Once Upon A Time . . .

There was a baseball player.  He was a catcher.  His name was Nike Mickeas.

Nike had played in the minor leagues for a long time.  When he first started playing professional baseball he was both good at offense and defense.  As he quickly moved through the minor leagues his defense continued to impress but his offense was lagging.  Eventually his original organization gave up on him and he was traded for a crappy no-good outfielder.

In his new organization he stayed in the higher levels of the minor leagues.  He got a few chances in AAA but his offense was never there.  Then one season he came to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee.  He left Spring Training and nobody was sure exactly where he would end up.  He even looked to be going to Single-A for a little while.  He went to AA and something amazing happened.  Nike was hitting!  He kept his batting average over .300 in AA and even was an All-Star!  He went to AAA for about a week before he got a September call-up.  This was Nike's minor league free agent year so things were looking good.

Nike had battled through injuries during his career.  He had so many injuries and had worked so hard that he had considered retirement in the offseason.  Now, however, he was in the big leagues.

Nike had made it.  He was going to get a chance!  Or so he thought.  Nike got one start.  He went 0-for-2 and didn't even play the whole game.  But, that's okay.  There was still a month left in the season and he would surely get another opportunity.

It was a blow-out against a bottom-feeder in the division and Nike's team had given up.  He got to catch the last 2 innings.  He had one at-bat and got out.  He was now 0-for-3 in his major league career.  But, there was still a few weeks left in the season so he would get another chance.

Alas, that is the last that has been seen of Nike.  He hasn't played in another game.  He continues to hope for another chance.  Just one more appearance in a game.  Maybe one day it will happen.

And that is the story of Nike Mickeas.  The catcher.  Perhaps he will get another major league at-bat.

Perhaps.