Player Profile: Tim Birtsas

I have sixteen cards of Tim Birtsas. This one is from 1985 Fleer Update.

Playing career: Tim Birtsas pitched five seasons in the major leagues for the A’s and the Reds. In 138 games he went 14-14 with a 4.08 ERA.

Where he is now: During his playing career, which took him across the US as well as to Japan and Italy, Birtsas would take pictures and notes about the architectural styles and places around him. After his playing career ended Birtsas founded RBI Construction Management with former major leaguer Kirk Gibson, who Birtsas knew since high school; in fact, Birtsas’s mother and Gibson’s father worked in the same school district in Michigan.  Among their projects were buying a historic barn which they then donated to Oakland County, MI, and the Olde Mill Inn, a lakefront hotel which Birtsas still runs. In 2009, Birtsas, a Republican ran for Springfield Town Clerk, but lost to another Republican who had been endorsed by the retiring incumbent.

My memories: Birtsas was a Yankee minor leaguer who was one of several prospects the team traded to Oakland for Rickey Henderson. I always thought of him as one of the many young pitchers the Yankees got rid of who went on to success elsewhere, though looking back at his career now it looks like the Yankees didn’t lose out on much in this case.

Google Autocomplete results: He is seventh when you type Tim Bir, between Tim Bird IMDB, referring to an assistant director, and Tim Birkmeier, mortgage broker. There do not appear to be any other prominent Tim Birtsases.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Joseph Bisenius.