Mack Daniel Sasser (born August 3, 1962), nicknamed "The Hacker", is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

who played in

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), ...

from 1987 through 1995 for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

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 ...

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

and

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

. Sasser is known for the difficulty he regularly encountered in "double clutching" balls to the

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 ...

that had been thrown to him, although he performed competently as a catcher otherwise. He appeared in 534 games in his career, getting 317 hits with sixteen

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, 156

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

and a career .267

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

Early career

Born in

Fort Gaines, Georgia Fort Gaines is a city in Georgia, United States, with a population of 1,107 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Clay County. History The present town of Fort Gaines was founded in 1816 as protection against the indigenous Creeks an ...

, Sasser 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 ...

Wallace Community College Wallace Community College (WCC) (formally known as George C. Wallace Community College) is a public community college in Dothan, Alabama. It is named after the father of Alabama governor George Wallace. It serves approximately 6,000 students wi ...

Dothan, Alabama Dothan () is a city in Dale, Henry, and Houston counties and the Houston county seat in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is Alabama's eighth-largest city, with a population of 71,072 at the 2020 census. It is near the state's southeastern corner, ...

and was drafted in the fifth round of the

1984 Major League Baseball Draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1984 Major League Baseball draft. Other notable players *Jeff Blauser†, 1st round (secondary phase), 4th overall by the Atlanta Braves * Greg Maddux‡, 2nd round, 31st ...

by the

. He debuted in the major leagues with the Giants on July 17, 1987, appearing in two games before being traded to the

with cash for pitcher Don Robinson, where he played 12 games during the remainder of the season.

Mets career

On March 26, 1988, Sasser was traded to the

with pitcher

Tim Drummond Timothy Lee Drummond (20 April 1940 – 10 January 2015) was an American musician from Canton, Illinois. Drummond's primary instrument was bass guitar and he toured and recorded with many notable artists, including Conway Twitty, Bob Dylan, James ...

for former Mets prospect

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

Randy Milligan Randall Andre Milligan (born November 27, 1961) is a former American Professional Baseball first baseman who played from 1987 to 1994. He is currently a scout with the Baltimore Orioles of the Major League Baseball (MLB). Milligan is nicknamed "M ...

and a minor league player. With the Mets he was used as a backup for catcher

Gary Carter Gary Edmund Carter (April 8, 1954 – February 16, 2012) was an American professional baseball catcher whose 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career was spent primarily with the Montreal Expos and New York Mets. Nicknamed "the Kid" for his y ...

for two seasons before playing 100 games in the season. That year he had 83 hits and a .307 batting average. After a serious collision with

Jim Presley James Arthur Presley (born October 23, 1961) is a former Major League Baseball infielder with an eight-year career from 1984 to 1991. He played for the Seattle Mariners of the American League and the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres of the Na ...

of the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

at home plate, Sasser began to hesitate and repeat his motion when returning the ball to the pitcher, a normally routine activity (he did not have this problem when throwing to second base on an attempted stolen base). In , he played 96 games for a .272 batting average and in he went back to a backup role where he played in 92 games for only 141 at-bats and a .241 batting average.

Later career

Sasser was granted

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

status after the season, signing a two-year contract with the

.Mackey Sasser
- Baseballbiography.com He appeared in 83 games as a backup in the season where he hit for only a .218 batting average. Seattle demoted him to third-string catcher after that season, appearing in only three games with them in the season, going hitless in three games before getting released. Sasser then signed a contract with the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

on May 20, 1994, but was released a month later without playing in a game. Sasser re-signed with the Pirates for the season and played in fourteen games, getting four hits in 26 at-bats before being released in mid-May and retired as an active player. After his playing career, Sasser became a baseball coach at

as well as athletic director of the college in 2011. He retired at the conclusion of the 2022 season after 25 years as the head baseball coach for the Governors. After experiencing difficulty throwing batting practice to his players, he was finally able to overcome the problem with help from psychotherapist David Grand.

References

External links

Mackey Sasser
at Baseball Almanac
Pelota Binaria (Venezuelan Winter League)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sasser, Mackey 1962 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Calgary Cannons players Cardenales de Lara players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Clinton Giants players Fresno Giants players Major League Baseball catchers New York Mets players Olmecas de Tabasco players People from Fort Gaines, Georgia Petroleros de Minatitlán players Phoenix Firebirds players Pittsburgh Pirates players San Francisco Giants players Seattle Mariners players Shreveport Captains players Troy Trojans baseball players Vancouver Canadians players Wichita Wranglers players Wallace Governors baseball players Junior college baseball coaches in the United States