1973
Born April 7, 1973
Cleveland, OH, USA
Brett Tomko Marquee
b. April 7, 1973 · Cincinnati Reds 1997–1999, Seattle Mariners 2000–2001, San Diego Padres 2002, 2007–2008, St. Louis Cardinals 2003, San Francisco Giants 2004–2005, Los Angeles Dodgers 2006–2007, Kansas City Royals 2008, New York Yankees 2009, Oakland Athletics 2009, Texas Rangers 2011
He won 29 games for Cincinnati, 19 for San Francisco, 13 for St. Louis, 12 for San Diego, 10 each for Seattle and the Dodgers, and smaller numbers for four more clubs. Nobody kept him longer than three seasons.
Fourteen seasons gave him 100 wins against 103, a 4.65 earned run average, 1,816 innings, 266 starts and 1,209 strikeouts. He had the arm scouts wanted and a fastball that stayed straight; the results never matched the reports, which is why he kept getting signed and kept getting let go.
His best season was 2003 in St. Louis, when he made 35 starts. He finished at thirty-eight with Texas, and paints — his oil landscapes have been shown in galleries. No Hall of Fame ballot has listed him.
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | CIN | 24 | 36 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 0 | .139 |
| 1998 | CIN | 36 | 65 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 29 | 0 | .108 |
| 1999 | CIN | 33 | 47 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 0 | .213 |
| 2000 | SEA | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2001 | SEA | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2002 | SDP | 32 | 66 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 20 | 0 | .182 |
| 2003 | STL | 35 | 63 | 4 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 15 | 0 | .286 |
| 2004 | SFG | 33 | 62 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 27 | 0 | .113 |
| 2005 | SFG | 33 | 55 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 22 | 0 | .164 |
| 2006 | LAD | 45 | 25 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 0 | .120 |
| 2007 | LAD/SDP | 41 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 20 | 0 | .000 |
| 2008 | KCR/SDP | 22 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 |
| 2009 | NYY/OAK | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| 2011 | TEX | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Career | — | 406 | 456 | 23 | 71 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 19 | 180 | 0 | .156 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | CIN | 11 | 7 | 22 | 19 | 0 | 126.0 | 106 | 48 | 47 | 95 | 3.43 |
| 1998 | CIN | 13 | 12 | 34 | 34 | 0 | 210.2 | 198 | 104 | 64 | 162 | 4.44 |
| 1999 | CIN | 5 | 7 | 33 | 26 | 0 | 172.0 | 175 | 94 | 60 | 132 | 4.92 |
| 2000 | SEA | 7 | 5 | 32 | 8 | 1 | 92.1 | 92 | 48 | 40 | 59 | 4.68 |
| 2001 | SEA | 3 | 1 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 34.2 | 42 | 20 | 15 | 22 | 5.19 |
| 2002 | SDP | 10 | 10 | 32 | 32 | 0 | 204.1 | 212 | 102 | 60 | 126 | 4.49 |
| 2003 | STL | 13 | 9 | 33 | 32 | 0 | 202.2 | 252 | 119 | 57 | 114 | 5.28 |
| 2004 | SFG | 11 | 7 | 32 | 31 | 0 | 194.0 | 196 | 87 | 64 | 108 | 4.04 |
| 2005 | SFG | 8 | 15 | 33 | 30 | 1 | 190.2 | 205 | 95 | 57 | 114 | 4.48 |
| 2006 | LAD | 8 | 7 | 44 | 15 | 0 | 112.1 | 123 | 59 | 29 | 76 | 4.73 |
| 2007 | LAD/SDP | 4 | 12 | 40 | 19 | 0 | 131.1 | 149 | 81 | 48 | 105 | 5.55 |
| 2008 | KCR/SDP | 2 | 7 | 22 | 10 | 0 | 70.0 | 83 | 49 | 18 | 49 | 6.30 |
| 2009 | NYY/OAK | 5 | 3 | 21 | 6 | 0 | 57.1 | 50 | 24 | 13 | 33 | 3.77 |
| 2011 | TEX | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 17.2 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 14 | 4.58 |
| Career | — | 100 | 103 | 397 | 266 | 2 | 1816.0 | 1898 | 939 | 582 | 1209 | 4.65 |
On this day & linked events
1997
Major-league debut: Brett Tomko
Brett Tomko made a major-league debut on May 27, 1997.
2011
Final major-league game: Brett Tomko
Brett Tomko played a final major-league game on May 24, 2011.
Image: Public domain