Tim Christman

Professional career

Christman was selected by the Colorado Rockies in the eleventh round of the 1996 Major League Baseball draft and began his professional career with the Portland Rockies of the Northwest League. He missed the entire 1998 season due to elbow surgery. By 2000, he was on the team's 40-man roster but missed all but eight games of that season because of a torn labrum. Despite the injury, his performance in spring training 2001 led Rockies manager Buddy Bell to tell The Denver Post that Christman had "a definite chance" to make the club.

On April 19, 2001, he was promoted to the Major Leagues for the first time when pitcher Horacio Estrada was placed on the disabled list. He made his Major League debut on April 21 against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Bank One Ballpark, pitching the final two innings in relief of Joe Davenport, allowing a run on a solo home run to Reggie Sanders and striking out Rod Barajas. The next day, he was demoted to Triple-A Colorado Springs and never appeared in another Major League game.

He spent 2002 in the Florida Marlins farm system, then signed with the Chicago Cubs after the season, by which point he had undergone seven arm surgeries. Before the 2004 season, he signed with the Detroit Tigers and began that year with the St. Paul Saints of the independent Northern League. He later joined the Tacoma Rainiers from an independent league mid-2004. His final professional season was 2005, pitching for the St. Paul Saints and the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League.

Did You Know?

• Christman was named The Daily Star's player of the year in 1992 and 1993 while at Oneonta High School.
• He threw a no-hitter against Niagara on April 9, 1994, while playing college baseball at Siena College.
• In 2020, he was named to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference's 40th Anniversary Baseball Team.