Wednesday marks the 17-year anniversary of the A's signing free agent first baseman Scott Hatteberg to a one-year contract worth just under $1 million. Actually, Hatteberg wasn't a first baseman at all before coming to Oakland. He was a catcher.
The year before the A's signed him, Hatteberg had to have surgery on his throwing elbow and his arm was never the same. Even though he had never played first base, Billy Beane and company loved his high on-base percentage and other advanced metrics enough to give it a shot.
Hatteberg, who was 32 years old at the time, had spent the previous seven seasons with the Red Sox, slashing .