Norman Wood Charlton III (born January 6, 1963), nicknamed "the Sheriff", 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 ...

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

, 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 ...

(MLB) for the

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

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 ...

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

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 ...

, and

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. They are one of two major league clubs based i ...

Early life

Charlton was born in

Fort Polk, Louisiana Fort Polk, formerly Fort Johnson, is a United States Army installation located in Vernon Parish, Louisiana, about 10 miles (15 km) east of Leesville and 30 miles (50 km) north of DeRidder in Beauregard Parish. Named after New Yo ...

, and graduated from James Madison High School in

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

. He attended

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, playing for coach David Hall, before being drafted by the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

with the 28th pick in the first round of the 1984 MLB June Amateur Draft.

Professional playing career

The

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply l ...

Charlton was best known as being part of the infamous "Nasty Boys" relief pitching corps for the Reds team who won the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

Randy Myers Randall Kirk Myers (born September 19, 1962) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, and Toronto Bl ...

and

Rob Dibble Robert Keith Dibble (born January 24, 1964) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher and television analyst. Between 1988 and 1995, Dibble played for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers. He was a two-time ...

were the other two members. The Boys were renowned for their clutch, shutdown performances, particularly during the playoff run; their blazing

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch (baseball), pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. Its distinctive feature is its high speed. "Power pitchers," such as former major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, relied on the ...

s; and their bruising

beanball "Beanball" is a colloquialism used in baseball, for a ball thrown at an opposing player with the intention of striking them such as to cause harm, often connoting a throw at the player's head (or "bean" in old-fashioned slang). A pitcher who thro ...

s. Charlton is also famous in Cincinnati for plowing over

Mike Scioscia Michael Lorri Scioscia ( ; born November 27, 1958), nicknamed "Sosh" and "El Jefe" (Spanish for "The Boss"), is an American former Major League Baseball catcher and manager (baseball), manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He managed the Los A ...

to score a run in a nationally televised Sunday night game. Charlton was also a key member of the two most beloved Mariner teams. During the 1995 "Refuse to Lose" team that was the first Mariner team to reach the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, he was the team's closer after a midseason trade. As a member of the 2001 team that won an MLB record 116 games, Charlton was a lefty specialist, fleshing out a

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if ...

which also featured Japanese closer

Kazuhiro Sasaki Kazuhiro Sasaki (佐々木主浩 ''Sasaki Kazuhiro'', born February 22, 1968) is a Japanese former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played his entire Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) career with the Yokohama Taiyō Whales / Yokohama ...

, Jeff Nelson, and fellow lefty

Arthur Rhodes Arthur Lee Rhodes, Jr. (born October 24, 1969) is an American former professional baseball left-handed relief pitcher and current pitching coach for the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. He played 20 seas ...

. Before the 1998 season, Charlton signed a contract to join the

bullpen. He was released on July 28. Charlton signed with the Braves a few days later.

Coaching career

On October 22, 2007, the Mariners named Charlton as their

bullpen coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decision ...

. His contract, along with those of the remainder of the 2008 coaching staff, was not renewed following the hire of

Don Wakamatsu Wilbur Donald Wakamatsu (born February 22, 1963) is an American former professional baseball player, scout, coach, and manager. Wakamatsu was drafted in the 11th round of the 1985 Major League Baseball draft by the Cincinnati Reds. He played as ...

as the club's field manager in November 2008.

Personal life

Charlton graduated from

in 1986 with a political science major, but had enough credit hours to have also majored in religion or physical education. While at Rice, he played baseball for the Rice Owls and set multiple new university records in the sport, including a career ERA of 2.25 and an 11-win season. Charlton's father was also a Rice alumnus, had been an athlete there, and had worked in the university's physical education department.

References

External links

Norm Charlton
at

SABR Sabr () (literally 'endurance' or more accurately 'perseverance' and 'persistence'"Ṣabr", ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'') is one of the two parts of Iman (concept), faith (the other being ''shukr'') in Islam. It teaches to remain Spirituality, sp ...

(Baseball BioProject) {{DEFAULTSORT:Charlton, Norm 1963 births Living people Atlanta Braves players Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Louisiana Baseball players from San Antonio Cincinnati Reds players Durham Bulls players Louisville RiverBats players Major League Baseball bullpen coaches Major League Baseball pitchers Minor league baseball coaches Nashville Sounds players National League All-Stars People from Vernon Parish, Louisiana Philadelphia Phillies players Rice Owls baseball players Rice University alumni Richmond Braves players Seattle Mariners coaches Seattle Mariners players Tacoma Rainiers players Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Tigres de Aragua players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Vermont Reds players West Palm Beach Expos players 20th-century American sportsmen