Riccardo Benay Ingram (September 10, 1966 – March 31, 2015) was an American professional baseball player. He played for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

and 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) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

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 ...

. At the time of his death, Ingram was serving as a roving instructor in the Twins Minor League system.MLB.com – Twins announce 2014 Minor League coaching staff
/ref>

Career

His career is profiled in the book, "Journeymen: 24 Bittersweet Tales of Short Major League Sports Careers." Ingram played baseball and football at

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

where he stood out in both sports winning the McKelvin Award as the ACC athlete of the year, the first Yellow Jacket to win that award. Upon leaving Georgia Tech, Ingram was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 4th Round (105th overall) of the 1987 Major League Baseball draft. He made his debut with the Tigers in 1994 getting 5 hits in 23

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 upon completion of his turn at bat, ...

s in only 12 games played. After the 1994 season he was granted free agency. On January 26, 1995, he signed a free agent contract with the Minnesota Twins. He played in 4 games in 1995 gathering 1 hit in 8 at-bats. After the season, he signed another free agent 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. ...

but did not play in any regular season games for them. In the minor leagues Ingram compiled a .276

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 ...

, with 74 home runs and 428 RBI over 9 seasons. In 1995, he won the Triple A batting crown with the Salt Lake Buzz with a .348 average. After his playing career was over Ingram became a coach in the Twins minor league system. He coached in Ft. Wayne (1998), Quad City (1999), Ft. Myers (2000–2002), and

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

(2003–2007 (serving as the team's

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

in 2006 and 2007)) before being promoted to Rochester as the Red Wing's new hitting coach. In 2009, Ingram was diagnosed with brain cancer and returned to coaching following six weeks of radiation therapy. The cancer returned in 2014 and Ingram died on March 31, 2015, at the age of 48.

References

External links

: {{DEFAULTSORT:Ingram, Riccardo 1966 births 2015 deaths All-American college baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Mexico African-American baseball players African-American baseball coaches African-American baseball managers Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Deaths from brain cancer in Georgia (U.S. state) Detroit Tigers players Fayetteville Generals players Georgia Tech alumni Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets baseball players Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players Lakeland Tigers players Las Vegas Stars (baseball) players London Tigers players Major League Baseball outfielders Mexican League baseball players Minnesota Twins players Minor league baseball coaches Minor league baseball managers People from Douglas, Georgia Salt Lake Buzz players Sultanes de Monterrey players Toledo Mud Hens players 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen