Joe Kehoskie

Joe Kehoskie
Born January 18, 1973 (1973-01-18) (age 39)
Auburn, New York, U.S.A.
Residence Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
Nationality American
Occupation Baseball agent
Years active 1984–present
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Website
www.jkbaseball.com

Joe Kehoskie (born January 18, 1973 in Auburn, New York, U.S.A.[1]) is an American sports agent who represents baseball players.[2] He has worked in professional baseball in a variety of capacities since 1984.[3]

Contents

Early life

Kehoskie was born and raised in Auburn, New York,[1] a small city 25 miles southwest of Syracuse in the Finger Lakes region of central New York.

He is a 1990 graduate of Auburn High School,[4] from which he graduated in three years.[3]

Professional baseball career

Minor leagues (1984–1994)

Kehoskie was hired as a batboy by his hometown Auburn Astros, then the short-season Class A affiliate of the Houston Astros, in 1984 at age 11.[3] He worked for the team through 1991 in a variety of roles including office assistant, official scorer, and clubhouse manager.[5] From 1989 to 1991, he also covered the team as a correspondent for The Citizen, Auburn's daily newspaper.

In early 1992, Kehoskie was hired by the Rochester Red Wings, then the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, where he was a member of a staff that included Joe Altobelli, Russ Brandon, Josh Lewin, Bob Socci, and Glenn Geffner.[6][7] He worked for the Red Wings until late 1994.[8]

Among the notable Red Wings players during this period were Jamie Moyer, Mark Parent, Gregg Zaun, Jeffrey Hammonds, and Jeff Manto, while Jerry Narron (future manager of the Texas Rangers and Cincinnati Reds) and Mike Young were notable field staff.[9]

Player agent (1996–present)

Kehoskie worked in the Minor Leagues for 11 years with the goal of becoming a Major League Baseball general manager.[1] However, he found entry-level opportunities in MLB to be limited in the years during and after the 1994–95 baseball strike, which had caused cutbacks throughout the sport.[10][11] After failing to land a job with an MLB team and wanting to remain in baseball in a job involving baseball operations and scouting, he started working as a player agent in 1996.[1]

Kehoskie has been the president and CEO of Joe Kehoskie Baseball since at least 2000.[12] One of his earliest clients was left-handed pitcher Brad Pennington, who had pitched for the Rochester Red Wings when Kehoskie worked for the team.[13]

In 1998, Kehoskie was asked to represent a group of five Cuban defectors in Costa Rica,[14] who became the first of approximately two dozen Cuban players he has represented to date.

Aside from Cuban defectors, Kehoskie has worked extensively in Latin America, including the representation of players from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Among the notable players Kehoskie has advised or represented are José Bautista and Félix Hernández.

Media appearances

Since the early 2000s, Kehoskie has been quoted frequently in the media on baseball-related topics including Cuban defectors,[15][16][17] baseball in Cuba,[18][19][20] and the use of PEDs in Latin America.[21][22]

In 2000, Kehoskie accurately predicted a $30 million contract for Cuban pitcher José Contreras more than two and a half years before Contreras left Cuba.[14] More recently, he predicted Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, who signed a six-year, $30.25 million contract with the Cincinnati Reds in early 2010, would struggle to become an MLB starting pitcher.[23][24]

Print and online

Kehoskie has been quoted several hundred times in print and online media outlets including the New York Times,[24] Los Angeles Times,[17][20] Washington Post,[25][26] Miami Herald,[18] ESPN.com,[23] and Vanity Fair.[2] He has also been quoted in more than a half-dozen books.[27]

Radio and podcasts

Kehoskie has been interviewed on the radio by, among others, Cindy Brunson on ESPN Radio, Adam Schein on WFAN, and George Stroumboulopoulos on CBC Radio.[28]

Television

Kehoskie was featured in a 2001 episode of ESPN's Outside the Lines series and has made many other national and international TV appearances:[28]

Year Show Episode Topic
2001 Stealing Home Cuban baseball defectors
ESPN Outside the Lines Primetime "Witness to a Defection" Cuban baseball, MLB
2002 ESPN Outside the Lines Sunday "Holding an Ace" José Contreras, MLB
2006 ESPN Outside the Lines Nightly "Risky Road Trip" 2006 WBC, Cuban baseball
CBC News: The Hour March 9, 2006 2006 WBC, Cuban baseball
2007 Al Jazeera English June 19, 2007 Baseball in the D.R.

Personal life

Kehoskie currently lives in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Michael, Matt (22 December 1998). "From Cuba with Trust". Syracuse Post-Standard. 
  2. ^ a b Lewis, Michael (July 2008). "Commie Ball: A Journey to the End of a Revolution". Vanity Fair. http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/07/cuban_baseball200807. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  3. ^ a b c Weiman Jr., Dale (15 February 2006). "So, you want to be the next Jerry Maguire?". Westlaw. http://lawschool.westlaw.com/shared/marketInfoDisplay.asp?code=CR&id=25. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  4. ^ "Classmates.com – Joe Kehoskie". Classmates.com. http://www.classmates.com/people/people/512146261. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  5. ^ 1991 Auburn Astros Official Program. Auburn, New York. 1991. 
  6. ^ 1992 Rochester Red Wings Yearbook. Rochester, New York. 1992. 
  7. ^ 1994 Rochester Red Wings Yearbook. Rochester, New York. 1994. 
  8. ^ Pitoniak, Scott (14 April 1999). "Cubans bank on agent Kehoskie". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. 
  9. ^ "Rochester, New York Minor League History". Baseball-Reference.com. http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/team.cgi?city=Rochester&state=NY&country=US. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  10. ^ "Baseball Daily Report". Associated Press. 18 August 1994. http://articles.latimes.com/1994-08-18/sports/sp-28660_1_baseball-fans. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  11. ^ Jamail, Milton H. (2008). Venezuelan Bust, Baseball Boom. United States: Bison Books. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-8032-1571-9. 
  12. ^ "Newswire". Los Angeles Times. 14 August 2000. http://articles.latimes.com/2000/aug/14/sports/sp-4072. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  13. ^ Michael, Matt (20 May 1999). "Pennington plans to hit the mark". Syracuse Post-Standard. 
  14. ^ a b Fainaru, Steve; Springer, Shira (28 May 2000). "Hardball". Boston Globe. http://apse.dallasnews.com/contest/2000/writing/all.investigative.third1.html. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  15. ^ "Stealing Home". PBS. 18 June 2001. http://www.pbs.org/stealinghome/transcript.html. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  16. ^ "Outside the Lines: Holding an Ace". ESPN. 10 November 2002. http://espn.go.com/page2/tvlistings/show137transcript.html. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  17. ^ a b Baxter, Kevin (1 July 2007). "Ballplayers from Cuba are now flee agents". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/01/sports/sp-smuggle1. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  18. ^ a b Baxter, Kevin (21 January 2006). "Cuba can play, but will it show up?". Miami Herald. 
  19. ^ King, David (21 April 2007). "Castro's long shadow still dominates Cuban baseball". San Antonio Express-News. 
  20. ^ a b Baxter, Kevin (19 March 2009). "Cubans take big slide in international baseball standing". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/19/sports/sp-wbc-san-diego19. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  21. ^ Brown, Maury (20 July 2009). "Maury Brown, Will Carroll, Victor Conte, and Joe Kehoskie Discuss PED Use in the Dominican and Venezuelan Summer Leagues". The Biz of Baseball. http://bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3427:maury-brown-will-carroll-victor-conte-and-joe-keoskie-discuss-ped-use-in-the-dominican-and-venezuelan-summer-leagues-&catid=26:editorials&Itemid=39. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  22. ^ Chass, Murray (10 October 2010). "New Guys Deliver". MurrayChass.com. http://www.murraychass.com/?p=2472. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  23. ^ a b Olney, Buster (5 July 2009). "More on Aroldis Chapman, and a father-son Fourth". ESPN.com. http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog?name=olney_buster&id=4306954. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  24. ^ a b Curry, Jack (3 December 2009). "Risks Seen in Signing Cuban Defector". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/sports/baseball/04chapman.html. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  25. ^ Fainaru, Steve (18 February 2001). "Yankees Are Building an Empire State". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A20037-2001Feb17. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  26. ^ Fainaru, Steve; Sheinin, Dave (3 March 2006). "Searching for a Home Base". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030201920.html. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  27. ^ "Google Books – Joe Kehoskie". Google Books. http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Joe+Kehoskie%22&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  28. ^ a b "IMDb – Joe Kehoskie". IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2030106/. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 

External links

Baseball portal