Brian Holton

Curveballer Holton spent nine seasons in the minors, including six at Albuquerque (Pacific Coast League), before finally reaching the ML, and found his niche as a middle-inning reliever in the Dodgers’ 1988 World Championship season. He saved Game Five of the NLCS against the Mets and pitched two scoreless innings in the World Series opener, helping the Dodgers to stay close in the game won by Kirk Gibson‘s famous ninth-inning pinch homer. The Dodgers quickly converted his newly-established value and traded him to the Orioles that winter in the Eddie Murray deal.