totally random, vol. 6

Today’s subject: Howard Battle. Battle, a Biloxi native who played high school ball at Mercy Cross in Ocean Springs, had some good fortune in what was an otherwise short and uneventful big league career. He played in only 29 MLB games with three teams, but he got into a World Series game. He can always say that. In 1999, Battle was a late season call-up by Atlanta and hit his one major league homer that season. The Braves kept the third baseman on their postseason roster all the way through the playoffs, and he made one brief appearance in the field (no at-bats) in the Series loss against the New York Yankees. Battle was a fourth-round pick by Toronto in 1990 and showed some raw power in the minor leagues, belting 20 homers in his second pro year and 17 in his third. But he couldn’t break into the Blue Jays’ lineup. He got looks from Philadelphia and Atlanta, played in Japan and finished his career in independent ball.