Joseph Charboneau (born June 17, 1955 in Belvidere, Illinois) was a Major League Baseball player for the Cleveland Indians and is one of the most oft-cited examples of a flash in the pan or baseball's fabled sophomore jinx.

Early career[link]

The 21-year-old Charboneau was originally drafted in the sixth round of the June 1976 draft by the Minnesota Twins, but he did not sign with them; when the Philadelphia Phillies made him their second-round pick in the December supplementary draft, Joe was sent to the Class A Western Carolina League, where he hit .298 in 43 games. In 1977, however, he suddenly quit the Phillies' Carolina League affiliate after fighting with management, and went home to Belvidere to play softball. The following year, Minnesota, the team that originally drafted Charboneau, gave him another chance and assigned him to Visalia of the California League; he responded with a .350 average, fourth-best in the league. At season's end, though, after participating in a barroom brawl, Joe was traded to the Cleveland Indians organization for major-league pitcher Cardell Camper.

"Super Joe"[link]

Charboneau broke out in 1979 with a .352 average for the Indians' AA team in Chattanooga, pacing the Southern League. In 1980, it looked like Joe was headed to AAA Charleston -- until Andre Thornton was felled by a knee injury, giving Charboneau his shot at the big leagues.

Trouble continued to follow him; while in Mexico for an exhibition game on March 8, a crazed fan stuck Joe with a pen knife. The knife penetrated four inches and hit a rib, but Charboneau played his first regular-season game just over a month later, on April 11. (The assailant was duly arrested and fined 50 pesos. "That's $2.27 for stabbing a person," Charboneau said.)

Splitting time between left field and designated hitter, Charboneau soon captured the city's imagination, not just with his production (a .289 average coupled with 23 home runs and 87 RBI, leading the team in both categories), but also his eccentricities. Long before Dennis Rodman came on the scene, Joe had a tendency to dye his hair unnatural colors, as well as open beer bottles with his eye socket and drink beer with a straw through his nose. Other stories emerged about how he did his own dental work and fixed a broken nose with a pair of pliers and a few shots of Jack Daniel's whiskey, stood out; by mid-season, Charboneau was the subject of a song, "Go Joe Charboneau", that reached #3 on the local charts.^[1]

Despite a few nagging injures late in the season, Charboneau played 131 games in 1980 and won the American League Rookie of the Year award, the first Indian to claim the award since Chris Chambliss in 1971.

Decline[link]

Charboneau injured his back in a headfirst slide in spring training the following year. He tried to play through the pain but was hitting only .208 at the time of the 1981 Major League Baseball strike that interrupted the season. Just after the players came back in early August, though, Joe was sent to AAA Charleston, making him the first Rookie-of-the-Year to be returned the minors the following season. After 18 games with the Charlies (where he hit just .217), he returned to the big club on August 28. His final big-league numbers for 1981: .210 average, just four homers and 18 RBI in 138 at-bats. He underwent back surgery over the winter.

Things did not improve for Charboneau in 1982: after only 22 games with the Indians, Joe and his .214 average where shipped back to Charleston, then to AA Chattanooga again. Playing in the same league he had torn apart three years earlier, he could only manage a dismal .207 mark. Joe endured another back surgery after the season, but seemingly nothing could allow him to regain his timing at the plate. Finally, in 1983, when batting .200 for AA Buffalo, Charboneau gave jeering fans an obscene gesture, leading to his quick release. However, the Pittsburgh Pirates took a flyer on him in 1984, and he managed a .289 average in the Carolina League (though at 29, he was easily the oldest player in the loop). A shot with the Pirates AAA team in Hawaii ended after 15 games, and "Super Joe" retired from the game. (Joe did make one more appearance in a baseball uniform that year, but only on celluloid: he was an extra in the film The Natural, playing one of Roy Hobbs' teammates.)

After baseball[link]

Charboneau dabbled in sports management after his retirement, and even hosted his own radio show for a time. He returned to baseball in 1999 with the Canton Crocodiles of the Frontier League, serving as hitting instructor, first base coach, and director of baseball operations through 2001. (He even stepped in as a pinch-hitter in 2000, singling in his only at-bat.) He later worked for several other Frontier League teams in Washington, Windy City, Richmond and Chillicothe.

Today, he works as a hitting coach, giving lessons at Fielder's Choice Baseball and regularly does autograph signings in the greater Cleveland area. After stints as a hitting coach for the Victoria (TX) Generals in the Texas Collegiate League and at Notre Dame College, located in Cleveland, he became the head of the baseball program at the Parks and Recreation Department for the city of North Ridgeville, Ohio.

In January 2010, Charboneau was taken to the hospital after a bar fight in North Ridgeville.^[2] Joe wound up receiving seven staples in his head, but no charges were filed.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Pluto, Terry (2009-02-26). "Every rookie has a shot to make it -- just ask Super Joe Charboneau". The Plain Dealer. http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/index.ssf/2009/02/every_rookie_has_a_shot_to_mak.html. Retrieved 2009-03-10. 

Donald Lee Cockroft (born February 6, 1945) is a former American football punter and placekicker who played thirteen seasons in the National Football League with the Cleveland Browns. He has the third most career points for a Brown behind fellow kickers Phil Dawson (second) and Lou Groza.

Cockroft served as the Browns' primary punter and placekicker for the first nine seasons of his career. In 1977 he dropped punting from his duties and became solely a placekicker. He and Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker/punter Dave Green were two of the last NFL players to lead their teams in both punting and kicking in the same season (1976).

Later NFL players to have this dual distinction were Steve Little of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1979, and Frank Corral for the Los Angeles Rams in 1980 and 1981.

This biographical article relating to an American football kicker is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Brett Lawrie
Toronto Blue Jays – No. 13
Third baseman
Born: (1990-01-18) January 18, 1990 (age 22) Langley, British Columbia
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
August 5, 2011 for the Toronto Blue Jays
Career statistics (through May 31, 2012)
Batting average	.287
Hits	96
Home runs	13
Runs batted in	46
Stolen bases	14
Teams
Toronto Blue Jays (2011–present)

Medal record
Men’s Baseball
Competitor for  Canada
Baseball World Cup
Bronze	2009 Nettuno	National team

Brett R. Lawrie (born January 18, 1990 in Langley, British Columbia^[1]) is a Canadian professional baseball third baseman with the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball. He was traded to the Blue Jays from the Milwaukee Brewers on December 5, 2010 in a deal for starting pitcher Shaun Marcum.^[2] He is the brother of University of Washington softball pitcher Danielle Lawrie.

Minor League career[link]

While playing high school baseball for the Langley Blaze of the B.C. Premier Baseball League, Lawrie was selected with the 16th overall pick in the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft by the Brewers.^[3][4] The selection of Lawrie was the fourth highest a Canadian player has ever been drafted, behind only Jeff Francis, Adam Loewen, and Phillippe Aumont and the highest a Canadian position player has ever been drafted (Loewen was drafted as a pitcher, but now is a position player in the New York Mets organization).

Lawrie was a member of the Canadian Junior National Team at the 2008 World Junior Baseball Championship where he led the tournament with a .469 batting average, 3 home runs and 16 RBIs.^[5] He was also selected to play for Canada at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Lawrie batting for the Las Vegas 51s, Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, in 2011.

Lawrie represented Canada once again during the 2009 World Baseball Classic at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario.^[6] His only appearance during Canada's brief run in the tournament came during a 6–5 loss to the United States where he pinch ran for Joey Votto in the 9th inning.

Although he was used primarily as a catcher for the Blaze, Lawrie transitioned to second base when he was assigned to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the Midwest League to begin the 2009 season. He was selected to play for the World Team at the 2009 MLB All-Star Futures Game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.^[7][8] He was promoted to the Double-A Huntsville Stars in mid-August. On June 23 Lawrie was selected to the 2010 Futures Games, his second selection.

Lawrie finished the 2010 season with a .285 batting average, 8 homeruns, 63 RBIs, 90 runs, 16 triples and 30 stolen bases in 135 games with Huntsville. For his efforts he was named to the Southern League Post-Season All-Star team on September 1, 2010. Considered by many to be one of Milwaukee's top prospects, he was traded on December 6, 2010 to the Toronto Blue Jays for starting pitcher Shaun Marcum. Despite already having switched positions from catcher to second base after the Brewers drafted him, the Blue Jays moved Lawrie to third base.^[9]

On May 31, Lawrie was hit in the hand by a pitch and left the game with what was initially believed to be a broken hand. X-rays were negative and he was considered day-to-day, until it was later revealed by CAT scan that there is a non-displaced fracture, and he was expected to miss 2–3 weeks.^[10][11]

After a brief stint in Single-A Dunedin ending with a game where he was hit by a pitch twice, Lawrie was promoted back to Triple-A Las Vegas on July 18, 2011.^[12]

Lawrie on the field prior to a game in 2011.

He was named the third baseman on Baseball America's 2011 Minor League All Star team.^[13]

Major League Career[link]

2011[link]

On August 4, 2011, Lawrie was called up to the Blue Jays. Travis Snider was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Lawrie.^[14] He made his debut on August 5 against the Baltimore Orioles.^[15] In his first career at-bat, he recorded his first career hit and RBI. He finished 2–4 with 1 RBI and a fielding error.^[16] Two games later, he hit his first career home run, a solo shot off of starter Alfredo Simón. In his second game at home on August 10, Lawrie recorded his first career grand slam off of Oakland reliever Craig Breslow. The grand slam was also his first hit at the Rogers Centre.^[17] In the following series against the Los Angeles Angels, Lawrie recorded his first career triple and stolen base. On September 5, Lawrie hit his first career walkoff home run, a solo shot in the 11th inning off reliever Dan Wheeler to defeat the Boston Red Sox 1–0.^[18]

Lawrie's first season ended prematurely when, on September 21, he fractured the middle finger on his right hand while fielding during batting practice. He finished his first season with a batting average of .293, 9 home runs, 26 runs scored, 7 stolen bases and 25 RBI in 161 plate appearances.^[19]

2012[link]

Brett Lawrie made the 40-man roster during the Toronto Blue Jays 2012 season. ^[20]

On May 1, 2012, Lawrie hit a game-winning, walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the 9th inning to give the Blue Jays an 8-7 win against the Texas Rangers.^[21] In a game against the Tampa Bay Rays on May 15, Lawrie was ejected from a game after objecting to being called out on two consecutive strikes by umpire Bill Miller. The two pitches in question, thought to be balls by Lawrie, were shown to be outside the strike zone on instant replay. Lawrie started down the baseline, only to hear the strikeout call, and turned and yelled. Miller then ejected him, and Lawrie threw his helmet on the ground. The helmet bounced and made contact with Miller. Manager John Farrell was also ejected after arguing with Miller.^[22] Lawrie was suspended for four games by Major League Baseball, and initially appealed the suspension but dropped the appeal on May 17.^[23]

References[link]

External links[link]

Baseball portal

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• COC Profile
• MiLB.com player profile
• Brett Lawrie on Twitter