Eric Yelding

On December 5, 1988, Yelding was selected by the Chicago Cubs from Toronto in the Rule 5 draft. He was waived by the Cubs and selected off waivers by the Houston Astros the following April. In order to satisfy the Rule 5 terms, the Astros were mandated to either keep Yelding on the major league club for the entire season or forfeit their rights to him. Faced with the dilemma of having a player not yet ready for everyday play on their roster, but not wanting to lose their rights to what they considered a future star, the Astros used Yelding primarily as a pinch hitter and pinch runner. He appeared in 70 games, but played the field in only 38 of them and recorded just 102 plate appearances.

The Astros' patience with Yelding paid early dividends, as he became their full-time leadoff hitter in 1990 and finished second in the National League with 64 stolen bases. Though he improved and even showed flashes of brilliance in the field, his defense was still subpar though he did show his versatility by appearing at second base, third base, shortstop, and in the outfield.

Unfortunately, 1990 would be his last full season in the major leagues. He missed half on 1991 due to injury and struggled when healthy. He had only 8 at-bats for the Astros in 1992, spending most of the season with the AAA Tucson Toros. On July 10, 1992, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for Rich Scheid. He finished the 1992 season with the Vancouver Canadians before being released by the White Sox at the end of the season. He was signed by the Cincinnati Reds during the winter, but released during spring training in 1993 before being signed for the second time by the Chicago Cubs.

Yelding was used by the Cubs primarily as a utility infielder and pinch hitter/runner. Although his fielding had greatly improved since his early days with the Astros (with two errors in 32 games at second base in 1993), he struggled with the bat, hitting .204. He missed a large part of the 1993 season due to injury, as well as the following year, in which he appeared in 29 games with the Iowa Cubs.

He never appeared in another major league baseball game, although he did play in spring training as a replacement player for the Cleveland Indians during the 1994 Major League Baseball strike. Yelding spent 1995 and 1996 in the Indians and Seattle Mariners minor league systems between stints in independent leagues. He made one final comeback attempt in 1999, playing for two independent teams, before retiring for good.