Why We Love Career Minor Leaguers

by Paulie Knep
Love of Sports Correspondent

Over the past several years, the contracts of baseball players have skyrocketed to unfathomable heights, and sports reporting has become saturated with tabloid stories about pampered, egocentric, multi-millionaire ballplayers.

Yet, for every Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds, there are hundreds of young men toiling in the minor leagues, desperately clinging to their dream of playing in the big leagues.. They endure overnight trips on broken down buses, shoddy hotels and meager pay, for their love of the game.

These aspiring athletes achieve varying degrees of success in the minor leagues and the vast majority of them never reach the “big show”. Some don’t advance past single A ball, while others work their way through the system, but fall just short of the majors, earning the label of “career minor-leaguer.” Chris Coste of the Philadelphia Phillies was the latter.

After playing catcher for a small Division III school in Minnesota called Concordia College, neither Coste’s coaches, nor any scouts believed he was major league material and he wasn’t drafted by a professional team.

Coste never doubted his abilities and continued to pursue his lifelong goal of playing major league baseball. After college, he played in various independent leagues in the U.S., Mexico, Venezuela and Panama for four years.

In November of 1998, he was finally signed to a minor league contract by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the team cut him in early April 1999, before the season even began.

In November 1999, Coste was signed by the Cleveland Indians and played in their minor league system for three seasons. He squatted behind the plate for a Red Sox affiliate in 2003, suited up for a Brewers’ farm team in 2004 and caught on with the Phillies’ organization in 2005.

Coste hit well at every stop along his journey, but he’d never been given an opportunity to prove himself at the top level. Some coaches questioned his defensive abilities. Others believed his success at the plate wouldn’t carry over to the majors.

When Coste reported to spring training for the Phillies in February of 2006, he was 33 years old, and after spending eleven years in the independent leagues and minors, had been branded a “career minor-leaguer”. It appeared as if he would never realize his dream of playing major league baseball.

Coste wasn’t in the Phillies’ plans for the ’06 season, but when he hit .468 in spring training, manager Jerry Manuel had little choice but to add him to the team. Coste was told he’d made the roster and flew with the team from Florida to Philadelphia for the start of the season.

In a cruel twist of fate, upon his arrival in Philadelphia, he was informed that the team had acquired backup outfielder David Dellucci and that he was being sent back to the minor leagues. Once again, Coste was told that he wasn’t good enough.

The Phillies wanted Coste to backup one of their catching prospects at their triple A affiliate in Scranton-Wilkes Barre, but Coste requested that he be sent to double A instead so he could play every day and be prepared to help the team if they called him up. Six weeks later they did.

In May of 2006, after 11 seasons playing in independent leagues and for several minor leagues clubs, at the age of 33, Chris Coste’s dream came true. 

Coste stuck with the Phillies for the remainder of the 2006 season and hit .328 in limited at-bats. To his surprise, after a very productive spring training in 2007, he was sent down to the minors. Un-deterred, he made his way back to the big leagues later in the season.

This year, Coste began the season with the big club as their backup catcher. He’s batting .307 with six home runs and has stolen at-bats from the team’s starting catcher, Carlos Ruiz.

The hometown of Rocky Balboa has always loved an underdog and Coste has become a crowd favorite in Philadelphia. He has a fan club at Citizens Bank Park known as The Coste Guard. They wear red bathing suits, white tee-shirts, sunglasses and sunscreen on their noses and blow whistles which can be heard throughout the ballpark.

In March of this year, Coste released an autobiography chronicling his journey to the big leagues called “The 33-Year-Old Rookie: How I Finally Made it to the Big Leagues After Eleven Years in the Minors.” Hollywood producers have contacted him about a potential movie based on his story.

There are thousands of aspiring ballplayers who can relate to Coste’s journey to the big leagues. They scratch and claw their way through the minor leagues for years, desperately holding on to an elusive dream. While the appeal of million-dollar contracts, luxury hotels and private planes is alluring, these men are driven by their love of the game.

Kudos to Chris Coste and all career minor-leaguers for never giving up on their dreams.