Russ McGinnis

Russell Brent McGinnis (born June 18, 1963) is an American former professional baseball catcher who played for two seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in 14 games for the Texas Rangers in 1992 and three games for the Kansas City Royals in 1995.

Amateur career McGinnis attended Sooner High School in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

He began his college baseball career with two seasons at Connors State College in Oklahoma. The Oklahoman said in 1982 that McGinnis was "expected" to be selected in the January phase of the Major League Baseball draft, but he was not.

McGinnis next played for the Oklahoma Sooners. In two seasons, he slashed .356/.439/.595 with 25 home runs and 109 runs batted in. He was twice named to the All-Big Eight Conference Team as a catcher. After two seasons, McGinnis was unsatisfied with how slowly he was moving through Milwaukee's farm system and requested a trade.

During spring training in 1989, McGinnis dislocated his thumb and had to be reassigned to minor league camp. In December 1990, the Chicago Cubs selected McGinnis in the Rule 5 draft from the Brewers.

McGinnis was playing for the Iowa Cubs in April 1991 when, during a bench-clearing brawl against the Oklahoma City 89ers, he was handcuffed to a fence at All Sports Stadium by the Oklahoma City Police Department. He finished the season leading the team in home runs, runs batted in, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

On June 3, 1992, the Texas Rangers placed Jack Daugherty on the disabled list and promoted McGinnis to the majors for the first time in his career. He made his major league debut that day against the New York Yankees at Arlington Stadium. He started at catcher and recorded a hit (off of Greg Cadaret) and a walk (off of John Habyan) in three plate appearances. He also threw out Kevin Maas attempting to steal second base. After returning to the minors, McGinnis suffered a broken toe. Nonetheless, McGinnis had a strong remainder of the season in the minors. When the rosters expanded in September 1992, the Rangers declined to call him up. McGinnis was upset enough with the Rangers for not promoting him that he signed with a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals following the season.

McGinnis underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in late May or early June of 1994. In March 1995, he refused to play with replacement players during the ongoing strike. On April 25, the Royals added him to their major league roster. He went hitless in six plate appearances over three games and was waived on May 15 when MLB rosters were reduced from 28 to 25 players.

Personal life McGinnis went by his full first name, Russell, until college, where he was known as "Rusty McGinnis."

, McGinnis was married.