A Glimpse of Fame: Brilliant but Fleeting Major League Careers

Ron Necciai once struck out twenty-seven batters in a minor league game. Tom Paciorek played one game in the major leagues, collected three hits in three at bats, scored four times, and never played in the big leagues again. Bert Shepard pitched his one game in the major leagues after he lost his leg as a fighter pilot during World War Two. Joe Brovia was a minor league legend who finally got his shot at the majors at age thirty-three. These and eleven other men are poignantly profiled, in large part through their own words, regarding their brief major league careers and the often thin line that separates success and failure.