The Phillies lost a fan-favorite this week, Chris Coste, or the 33-year-old rookie, to the Houston Astros.
For those of you who don’t know, Coste spent much of his baseball career out of the spotlight. He started playing Division III ball in college and then playing for minor league teams in the now defunct North Central League and in Triple-A ball for the Cleveland Indians and Phillies. Then, in May 2007 the Phils called Coste up to the majors from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barrons for mere 2-weeks until Ryan Howard was able to come of the DL. (Alright ladies, here’s your first vocab word and I promise this is an easy one! DL means “Disabled list.” When a player is on the DL, it means that they are injured. See, told you it was easy!)
A few more Phils injuries later, and Coste was back playing with the big boys, helping them make it all the way to the Phils make their first playoffs in 14 years. His stats were pretty impressive by season’s end and the Phils decided to make him the back-up catcher to Carlos Ruiz for the 2008 season. In doing so, when the Phillies became world champions, Coste was the first ever play to originate from Division III college baseball to win a World Series. Not too shabby!
He also wrote two books: Hey... I'm Just the Catcher: An Inside Look at a Northern League Season From Behind the Plate in 1997 and The 33-Year-Old Rookie: How I Finally Made it to the Big Leagues After Eleven Years in the Minors in 2007.
Being a baby vet has earned Coste legions of fans who don themselves the “Coste Guard.”
I know I will really miss Coste, this baby veteran, awesome player, and stand-up guy. Join me in bidding him a fond farewell. We will see him again when the Phils play the Astros September 4 in Houston.
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