Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, Boitano retired without having ever lived up to the early potential he showed.

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