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Thursday Throwback: Oakland Athletics Reliever Billy Taylor 1994-1999

There’s a saying in the minor leagues: “Persistence Can Change Failure into Extraordinary Achievement.”

After more than 14 years of riding minor league buses to away games, sleeping in B-rated motels on the road, and playing for little money, Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Billy Taylor had to be the happiest player after 1994 spring training closed when Manager Tony La Russa informed him he had made the major league club.

At the age of 32, with his entire career spent in the minor leagues since being signed in 1980 by the Texas Rangers, the 6’8” Taylor hit AAA in 1986 only to never “get the call.