SAN DIEGO (AP) Former major league catcher Matt Nokes landed his airplane on a busy California freeway Friday after experiencing engine trouble. Nokes, who recently signed a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians was not hurt. There were no injuries and no damage to the plane.
The 36-year-old Nokes landed his Lancer 4 on Interstate 15 in northern San Diego County after he lost oil pressure, said Larri Dillard, a regional operations officer for the Federal Aviation Administration. Nokes had taken off from Palomar Airport in Carlsbad. He said he didn't know what caused the plane's engines to suddenly start to fail, but he couldn't wait to reach the nearest airport.``I went south, hovered over some cars and waited until they cleared,'' he said.
Nokes, an 11-year major league veteran, was an American League All-Star in 1987 with the Detroit Tigers and was runnerup to Mark McGwire in the AL Rookie of the Year voting.
Nokes signed last month with the Indians. He played the last two seasons in the Northern League with the St. Paul Saints.
He played for San Francisco, Detroit, the New York Yankees, Baltimore and Colorado from 1985-95, compiling a .254 average with 136 homers and 422 RBIs.
