inkster29.com

Pete Incaviglia faced a future of playing America’s national pastime not just in a baseball outpost, but in another nation.

The former Oklahoma State star altered his future, however, sidestepping the hapless Montreal Expos— the team that drafted him in the first round of the 1985 draft — and landing with the Texas Rangers instead.

It was a controversial move that led to Major League Baseball’s official Rule 3(b)(7), or what is more commonly known as the “Pete Incaviglia Rule.”

The story goes that Incaviglia balked at playing in Canada, although he calls such reports false.

“There’s so many stories out there,” Incaviglia said, “and I don’t think any of them are right. When I went to Bucky Woy, who was my agent at that time. I told him, ‘I want to go to Major League spring training, so I can go and see what I’m going to have to do to compete on the highest level.’

“That’s all I wanted. I wanted to be in Major League spring training, competing against Major League pitchers, players, etc., so I could see what I was going to have to do to play there.”

Then it was the Expos’ turn to balk.

“And Montreal said, ‘No way are we going to send you to Major League spring training,’” said Incaviglia. “I said, ‘Why? If I’m not good enough, send me down. But give me the chance in spring training to see what I have to do. I want to compare myself. I want to see where I’m at.’

“They would not do it. That was the whole reason I didn’t end up in Montreal. Not because I didn’t want to go to Canada, not because of anything else. All I wanted was to go to Major League spring training and see how I stood up against the best in the world.”

With negotiations at a standstill, the Expos convinced then-commissioner Peter Ueberroth to allow another club to work a contract with Incaviglia, then trade for him.

That led to the “Pete Incaviglia Rule,” which prohibits teams from trading a player it drafts until he’s been under contract to the club for at least one year.

Eventually, the Rangers agreed to Incaviglia’s request to go to spring training with the big club, dealing two players to the Expos for him.

And Incaviglia never played a day in the minors, one of just four players in history to do so at the time, debuting on April 8, 1986 with Texas.

He played 13 seasons of professional baseball with seven teams, none in Canada.

But he did play one year, 1995, with the Chiba Lotte Marines — in Japan.