Bill Haselman

He was drafted as the 23rd pick of the 1st round of the 1987 Major League Baseball draft by the Texas Rangers.[5] He began his professional career that year for the Gastonia Rangers of the South Atlantic League.[6] In 1988, he was promoted to the Port Charlotte Rangers of the High-A Florida State League, where he hit .245 in 122 games.[6]

Haselman spent 1989 and 1990 with the AA Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League.[6] He was a September call-up with the Rangers in 1990 and made his Major League debut at the age of 24 as a pinch hitter on September 3, 1990, against the Cleveland Indians.[1] He recorded his first hit, also as a pinch hitter, off Joe Klink of the Oakland Athletics on September 27. In 14 games, he had two hits in 13 at-bats.

He returned to the minors and spent 1991 and the first part of 1992 with the Oklahoma City 89ers of the AAA American Association.[6]

On May 29, 1992, he was selected off waivers by the Seattle Mariners, who assigned him to the Calgary Cannons of the Pacific Coast League, where he hit .255 in 88 games with 19 home runs and 53 RBI.[6] He also got into 8 games for the Mariners in September and had five hits in 19 at-bats.[1]

He spent most of 1993 as the Mariners back-up catcher and hit his first home run on May 8 off of Jim Deshaies of the Minnesota Twins. On June 6, 1993, Haselman was hit by a pitch thrown by Baltimore Orioles pitcher Mike Mussina, leading to him charging the mound and igniting a bench-clearing brawl.[3] In parts of three seasons with Seattle, he appeared in 104 games and hit .234 with 6 home runs and 24 RBI.[1]

He signed as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox on November 7, 1994, and played with the Red Sox through the 1997 season as a backup catcher.[1] Haselman's most dramatic offensive performance came in a game at Fenway Park against the Toronto Blue Jays on June 27, 1995. With the bases empty and the score tied 5-5, he pinch hit for catcher Mike Macfarlane in the bottom of the 11th inning. Haselman shattered his bat, sending a Woody Williams' offering sailing over the Green Monster to give the Red Sox their first walk-off win of their 1995 Eastern Division winning campaign.

Haselman had his best season in 1996, when he hit .274 with 8 HR and 34 RBI in a career-high 237 At bats for the Red Sox.[1] He also led American League catchers with a 7.64 range factor.[7] Haselman was the battery-mate for Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens on September 18, 1996 when Clemens struck out 20 batters in a game against the Detroit Tigers to tie his own major league single-game strikeout record in a 9 inning game.[8][9]

The Red Sox traded him on November 6, 1997 (along with Mark Brandenburg and Aaron Sele) to the Texas Rangers for Damon Buford and Jim Leyritz. In 40 games, he hit .314 with 6 home runs.[1]

He then signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers on December 14, 1998. In 48 games for the Tigers, he hit .273 in 48 games.[1]

The Tigers traded him back to the Rangers on November 2, 1999 (along with Frank Catalanotto, Francisco Cordero, Gabe Kapler, Justin Thompson and a minor leaguer) in exchange for Juan González, Danny Patterson and Gregg Zaun.[1] He remained with Texas through 2002. Overall, in parts of five seasons with the Rangers he played in 225 games and hit .273.[1]

He rejoined the Tigers again on a free agent contract on January 20, 2003 but was released on March 27, before the season started.[1]

He was signed as a free agent by the Red Sox on April 11, 2003 and was hitless in three at-bats in 4 games for them that season. He played in his final major league game on September 27, 2003.[1] He also played in 79 games with the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox.[6] He signed as a minor league free agent with the Baltimore Orioles on December 3, 2003, but retired before playing in any games at the age of 37.[6]