Replacement parts

After San Diego’s players protest the team’s pending promotion of would-be replacement player Ira Smith from minors 28 years ago today Padres’ management backs down and instead recalls first baseman Archi Cianfrocco from Class AAA Las Vegas.

Cianfrocco, pictured here in 1991 batting for the Class AA Harrisburg Senators, spends six of his seven seasons in the majors with the Padres before finishing his pro career in 1999 with the Seibu Lions of the Japanese Pacific League.

Smith, an outfielder, never reaches the majors and spends another eight years in the minors before retiring in anonymity.