Micah Franklin

A few years back I was in Sacramento for work and took in a River Cats game one evening.  I was sitting in the section behind home plate and noticed a gentleman a few rows ahead of me wearing a Yomiuri Giants hat.  Since I assumed he was a scout, I finally asked him if he was working for the Giants.  He said he wasn't, he just liked the hat, but he had played in Japan.  He turned out to be former Nippon-Ham Fighter and Hanshin Tiger Micah Franklin, who was scouting for the Mariners at the time.  I told him that I probably had a Japanese baseball card of him and let him get back to his job (or hobnobbing with the other scouts).  

Fast forward to earlier this season...

One of the things I try to do when the new baseball season rolls around is take a look at who's coaching for the teams close by to me - the Aberdeen Ironbirds and the Wilmington Blue Rocks.  (It's kind of odd that despite being much closer to Aberdeen, I end up at more Blue Rock games as I usually go with some of my friends who live in Delaware.)  I also will check the rosters of the other teams in the league as well.  Basically I'm looking to see if there are any coaches who played in Japan.  I'm not a big autograph collector but it's kind of fun to get autographs of former NPB players (both coaches and players although I usually don't go after active non-Japanese players who've played in Japan).  So I was kind of happy to discover that Wilmington's hitting coach this season was Micah Franklin.  I decide to try to get him to sign.

I made one attempt in Wilmington last month but despite planting myself at the one gate where all the players and coaches come out to the field as soon as the gates opened, I never saw him.  I don't think he came out to the field until close to game time, at which point I had had to abandon my post.  But last week the Blue Rocks were playing in Aberdeen so I decided to take another whack at it.

I arrived at Ripken Stadium soon after the gates opened and positioned myself down the right field line where the visiting team comes onto the field.  I talked a little bit with a much more serious autograph collector who actually works for the Blue Rocks.  He confirmed what I had thought about Franklin - he usually doesn't come out until close to game time.

It was getting closer and closer to game time and still Franklin had not appeared.  I asked Mark Harris, the Blue Rocks' Development Coach if "Coach Franklin" would be out soon.  Harris replied "Yes, but he's manager Franklin tonight!"  Apparently Franklin was managing the team that evening in place of Mario Lisson.  I have no idea why.

I was a bit dismayed by this news, figuring there was no way he was going to sign now but I decided to stick it out, even after the more serious autograph collector headed out.  It soon paid off as Franklin appeared, walking over to his players who were warming up by the foul line.  I called out to him, fully expecting him to blow me off but he surprised me by coming over to the stands and signing the card I had for him.  I think he was a bit surprised to see a Japanese card and he said something like "Wow!  The Fighters!".  I had originally thought that I might mention having talked to him once in Sacramento but since he was managing the team that night and it was almost time for the game to start, I just thanked him and wished him good luck.

Here's the card he signed:

2000 BBM #358

Franklin had spent two seasons in Japan  - 1999 with the Fighters and 2000 which he split between the Fighters and the Tigers.  I have a couple other cards from him:

1999 BBM #425

2000 Konami Field Of 9 #176

2021 Epoch JRFPA #32

Franklin could have used a little luck in that night's game.  The Blue Rocks took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first and kept the Ironbirds off the board through the first five innings.  In the bottom of the sixth, however, they pulled started Brad Lord from the game and replaced him with Carl Edwards Jr, a member of the Nationals who had joined the Blue Rocks on a rehab assignment.  To say it didn't go well would be an understatement.  Edwards gave up a triple and a home run to the first two batters he faced to tie the game up.  After getting the third batter to ground out, the fourth batter homered to put Aberdeen up 3-2.  The fifth batter singled and that was all for Edwards.  The Blue Rocks would tie the game on a solo home run in the seventh but the Ironbirds walked it off in the bottom of the tenth for a 4-3 victory.

Here's some photos I took of Franklin during the game:

Coaching third

Calming down Daylen Lile after he took a called third strike to end the first

Talking with the home plate umpire

In the dugout

Walking out to relieve Edwards

That makes two former NPB players I've gotten autographs from this year - Franklin and Yoh Daikan.  I'm hoping to get a third in Tomo Otosaka with the York Revolution this weekend but I was disappointed that Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh signed with the Giants yesterday after spend about two weeks with the Staten Island FerryHawks.  I had planned to see them in Lancaster the week after Labor Day and try to get him to sign then.