Steven Lee Wapnick (born September 25, 1965) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He played for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

and the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

. He held batters to a .222 batting average, holding righties to a .115 batting average.

Early life

Wapnick was born in

Panorama City, California Panorama City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley. It has a generally young age range as well as the highest population density in the Valley. Ethnically, more than half of its population was born a ...

, and is Jewish. He attended

Monroe High School Monroe High School may refer to: *Monroe High School (Tehachapi) — Tehachapi, California *Monroe High School (Los Angeles) — Los Angeles, California * Monroe High School (Florida) — the former high school for negro students in Co ...

Sepulveda, California North Hills, known previously as Sepulveda, is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. North Hills was originally part of an agricultural community known as Mission Acres. After WWII, the newly-developed s ...

. He then attended

Moorpark College Moorpark College is a public community college in Moorpark, California. It was established in 1967 with enrollment of 2,500 students and enrolled 14,254 students in 2014. An Exotic Animal Training and Management center houses over 200 animals o ...

and

Fresno State University California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bache ...

, where he pitched for the Bulldogs, and he threw and batted

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

Amateur draft

Wapnick, who was and 200 pounds, was drafted three times. Each time, his place in the draft slipped. 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 ...

drafted him in the second round of the

1985 Major League Baseball Draft First round draft picks The following are the first round picks in the 1985 Major League Baseball draft. Supplemental First Round Selections Background Six of the first eight draft picks from the June regular phase had at least one full ...

. When he did not sign with them, the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

drafted him in fifth round of the June Secondary Phase, but again he didn't sign. Finally, he was drafted in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

by the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

, but not until round 30. He finally signed with them, and reported to the minor league

St. Catharines Blue Jays The St. Catharines Blue Jays were a minor league baseball team which played at Community Park in St. Catharines, Ontario. They were the Short-Season A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays in the New York–Penn League. History The team began pla ...

shortly thereafter.

Professional career

Detroit Tigers

On December 4, 1989, Wapnick was drafted from the Blue Jays by the

in the Rule 5 Draft. His first Major League game was April 14, 1990 at the age of 24. He appeared in just four games for the Tigers, posting an

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. Compa ...

of 6.43, and was returned to the Blue Jays on May 1. Wapnick was one of two Jewish baseball players to make his major league debut in 1990. The other was

Scott Radinsky Scott David Radinsky (born March 3, 1968) is an American left-handed former relief pitcher in Major League Baseball, who had an 11-year career from – and –. Radinsky is also the lead singer of the punk rock band Pulley, former lead singer of ...

. He wore number 43 for the Tigers.

Chicago White Sox

After spending most of the 1991 season with the Blue Jays top farm club, the

Syracuse Chiefs Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

, with whom he led the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

in saves with 20, on September 4 Wapnick was sent to the

as the

player to be named later In Major League Baseball, a player to be named later (PTBNL) is an unnamed player involved in exchange or "trade" of players between teams. The terms of a trade are not finalized until a later date, most often following the conclusion of the seaso ...

in a deal that involved

Shawn Jeter Shawn Darrell Jeter (born June 28, 1966) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He is the son of former Major League Baseball outfielder Johnny Jeter. Career Drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 7th round of the 1985 MLB amate ...

going to the Sox for

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

Cory Snyder James Cory Snyder (born November 11, 1962) is an American former professional baseball right fielder and the manager of the Northern Colorado Owlz. He played nine seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1986 to 1994 for the Cleveland Indians, ...

. Now wearing uniform number 51, Wapnick appeared in six more games for Chicago down the stretch, winning none and losing one with an ERA of 1.80. He never appeared in the majors again.

Back to the minors

He injured his arm in 1992 during

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

, which was the beginning of the end for his career. He pitched two more seasons in the minors, one in the White Sox organization and one for the

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 ...

top farm team, the

Calgary Cannons The Calgary Cannons were a minor league baseball team located in Calgary, Alberta, for 18 seasons, from 1985 until 2002. They were a member of the AAA Pacific Coast League (PCL) and played at Foothills Stadium. The Cannons displaced the Calgary ...

. Overall, in 12 career innings of work over 10 games, during 2 seasons, Wapnick walked 14 and struck out 7.

Personal life

After his playing career, Wapnick coached at Clovis High School and Sierra High School, and also coached a Junior USA baseball team. He resides in Northern Colorado Where he coached at Resurrection Christian School for a number of years.

References

External links

Retrosheet info pageVenezuelan Professional Baseball League statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wapnick, Steve 1965 births American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from California Calgary Cannons players Caribes de Oriente players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Chicago White Sox players Detroit Tigers players Dunedin Blue Jays players Fresno State Bulldogs baseball players Jewish American baseball players Jewish Major League Baseball players Knoxville Blue Jays players Living people Major League Baseball pitchers Moorpark Raiders baseball players Myrtle Beach Blue Jays players St. Catharines Blue Jays players Syracuse Chiefs players Vancouver Canadians players People from Panorama City, Los Angeles 21st-century American Jews Anchorage Glacier Pilots players