Minors
Flannery earned all-league honors while playing for Anaheim High School, where he was also elected Homecoming King as a senior. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 1978 Major League Baseball Draft by the Padres out of Chapman University in California. Standing at 5'11" tall and weighing 175 lbs., Flannery batted left-handed but threw right-handed.
In his first season in the minors (1978), Flannery batted .350 for the California League Reno Silver Sox. In 1979, he batted .345 with six home runs and 71 runs batted in to receive a September call-up to the majors. Flannery made his major league debut 26 days before his 22nd birthday, and was the eighth youngest player in the majors in 1979.
He batted lead-off and played second base against the San Francisco Giants at Jack Murphy Stadium (now Qualcomm Stadium) in his first game on September 3, 1979. Flannery was one for three and drove in the second run of the Padres' 3-0 victory.
His minor league success did not translate to major league success as he hit just .154 in 65 big league at bats, with his only extra base hit of the season being a triple. He split 1980 between the Padres and their triple A affiliate, the Hawaii Islanders. With Hawaii, Flannery batted .346, however, he hit only .240 in the majors that year. In 1981, he only appeared in 37 games and batted .254.
Read more about this topic: Tim Flannery (baseball)