Corky Miller: A Louisville Legend
Veteran catcher Corky Miller has been around the block when it comes to professional baseball clubs.
However, the native of Yucaipa, Calif., will likely go down in history for one organization in particular - the Cincinnati Reds.
Miller was signed by the organization as a non-drafted free agent in 1998 out of the University of Nevada-Reno and spent the first seven years of his career with the club. He worked his way through Rookie, Class A and Double-A baseball during the first three and half years of his career and made his first appearance with Louisville late in the 2001 season - way back when they were known as the RiverBats. After hitting an impressive .347 in his first 44 games with the team, Miller got the call up to the big club in Cincinnati.
He jumped around between Louisville and Cincinnati in each season from his debut until 2004, but was claimed off waivers by the Minnesota Twins on October 4 of the same year.
Over the next five years (2005-2009), Miller played for as many organizations as there were seasons - Minnesota, Seattle, Boston, Atlanta and the Chicago White Sox - but ultimately made his way back to Louisville via a trade with the White Sox for outfielder Norris Hopper on June 26, 2009.
He has since remained in Louisville, again jumping between there and Cincinnati, and has had one of the most prolific careers in Bats' history.
In 2013, Miller set a franchise record by appearing in a Louisville uniform for his ninth season.
Now entering his 10th season with the team, Miller has a chance to etch his name atop a number of Louisville's career record lists.
Having played 523 games throughout his career with the Bats, Miller enters the 2014 season only 22 games played shy of breaking Bill Lyons record of 544 - a number that, if he stays healthy, he should surpass. His 96 doubles leave him only one behind the current franchise record holder, Kevin Barker, who is also the only man Miller trails in the RBI category with 231. The veteran also enters 2014 fifth on the franchise list in hits (404) and fourth in both home runs (50) and at-bats (1,640).
Throughout his 16-year career, Miller is a .242 hitter with 127 home runs and 535 RBIs, but he has also been seen, although rarely, in another capacity - as a pitcher. The right handed knuckleballer has made six appearances on the mound in his career (four with the Bats) and has posted a career 6.75 ERA in 6.2 innings pitched.
At 37 years old, Miller's career is undoubtedly winding down, particularly for a catcher who has gone through a number of wrist, foot and hip injuries. Nonetheless, there's still a bit of baseball left in the long-time Louisville Bat and that handlebar mustache of his, and he apparently intends to squeeze every last bit of it out.
At the end of the day, whether Miller is successful in his waning years of professional baseball or not, he's made his mark in the industry, particularly with the Louisville Bats.