It takes a certain amount of unhealthy obsession to spend 11 years in the minor leagues in the hopes of making it to the show. Chris Coste took a long and hard road to become a major league baseball player.
In the process, he ran into the ugly reality of some of baseball’s worst prejudices, and he defeated them. His book, The 33 Year Old Rookie, is an excellent baseball autobiography now available at ChrisCoste.com.
Coste begins the book at the 2006 Philadelphia Phillies spring training camp. Through luck and some determination, he was able to get some meaningful playing time.
His batting average was over .450, he was able to sell himself to Charlie Manuel and to the pitching staff. It looked like Coste was finally going to make it.
A last minute trade doomed him, and he was sent back to the minor leagues. Coste’s dream was on hold again.
The book then goes back to Coste’s Fargo upbringing, his life as the best amateur ballplayer in town and his college years. Coste’s life goal is to play major league baseball, and it’s a dream he keeps alive through a lot of hard work.
Unable to get a job in a MLB organization, he starts working his way through independent ball. Despite good numbers, Coste finds it more and more difficult to crack the big league hierarchy.
This gets us back to those prejudices Coste had to fight. Baseball has had a problem for many years over how to scout talent.
For a long time and continuing to this day, baseball scouts have used the “five tools method” to find prospective ballplayers.
The method is used in short tryouts where players are given a workout of wind sprints, throwing and batting practice. Players, who are athletic and fast, do well in these tryouts and attract the interest of major league scouts.
The “five tools” deal overvalues athleticism and undervalues baseball skill. Speed becomes an addiction to baseball scouts.
Whether it’s speed on the base paths or simply fastball velocity, scouts fall in love with fast. For guys like Coste, this addiction is a costly check on making any progress up the baseball ladder.
Throughout the book, Coste laughs at himself and his lack of speed, but it was probably one of the biggest reasons he was left to languish so long in independent baseball.
His lack of speed also hurt him earlier in his career when he failed to get noticed in the amateur draft.
After posting some incredible numbers as a catcher for the RedHawks in the Northern League, he was finally able to get in with a major league organization. Unfortunately, his problems were just beginning.
It was impossible for him to get on anyone’s radar. He had been labeled as a “minor leaguer” and wasn’t given the opportunity to prove himself worthy of a big league uniform.
Again, baseball has its prejudices, and Coste was forced to fight not only other players but the inability on baseball to objectively rate playing ability.
The greatest lesson of sabermetrics has been that minor league stats are significant measures of talent and predict major league performance. Minor league stats matter.
Coste’s .299/.354/.447 minor league line in 3688 at bats matches very well his .310/.358/.481 line he has in 397 major league at bats.
At the age of 35, Coste is enjoying regular playing time with the Philadelphia Phillies. There’s nothing left for Coste to prove other than how long he can stay in the majors.
His book is well written, entertaining, and eye opening. There is no easy path to the show, but Coste’s route has to be deserving of Congressional recognition.
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4 months ago
Thank you for writing the type of article I love to read, one about a player that people may never recognize in the street and have probably never heard of, but who is still deserving of recognition because of the stories he can tell and what he truly does have to offer. Awesome article. And by the way..."Speed becomes an addiction to baseball scouts."....Now that's just good writing.
4 months ago
Great choice on the article. Once I heard Coste's story I was an instant fan. Some guys make the majors while barely spending anytime in the minors and get the huge contract and the sponsorships, Coste didn't, he earned his roster spot the hard way. Keep it up.
4 months ago
I caught a brief note in the St Paul (MN) Pioneer Press that Chris Coste, from Concordia-Moorhead, made the final roster cut with the Phillies. I initially thought the comment was a misprint as Collegiate baseball at Concordia & the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) has always been hindered by a short season due to inclimate weather; the chances are slim & none that anyone from this background would ever make the Major Leagues, much less even attempt the effort. Chris and I are from different eras so I had never heard of him. I decided to e mail Chris & when he answered, I immediately started following his progress with the Phillies. I bought his book: "The 33 Year Old Rookie" and read it in one sitting (an easy, FUN read). Hey, Chris is a legitimate Major Leaguer and speaks highly of his Concordia experience under the tutelage of Coach Bucky Burgau. Any baseball fan will enjoy this book & the related triumphs, sadness and persistance it took for Chris and his family to persevere. A GREAT story of personal achievement. Continued GOOD LUCK to Chris & the Phillies in their quest for a birth in the 2008 World Series !!
3 months ago
I am a Phillies fan, and, I am a huge fan of Coste. Man, I remember when he went 0-14 in his first 14 major league AB's...now he is becoming a good catcher. Great article.
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