July 27, 2011
Journey continues for Bridgeport's Greenberg
by Kevin Henkin/
Adam Greenberg suffered a horrendous beaning on the only pitch he saw in the majors.
As a ballplayer, Adam Greenberg is probably best known for being hit in the head by a fastball. He owns the cruel distinction of being the only major leaguer ever to be hit by the one pitch thrown to him. Six years after that fateful pitch, he’s still chasing his dream of making it back to the bigs for at least one more official at-bat and thus losing his curious claim to fame.
July 9, 2005, was the day that everything changed for Greenberg. Two days earlier, the Guilford, Conn., native had been called up by the Chicago Cubs from their Double-A affiliate in Tennessee. He flew into Florida with the Cubs, who were set to play a three-game series against the Marlins.
It was a heady time for Greenberg, a ninth-round pick in the 2002 MLB draft. His parents and three of his siblings were able to arrange for flights to Florida and were there to witness Greenberg’s major-league debut in person. Dusty Baker, the manager of the Cubs at the time, knew that Greenberg’s family members were in the stands. With his team up 4-2 in the ninth inning, Baker inserted Greenberg into the game as a pinch-hitter.
Valerio de los Santos, the big lefty on the mound for the Marlins, lost control of his first pitch to Greenberg. The 92 mph fastball sailed high and struck Greenberg just behind his right ear, causing him to collapse like a sack of sand in the batter’s box.
“It caught me square on the head,” Greenberg said. “They could see the seam marks from the ball right away.”
Although Greenberg was eventually led back to the clubhouse on his own two feet, the aftereffects of the concussion caused by the errant pitch continued to haunt him. In the weeks that followed, he suffered steadily from headaches and dizziness. He was eventually diagnosed with positional vertigo, a condition that can cause problems with vision and balance.
Since then, Greenberg has become somewhat of an expert in dealing with adversity. Although he returned to the field in 2006, the symptoms of vertigo were still present and his play suffered considerably. He was released by the Cubs halfway through the season. From there, it was a series of starts and stops at the minor-league level with other MLB-affiliated organizations, including the Dodgers and Angels of Los Angels and the Kansas City Royals.
Greenberg’s closest shot to date at making it back to the bigs, however, came courtesy of an old friend. In February 2009, Greenberg received an invitation to the Cincinnati Reds’ spring training from their second-year manager, Dusty Baker.
“Dusty invited me to camp, and it was awesome,” Greenberg said. “I had a great camp, I wasn’t really supposed to make any team. That’s what they told me going in, that it would be such a far stretch because it was such a late invitation.”
“I didn’t invite him to be nice,” Baker told reporters at the time. “It was because he can play. I know he can help a team. That’s why he was there.”
Greenberg indeed played well enough that spring to earn a spot with the organization at the Triple-A level, with hopes of getting a shot with the big club sometime that season. Instead, last-minute roster machinations derailed that plan.
“On the last day, I got my flight arrangements and everything was good,” Greenberg said. “I was going to Triple A, and it was really like everything came together at the same time in a positive way. Then literally on the last day, I ended up getting released. A couple guys cleared waivers, another guy accepted an assignment that wasn’t expected to do so, and I was the odd man out.”
Greenberg took the release hard. He’d spent some time with the Bridgeport Bluefish of the independent Atlantic League in 2008, and he signed with the Bluefish again in 2009 but had a difficult time keeping his head in the game.
“I was focusing a lot more on off-the-field business stuff,” he said.
“Also, as much as my heart was trying to be there, it was just hard emotionally getting to that point (with the Reds) and getting knocked down again.”
To make matters worse, Greenberg ended his disappointing 2009 season by tearing his rotator cuff while diving for a ball in center field.
He returned to play 105 games for Bridgeport in 2010 but nonetheless considered it a season lost to recovery from offseason surgery.
Heading into this season, however, Greenberg felt truly healthy for the first time in years.
“This year, I don’t have anything wrong,” he said. “My legs feel great, my vision has no issues and my shoulder is fully recovered, so it’s fun to play this way.”
Greenberg spent a day with the New York Mets in March to demonstrate his renewed health and ever-present speed. Although the Mets didn’t have a spot for him, team officials let him know they’d be keeping an eye on his play with the Bluefish.
In April, on opening day in Bridgeport, Greenberg was given an opportunity to achieve some closure. Facing Valerio de los Santos (now with Long Island Ducks, making his own bid to return to the majors at 38 years old) for the first time since that wayward fastball in 2005, Greenberg singled to right field. It was a nice moment, but Greenberg insists he isn’t much interested in closure these days. He’s far more invested in resuming his career at the major-league level and believes strongly that he has the skill set to do so, even at 30 years old.
The numbers this year, his best by far in his four seasons with the Bluefish, are helping Greenberg to make his case. As the team’s leadoff hitter, through 37 games this season, Greenberg was batting .270 with a gaudy team-leading OBP of .434. But what jumps off the page most are his extra-base hit numbers: one double and six triples. Such numbers reflect a player who attacks the game with his speed, an approach that Greenberg takes considerable pride in.
“When I hit the ball in the gap, I’m trying to take the extra base,” he said. “That’s how I play the game. I’m not going to just slow things down because I’m 30 years old. I’m going to go 100 miles an hour as best as I can every day. Speed is as big of an asset as I have. Day in and day out, speed doesn’t usually slump.”
With his strong play and clean bill of health this year, Greenberg at last feels ready to start spreading the word on his own behalf.
“Last year wasn’t the time for making any calls,” he said. “I wasn’t where I needed to be or was comfortable in knowing that I could really help anybody. At this point, I probably will start making those calls.
There’s no reason to be holding anything back so I’ll be using all the relationships and contacts that I have and hopefully somebody (in a major-league organization) will take notice and give me a shot.”
This article originally appeared in the July 2011 issue of New England Baseball Journal.
Kevin Henkin can be reached at feedback@baseballjournal.com
