Kevin Blankenship

Kevin DeWayne Blankenship (born January 26, 1963) is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves. A veteran minor league journeyman, Blankenship played in eight seasons with four different Major League Baseball farm systems during his time as a professional player. Blankenship's career highlights came in and when his stellar pitching not only earned him back-to-back minor league all-star selections but also two separate major league call-ups to pitch for the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs, respectively.

Early career

Blankenship began his baseball career at El Dorado High School, Blankenship was signed by the Braves as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Arizona.

He spent his minor league debut with the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Braves in as a reliever. He showed up at 11:45 a.m. And then, on September 24, 1989, Blankenship arrived 15 minutes late for an 8:30 a.m. physical. At that point, Zimmer sent Blankenship home to Fullerton, California. "I overlooked (the first infraction)", Zimmer told The Chicago Tribune, "I'm thinking to myself, 'How the hell could somebody oversleep a day game and show up at a quarter to 12?'" After the second instance of tardiness, however, Zimmer's patience ran out. "I called him into my office and said, 'Go on home.' I gave him the benefit of the doubt (previously). I could have fined him $300–$400. I can't stand being late. I sent him home. That's it. I didn't ask for any explanation."

1990 season Several months later, Blankenship played winter league ball in Venezuela, going 6–1 with a 1.81 earned-run average. In January 1990, Zimmer told the Chicago Sun-Times that Blankenship would be back for spring training. "That's forgotten," he told the paper. "It's over with." And in spring training 1990, Blankenship told the Sun-Times that the issue of tardiness was in his past. "We talked," Blankenship said, referring to Zimmer. "From what I gather, it won't be held against me. The problem won't pop up again unless I do something to make it. And I don't plan on doing that. Everything I know and have heard of Zim, he's not the kind of guy to hold grudges."

The 1990 Cubs had a rash of injuries to their starting pitchers, and Blankenship again found himself in the majors in May. He made just two starts, losing both. His final appearance was in relief of Mike Bielecki on June 12 in a game the Cubs ended up losing 19–8 at Wrigley Field. Blankenship allowed two runs in 2 innings on a day when Cub outfielder Doug Dascenzo pitched a scoreless ninth inning, the only Cub hurler not to allow a run that day.

Later career After spending the rest of 1990 in Iowa, Blankenship became a free agent. He signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates and pitched for their AAA farm team in Buffalo in 1991, then closed out his career pitching in Oklahoma City in 1992 for Texas's AAA affiliate. Blankenship retired after the 1992 season with a major league record of 1–3 and a 4.59 ERA.