Chris Coste
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Philadelphia Phillies — No. 27 | |
| Catcher | |
| Born: February 4, 1973 | |
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| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
| May 26, 2006 for the Philadelphia Phillies | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through May 30, 2008) |
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| Batting average | .310 |
| Home runs | 18 |
| Runs batted in | 71 |
| Teams | |
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Christopher Robert Coste (born February 4, 1973 in Fargo, North Dakota) is a catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. Coste was on a major league team for the first time in his career at age 33.
Coste went to Concordia College, a Division III school in Minnesota, where he was a three-time All-American. He started his professional career in 1995 playing for the Brandon Grey Owls in the independent Prairie League. From 1996 to 1999, he played four seasons for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks of the independent Northern League. In 2000, Coste signed with the Cleveland Indians organization. He spent 2003 with the Boston Red Sox organization and 2004 in the Milwaukee Brewers system. Coste first signed with the Phillies in 2005, spending the entire season with their Triple-A affiliate, then known as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons. He remained with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre until his promotion to the Phillies, facilitated by his fantastic performance in 2006 spring training. After starting the 2007 season in Triple-A, Coste was called back up to the majors on May 12, 2007.
On May 25, 2007, Ryan Howard was re-activated off the DL and the Phillies sent Coste back to the minors to AA Reading. Coste chose to go to Reading so that he could start and play every day, and because it would help the club if he was ready, rather than being Jason Jaramillo's backup at AAA Ottawa. In late June 2007, Coste was called back up from Reading as a result of Jon Lieber's season-ending injury and Jayson Werth's wrist injury. Coste finished the 2007 season with a .278 batting average, 5 home runs, and 22 RBI in 48 games.
For the 2008 season, Coste is the Phillies' backup catcher behind Carlos Ruiz.
Coste is very popular with Phillies fans and has a fan club that is at every Phillies game known as the Coste Guard. They wear red bathing suits and white T-shirts. They also wear sunglasses, and sunscreen on their nose; fans can hear their whistles which they use to help cheer on the Phillies and Chris Coste.
[edit] Chris Coste: The Author
Hey... I'm Just the Catcher
Coste wrote his first book about his experiences in professional baseball: "Hey... I'm Just the Catcher: An Inside Look at a Northern League Season From Behind the Plate," published in 1997. This book covers his first few seasons in independent baseball leagues, mainly the RedHawks (in his hometown). This book is out of print and supplanted by his new book.
The 33-Year-Old Rookie
2008 saw the release of Coste's second autobiography, "The 33-Year-Old Rookie: How I Finally Made it to the Big Leagues After Eleven Years in the Minors." The book, which chronicles Coste's first season in the majors, contains a foreword by John Kruk. This book covers Chris' professional career up through his second season (2007) with the Phillies. It includes nearly all the historical material found in his first book (independent baseball) as well as the time in the affiliated minor leagues.
Due to the recent success of films about athletes such as Vince Papale and Jim Morris, movie studio representatives have contacted Coste about the possibility of a movie about his struggle from career minor-leaguer to the majors.
[edit] External links
- Chris Coste's official web site
- Chris Coste's major league statistics
- Chris Coste's minor league statistics
- Coste gets the call to Majors
- Coste relishing first offseason in bigs
- Minor League Splits and Situational Stats
- Publisher's page for "The 33-Year-Old Rookie"
- nlfan.com: "Hey... I'm Just the Catcher"
- nlfan.com: "The 33-Year-Old Rookie"
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