Although I look at myself a bigbaseballfan , for some reason I never got into the point of theminor leaguesuntil now . I just knew the basics . Most thespian who sign with a squad do n’t start out playing in the big league . Typically , they begin their professional baseball game careers as part of a " farm squad " – a minor conference team – where they perfect their accomplishment and wait until they get called up . Most of the team are affiliated with a major league team , but there are also independent league whose players get scouted by major league team too . These days , there are five different classifications : rookie , class - A short season , class A ( including undivided - A and A - advanced ) , stratum AA and social class AAA .

Where a player begins in the system , and how long he spends there , calculate on his skill level and execution . It ’s not rare to take up out in a lower degree and quickly move up or to vamoose back and forth . Many players never make it out of the minors , but if they do , they are n’t vouch to ride out there . Major league teams can only have 40 player on their rosters at any establish time , with 25 of those view " active . " The residuum are either in the minors or on the disabled list . A player might be call off up to the majors to replace an injured major leaguer and feel himself taking over the place for good . Or he could spend a few weeks there and be direct back . This ca n’t go on forever , though ; there are rules about how many times a player can be sent down before another team can lay claim him or he can become a free broker and go to another squad .

Players get sent back to the minors for draw of reasons , but you might think that some of the bully players in baseball never seem back once they made it to " the bigs . " Not so . Here are five players whose names you might recognize , and they all got transport back to the tiddler during their big conference careers .

5: Babe Ruth

Many consider Babe Ruth , aka the Bambino and the Sultan of Swat , the outstanding major leaguebaseballplayer of all time . He make for for 22 season , retiring in 1935 . The Babe was a power striker and break legion book , including most calling plate footrace , RBIs ( runs batted in ) and highest slugging percentage . As a New York Yankee , he contribute the squad to seven American League pennant and four World Series wins . Ruth also change the sport forever ; his rest home run art excited crowds , and the high - scoring game give baseball game a " wow " factor .

reach all that , you might be surprised to learn that Babe Ruth started out as apitcher– and a middling good one . He pitched a total of 163 games , an epoch ( earned run average ) of 2.28 and a winnings - loss record of 94 - 46 . Ruth was signed as a mound with the Baltimore Orioles , aminor league teamat the time , in 1914 . He was a raw talent but did well . The Orioles were hurting financially , though , and sold him , along with two other players , for John Cash to the Boston Red Sox . Babe Ruth pitched in four plot for the Red Sox that year , making his major league debut on July 11 . However , the 1914 Boston Red Sox team was full of great players , and there just was n’t room for a rookie mound . Ruth was institutionalise down to the minor conference Providence Grays for the remainder of the season . The Grays were in their own pennant race , and Ruth helped them win it . The next year , he went back to the majors for good and pitched just five biz after his ill-famed sale to the Yankees in 1920 .

4: Pete Rose, Jr.

You do n’t have to know anything aboutbaseballto know about Pete Rose . Also known as Charlie Hustle , the all - sentence leader in legion record like hits , games play and at - bat became infamous when he was banned from Major League Baseball in 1989 . Rose was accused of betting on baseball game while managing the Cincinnati Reds . But this entry on the list is n’t about Pete Rose ; it ’s about his son , Pete Rose , Jr. , who was also a major league baseball thespian . Known as PJ , he practically grew up in dugout . He was a batboy and look on a baseball game card with his forefather in 1982 when he was 12 , with the legend " Pete and Re - Pete . " Seven years later , he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles and began his professional baseball game calling with the Erie Orioles , then a social class - A short season team .

Rose moved to undivided - A teams and then to an AA squad , the Chattanooga Lookouts ( at the meter an affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds ) . He had his best time of year yet there and was called up to the John Major in 1997 . Rose played in 11 game , but he only polish off .143 ( start out two hits ) and find oneself himself back in theminorswith the AAA Indianapolis Indians . After playing with numerous minor league and independent teams for 21 seasons , Rose turned to management . As of 2011 , he manages the Bristol White Sox , a rookie - division affiliate of the Chicago White Sox . Rose hopes to manage in the majors someday .

3: Alex Rodriguez

As of this writing , Alex Rodriguez , or " A - perch , " is in his eighteenth time of year as a major leaguer and has been a key part of the New York Yankees ' achiever since he was traded to the squad in 2004 . He ’s the youngest player in history to have 500 life history base runs and is also the only player to have 14 100 - run batted in seasons . He was offer a scholarship to playbaseballat the University of Miami but turn over it down after being draft by the Seattle Mariners in 1994 , at age 17 .

Rodriguez commence in the Mariners ' AAA affiliate , the Calgary Cannons . He put together some telling numbers , quickly move up to the Mariners in July 1994 at age 18 . He did well in the expectant league and might have stayed permanently if not for the strike . In August , all major conference baseball game players walk off the occupation due tocontract disputesbetween the squad owners and the actor ' marriage . The smasher last into April 1995 and cut abruptly what was looking like another pennant for the Yankees – the team was leading its class by 6.5 games and had the best phonograph recording in the American League . It also swerve short Rodriguez ’s first stint in the majors .

When the strike ended in outpouring 1995 , he encounter himself with AAA team the Tacoma Rainiers . By June , he was back in the John R. Major to supercede an infielder who was injure . An article quotes then manager Lou Pinella as saying , " Rodriguez is doing a overnice job [ … ] we may just depart him and permit him play " [ root : The Seattle Times ] . They left him , all correct . The next year was his breakout year , and Rodriguez descend very close to becoming the young Most Valuable Player in baseball game history .

2: Harmon Killebrew

Now let ’s check out a player who got send back to the tyke through the quirk of anold baseball game rule . Harmon Killebrew played 22 season ofbaseballfor the Washington Senators ( afterwards the Minnesota Twins ) and the Kansas City Royals . He was a great power batsman , known for both his number of family runs and his home - rill space . When he hit the sack , he was 2d only to Babe Ruth for the most home runs in the American League and he had the most nursing home run shoot by a right - hander . In his best time of year , 1969 , Killebrew was chosen as the American League ’s MVP . An accomplished thespian , he also has the eminence of being a " bonus infant . "

Killebrew signed a contract bridge with the Senators in 1954 , which include a muscular signing bonus . The Bonus Rule ( which ended in 1965 when major conference baseball game created the selective service ) state that if you ease up a player a sign language bonus of more than $ 4,000 , he had to appease on your 40 - man roll for two full seasons before he could be sent down to the tike . If you violated the rule , then another team could take the player . MLB bring this rule to keep teams with the most money from luring the good players with braggy bonus and then " store " them in the minor league . So participant who signed under this rule often go directly to the majors , and those who were signed under the hard-and-fast version of the rule were known as " fillip babies . " Killebrew is the only bonus babe who went on to become a Hall of Famer that spend metre in the minors at all . His playacting was uneven , and he was sent down to the kid at the end of his second season . Killebrew struggled for the next two years as well , moving up and down within the farm - team system and playing just 22 games for the Senators . He became a major leaguer for trade good in 1959 , which was his breakout season .

1: John Rocker

After the clause came out , Rocker imperil the reporter who wrote it . Not long after , he was sent back to the minors , drop six days there . The Braves claimed his stint was due to his hapless execution and not his demeanor , but it spelled the close of Rocker ’s time with the squad . He play for the Indians and the Texas Rangers , prepare newspaper headline there again when he made anti - gay input in a Texas restaurant in 2002 . Rocker terminate his major conference career with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2003 . Two years later , he sign with an independent venial conference squad , the Long Island Ducks , and was released that same year .

Lots More Information

Like I said , I ’m a baseball game buff , but that does n’t intend that I know a lot about the account of some of these players . I enjoyed watch more about some players who were little more than name to me before . There are plenty of players who moved up and down in the minors , and in and out of the majors , during the course of their careers . So I render to find the unparalleled account within that basic designation of getting " post back . " Every player who signs with a major league baseball team dreams of making it out of the farm system , but of those who do , many of them do n’t go on to have a significant life history in the majors . There are just too many factors and too few slot .

Sources