Kevin Ray Tapani
Courtesy: ABCNewsone
ISHPEMING — We move on to Delta County in our next installment of the best athlete from each Upper Peninsula county.
Kevin Ray Tapani, born in Des Moines, Iowa, but was raised in Escanaba.
He was a quarterback at Escanaba high school, where he led the Eskymos to a Class A Football State title win in 1981.
From there, he went on to play baseball at Central Michigan University; where the pitcher posted a 23–8 record and helped lead the Chippewas to three Mid–American Conference titles.
Tapani went on to play in the Major Leagues.
He was a journeyman through his career, spending time with the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Whitesoxs and Chicago Cubs over the course of his 12 seasons from 1989 to 2001.
Tapani ended his career with a 143–125 record, 4.35 ERA.
He finished 5th place in the 1990 AL rookie of the year voting, and 7th place in the AL Cy young voting in 1991.