Who is Rich Hunter?

The Red Sox pitcher on Aug. 17, 1996, had started 374 major league games for the Red Sox, and although he would start 333 more in his 24-year career, he would pitch only eight more times for the Red Sox.

The Phillies pitcher that day was making his eighth start for the Phillies. He would start six more that season and then never pitch again in the big leagues.

Let's backtrack.

While looking at my program yesterday for the post on Roger Clemens' last Fenway shutout for the Red Sox, I noticed that I had saved the little insert that lists news and other teams' rosters. (For the long-timers, this is similar to the Phillies former Newsy Notes.)

Of course, I checked to see what the Phillies were doing that day. They were hosting the Giants and starting a 1-3 pitcher named Hunter. I couldn't remember a Hunter on the Phillies in the mid-1990s. Neither could Christine, which is odd because both of us tend to remember most scrubby players.

We were more curious when we found out that the Phillies pitcher, Rich Hunter, had made 14 starts that year but never pitched again in the majors. He kicked around the minors and independent leagues until 1999 and his career ended when he was 24 years old.

The most we could find on him was a 1996 Baseball Digest story talking about rookies who could make an impact. He went 19-2 with a 2.73 ERA in A and AA ball in 1995, earning the organization's Paul Owens Award for minor league pitcher of the year.

"He doesn't throw real hard, but he's just got phenomenal control," said Del Unser, Phillies director of player development. "He's got a big-league curveball and a big-league changeup along with big-league control (32 walks in 184 innings) and big league poise."

We found a couple game-day stories about his starts, but not much else.

Fortunately, Christine remembered that I hadn't yet thrown out my 1996 Scranton Wilkes-Barre Red Barons program. Sure enough, today's topic is in there on page 67. But there's not much to note other than he was single in 1996 and a 1992 graduate of Linfield High School in California, where he was first-team All-State in baseball.

I'm willing to bet injuries played a role, but I'd love to know why he never panned out.

Football: As is becoming annual tradition, I forgot to post my playoff picks yesterday. Good thing because I would have picked the Bengals and Eagles. I just couldn't see the Jets winning a game, and I thought the Eagles had a bigger choke in them. Oops. Today, I pick the Patriots and Packers. So if you need some money, bet on the Ravens and Cardinals.