Like the Crash Davis character in the classic baseball film "Bull Durham," Mike Hessman hung around just long enough to set the career minor league home run record. And like Davis, Hessman is reportedly retiring to pursue a coaching career.
Baseball America reported Saturday that the 37-year-old corner infielder is retiring, based on a since-deleted tweet Hessman sent out. The tweet mentioned his plans to become a coach.
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On Aug. 3, Hessman belted his 433rd career minor league home run, breaking the American-affiliated minor league record set by Buzz Arlett, who played from 1918 to 1937 (Mexican Leaguer Hector Espino holds the all-time minor league home run mark with 484).
That home run for Toledo proved to be final blast of Hessman's career.
The Braves drafted the 6-5 Hessman in the 15th round of the 1996 draft and he made his major league debut with the Braves in 2003. But while he showed some power (14 MLB homers in 223 at-bats) in stops with Atlanta, the Tigers and the Mets, his trouble with strikeouts doomed him to spend most of his career in the minors. He had 2,453 strikeouts in his career that included just five short stints in MLB.
After that record-breaking home run, Hessman told Baseball America he would like to stay with the Tigers organization.
“I would love to stay in the game, as either a coach or manager,” he said. “When the time comes, I want to sit down and talk with the Tigers, because this organization has been great to me. But that is something I won’t decide until after this season.”