Brian Walter Sackinsky (born June 22, 1971), is an American former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who played in with the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

International career

Sackinsky played for the

United States national under-18 baseball team The United States national under-18 baseball team is the national under-18 baseball team of United States in international-level baseball competitions. The organization is currently ranked 2nd in the world by the International Baseball Federatio ...

which went undefeated en route to a gold medal at the 1989

World Junior Baseball Championship The U-18 Baseball World Cup is the 18-and-under baseball world championship sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and its successor, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), and was first held in 1981 in the United S ...

in Trois-Rivières, Quebec.

Amateur career

Sackinsky played baseball at South Park High School in

South Park, Pennsylvania South Park Township is a township in the southern part of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, near Pittsburgh. The population was 13,416 at the 2010 census. A large portion of the township consists of a county park of the same name. ...

. After high school, he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

. As a freshman, he pitched a

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

to win an elimination game against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

in the

1990 College World Series The 1990 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was played at the end of the 1990 NCAA Division I baseball season to determine the national champion of college baseball. The tournament concluded with eight teams competing in the College World Series, ...

. Georgia had beaten them 16-2 in their previous game. Sackinsky was described by

William C. Rhoden William C. Rhoden is an American sports journalist and author, who formerly worked as a columnist for ''The New York Times'' from 1983 until 2016, when he joined ESPN's The Undefeated as a writer-at-large, where he is currently employed. Rhoden ...

in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as " rhaps the greatest surprise for Stanford" that season along with

Jeffrey Hammonds Jeffrey Bryan Hammonds (born March 5, 1971) is an American former professional baseball player. Hammonds was an outfielder and played for the Baltimore Orioles (1993–1998), Cincinnati Reds (1998–1999), Colorado Rockies (2000), Milwaukee ...

Professional career

He was selected by the

in the second round of the

1992 Major League Baseball draft The 1992 Major League Baseball draft took place on June 1, 1992, through a conference call involving all 28 MLB teams of the time. Phil Nevin of Cal State Fullerton was the first overall selection, chosen by the Houston Astros. Derek Jeter, select ...

. He was assigned to the

Frederick Keys The Frederick Keys are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. The Keys are based in Frederick, Maryland. The franchise is named for "Star-Spangled Banner" writer Francis Scott Key, a native of Frederick County. A new team masco ...

to begin his professional career but was demoted to the rookie-level

Bluefield Orioles Bluefield may refer to: *Bluefield, Virginia, US *Bluefield, West Virginia, US *Nvidia BlueField, a line of computer hardware See also *Bluefields Bluefields is the capital of the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, South Caribbean Autonomo ...

by August. In the fall of 1994, he played with

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

for the

Scottsdale Scorpions The Scottsdale Scorpions are a baseball team that plays in the East Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games in Scottsdale, Arizona, at Scottsdale Stadium, which is also the spring training facility of the San Francisco Gia ...

in the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season sports league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during the autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are fill ...

. During the

1994–95 Major League Baseball strike The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike was the eighth and longest work stoppage in baseball history, as well as the fourth in-season work stoppage in 22 years. The strike began on August 12, 1994, and resulted in the remainder of that season ...

, Sackinsky worked out with his former college baseball team before returning to stay at his parents' home in

Library, Pennsylvania Library is an unincorporated community in South Park Township, Pennsylvania along Brownsville Road. Originally known as ''Loafer's Hollow'', it was renamed Library by its residents in honor of the first library in the area, founded by John Moore ...

where he worked out with his former high school team. When the 1995 season began, Sackinsky took the mound for the

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field ...

as the first pitcher in the history of

Frontier Field Innovative Field (originally known as Frontier Field) is a baseball stadium located at One Morrie Silver Way in downtown Rochester, New York. It has been the home of the Rochester Red Wings of the International League since 1997. The park opened ...

. Sackinsky sat out nearly a month in the first half of the 1995 season due to elbow inflammation before undergoing surgery that summer. Early in the 1996 season, he was called up to the majors for the first time in his career to replace an injured

Armando Benítez Armando Benítez (born November 3, 1972) is a Dominican former major league relief pitcher. Benítez debuted with the Baltimore Orioles in 1994 and within a few years became their closer. He was a reliever for several other organizations after Ba ...

. He made his Major League debut on April 20 and pitched four innings in relief of

Jimmy Haynes Jimmy Wayne Haynes (born September 5, 1972) is an American former professional baseball right-handed pitcher. Haynes was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 7th round of the 1991 Major League Baseball Draft. He made his Major League Baseball ...

, allowing one

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an err ...

. Sackinsky appeared in two more games between his debut and his final Major League game on April 24. On April 25, the Orioles demoted Sackinsky to Triple-A Rochester to make room on the roster for

Keith Shepherd Keith Wayne Shepherd (born January 21, 1968) is an American former baseball middle relief pitcher. Shepherd played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from through for the Philadelphia Phillies (1992), Colorado Rockies (1993), Boston Red Sox (1995 ...

. Following the 1996 season, Orioles General Manager

Pat Gillick Lawrence Patrick David Gillick (born August 22, 1937) is an American professional baseball executive. He previously served as the general manager of four MLB teams: the Toronto Blue Jays (1978–1994), Baltimore Orioles (1996–1998), Seattle Ma ...

told ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...

'' that Sackinsky told the Orioles organization that he would be retiring instead of undergoing

reconstructive surgery Reconstructive surgery is surgery performed to restore normal appearance and function to body parts malformed by a disease or medical condition. Description Reconstructive surgery is a term with training, clinical, and reimbursement implica ...

on his elbow. However, only two days later, his agent told the press that he had decided not to retire after getting a second opinion from the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

team doctor. Sackinsky pitched two more years in Baltimore's

farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

. His last professional season came in 1998.

Personal life

, Sackinsky was engaged to be married to a

student. , Sackinsky was working for

Nike, Inc. Nike, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and services. The company is headquartered ne ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sackinsky, Brian 1971 births Living people Albany Polecats players Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Pennsylvania Bluefield Orioles players Bowie Baysox players Frederick Keys players Gulf Coast Orioles players Major League Baseball pitchers Rochester Red Wings players Stanford Cardinal baseball players