Reds:
Brad Salmon (32) –A Red in 2007, at last report he’s still hanging on in the Mexican League. That’s how I like to think I’d be if I had the talent to play professional baseball; you’d have to pry me away from the game with a crowbar.
Adrian “Smoky” Garrett (69) –Louisville’s batting coach in 2011; he’ll be a roving instructor this year.
Virgil Stallcup –Reds shortstop in the years between Eddie Miller and Roy McMillan. At six feet three inches, he was more of a “tallstop”…
Frenchy Bordagary –Mostly a Dodger, but played on the Reds 1939 pennant winners. Appeared in the World Series only as a pinch runner for Ernie Lombardi, who definitely required one. Supposedly the last ML player to wear a moustache before the A’s brought them back in the 1970s.
Others:
A.J. Burnett (35) –Among his many tattoos is an image of Bruce Lee on his left tricep. In his 2001 no-hitter he walked nine.
Darren Daulton (50) –Terrific catcher. Once married to pioneering Hooters girl Lynne Austin (doing a Google image search for her not recommended if you’re at work). Had multiple DUIs after his playing career. Recently authored a book expounding his somewhat unusual worldview, based on the occult and numerology.
Chris Van Cuyk- Story from the book Baseball Is A Funny Game: Van Cuyk was a noted bench jockey, and one day the home plate umpire thought he heard Van Cuyk getting on him a bit too much. He called time out and walked over to the dugout. “All right, Van Cuyk, you’re out of here!”…No response…”Come on, Van Cuyk, let’s go; I’m running you!”…Still no response. Finally the manger looked up and said, “If you want to run Van Cuyk you’ll have to go to Syracuse, because that’s where we sent him yesterday”.
Buzz Arlett -Known as the “Babe Ruth of the minor leagues”, he had a number of great years in the Pacific Coast League; first as a pitcher, then as a slugger, just like the Bambino. Played only one season in the majors, by which time he was 32 and overweight, but he still hit .313 and finished 4th in the NL in homers. In 1984 the SABR voted him as the greatest player in minor league history.