Quinton Antoine McCracken (born August 16, 1970) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

. He played all or parts of 12 seasons in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB), and was the

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home ve ...

franchise's first

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

and batter on March 31, 1998.

High school years

McCracken attended South Brunswick High School and was the starting

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. The ...

and the

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dutie ...

in football, the starting point guard in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, in addition to being a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

star and a track standout. As a senior in 1988 he led his baseball team to a 29-0 record and the state Championship. ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virg ...

'' rated the team the fifth-best in the nation that year.

Professional career

After graduating from Duke University. McCracken was selected by the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fi ...

in their inaugural draft in 1992 in the 25th round. He made his major league debut as a September call up on September 17, 1995; in three games, he struck out in his only

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

. In 1996, he played mostly center field, batting .290 in 283 at-bats. In 1997, he stole a career-high 28 bases and increased his batting average to .292. McCracken was drafted by the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays on November 18, 1997, as their 2nd pick in the

1997 Major League Baseball expansion draft On November 18, 1997, Major League Baseball (MLB) held an expansion draft to allow two expansion teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, to build their rosters prior to debuting in the National League West and American ...

, to be their starting center fielder for 1998. Playing in a career-high 155 games, McCracken had his best-ever season, batting .292 with 7

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is ...

s, 59

RBI RBI most often refers to: *Reserve Bank of India *Run batted in RBI may also refer to: Organisations *Radio Berlin International *Raiffeisen Bank International *Reed Business Information *Restaurant Brands International *Ruđer Bošković In ...

, and was named the Devil Rays first-ever most valuable player."McCracken, like Rays, looking for better days"
July 16, 2008, ''Starnewsonline.com''. Retrieved on August 13, 2008. After playing only 40 games in 1999, because of a torn ACL, he spent most of 2000 in the minors with Triple-A Durham. The Devil Rays released him on November 27, 2000, and he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals on December 22, he was released in

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives estab ...

. On April 13, 2001, McCracken signed with the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area ...

. He again spent most of the year in Triple-A, where he batted .338 for

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...

. He became a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player 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 contract at present but who is a ...

after the season and on January 9, 2002, signed with the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. ...

. He spent the entire season with the major league club, hitting .309 as the Diamondbacks won the

NL West The National League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. This division was formed for the 1969 season when the National League expanded to 12 teams by adding the San Diego Padres and the Montreal Expos. For purpose of keeping a re ...

. McCracken batted .364 in 11 at-bats against the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS, but the D-Backs were swept out of the playoffs by the Cardinals. His batting average dropped nearly 100 points in 2003 to .227. On December 15, 2003, he was traded to the

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

for

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 major ...

Greg Colbrunn. McCracken did not get much playing time with Seattle, however, and on June 9 he was released. Two days later, he re-signed with the D-Backs and batted .288 in 55 games. He became a free agent after the season and re-signed with Arizona. McCracken struggled with a .237 batting average in 2005, becoming a free agent after the season. On February 14, 2006, he signed with the

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

, but was released on July 6. The Minnesota Twins, after signing him to a minor league contract on July 21, announced at the end of the 2006 season that they would not re-sign McCracken after he had played for their Triple-A affiliate, the

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field, located in do ...

. He was not picked up by another team, and signed on to play with the independent

Bridgeport Bluefish The Bridgeport Bluefish were an American minor league baseball team based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The team was a member of the Liberty Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which was not affiliated with Major League Baseb ...

of the Atlantic League. After one season in independent ball, McCracken played for the Dominican Winter Baseball League in late 2007 and retired.

Post-playing career

He joined the front office of the Diamondbacks in 2011, and moved to the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

in 2012. McCracken joined the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fra ...

staff in a player development role in December 2017. In January 2019, he joined the

Durham Bulls The Durham Bulls are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Durham, North Carolina, and play their home games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which opened i ...

as a third-base coach in a return to the city where he attended college.

Personal life

Quinton married Maggie Moskal on January 29, 2005. The couple have a son Isaiah Cicero McCracken born July 7, 2009. Maggie McCracken is a cast member of VH1's ''

Baseball Wives ''Baseball Wives'' is an American reality television series based around the wives and girlfriends of baseball players from various different teams. The series aired on VH1 and is set in Scottsdale, Arizona, which is primarily home to baseball's s ...

''. The first episode aired November 30, 2011.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCracken, Quinton 1970 births Living people African-American baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Canada Arizona Diamondbacks players Baseball players from North Carolina Bend Rockies players Bridgeport Bluefish players Central Valley Rockies players Cincinnati Reds players Colorado Rockies players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Duke Blue Devils baseball players Duke Blue Devils football players Durham Bulls players Edmonton Trappers players Major League Baseball center fielders Minnesota Twins players New Haven Ravens players People from Southport, North Carolina Rochester Red Wings players Seattle Mariners players Sportspeople from Wilmington, North Carolina Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Tucson Sidewinders players Leones del Escogido players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople