Batting average .194 Name Riccardo Ingram Home runs 0 Role Baseball player | Hits 6 Awards ACC Athlete of the Year Runs batted in 3 | |
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Died March 31, 2015, Lilburn, Georgia, United States Education Georgia Institute of Technology | ||
Coffee Baseball honors the late Riccardo Ingram
Riccardo Benay Ingram (September 10, 1966 – March 31, 2015) was a Major League Baseball player for the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins. At the time of his death, Ingram was serving as a roving instructor in the Twins Minor League system.
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Biography
His career is profiled in the book, "Journeymen: 24 Bittersweet Tales of Short Major League Sports Careers."
Ingram played baseball and football at Georgia Tech where he stood out in both sports winning the McKelvin Award as the ACC athlete of the year, the first Yellow Jacket to win that award.
Upon leaving Georgia Tech, Ingram was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 4th Round (105th overall) of the 1987 Major League Baseball draft. He made his debut with the Tigers in 1994 getting 5 hits in 23 at bats in only 12 games played. After the 1994 season he was granted free agency. On January 26, 1995 he signed a free agent contract with the Minnesota Twins. He played in 4 games in 1995 gathering 1 hit in 8 at-bats. After the season, he signed another free agent contract with the San Diego Padres but did not play in any regular season games for them.
In the minor leagues Ingram compiled a .276 batting average, with 74 home runs and 428 RBI over 9 seasons. In 1995, he won the Triple A batting crown with the Salt Lake Buzz with a .348 average.
After his playing career was over Ingram became a coach in the Twins minor league system. He coached in Ft. Wayne (1998), Quad City (1999), Ft. Myers (2000 to 2002), and New Britain (2003 to 2007 (serving as the team's manager in 2006 and 2007)) before being promoted to Rochester as the Red Wing's new hitting coach.
In 2009 Ingram was diagnosed with brain cancer and returned to coaching following six weeks of radiation therapy. The cancer returned in 2014 and Ingram died on March 31, 2015 at the age of 48.