Mack Daniel Sasser (born August 3, 1962), nicknamed "The Hacker", is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

from 1987 through 1995 for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

and

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

. Sasser is known for the difficulty he regularly encountered in "double clutching" balls to the

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

, although he performed competently as a catcher otherwise. He appeared in 534 games in his career, getting 317 hits with sixteen

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s, 156

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

and a career .267

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

Early career

Born in

Fort Gaines, Georgia Fort Gaines is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Georgia, United States. It has a population of 995 as of the 2020 census. History The present town of Fort Gaines was founded in 1816 as protection against the indigenous Creeks and p ...

, Sasser played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

Wallace Community College Wallace Community College (WCC) (formally known as George C. Wallace Community College) is a public community college in Dothan, Alabama. It is named after the father of Alabama governor George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25 ...

Dothan, Alabama Dothan is a city in and the county seat of Houston County, Alabama, Houston County in the U.S. state of Alabama. A slight portion of the city extends into Dale County, Alabama, Dale and Henry County, Alabama, Henry counties. It had a population ...

and was drafted in the fifth round of the

1984 Major League Baseball Draft The 1984 Major League Baseball draft took place in June 1984. The draft saw the New York Mets select Shawn Abner first overall. First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1984 Major League Baseball draft. Other n ...

by the

. He debuted in the major leagues with the Giants on July 17, 1987, appearing in two games before being traded to the

with cash for pitcher Don Robinson, where he played 12 games during the remainder of the season.

Mets career

On March 26, 1988, Sasser was traded to the

with pitcher

Tim Drummond Timothy Lee Drummond (20 April 1940 – 10 January 2015) was an American musician from Canton, Illinois. Drummond's primary instrument was bass guitar and he toured and recorded with many notable artists, including Conway Twitty, Bob Dylan, James ...

for former Mets prospect

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

Randy Milligan Randall Andre Milligan (born November 27, 1961) is a former Major League Baseball first baseman who played from 1987 to 1994. He is currently a scout with the Baltimore Orioles of the Major League Baseball (MLB). Milligan is nicknamed "Moose". ...

and a minor league player. With the Mets he was used as a backup for catcher

Gary Carter Gary Edmund Carter (April 8, 1954 – February 16, 2012) was an American professional baseball catcher whose 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career was spent primarily with the Montreal Expos and New York Mets. Nicknamed "Kid" for his youth ...

for two seasons before playing 100 games in the season. That year he had 83 hits and a .307 batting average. After a serious collision with

Jim Presley James Arthur Presley (born October 23, 1961) is a former professional baseball player who played as an infielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1984 to 1991. He played for the Seattle Mariners, Atlanta Braves, and San Diego Padres As a yo ...

of the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

at home plate, Sasser began to hesitate and repeat his motion when returning the ball to the pitcher, a normally routine activity (he did not have this problem when throwing to second base on an attempted stolen base). In , he played 96 games for a .272 batting average and in he went back to a backup role where he played in 92 games for only 141 at-bats and a .241 batting average.

Later career

Sasser was granted

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

status after the season, signing a two-year contract with the

.Mackey Sasser
- Baseballbiography.com He appeared in 83 games as a backup in the season where he hit for only a .218 batting average. Seattle demoted him to third-string catcher after that season, appearing in only three games with them in the season, going hitless in three games before getting released. Sasser then signed a contract with the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

on May 20, 1994, but was released a month later without playing in a game. Sasser re-signed with the Pirates for the season and played in fourteen games, getting four hits in 26 at-bats before being released in mid-May and retired as an active player. After his playing career, Sasser became a baseball coach at

as well as athletic director of the college in 2011. He retired at the conclusion of the 2022 season after 25 years as the head baseball coach for the Governors. After experiencing difficulty throwing batting practice to his players, he was finally able to overcome the problem with help from psychotherapist David Grand.

References

External links

Mackey Sasser
at Baseball Almanac {{DEFAULTSORT:Sasser, Mackey 1962 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Calgary Cannons players Cardenales de Lara players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Clinton Giants players Fresno Giants players Major League Baseball catchers New York Mets players Olmecas de Tabasco players People from Fort Gaines, Georgia Petroleros de Minatitlán players Phoenix Firebirds players Pittsburgh Pirates players San Francisco Giants players Seattle Mariners players Shreveport Captains players Troy Trojans baseball players Vancouver Canadians players Wichita Wranglers players Wallace Governors baseball players Junior college baseball coaches in the United States 20th-century American sportsmen