The
New York Yankees selected Plunk in the fourth round of the
1981 MLB draft. On December 5, 1984, the Yankees traded Plunk with
Tim Birtsas,
Jay Howell,
Stan Javier, and
José Rijo to the
Oakland Athletics for
Rickey Henderson,
Bert Bradley, and cash. On June 21, 1989, he was traded by the Oakland Athletics with
Greg Cadaret and
Luis Polonia to the Yankees for Henderson. Plunk signed with the
Cleveland Indians as a free agent after the 1991 season. He was the winning pitcher in the first ever game played at
Jacobs Field on April 4, 1994. Plunk became one of the most reliable set-up men in baseball, posting a sub-3.00 earned run average in four consecutive seasons from 1993 to 1996. On September 17, 1996, Plunk pitched the final three innings and got the
save in the Indians' 9-4 win over the White Sox that clinched Cleveland's second consecutive Central Division title. Plunk's regular season success never translated over to the postseason. In 15 playoff appearances with the Athletics and Indians, Plunk had a 7.53 ERA and walked 10 batters in 14 innings of work. He was the losing pitcher for Game 3 of the
1997 World Series, his final postseason appearance. Days before the trade deadline during the 1998 season, the Indians traded Plunk to the
Milwaukee Brewers for
Doug Jones. Plunk pitched one more season in the major leagues for the Brewers in 1999. ==References==