Matt Sinatro

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Matthew Stephen Sinatro (born March 22, 1960 in Hartford, Connecticut) is a former major league catcher and the current first base coach for the Chicago Cubs. He attended Conard High School in West Hartford, Connecticut [1]. He previously served as the bullpen coach for the Seattle Mariners (1995-2002) and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2003-2005). He has spent his entire coaching career working for manager Lou Piniella.

[edit] Playing career

Although drafted in the second round of the 1978 MLB draft by the Atlanta Braves, Sinatro was never a regular player in the major leagues, and never played more than 37 games in one season. He played from 1981 to 1992 for the Braves, Oakland Athletics, Detroit Tigers, and Mariners.

An interesting story from Sinatro's playing days with the Braves -- recounted from memory, from an article read in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 1992.

In '82, Sinatro was the backup catcher behind Bruce Benedict on a Joe Torre-managed Braves team that would win the division, but lose 3-0 to the Cardinals in the NLCS. On the night he hit his first -- and only -- major league home run, Sinatro's parents were in the audience. His father happened to be interviewed by a reporter for a local news station -- a "man-on-the-street" type interview. Asked what he thought would happen in that night's game, his father said: "Watch out for Matt Sinatro."

Sinatro hit the home run, helping the Braves win. And of course his father's comments were played that night on the local news.

This story is interesting for a number of reasons. Sinatro, of course, is a member of an exclusive group of human beings: Those folks who've had the chance to hit a major league home run. He's also a member of a smaller subdivision of players who've hit only one home run. But also it has that undeniable appeal because of the general unlikelihood of it happening.

Nonetheless -- Sinatro is perhaps best remembered for his time with the Mariners. In 1990, filling in for a woeful Dave Valle and an injured Scott Bradley -- Sinatro got suddenly and unexpectedly hot in mid-June. This was a heady time for any Mariners fan; towards the end of June, the Mariners were still above .500, and many a Lefebvre-Believer thought they might finish over .500 for the first time in team history (that wouldn't happen until the following year).

But right as the Mariners were winning, Sinatro was playing a lot, and collecting a lot of hits. He would hit .300 for the year, but is perhaps best remembered for four key plays.

The first is a crucial RBI in a July 1st extra-inning victory over the Tigers. The second is a warning-track fly ball that nearly won a game in a pinch-hit roll later that year. The third was his August 4th stolen base -- a surprise steal, and only the second of his career. And finally, there's failing to score from third base on a single by Greg Briley -- a ball that was, quite honestly, a line-drive that barely skipped on the turf before settling in the left fielder's glove.

"It was an awful tough read," Sinatro later said of the play.

Sinatro had his best year as a professional baseball player for a team that was battling just to be decent. And this was inspiring for many of its fans. He would collect his final career hit in Yankee Stadium, in 1992.