Mike Morgan is one of the most popular and richest Baseball Player who was born on October 8, 1959 in Tulare, Tulare, United States. Michael Thomas Morgan (born October 8, 1959) is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for twelve different teams over 25 years, and is one of 29 players in baseball history to appear in Major League baseball games in four decades (1978–2002). Upon his retirement, Morgan held the major league record for most major league teams played for (12), but this record was surpassed by Octavio Dotel in 2012 and Edwin Jackson in 2018. Because of this, Morgan was nicknamed “The Nomad” by his teammates due to his constant travel from team to team.
Morgan was traded to his sixth franchise in March, in a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers for center fielder Mike Devereaux, and remained with the team from 1989 to 1991. He had his first winning season as a pro in 1991 and earned his lone All-Star selection while finishing a 14–10 record. Morgan also led the National League with four shutouts in 1990, tied with the San Diego Padres’ Bruce Hurst. On July 28, he was at the losing end of Montreal Expos pitcher Dennis Martínez’s perfect game, even though Morgan himself was perfect through the first five innings.
After leaving the Reds as a free Agent, Morgan signed in December 1997 with the Minnesota Twins. After putting up good numbers with the Twins through August (4-2 with a 3.49 ERA and only 24 walks in 98 innings), Morgan was traded on August 25 back to the Cubs for pitcher Scott Downs and cash. While with the Cubs, he was on the mound when Mark McGwire hit his record-tying 61st home run. He also went to the post-season for the first time, relieving in two games without giving up a run, but the Cubs lost to the Atlanta Braves in the National League Division Series. On January 29, 1999, Morgan joined his 11th team, signing with the Texas Rangers as a free agent. Although he pitched to a 13-10 record, he had an ERA of 6.24 and was demoted to the bullpen late in the season.
Prior to spring training in 2000, the 40-year-old signed with his 12th team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, who successfully converted Morgan to a full-time reliever. Morgan excelled in this new role and appeared in 60 games, pitched 100 innings, and compiled an ERA that was only slightly above career average. After pitching in 31 games in 2001, including his last career start, Morgan was again in the post-season with the D-backs, appeared in all three rounds, and threw 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief helping Arizona defeat the New York Yankees in seven games to win the 2001 World Series. He was back with Arizona again in 2002 and pitched 28 games over the first three months before being sidelined by an injury. He came back to make the final appearance of his career on September 2, pitching 1 1/3 innings and giving up an unearned run in a 19-1 loss to the Dodgers. Morgan finished the season 1-1 with a 5.29 ERA and was not included on the D-Backs’ post-season roster. Following the season, Morgan retired from baseball after 21 seasons.
In 1982, Morgan pitched the entire season for the Yankees, pitching in 30 games with 23 starts. On December 9, Morgan was traded again, this time to the Toronto Blue Jays (along with outfielder/first baseman Dave Collins and future all star first baseman Fred McGriff) for minor league third baseman Tom Dodd and reliever Dale Murray. Morgan then split time between Toronto and AAA Syracuse in 1983 before spending the entire 1984 season at Syracuse. In December 1984, Morgan was taken off the Blue Jays’ 40-man roster and was subsequently chosen by the Seattle Mariners in the Rule 5 draft. After losing much of 1985 to arm trouble, Morgan spent most of the next three seasons pitching for Seattle and compiling similar numbers to his career average, going 24-35 with a 4.53 over 429 innings with 216 strikeouts and 144 walks. In a hint of later career success, Morgan collected his first career save in 1986. Although showing himself to be a solidly average starting pitcher, he would continue to struggle with his control, annually putting up dismal strikeouts-to-walk ratios, and failing to show the promise that made him a first round selection. On December 9, Morgan was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for righty starter Ken Dixon and split 1988 season between Baltimore and AAA Rochester. That year he was recognized for his humanitarian work by winning the Little League’s Junior Cy Young Award.
