Junk Wax Prospector - Kevin Mmahat - New York Yankees
1989 was the last year for NBC to carry the Major League Baseball Game of the Week. This was a Saturday afternoon tradition, dating back to 1953. NBC lost the right to broadcast the Saturday game of the week, which went to CBS for the 1990 season.
The Game of the Week was a big deal for me back then. It's not like today where you can find nearly every game on TV if you look hard enough. In 1989, there just weren't that many options on regular broadcast television. If you had cable, you could see a lot more games. But if you didn't, this was likely your only chance at seeing any out of market games, before the playoffs.
On September 9, 1989, I was working at a tag & bag dry cleaners. We didn't do any of the cleaning on site, but took in clothes to be sent down to St. Paul, for the actual dry cleaning. My job was to take in orders, tag the clothes and bag them for pickup. I would also get to operate the giant clothes-go-round-rack, when people came to pick stuff up. It usually wasn't busy, so much of my day was spent watching a little color television, and the few stations it could pick up. Which was pretty limited to NBC and a few UHF stations...
I feel so sorry for those who do not know what a UHF station is...
The New York Yankees were in Oakland that afternoon, playing the Athletics. The Yankees started rookie pitcher Clay Parker, against Oakland's Mike Moore. The game was scoreless going into the bottom of the 6th. A single by Tony Phillips, a double by Carney Lansford, followed by a long home run by Jose Canseco (only his 11th of an injury shortened season).
Parker came back out to pitch the 7th, giving up another home run to Dave Henderson. It was 4-0, Oakland going into the 8th.
The 1989 New York Yankees were not a good team. They would be even worse the following season. As the 1989 season wore on, they were desperate for pitching. Ex-San Diego Padre (and future Expo!) Jimmy Jones came on to pitch the bottom of the 8th.
Immediately, Jones gives up a home run to Rickey Henderson, then a single to Lansford, Canseco grounded out to second, a double by Dave Parker, then a walk to Terry Steinbach... Manager Bucky Dent had seen enough, with the score now 6-0 Oakland, he pulled Jones from the game.
With 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, Dent summoned rookie left-handed pitcher, Kevin Mmahat to make his major league debut. The spelling of the name on the screen baffled me. That had to be an error. (For anyone that thinks Hrbek is spelled strange, I offer this name up...) To make if more difficult, neither of the NBC announcers had any ideas how to pronounce his name...
I remember them stumbling: "Kevin... MMmm... HAT! Coming in to pitch now for the Yankees.." Perhaps it was the 7-0 blowout nature of the game, but they kept trying to mention his name as often as they could, pronouncing it different each time. Uhhmm... a hut? Hmmut? Emmahat? MMmmaha? I was finding this hilarious, and had a new favorite pitcher! I swore to get ALL his cards next year!
His debut couldn't have started better, striking out Mark McGwire on 6 pitches. After the strikeout, the press box forwarded the correct phonetic pronunciation of Mmahat...
That would be: mom-A-hut.
Well that solved that... The announcers discussed his name further as Dave Henderson got a base hit. Mmahat then got Tony Phillips to end the inning on a fly ball.
I'm almost positive the photo on this card came from the Oakland game.
Mmahat only got in three more games before the end of the 1989 season, with the Oakland debut being his best outing. 11 days later, he pitched 3.1 innings in relief against Milwaukee, giving up 4 runs on 5 hits and 1 walk. Mmahat was given two starts to finish out the season. The first against Boston at Fenway, was a disaster: 5 runs on 4 hits and 5 walks in 1 2/3 of an inning. His final appearance came at Yankee Stadium against the Tigers. He pitched only 2 innings, giving up 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks.
And that was that...
Mmahat was sent back to AAA Columbus after Spring Training 1990, and never returned to the Major Leagues. His final career numbers:
0 W - 2 L, 12.91 ERA, 4 games, 7.2 innings, 3 strikeouts, 8 walks, 2.739 WHIP.
He had a decent season for Columbus in 1990, and again in 1991. Though he missed time with injuries both seasons. Most of 1992 was lost to even more injuries. The Yankees did not sign Mmahat after the 1992 season, and he was out of baseball at age 27.
From 1990-1992, Topps issued a box set at the end of each season, featuring a card for every player that made their Major League Debut the previous season. Great idea for a set! As for a few players, this would be the only Topps card they'd ever get. (Mmahat is a perfect example of this...) The front had the date of their debut, and the back had a summary of how they performed in each game, plus a brief career bio.
I can't really say that Mmahat ever was on my "prospect" list... I loved his name and remembering that day at the dry cleaners...
By the following year, I had about 20 Mmahat cards between the three major league cards that were made for him.
Today, Kevin Mmahat is the owner of Mid South Coatings in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Game of the Week was a big deal for me back then. It's not like today where you can find nearly every game on TV if you look hard enough. In 1989, there just weren't that many options on regular broadcast television. If you had cable, you could see a lot more games. But if you didn't, this was likely your only chance at seeing any out of market games, before the playoffs.
On September 9, 1989, I was working at a tag & bag dry cleaners. We didn't do any of the cleaning on site, but took in clothes to be sent down to St. Paul, for the actual dry cleaning. My job was to take in orders, tag the clothes and bag them for pickup. I would also get to operate the giant clothes-go-round-rack, when people came to pick stuff up. It usually wasn't busy, so much of my day was spent watching a little color television, and the few stations it could pick up. Which was pretty limited to NBC and a few UHF stations...
I feel so sorry for those who do not know what a UHF station is...
The New York Yankees were in Oakland that afternoon, playing the Athletics. The Yankees started rookie pitcher Clay Parker, against Oakland's Mike Moore. The game was scoreless going into the bottom of the 6th. A single by Tony Phillips, a double by Carney Lansford, followed by a long home run by Jose Canseco (only his 11th of an injury shortened season).
Parker came back out to pitch the 7th, giving up another home run to Dave Henderson. It was 4-0, Oakland going into the 8th.
The 1989 New York Yankees were not a good team. They would be even worse the following season. As the 1989 season wore on, they were desperate for pitching. Ex-San Diego Padre (and future Expo!) Jimmy Jones came on to pitch the bottom of the 8th.
Immediately, Jones gives up a home run to Rickey Henderson, then a single to Lansford, Canseco grounded out to second, a double by Dave Parker, then a walk to Terry Steinbach... Manager Bucky Dent had seen enough, with the score now 6-0 Oakland, he pulled Jones from the game.
With 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, Dent summoned rookie left-handed pitcher, Kevin Mmahat to make his major league debut. The spelling of the name on the screen baffled me. That had to be an error. (For anyone that thinks Hrbek is spelled strange, I offer this name up...) To make if more difficult, neither of the NBC announcers had any ideas how to pronounce his name...
I remember them stumbling: "Kevin... MMmm... HAT! Coming in to pitch now for the Yankees.." Perhaps it was the 7-0 blowout nature of the game, but they kept trying to mention his name as often as they could, pronouncing it different each time. Uhhmm... a hut? Hmmut? Emmahat? MMmmaha? I was finding this hilarious, and had a new favorite pitcher! I swore to get ALL his cards next year!
His debut couldn't have started better, striking out Mark McGwire on 6 pitches. After the strikeout, the press box forwarded the correct phonetic pronunciation of Mmahat...
That would be: mom-A-hut.
Well that solved that... The announcers discussed his name further as Dave Henderson got a base hit. Mmahat then got Tony Phillips to end the inning on a fly ball.
I'm almost positive the photo on this card came from the Oakland game.
Mmahat only got in three more games before the end of the 1989 season, with the Oakland debut being his best outing. 11 days later, he pitched 3.1 innings in relief against Milwaukee, giving up 4 runs on 5 hits and 1 walk. Mmahat was given two starts to finish out the season. The first against Boston at Fenway, was a disaster: 5 runs on 4 hits and 5 walks in 1 2/3 of an inning. His final appearance came at Yankee Stadium against the Tigers. He pitched only 2 innings, giving up 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks.
And that was that...
Mmahat was sent back to AAA Columbus after Spring Training 1990, and never returned to the Major Leagues. His final career numbers:
0 W - 2 L, 12.91 ERA, 4 games, 7.2 innings, 3 strikeouts, 8 walks, 2.739 WHIP.
He had a decent season for Columbus in 1990, and again in 1991. Though he missed time with injuries both seasons. Most of 1992 was lost to even more injuries. The Yankees did not sign Mmahat after the 1992 season, and he was out of baseball at age 27.
From 1990-1992, Topps issued a box set at the end of each season, featuring a card for every player that made their Major League Debut the previous season. Great idea for a set! As for a few players, this would be the only Topps card they'd ever get. (Mmahat is a perfect example of this...) The front had the date of their debut, and the back had a summary of how they performed in each game, plus a brief career bio.
I can't really say that Mmahat ever was on my "prospect" list... I loved his name and remembering that day at the dry cleaners...
By the following year, I had about 20 Mmahat cards between the three major league cards that were made for him.
Today, Kevin Mmahat is the owner of Mid South Coatings in New Orleans, Louisiana.
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