St. Patrick's Day: Top Pats

In honor of St. Pat, we're going to count down the top Pats in DMBL history. There have been only 9 Pats that we could find in the history books, and none of them have exactly been legends. Well, let's take a look anyway...

9) Pat Rapp, 1996-2000. Sure he gets a bad rapp (yeah, yeah, yeah, I know), but it's deserved based on his horrible DMBL career. Rapp stunk up the joint for the Louisiana Lightning in 1996, pitching in only 9 games, but giving up 36 runs in those 9 games for a 9.62 ERA. In 2000, Philadelphia brought him back and the results were somewhat better. Rapp actually lasted the entire season, going 7-13 with a 5.59 ERA.

8) Pat Borders, 1993-1997. Borders was a bit player in his brief DMBL career, playing backup in Scranton, Carolina, and Jerusalem. Borders only amassed 256 career DMBL at-bats, hitting a pitiful .246 with a .640 career OPS.

7) Pat Mahomes, 2000. Sure Mahomes only lasted one season, but at least it was a full season. As in full of disappointment. Mahomes pitched in 82 games and 144 innings as a reliever for Honolulu, but sported a nasty 6.56 ERA, worst among all Pats.

6) Pat Kelly, 1993-1994. Kelly was a Waikiki fan favorite, but when the franchise went belly-up, so did Kelly's career. Kelly came on board as a part-timer in 1993, but played full-time in 1994. Kelly hit a decent .252, but with a .315 slugging and .292 on-base percentage. To make up for it, Kelly committed 48 errors that season.

Not looking good for the Pats so far...

5) Pat Neshek, 2007-2008. Neshek was brought in with high hopes for the Marietta bullpen in 2007, but he was a big disappointment. Neshek was 4-1, but with a 5.58 ERA in 37 appearances. Marietta traded Neshek away to Las Vegas for the 2008 season where he had slightly better numbers - 5-3, 4.39, 1.13 WHIP, 86 K's in 82 innings.

4) Pat Hentgen, 1994-2004. Hentgen was a mainstay in the Columbia Crusaders rotation for 3 years, winning 37 games and losing 37. Hentgen's best year was 1997 when he went 16-12 with a 4.44 ERA. Hentgen was let go after a poor start in 2000 and became a spot starter, first with Kentucky, then in Philadelphia.
3) Pat Listach, 1993. The namesake for our Rookie of the Year award, Listach only had one DMBL season, but he made the most of it. He hit .315 with a .368 on base percentage and stole 17 bases (a good number in that era). Little known fact: in Spanish, "listach" translates to "flash in the pan".

2) Pat Meares, 1996-1998. The name Meares screams utility player, but he was actually a pretty useful player for the Norfolk Ewes and later the Louisiana Lightning. Meares hit a solid .261 in 1996 for the Ewes with 19 homers and 65 RBIs. He was relegated to a platoon role in 1997, but returned in '98 with the Lightning to hit .308 with 11 homers and 57 RBIs.

and the #1 Pat...





1) Pat Burrell, 2001-present. Burrell is by no means a great player, but compared to his namesakes he shines just for being more useful and for doing it longer. He leads all Pats with 7 seasons of service and is currently with the Amityville Ant Slayers. Burrell started his career with the Carolina Mudcats, where he lasted for three seasons. Burrell had a few okay seasons: he hit 30 home runs in 2003 with 88 RBIs, but he couldn't ever crack the .250 batting average mark. He was a fill-in in 2005 with Newark and Las Vegas, and then again in 2007 with Hoboken and Arkansas. In 2008, he earned a full-time job back again as a first round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Plunkers. Maybe he didn't put up great numbers, but he did hit career highs in home runs (32), runs (95), RBIs(97), walks(102), and slugging (.464). Tip o' the old shellelagh to you, Patty boy. Have a pint of Guinness on us.