Yesterday, the Mets announced their coaching staff for the 2009 season. Their new third base coach will be a man called Razor Shines.

I never heard of Mr. Shines before yesterday but after hearing his name I immediately thought of Razor Ramone from WWF (before it was WWE) fame. Obviously I needed to do my research.

Razor's first name is really Anthony, but if my middle name was Razor, you can bet I'd go by that too.

From Wikipedia:

"Shines is also a retired baseball player who played 1B for the Montreal Expos from 1983-1985 and 1987. He had a significant career in the minor leagues, where he spent parts of sixteen seasons. He spent the majority of nine seasons with the Indianapolis Indians, and he became a local legend within the city."

"His minor league career also included stops in the Mexican League and in the Pirates organization with the Buffalo Bisons (now the Mets' AAA Affiliate). In 2006,  the Indians honored Shines, who was managing the visiting Charlotte Knights, with a "Razor Shines Night". This kind of honor, for a player of an opposing team, is quite rare in minor league baseball."

In 2001,  Shines managed the Kannapolis Intimidators of the White Sox organization.  In 2007 he was the third base coach for the white Sox, and most recently managed the Phillies' Single-A squad to a 64-76 record.

Over his major league career, Razor batted a hefty .185 with no home runs and 5 RBI in 81 at bats. If Andres "Big Cat" Gallaraga hadn't come up, who knows how Shines' career would have turned out. Shines was a former teammate of Jerry Manuel while in Montreal.

He gave his son the middle name Razor also to keep the family tradition alive. Lucky kid.

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