Joe morgan biography

Hitting for average and power and stealing bases with aplomb, the diminutive infielder was the star of the Castlemont High School baseball team in Oakland, California. Major-league scouts were well aware of the quality of play in the East Bay. Among alumni of Oakland schools were such recent luminaries as Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson, and Curt Flood. Scouts came to Castlemont games not to see a pint-sized infielder, but to view the pitching of Rudy May, who eventually signed with the Minnesota Twins for an $8, bonus. Of the infielder they felt he was a good little player, with an emphasis on the second of the two adjectives. No one offered him a signing bonus.

Who can blame them? At 5-feet-7 and pounds, he did not seem a likely prospect for professional baseball. Who could have guessed that Joe Morgan would go on to become a two-time Most Valuable Player in the National League, a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, and almost universal recognit