Jim Stoops

Stoops attended Franklin High School in the Somerset section of Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey. He did not receive any scholarship offers to play college baseball but was able to walk on to the baseball team at the University of South Carolina. Stoops was never selected in the Major League Baseball draft but signed a minor league contract with the San Francisco Giants; he had impressed a Giants scout by pitching a scoreless relief outing against the top-ranked 1995 Clemson Tigers baseball team.
On July 31, 1998, the Giants traded Stoops to the Rockies along with Darryl Hamilton and a player to be named later in exchange for Ellis Burks. Prior to the trade, he had never played above High-A and was 3.5 years older than his average teammate on the 1999 San Jose Giants. On September 7, 1998, Stoops was added to the Rockies' Major League roster along with Lariel González, Edga…