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Mark was the unluckiest player on the team, enduring three severe knee injuries during his AWA career, as well as a variety of other ailments that kept him out of the lineup and in the
operating room. But just when it looked like he was finished as a softball player, he kept coming back, until the last one put "Spark" out for good in 1994. When he was healthy, Mark was a gifted and aggressive athlete who played the outfield and ran the bases with abandon. In a 1984 tournament game, Mark pulled off what is arguably the greatest defensive play in AWA history -- an over-the-head game-saving catch while crashing into the left field fence on the dead run. In '94, after three seasons of being out of commission, Mark's first game back in uniform ended with him making a game-saving head-long diving catch in center field. He was supposed to be taking it easy. A good line drive hitter, "Spark" was a solid performer game in and game out. His only AWA home run was a grand slam. |