Missed it by that much: The Karl Pagel story

If there was a Futures Game in 1980 he would have been a headliner.

Karl Pagel was a can’t miss star. He was a high draft pick of the Chicago Cubs in 1976 and absolutely tore up the minor leagues.  He hit .344 in AA in 1977 with 28 homers and 104 RBI and was named the MVP of the Texas League. He followed that up by hitting another 23 homers in AAA in 1978 and earning a cup of coffee with the Cubs where he went hitless in two at-bats.

Despite playing on a last-place team, Pagel led the American Association in homers (39) and RBI (123) in 1979, besting future big leaguers like Kevin Bass, Keith Moreland and Harold Baines. He earned minor league Player of the Year honors and a shot in the outfield for a mediocre Cubs team in 1980 seemed like a lock. The Wrigley Field faithful must have been salivating over the prospect of Pagel and Dave Kingman launching home runs out of the Friendly Confines.

But while Kingman and Pagel may have combined to hit 80 or more homers, they also would have made up one of the worst defensive outfields in the big leagues and the Cubs brass knew it.

“He’s not a good outfielder,” AAA Wichita Manager Jack Hiatt told the Chicago Tribune. “His future is at first base.”

That was a problem because Bill Buckner was locked in at first base for the Cubs and he wasn’t high on Pagel’s defense either.

“I can’t see Pagel and Kingman in the same outfield,” he said.

So despite proving he had nothing left to prove in AAA, Pagel was sent back to Wichita to begin 1980 where he struggled at the plate and then injured his shoulder and his back. He tried to stay optimistic, but it was difficult.

“This is one of the lowest times I ever had, he told the Tribune. “I was so close to making it. I said in the spring that I would rather sit on the Cubs bench than come back here (AAA) but the Cubs made the right move.”

Midway through the 1980 season, Pagel was dealt to the Cleveland Indians, which seemed like an even better fit. He could serve as a DH and send baseballs flying all over ballparks in the American League. Pencil Pagel and Charboneau into the middle of the Cleveland lineup for the rest of the decade.

But 1980 came and went and Pagel never made an appearance with the Indians. He hit .272 with 20 homers for AAA Charleston in 1981 and earned a September callup with the Indians.

On September 15th, Pagel pinch hit for Mike Fishlin with two outs in the bottom of the 9th against Dennis Martinez and hit his first big league homer. Unfortunately it was also his only homer. He finished his major league career in 1983 with Cleveland after playing in a total of 48 games.

Was he the perfect example of a AAAA player? One too good for AAA but not good enough for the big leagues? Possibly. It’s also possible he never got a shot to prove himself. He had a total of just 56 at-bats over five seasons and most of those were as a pinch-hitter or late-inning replacement.

Pagel isn’t unique. There are lots of guys who had great minor league careers and couldn’t put it together at the big league level and those stories always fascinate me. It just goes to show how difficult the game really is.