Twenty years and eleven days ago, to very little fanfare, the St. Louis Cardinals signed 29 year-old relief pitcher Kent Bottenfield. Bottenfield, formerly of the Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies, San Francisco Giants, and Chicago Cubs, was coming off a two-year stint in the Cubs’ bullpen in which he had a 3.34 ERA and 4.31 fielding-independent pitching, following a few stints in which he was largely unsuccessful as a starter.
In 1998, Bottenfield was a moderately effective swingman for the Cardinals, pitching in 27 games as a reliever and 17 games as a starter.