Professional Career
Listach was drafted in the 5th round of the 1988 Major League Baseball Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers.
Listach's best professional season was in 1992, his rookie year. After being called up from the minor leagues by the Brewers in April, Listach became a vital member of a team that won 92 games and contended for the American League playoffs. Listach's 54 stolen bases in 1992 ranked second only to the total accrued by Kenny Lofton, another prominent rookie from the Cleveland Indians, during that season. Listach would go on to win the 1992 American League Rookie of the Year award.
In 1996 Listach was traded to the New York Yankees along with Graeme Lloyd for outfielder Gerald Williams and pitcher Bob Wickman. Listach was intended to be a backup outfielder, as the Yankees made the trade specifically to acquire Lloyd. Listach, however, had suffered what was first thought to be a bruise two days prior to the trade. The injury turned out to be a broken bone in his foot. The Yankees returned Listach to the Brewers, accepting shortstop Gabby Martinez instead.
Listach played only 52 games in the Majors after 1996, all for the Houston Astros in 1997. Listach spent 1998 Spring Training with the Seattle Mariners, who released him before the season. He spent that season with the Triple-A affiliates of the Cleveland Indians and Philadelphia Phillies before retiring.
Read more about this topic: Pat Listach
Famous quotes containing the words professional and/or career:
“The relationship between mother and professional has not been a partnership in which both work together on behalf of the child, in which the expert helps the mother achieve her own goals for her child. Instead, professionals often behave as if they alone are advocates for the child; as if they are the guardians of the child’s needs; as if the mother left to her own devices will surely damage the child and only the professional can rescue him.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
“From a hasty glance through the various tests I figure it out that I would be classified in Group B, indicating “Low Average Ability,” reserved usually for those just learning to speak the English Language and preparing for a career of holding a spike while another man hits it.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)