| Mike Morgan set the modern record by playing with 12 different franchises, although he has since been passed by Octavio Dotel. Morgan also played in four different decades. He made his debut as an 18-year-old coming straight out of high school after being selected by the Oakland Athletics with the fourth overall pick of the 1978 amateur draft. The Atlanta Braves had selected college star Bob Horner with the first overall pick and planned to take him straight to the majors; A's owner Charlie O. Finley decided to beat them to the punch with his own phenom. Morgan pitched a complete game in a losing cause in his debut against the Baltimore Orioles on June 11, 1978, then lost his next two starts when he was battered around, and was sent down to the minors. His development was further hampered when the A's decided to give him another 13 starts at the major league level in 1979, after he began the year pitching well for the AAA Ogden A's, going 5-5, 3.48 in 13 starts. He was obviously not ready to face major league batters, however, as he went 2-10, 5.94 during that stint, then spent the next two seasons in the minors, where he should have been all along.
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