Anthony Lewis, Helped Them - 2083

Anthony Lewis told The Hartford Courant in April 1996 he believed his experience was one of the reasons why he was with the Twins' AA club that year.

Lewis was in his eighth season as a pro and he'd seen time at all levels of the minors, including a brief stint at AAA.

"I think that's part of why I'm here, is to guide some of these guys and help them out a little bit,'' Lewis told The Courant.

While he may have helped them out, and he hit 24 home runs himself, Lewis could never help himself to the majors. He went on to play in 13 total professional seasons, but he never played in the bigs.

Lewis' career began in 1989, taken by the Cardinals in the eighth round of the draft out of Rancho High School in Las Vegas.

Lewis started in the rookie Arizona League. The outfielder hit .246 in 51 games. He moved to single-A Savannah for 1990, then high-A St. Petersburg for 1991 and 1992. He hit .222 in 1992.

He scored the go-ahead run in an April 1992 game with St. Petersburg. In July, he won team Batter of the Week honors.

Lewis advanced to AA Arkansas for 1993. He hit .264 there with 13 home runs. It was in 1994 that he got his first look at AAA Louisville. He went 9 for 74 there over 21 games.

It was Arkansas again for Lewis in 1995. He hit .251 over the season, with 24 home runs. It was his last with the Cardinals.

Lewis hit another 24 home runs after moving to the Twins system and AA Hardware City for 1996. He had a .253 average that year. He hit a walk-off single in a May game. He then hit one of his home runs in a June contest.

Lewis had five more seasons after that one. He played in the affiliated minors for part of two of them, at AA New Haven with the Rockies in 1997 and briefly at AA Wichita with the Royals in 1998.

For the rest of 1998 through 2000, Lewis played with independent Duluth-Superior. His final season came in 2001 with independent St. George.

Lewis played professionally for 13 seasons in all. He played parts of six of those seasons at AA and just had that one stretch at AAA in 1994.

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1990 CMC-Pro Cards Tally
Players/Coaches Featured: 2,051
Made the Majors: 906-44.2%
Never Made Majors:1,145-55.8%-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 386
10+ Seasons in the Minors:222-X