1993 Classic/Best Gold # 15	1995 Smokey Jackson Generals Unnumbered

Who knew, huh? As I write, in late May 2004, Baltimore Oriole Melvin Mora has a higher batting average than Barry Bonds, a better OBP than Manny Ramirez, and a better slugging percentage than Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, and Vladimir Guerrero. His breakout performance in the 1999 NLCS surprised everybody, most of all I'm sure the Astros, who had granted him his free agency following the 1997 season. But in a previous version of this database, I had written that the 1999 playoffs were his "fifteen minutes of fame," considering him thereby a latter-day Dusty Rhodes, or Francisco Cabrera. The Mets obviously agreed with me, trading Mora during the 2000 season--along with three marginal Major Leaguers--for Mike Bordick, who ended up playing 56 games for the Mets, and went 5 for 33 in the 2000 playoffs. Needless to say, Bordick's five hits was a figure that Mora had surpassed during the '99 playoffs in 40% of the at-bats. . . Mora's success even confounded, I think, the club that ended up with him. The Orioles were so surprised at his performance that they couldn't even find a position for him throughout 2003. Mora played no less than six different positions for the Orioles in 2003, surely the most positions played by an All-Star during a single season in some time.

Melvin Mora in the Astros System

Season	Team	BA	HR	RBI	League	Class
1991	Ingenio Santa Fe	.299	0	20	Dominican Summer	Summer
1992	GCL Astros	.222	0	8	Gulf Coast	Rookie
1993	Asheville Tourists*	.285	2	31	South Atlantic	A
1994	Osceola Astros†	.282	8	46	Florida State	A
1995	Tucson Toros	.600	0	1	Pacific Coast	AAA
1995	Jackson Generals‡	.298	3	45	Texas	AA
1996	Tucson Toros	.281	3	26	Pacific Coast	AAA
1996	Jackson Generals	.286	5	23	Texas	AA
1997	New Orleans Zephyrs	.257	2	38	American Assoc.	AAA
*Midseason SAL All-Star
†Led the club in 8 different offensive categories including AVG, HR, H, and SB
‡Led squad in hits with 139, while finishing fifth in the league