Veteran minor league slugger Mike Hessman signed a contract to play in the Houston Astros organization last week. The team’s director of player development, Fred Nelson, called the 33-year-old infielder/outfielder “a great big strong power guy, a blue-collar grinder,” according to Houston Chronicle reporter Zachary Levine.
Hessman was never a top prospect. A 15th round draft pick out of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif., Hessman played eight years in the minor leagues before making his Major League Debut with the Atlanta Braves in 2003.
In his second major league game, Hessman pinch hit for Matt Franco in the ninth inning and hit a solo home run off of New York Mets reliever Mike Stanton for his first big league hit. (The Mets held on to win the game 6-5.)
But most of Hessman’s 16 year pro career has been played in the minor leagues. From 2005-2009, he was a Toledo Mud Hen. According to his Wikipedia page, Hessman set a career record for home runs as a Mud Hen in 2007. He won a Bronze Medal as part of the 2008 U.S. Olympic baseball team.
Hessman joined the New York Mets organization in 2010, spending most of the season with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. He was called up to the big leagues at the end of July, when injuries to Rod Barajas and Jason Bay left the Mets short-handed. Hessman pinch-hit in the first game after his call-up on July27th and started at first base the next day in a four-and-a-half hour, 13-inning loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Hessman spent the rest of the 2010 season in the major leagues, playing sparingly over the final two months. He went 7-for-55 in 32 games. His Mets highlight might have been a ninth-inning pinch hit three-run home run off of J.C. Romero on August 6th, but the Phillies were able to hold on and win a 7-5 victory.
Last season, Hessman played in Japan where he hit .192 with six home runs in 48 games for the Orix Buffalos.
According to Beckett Media’s online checklist, Hessman has 138 baseball cards including 111 that show him as a member of the Atlanta Braves. (He’s only appeared in 109 major league games.) Neither his 2007 & 2008 stints with the Detroit Tigers nor his time as a Met are commemorated on cardboard.
Hessman has 19 different certified autograph cards from major card companies. My card is from the 2003 Hot Prospects set and it includes a piece of fabric from a pair of game-worn uniform pants as well as Hessman’s signature. While I have many signed baseball cards, only a handful are so-called “relic” cards. I’m pretty sure this is the only one that boasts a piece of game-worn pants.
Kalina and I saw Mike hit a mammoth home run during one of his Spring Trainings with the Tigers and she was quickly a fan of his, and she even sent him one of her very rare TTM requests. For the record, he did respond, and she treasures the autograph.
That’s good to hear. I never wrote to Hessman – I didn’t own any of his cards, and by the time he got to the Mets it was actually easier to find a certified autograph than an unsigned card.
Nice article on my cousin. Thank you.