Mark Franklin Corey (born November 16, 1974) is a retired American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

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 ...

. He 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), ...

for the

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 ...

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

, and

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 ...

Early life

Corey attended Austin High School in

Austin, Pennsylvania Austin is a borough along the Freeman Run (river) in southwestern Potter County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 482 at the 2020 census. History In September 1856, Edward Orramel Austin came to Freeman Run. He fell in love with ...

, where he played

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and threw

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with th ...

. He was the

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

of his class. As his graduating class had only 18 students, he relied on the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

to play baseball. Corey 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 ...

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania for the

Edinboro Fighting Scots The Edinboro Fighting Scots are the athletic teams that represent Pennsylvania Western University Edinboro (known before July 2022 as Edinboro University of Pennsylvania), located in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate ...

. He was inducted into the school's athletics hall of fame in 2009.

Professional career

Corey was drafted in the fourth round of the 1995 Major League Baseball draft by the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

. He made his Major League debut in 2001 with the

. In June 2002, Corey suffered a

seizure An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with los ...

after he and Mets teammate

Tony Tarasco Anthony Giacinto Tarasco (born December 9, 1970) is an American professional baseball outfielder and coach. He played in the major leagues for the Atlanta Braves, Montreal Expos, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, and New York Yankees between 1 ...

smoked

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

outside of

Shea Stadium Shea Stadium (), formally known as William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens, New York City. Under

Major League Baseball drug policy Major League Baseball's drug policy—the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program—was established by agreement between the Major League Baseball Players Association, MLB Players Association and the Commissioner of Baseball, Office of the Comm ...

at the time, because both players were first-time offenders, they were not subject to discipline from the league. In 2004, with the

Columbus Clippers The Columbus Clippers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They are located in Columbus, Ohio, and are named for speedy Merchant ship, mercha ...

, the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

' Triple-A affiliate, he went 7–4 with a 4.44

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

. Corey led Triple-A with 28 saves in 2005. He pitched in the

organization for their Triple-A affiliate, the

Indianapolis Indians The Indianapolis Indians are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and play their home games at Victory Field, which open ...

, in 2007. At the time of his retirement, he had pitched in a combined 81 major league games for the Mets,

, and Pirates.

References

External links

Mark Corey's MiLB Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corey, Mark 1974 births Living people Baseball players from Pennsylvania Major League Baseball pitchers Colorado Rockies players New York Mets players Pittsburgh Pirates players Binghamton Mets players Burlington Bees players Central Arizona Vaqueros baseball players Charleston AlleyCats players Chattanooga Lookouts players Columbus Clippers players Edinboro Fighting Scots baseball players Indianapolis Indians players Princeton Reds players Nashville Sounds players Norfolk Tides players St. Lucie Mets players