Delvin James was a right-handed pitcher whose major league
career consisted of eight games with the 2002 Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He was an
all-state linebacker at Nacogdoches High School in Texas, not playing baseball
until his senior year, and signed a letter of intent to play football at
Oklahoma State in February 1996. But when he was picked in the 14th
round of the free agent draft in June by Tampa Bay, because of his fastball in
the mid-90s, he signed a contract with them. He very gradually made his way up
the minor league ladder, along the way helping with two teammates in St.
Petersburg in 2000 to catch a bank robber who asked them for a ride. In 2002 he
was called up to the Rays in mid-April, was put on the disabled list on May 9
after starting five games, and then was sent down to the AAA Durham Bulls. In
the early morning hours of September 2, he was waiting with a friend for a
takeout order at a Raleigh, NC, Waffle House when a man in the parking lot
opened fire into the restaurant at the chef. Delvin was hit three times in the
left shoulder, left elbow, and back, yet was called back up by the Rays on the
13th and pitched in relief on the 14th. He got into two
more games that season, for a total of eight (six starts) with a 6.55 ERA.
In 2003 he spent the entire season with Durham, then was
allowed to become a free agent and signed with the Marlins. The Marlins
released him during spring training 2004 and he was picked up by the Angels.
I’m not sure why, but he only appeared in five minor league games that season;
then he was again allowed to become a free agent, but the Angels re-signed him
in December. In 2005 he got into 17 games with their Class AA affiliate, the
Arkansas Travelers of the Texas League; after the season he was yet again
allowed to become a free agent, at which point he retired from baseball and
enrolled at Oklahoma State to play football. I haven’t found any information
about his career there, but according to his Facebook page he graduated in
2011.
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