Brad Mills-INF Montreal Expos 1980-1983 and current manager of the Houston Astros-July 24th, 2012

Brad Mills was drafted in the 17th round by the Montreal Expos and by 1980, he was in the major leagues.  In 1983, he suffered a severe knee injury, which ended his playing career, but not his career in baseball.  After his injury, he got a job managing in the Cubs minor league system and spent parts of 11 seasons with the Cubs as well as the Dodgers and Rockies. By 1997, then Phillies manager Terry Francona hired Brad to serve as a bench coach, a job he held until 2000.  In 2003, he returned to Montreal to serve as a bench coach before being tapped once again by Terry Francona to join him in Boston. In 2009, the Houston Astros hired Brad Mills to manage the team.  It's been a rough 2 1/2 years for Brad, but he continued to help the young talent develop and lead the team during a rebuilding period. 

I was able to catch Brad before the game on Tuesday and ask him who his favorite player was.He spent some time thinking about it saying, "it's a real tough question, but I would have to say Willie Mays."  I didn't get to ask him more as there was a lot of noise going on in the field and he could barely hear me, but I was thankful for the time he took to answer my question. 

Here is a picture of the ball Brad signed for me.