Bronx-born Bill Drohan may have been raised in Florida (Orlando Nova HS, Broward Community College), but he still fell victim to the same curse that claimed Jim Bouton and Tim Leary…pitching in the cold and having his arm freeze up. Like Bouton at Minnesota in '65 or Leary at Wrigley in '82, the early-season frosts did damage to Royals prospect Drohan's arm.
Drafted by KC in the 15th round in 1987, Drohan struggled in his first half-season in the GCL, but was well-coached by Guy Hansen at Eugene in '88, and posted a very nice 7-1, 2.10 season, with good K and WHIP numbers, as well. This earned him a promotion to Appleton for 1989, where, unfortunately, the snows were waiting for him.
What had happened was that Drohan had strained his rotator cuff. For a while he couldn't even put on a shirt without wincing.
Still, Drohan pitched through the pain and posted even better stats (6-1, 1.19, 0.92 WHIP) in 9 starts, although his diminished strikeout rate (from 8.8/9 in '88 to a mere 5.2/9) showed the strain on his arm. The Royals were ready to move him up to AA Memphis (Drohan has the plane ticket) but decided to first bring him into Kansas City to be checked out by the team doctors, who recommended that Drohan rest and rehab for a while.
Back in Florida, about a month later, Drohan gave a very cheerful interview to
The Orlando Sun-Sentinel, where he thought he'd be back in action shortly. But in fact the arm was still tender, and the Royals held him out of fall and winter ball.
When Drohan didn't look so good in spring training of 1990, either, the plans for him to go to Memphis were scuttled. Instead, they kept him at Baseball City, where he got smacked around in seven Florida State League starts (1-5, 7.22, more walks than strikeouts) and was released.
Kids, don't play in the snow or your career will end up on ice.
Attachment 562795
Sorry about the cap-shadow and the angle of the head hiding one ear. Hope that you can work around it.