A "cup of coffee" is a North American sports idiom for a short time spent by a minor league player at the major league level. The idea behind the term is that the player was only in the big leagues long enough to have a cup of coffee before being returned to the minors. The term originated in baseball and is extensively used in ice hockey, both of whose professional leagues (MLB and the NHL) utilize extensive farm systems; it is rarely used in basketball or American football since neither the NBA nor NFL have implemented a true farm system. One example of how this term is used in a sentence was during the 1996 film The Fan, in which Robert De Niro's character, a middle-aged former pitcher, says, "I was in the bigs for a cup of coffee myself until my arm went south."

Notable baseball cups of coffee

September call-ups

One variant of the cup of coffee is the September call-up, in which major-league clubs call up additional players from their minor-league farm teams late in the season. For many years, this occurred from September 1 through the end of the regular season (typically late September or early October). Before the 2020 season, active major-league rosters expanded from 25 players to 40; however, since 2020, rosters expand only from 26 to 28. Notable players who made their debuts with a late-season "cup of coffee" include: Players listed by Bill James as having had particularly impressive September call-up performances, and who had long careers, were Stan Musial, who hit .426 in 47 at bats for the 1941 St. Louis Cardinals; Fred Lynn, who hit .419 in 43 at bats for the 1974 Boston Red Sox; and J. D. Drew, who hit .417 with 5 home runs, a .972 slugging percentage, and a 1.436 on-base plus slugging percentage in 36 at bats for the 1998 St. Louis Cardinals.

One-game players

Another variant of the cup-of-coffee in baseball is a player who only appears in a single major-league game. Baseball-Reference.com maintains lists of players who have appeared in only one major-league game; as of April 2024, there are over 1,500 batters and over 700 pitchers listed. Some notable players include:

Other circumstances

Other players, who had cup-of-coffee major-league appearances under unusual circumstances, include:

In ice hockey

Players who play only a few games in the National Hockey League and spend the rest of their careers in the American Hockey League or other professional leagues are common in professional hockey. A special case unique to the NHL is that of the emergency backup goaltender. NHL rules dictate that a team carry at least two goaltenders in every game; however, there are sometimes circumstances (such as a short-notice trade or a mid-game injury) when a team only has one goaltender on the roster and does not have time to call up another from the AHL. In such a case, any goaltender 22 years of age or older can be signed as a free agent to a short-term contract to fill the second goaltender position until a more permanent solution can be found. Since the other goaltender is certain to play the game in question and is not likely to be injured during game play, the backup goaltender is likely never to set foot on the ice during game play. Thus, players with little to no experience can sometimes have a short cup of coffee in the NHL (video technician Ryan Vinz is one such example; he was pulled out of the stands to fill the position for one game for the Buffalo Sabres in 2014 despite not playing goalie since high school). This position is typically held by an older, retired goaltender (Dwayne Roloson, Artūrs Irbe and Bob Essensa, for instance, served in those positions for games in the 2014–15 NHL season).