News
Coste travels winding road to Houston
Drive paves way for catcher, who's making sudden impact
By Jason Grodsky / MLB.com
07/23/09 12:13 PM ET
HOUSTON -- When catcher Chris Coste was claimed off waivers by the Astros before the All-Star break, he knew the change of scenery would mean his time behind the plate would be limited. But in his short stint so far, he's finding other ways to contribute and becoming a big asset for Houston.Upon arriving in Houston, Coste knew the Astros were set behind the dish with catchers Ivan Rodriguez and Humberto Quintero, and he realized his role would change to that of a bench player expected to fill in at a variety of positions.
With a handful of nagging injuries to a variety of Houston players, including first baseman Lance Berkman, Coste has found himself in the field at first base, making four starts at first in the last seven games. On Wednesday, he came through in the clutch in place of Berkman, driving in the game-tying run against the first-place St. Louis Cardinals in a 4-3 win to help pull Houston to within a game of the National League Central lead.
"I kind of feel like an Astro all of a sudden," Coste said. "That's the biggest thing when you join a team in the middle of the year and then you get a chance to play, you definitely want to help your team win and personally succeed. There's nothing that will welcome you to a team like helping your team win."
He had only made three previous starts at first base, with most of his playing time in the Majors coming as a catcher. But his ability to play multiple positions was one of the things that attracted Houston to the 36-year-old.
"They brought me here because of my flexibility, and if that's what it takes to stay in the big leagues, I'll do it," Coste said. "I haven't played a lot of first base in the last four years, but I have played enough in my Minor League career where it hasn't been that bad of a transition. My goal is just to make the normal plays, and if I can make a dazzling play, that's great, but I'm just focusing on making the routine plays."
A change in position doesn't bother Coste, who's just happy to be playing and is used to patiently waiting to see his name in the lineup. After all, he waited until he was 33 to make his Major League debut.
After graduating from high school in his hometown of Fargo, N.D., Coste played ball for a Division II and a Division III college, but despite earning three-time All-American honors at Concordia College in Moorehead, Minn., he wasn't signed by a Major League club and started his professional career playing for an independent league team in Brainerd, Minn.
He would play for a season in Minnesota and another with an independent league team in Canada before finally settling down back home in Fargo, where he would play four seasons for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, yet another independent league organization.
"I had no plan B for life, which is kind of funny, but it's true," Coste said. "From when I was 5 years old, I knew I wanted to be a Major Leaguer and I knew baseball was going to be part of my life. When I finally got to Triple-A, I was making enough [money] to still pursue the dream, and when I got to Triple-A, I would have been crazy to walk away."
While back in Fargo in the late '90s, Coste teamed up with now teammate Darin Erstad, who is from Jamestown, N.D., about 90 miles from Coste's home.
The two became close friends and workout partners, who used to joke about the possibility of playing on the same team one day.
"I was excited when I heard the news he was coming [to Houston]," Erstad said. "It's something that doesn't happen very often when you have two guys on the same team who are from the same state like North Dakota, where guys normally don't come out of. We were on archrival teams growing up and had some great battles. When he was living in Fargo, I was looking for someone to hit with, and he was there and we'd go over to his old college. It was great. He's a hard worker and was there every day and trying to hang on with an independent team."
Coste's hard work paid off when he was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1998. Since then, he has spent time in six big league organizations, including the Pirates, Indians, Red Sox, Brewers and Phillies.
"You'd be hard pressed to find a better story as far as his journey to the big leagues," Erstad said. "It's not like he went from A to Double-A to Triple-A ball. He was all over, from North Dakota to Canada, scratching and clawing. I'm sure he had a lot of people telling him he couldn't make it, but he did, and not only did he make it, but he's stuck and done well."
His long journey didn't come without benefits, though. Playing in the independent leagues provided Coste with plenty of stories, which he shared with the world in his first of two books, "Hey ... I'm Just the Catcher: An Inside Look at a Northern League Season From Behind the Plate," in 1997 about his experiences in professional baseball and first few seasons in independent baseball leagues.
Coste continued his off-the-field hobby, authoring his second book in 2008, "The 33-Year Old Rookie," which follows Coste's long journey through the Minor Leagues, winter baseball and finally his rise to the big leagues.
"With the first book, I wanted to tell my story of the background and the behind-the-scenes things that the fans didn't always get to see," Coste said. "Once I made the big leagues and my story took off and I got a lot of attention, I got contacted by a publisher that wanted me to write another one about my whole story to get to the big leagues."
Coste's perseverance and patience earned him a spot on the Phillies' roster during their run to a World Series championship in 2008. He hit .263 with nine home runs and 36 RBIs in 98 games in the regular season and started one World Series game against Tampa Bay.
Playing in his fourth season with the Phillies, he hit .245 with eight doubles, two homers and eight RBIs in 45 games before being waived to make room on the Philadelphia roster for outfielder Raul Ibanez on July 10.
"It was incredibly tough to leave Philly at first," Coste said. "It was definitely a shocker. I spent five years in that organization, and a quality five years at that with a World Series, personal success and becoming a fan favorite."
While Coste was disappointed to leave Philadelphia, he was glad not to be heading back to the Minors and even happier to be in an Astros uniform.
In Houston, he has reunited with general manager Ed Wade, who, as GM of the Phillies, signed Coste in 2005. He's also back playing for manager Cecil Cooper, who managed Coste at Triple-A Indianapolis in 2004.
"It took me 12 years to get to the big leagues, and I still got to have a Major League uniform on my back and I feel I came into a really good situation, and that was apparent right off the get-go," Coste said. "There were times in the past when I would think if I wasn't with the Phillies where would I want to be, and Houston was on the list. When you have a GM and a manager that knows you and a team in contention, it is a positive situation."
Now settling in with the Astros, Coste is hoping to put the team back into the playoffs.
As for life after playing, he feels his experience could help him stay in baseball as a coach if the right opportunity presents itself. Just as long as it doesn't take another decade to climb the managerial ranks.
"The longer I played I knew it would make me a better manager one day," Coste said. "In the past I would have said 100 percent I would want to be a manager, but now it's about 75 percent. It took me forever to get to the Majors, and I would never go back through that to make it as a manager. It's just as hard to make it as a coach or manager, and I don't really see myself going on another 12-year path to get to the big leagues as a coach or manager."
Jason Grodsky is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
