This is the resume:

• He was the first National League rookie to hit .300 with 30 homers, 100 RBIs, and 100 runs scored.
• He was the youngest player with back-to-back 50-double seasons.
• He was the third major-leaguer to drive in 500 runs in his first four seasons.1
• He was the major-league leader in runs scored five times, including three consecutive seasons.
• He had the most career home runs of any major leaguer in the first 10 seasons of a career.
• He reached 400 homers faster than anyone in big-league history.
• He was the first player with 100-RBI seasons in each of his first 10 years.

Albert Pujols’ first 11 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals – in which he batted .328 and averaged more than 40 doubles, 40 home runs, 120 RBIs and 117 runs scored – was one of the greatest stretches by an individual player in major-league history. Slowed by injuries and age, the second half of Pujols’ 22-year career was not as productive, but he occasionally showed flashes of his prime years as he reached 3,000 career hits and two major milestones achieved by fewer than a handful of baseball greats – 700 home runs and 2,000 RBIs.

José Alberto Pujols Alcántara was born on January 16, 1980, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He was the only child of Bienvenido and his wife. At the time of his birth, the family lived in the crime-ridden neighborhood of Cristo Rey. They later moved to Villa Mella, a lower-class, but safer, area north of Santo Domingo.2 Their last stop before immigrating to the United States was the Los Trinitarios neighborhood of Santo Domingo.

When Pujols was three years old, his parents divorced and his mother left, but the couple maintained an amicable relationship.3 Pujols has not spoken publicly often of his mother, and little is known about her. Owing to economic circumstances and the chance for a better education, Pujols lived with his father but had occasional weekend visits with his mother.4

Bienvenido worked as a painter and performed other odd jobs; he was often gone from home looking for work. When Bienvenido happened to find work in the city, Pujols would accompany his father to spend time with him and help when he could.

Pujols was raised primarily by his paternal grandmother, America, with help from her 10 children. Surrounded by uncles and aunts, whom he calls his brothers and sisters, Pujols had a happy childhood, although money was tight. “We didn’t live like a rich person, but we lived pretty good,” he recalled.5

Pujols began playing baseball at the age of five when Bienvenido, an excellent softball pitcher in the Dominican Republic, introduced his son to the game. Pujols wore his father’s jersey around the neighborhood and accompanied him to his softball games, where he would beg his father to hit groundballs to him between games.6

Like most kids growing up in the Dominican Republic, as a young boy Pujols played baseball in the streets year-round with improvised equipment – he used a milk carton as a glove and limes as baseballs. He followed the major-league careers of Latino players and didn’t have a favorite team but remembered that “the [Atlanta] Braves were always on TV.”7

Though the two maintained a good relationship, Bienvenido’s alcoholism greatly shaped Albert’s life. A young Pujols would often carry his father home when he became drunk after his softball games.8 Pujols said that the experience caused him to mature early; he cited these moments as the reason that he never drank alcohol or smoked.9

Pujols was 16 when he moved with his father and grandmother to the United States. They landed in a rough neighborhood – Washington Heights in New York City – but left soon after when Pujols witnessed a murder in a bodega near where they lived.10 They settled just east of Kansas City, in Independence, Missouri, which at the time had a community of about 2,000 Dominican immigrants, including members of Pujols’ extended family.11 

Pujols enrolled as a junior at Fort Osage High School and did not speak any English. He initially struggled with the language barrier but was able to do his schoolwork. He displayed a passion to learn and with the help of his English teacher, Portia Stanke (who did not know Spanish), he quickly overcame the language obstacle.12

In October 1996, Pujols was introduced by his cousin Wilfredo Pujols to Fort Osage High School baseball coach David Fry. “When he came to us, he was a no-name. None of us knew anything about him,” Fry said. “He’s a kid that by the grace of God moved into our district. I didn’t know what I had standing in my classroom that day.”13

“The more I watched him, I felt like the baseball gods had smiled down on me,” Fry said after watching Albert Pujols during tryouts for the first time.14

Despite his stocky 6-foot-3 build, Pujols played shortstop in the spring of 1997. He hit .449 with 11 homers to lead Fort Osage to the Missouri Class 4A state championship in his first season. Because he would not have enough credits to graduate in 1998, school administrators felt that another year of high school would benefit his grasp of English and academic development. Pujols was awarded another year of eligibility and re-enrolled as a junior.

On the field he did not get many pitches to hit during the 1998 season. In what would become a recurring theme throughout his career, Pujols’ age was questioned. Opposing coaches – both out of respect for his power and believing he was older than 18 – refused to pitch to him. He was walked 55 times while hitting eight home runs in just 33 at-bats.15

Following the fall semester of his senior year, Pujols had secured the necessary credits to graduate as an English as Second Language Student.16 He left Fort Osage to accept a full scholarship at nearby Maple Woods Community College in the spring of 1999.

Pujols got off to a memorable start – in his first college game, he hit a grand slam against future major-leaguer Mark Buehrle and turned an unassisted triple play at shortstop. Pujols was named a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-American for hitting .466 with 22 home runs and 76 RBIs in 56 games while leading Maple Woods to the NJCAA Region 16 Championship.17

Although Maple Woods coach Marty Kilgore expected Pujols to be taken in the first three rounds of the 1999 MLB June amateur draft, scouts had reservations. In addition to questions about his age, there were other concerns.

“We all saw Albert the same way,” said Kansas City Royals general manager Allard Baird at the time. “We weren’t sure he had a position. He didn’t have a great baseball body. We all saw him the same way, and we were all wrong.”18

On the advice of area scout Fernando Arango, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were the only major-league club to invite Pujols for a pre-draft workout. Despite Arango’s insistence that “someday he’ll hit 40 home runs in the big leagues,” Tampa Bay officials were concerned about Pujols’ build and the defensive position he would play.19 They passed on him in the draft and Arango quit his job in disgust.20

Pujols was finally taken in the 13th round by the St. Louis Cardinals and offered a $10,000 signing bonus. Rather than accept the offer, he chose to play in the amateur collegiate Jayhawk League that summer in Hays, Kansas. After the league ended, the Cardinals upped their offer to $60,000. Pujols signed and reported to the Arizona Fall League, where he learned to play third base.21

On January 1, 2000, Pujols married Kansas City native Deidre Corona, whom he had met at a Latin dance club when he was in high school. The young couple spent just $150 on their wedding and honeymooned in Peoria, Illinois, where Pujols would begin his minor-league career.22 On their first date, Deidre, who was three years older, told Pujols that she had an eight-week-old daughter, Isabella, with Down Syndrome.23 After their wedding, Pujols officially adopted Isabella. He and Deidre would have four children together: Albert Jr. (2001), Sophia (2005), Ezra (2010), and Esther Grace (2012).

Pujols’ accension to the major leagues was remarkably fast. The Cardinals initially sent him to their Class-A affiliate, the Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League. After he hit .324 with 17 homers in 109 games (for which he was later named Midwest League MVP),24 he was promoted to the High-A Potomac Cannons of the Carolina League for 21 games in August. Skipping Double-A, he ended the year with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds for their final three games leading into the Pacific Coast League playoffs. In Game Four of the finals against Salt Lake City, Pujols hit a 13th-inning walk-off home run to give Memphis its first PCL title. In the four-game series, he was 8-for-17 with two homers and five RBIs and was named MVP.25 The Cardinals named Pujols their 2000 Minor League Player of the Year.26

Although they expected him to begin the season in Triple A, the Cardinals welcomed Pujols to spring training as a non-roster invitee in 2001. Despite spending time at first base, third base, shortstop, and all three outfield positions, Pujols hit from the start. Because of injuries to veterans Mark McGwire and Bobby Bonilla, Pujols received extensive playing time and batted .349 in 62 at-bats with a team-leading 34 total bases and just eight strikeouts.27

“Each week when we had our cut meetings, there we were, figuring he had to go back to the minors at some point, and each week he kept impressing us more and more,” said Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty. “It got to the final week and we just said, ‘Look, we’re really a better club with him,’ the way he was playing.”28  

Bonilla’s injury created a vacancy on manager Tony La Russa’s roster that was filled by Pujols, who debuted as the Cardinals’ left fielder in Colorado on opening day, April 2, 2001, and singled against Mike Hampton in his third at-bat.29 Four days later, he cracked his first big-league homer against Armando Reynoso in a victory at Arizona. On April 9, Pujols homered in his first trip to the plate at Busch Stadium.30 He finished April hitting .370 with 8 homers and 27 RBIs and hardly slowed down. Splitting time between third base, first base, and the outfield, he finished the season with a .329 average, 37 homers, 130 RBIs, and 112 runs scored31 while setting National League rookie records for RBIs (130), extra-base hits (88), and total bases (360).32 Pujols was unanimously voted the NL Rookie of the Year, the sixth Cardinals player to win the award.

The next season, Pujols posted similar numbers (.314, 34, 127), the second of a record 10 consecutive years with at least 30 home runs, 100 RBIs, and a batting average over .300. Though Pujols was not eligible for arbitration, St. Louis signed their young superstar to a one-year contract for $900,000 prior to the 2003 season.

After the Cardinals made the playoffs in each of Pujols’ first two seasons, they fell to third in the NL Central in 2003 – which may have been Pujols’ best season in St. Louis. Despite playing most of the season with ligament damage in his right elbow, he won his only batting title with two hits on the final day to finish with a .359 average, edging out Colorado’s Todd Helton by .0002 in the closest batting race in NL history.33  Highlighted by a career-best 30-game hitting streak34, Pujols hit 43 homers and drove in 124 runs while leading the majors in batting average, runs, doubles, and total bases and topping the NL in hits, three behind AL leader Vernon Wells. Pujols finished second in the MVP balloting behind San Francisco’s Barry Bonds (.341, 45, 90 with 148 walks).35

Before the 2004 season, St. Louis inked Pujols to a seven-year, $100 million contract, thereby avoiding an upcoming arbitration battle and delaying his free agency at least four years.36 After playing multiple positions during his first three seasons, Pujols moved exclusively to first base in 2004 after Tino Martinez was dealt to Tampa Bay in November 2003. Pujols would become an excellent defensive first baseman, winning two Gold Glove Awards and setting a major-league record with 185 assists as a first baseman in 2009.37

St. Louis won an MLB-best 105 games in 2004 and topped the Houston Astros in a thrilling seven-game NLCS. Pujols torched the Astros, going 14-for-28 with four home runs, nine RBIs, and scoring 10 runs; he was named the series MVP. In his first World Series he was 5-for-15 with two doubles but St. Louis was swept by the Boston Red Sox, who won their first title since 1918.

Shortly after the 2005 season began, Pujols and Deidre announced the formation of the Pujols Family Foundation. The organization’s goals were to help improve the lives of poor children and orphans in the Dominican Republic and support local organizations such as the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the Ronald McDonald House.38

As the adoptive father of Isabella, another cause was even closer to Pujols’ heart—promoting awareness of Down Syndrome. In 2002 Pujols became the spokesman for the annual “Buddy Walk” game, in which children with Down Syndrome are special guests of the Cardinals and walk along the warning track and stand with Cardinals players during the national anthem. He had a knack for creating a special memory for the children, often hitting a “requested” home run; in the 2006 game he homered in his first three at-bats.39 After being nominated for the fifth time in six years, Pujols was awarded the Roberto Clemente Award in 2008 for his community service.40 

In each season from 2001 to 2004, Pujols finished in the top four in the MVP voting while Bonds won four straight times. With Bonds sidelined until September, Pujols (.330, 41, 117) broke through in 2005 to capture his first of three NL MVP Awards and lead the Cardinals to their second consecutive 100-win season.41 They lost to Houston in six games in the NLCS, but Pujols provided one of his most memorable moments with a massive three-run homer in the ninth inning against Astros closer Brad Lidge to win Game Five.

In the inaugural season of Busch Stadium III in 2006, Pujols hit the first Cardinals home run in the new park. On April 16, his third straight home run was a two-run game-winner in an 8-7 win over Cincinnati; the next night in Pittsburgh he homered in his first at-bat to tie a major-league record for consecutive home runs.42 He finished the month with a major-league record 14 homers in April43 – while hitting .346 and driving in 32 runs – and ended the year with career highs of 49 home runs and 137 RBIs despite a 15-day stay on the disabled list in June.44 The Cardinals, who claimed the NL Central crown with an 83-79 record, beat San Diego in four games in the NL Division Series before dispatching the New York Mets in a tight seven-game NLCS in which Pujols was 7 for 22. He hit just .200 in the World Series, but St. Louis topped the Detroit Tigers in five games for an unexpected title.

After finishing runner-up in the MVP balloting behind Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard, Pujols created a minor controversy when he said in an interview in the Dominican Republic that “someone who doesn’t take his team to the playoffs doesn’t deserve to win the MVP.”45 Pujols later apologized to Howard, saying his remarks were misinterpreted.46

Plagued by discomfort and tingling in his right elbow in 200747, Pujols had career lows to that point in home runs (32) and RBIs (103). He rebounded in 2008 to win his second MVP Award (.357, 37, 116) but underwent surgery to decompress and relocate the ulnar nerve in his right elbow following the season. In 2009 he led the league in homers (47) for the first time48, drove in 135 runs, and nabbed another MVP Award – and had a second surgery on his elbow after the season ended.49

Pujols led the league in homers again and RBIs (for the only time) in 2010 but finished second to Cincinnati’s Joey Votto for the MVP. Following the season, St. Louis exercised a $16 million option on Pujols’ contract for 2011.50

Statistically, the 2011 season was Pujols’ worst of his career to that point. In early June he hit extra-inning, walk-off home runs on consecutive days to beat the Chicago Cubs,51 but on June 19 he suffered a fractured wrist. He was expected to miss up to six weeks but returned two weeks later.52 On July 29 he collected his 2,000th career hit, becoming the fifth Cardinal to reach the milestone.53 He finished the season hitting .299 with 99 RBIs, ending a 10-year streak of batting over .300 and driving in 100 runs.

After defeating Milwaukee on August 2, St. Louis was only 2½ games behind the Brewers in the NL Central, but by August 24 had dropped to 10 games out and 10½ games behind the Atlanta Braves for the sole NL Wild Card berth. However, they went 23-9 to close the season and clinched the wild card spot on the last day when the Braves lost in 13 innings to Philadelphia. Advancing to the World Series with series wins over Philadelphia and Milwaukee, St. Louis split two games at home with the Texas Rangers to set up Game Three. Pujols lifted St. Louis to a 16-7 win with perhaps the greatest single-game offensive output in World Series history. After grounding out in the first inning, Pujols singled in the fourth and fifth, followed by home runs in the sixth, seventh, and ninth; he joined Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson as the only players to homer three times in a World Series game.54 His five hits and six RBIs also tied World Series records and his 14 total bases set a new standard.55 St. Louis beat Texas in seven games to win their second title in six years.

Prior to the 2011 season, the Cardinals had offered Pujols a nine-year, $198 million extension, which he rejected.56 Pujols refused to discuss his contract status during the season and became a free agent following the World Series. Despite both management and Pujols proclaiming that he should remain a Cardinal for the remainder of his career, Pujols eventually signed a 10-year, $254 million deal with the American League’s Los Angeles Angels that included a marketing deal and a personal services contract.57  

Pujols got off to a poor start in 2012 for his new team; he batted under .200 until mid-May and did not connect for his first home run until his 117th plate appearance on May 6. He rallied to finish with 30 homers, 105 RBIs and a .285 batting average, the highest average he would achieve during his time with the Angels. He smacked 50 doubles, making him the first player to reach that mark in each league.58

In 2013, a partially torn plantar fascia on his left foot limited Pujols to 99 games and ended his streak of 12 consecutive 30-homer seasons.59 Despite not being on the field, Pujols was still in the news on August 2 when former major-leaguer Jack Clark, as an employee of a sports talk show on Cleveland’s WGNU, accused Pujols of using performance-enhancing drugs during his early years in St. Louis.60

Pujols denied the accusation, saying in a statement, “I’ve said time and again that I would never take, or even consider taking, anything illegal. I’ve been tested hundreds of times throughout my career, and never once have I tested positive.”61 Pujols, whose name did not appear in the 2007 Mitchell Report which investigated illegal PED use, sued both Clark and WGNU for defamation. The lawsuit was later dropped when Clark publicly retracted his comments.62

Early in the 2014 season, Pujols reached the 500-home run club on April 22 when he belted both his 499th and 500th in a victory over the Washington Nationals.63 He finished with 28 home runs and 105 RBIs and helped the Angels win the AL West title for the first time since they won three straight from 2007 to 2009. Despite teaming up with superstar Mike Trout, the 2014 season would be the only one during Pujols’ stay with the Angels in which they made the postseason; they were swept in the Division Series by the Kansas City Royals.

Playing on achy feet for the last several years of his career, Pujols’ production dropped dramatically. He still hit the ball hard but was often the victim of opponent’s extreme defensive shifts, which – combined with his lack of speed – resulted in groundouts instead of hits. Many were turned into double plays; Pujols grounded into a major-league record 426 in his career.

But Pujols still achieved several statistical milestones while with the Angels. In 2015, he had his seventh, and last, 40-homer season but drove in just 95 runs. The final two of his record 14 100-RBI seasons64 were in 2016 and 2017. On June 3, 2017, he smashed a grand slam for his 600th career home run. He lined a single to right on May 4, 2018, against Seattle’s Mike Leake to become the 32nd player to reach 3,000 hits. Just over a year later, on May 9, his solo homer against Ryan Carpenter was his 2,000th RBI.65 On August 24, 2020, Pujols collected his 2,087th RBI, moving him past Álex Rodríguez into second place all time.66

After signing Pujols, the Angels had hosted the Cardinals in interleague series in 2013 and 2016, but did not visit St. Louis until June 2019, more than seven years since Pujols’ last home appearance during their World Series victory. Receiving a standing ovation for each plate appearance of the series, Pujols was 1-for-2 with a walk in the first game in front of a crowd of 48,423 – the second largest in Busch Stadium history. He thrilled the St. Louis fans with a seventh-inning home run against Cardinal starter Dakota Hudson the following day and collected two hits in the third game.67

In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Pujols hit .224 in 152 at-bats. He was hitting just .198 in 86 at-bats in 2021 when he was designated for assignment by the Angels on May 6, four months before the end of his contract.68 Just over a week later, he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, for whom he hit .254 with 12 home runs in 85 games (37 starts).69 In nine playoff games with the Dodgers, he had five singles in 17 at-bats.

In March 2022, Pujols signed a one-year deal for $2.5 million with St. Louis to end his storied career back where it began. Shortly before opening day, he divorced Deidre just days after her successful brain surgery.70

On the field in his final season as a player, Pujols appeared in 22 games at first base. With the recent adoption of the designated hitter in the National League, the bulk of his playing time came as the Cardinals’ DH. On May 15, he made his major-league pitching debut when he entered for the final inning of a 15-6 win over the San Francisco Giants. He allowed four runs on three hits, including a three-run homer by Luis González and a solo homer by Joey Bart.71

Pujols entered the 2022 season needing 21 homers to join Bonds, Hank Aaron, and Ruth as the only players with 700 career home runs. With just seven home runs in 171 at-bats through August 6, he seemed destined to fall short – but then blasted 17 in his final 136 at-bats to finish with a career total of 703. The 699th and 700th came at Dodger Stadium on September 23. More than 21 years after homering in his first at-bat in St. Louis, he went deep in his final regular season at-bat at Busch Stadium against Pittsburgh’s Roansy Contreras. The next day, in Pittsburgh, he connected against Mitch Keller for his final career home run. Keller was the record 458th different pitcher to allow a homer to Pujols.72

Pujols’ final appearance in the major leagues came in the Cardinals’ Wild Card Series loss to Philadelphia; he was 2-for-8 in two games.

During the first spring training following his retirement, Pujols was inevitably asked if he missed playing the game. “I don’t miss a freakin’ thing about it,” he said. “I really don’t. I’ve been playing baseball for 38 years of my life. It was fun. I had a great career. But I am burned out.”73

Did he have second thoughts about retirement following his strong second half in 2022? “People know when I make a decision, it’s a final decision. Yes, I was sure. I had enough,” he stated. “There are no perfect endings, but I think I had one. Last year was the best thing that happened to me in my career besides winning the World Series.”74

In a private ceremony in early 2023, Pujols married for the second time, to Nicole Fernández, the daughter of former Dominican Republic president Leonel Fernández.75 

In June 2023, Pujols was named a special assistant to Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred to consult on numerous topics, including player relations and issues in the Dominican Republic.76

Although the second half of his career paled in comparison to the first 11 seasons in St. Louis, Albert Pujols compiled career numbers matched by few of the immortals of the game. In his prime, he was one of the most feared hitters in baseball history. But that’s not how he wanted to be known. 

When asked in 2009, he said, “I don’t want to be remembered as the best baseball player ever. I want to be remembered as a great guy who loved the Lord, loved to serve the community and who gave back. That’s the guy I want to be remembered as when I am done wearing this uniform. That’s from the bottom of my heart.”77

Last revised: November 4, 2024

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Eric Vickrey and Rory Costello and checked for accuracy by Henry Kirn of SABR’s fact-checking team.

Photo credits: MLB.com, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

1 Pujols had 505 RBIs in his first four seasons. The other two players are Joe DiMaggio (558) and Ted Williams (515). Matthew Leach, “Pujols Surpasses 500-RBI Plateau,” MLB.com, September 26, 2004.

2 Joe Strauss, “Pujols’ Maintains a Strong Bond with Dominican,” St. Louis Post Dispatch, November 29, 2005: D7.

3 Tom Verducci, “Albert’s Second Act;” Sports Illustrated, March 26, 2012, https://vault.si.com/vault/2012/03/26/alberts-second-act.

4 Graham Bensinger, “Albert Pujols: I’ve Never Drank Alcohol,” https://grahambensinger.com/2021/08/10/albert-pujols/.

5 Chuck Johnson, “Pujols A Card-Carrying Star,” USA Today, May 22, 2001:2C.

6 Graham Bensinger, “Albert Pujols: I’ve Never Drank Alcohol,” https://grahambensinger.com/2021/08/10/albert-pujols/.

7 Johnson.

8 Joe Posnanski, “The Power to Believe,” Sports Illustrated, March 16, 2009.

9 Graham Bensinger, “Albert Pujols: I’ve Never Drank Alcohol,” https://grahambensinger.com/2021/08/10/albert-pujols/.

10 Edward Lennon, “Los Angeles Angels: 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Albert Pujols,” September 2020, https://calltothepen.com/2020/09/19/los-angeles-angels-5-things-albert-pujols/2/

11 Johnson.

12 Graham Bensinger, “Albert Pujols: Challenges Coming to America,” https://grahambensinger.com/2021/08/10/albert-pujols/.

13 Mike Eisenbath, “Pujols is Hot Property at the Hot Corner,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 25, 2001: D16.

14 Johnson.

15 In the summer of 1997, Pujols played a 60-game American Legion season with Hi-Boy Drive In/Post 340 and hit 29 home runs and drove in 119 runs. The next summer he smacked 35 homers and knocked in 124. Arne Christensen, “Albert Pujols: Revisiting the Early Years,” The Hardball Times, June 15, 2010, https://tht.fangraphs.com/albert-pujols-revisiting-the-early-years/

16 Christensen.

17 “Albert Pujols,” NJCAARegion16.org, accessed October 27, 2024, https://njcaaregion16.org/Hall_of_Fame/Albert_Pujols.

18 Posnanski.

19 Jonah Keri, “The Extra 2%: Whiffing on Albert Pujols”, ESPN.com, March 7, 2011, https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=6189583.

20 Keri.

21 Christensen.

22 Posnanski.

23 Johnson.

24 Pujols was named Midwest League Most Valuable Player for the 2000 season despite spending the last month in High-A Potomac.

25 Newspaper accounts report that Pujols hit .367 while being named MVP but that appears to be for the entire playoffs. Box scores from the game accounts in the Salt Lake City Tribune show that he was 8-for-17 in the PCL Championship Series.

26  Gary Lee, “2021 Cardinals Minor League Co-Players & Pitcher of the Year,” Ozark Radio News, March 16, 2022, https://www.ozarkradionews.com/sports/2021-cardinals-minor-league-co-players-pitcher-of-the-year.

27 Steve DiMeglio, “Blazing a Shortcut to the Big Leagues,” USA Today, May 16-22, 2001: 30.

28 DiMeglio.

29 Pujols was the first player born in the 1980s to appear in major leagues. It was initially believed that Rafael Furcal, the 2000 National League Rookie of the Year, was the first but he was found to be two years older than he claimed when having to prove his age to renew his visa following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Because Pujols had been in the United States since he was a young child, he did not face the same scrutiny. Thomas Stinson, “Furcal Ages by 2 Years on Visa,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 15, 2002: C2.

30 Pujols was the first Cardinals rookie to homer in his home debut since Wally Moon in 1954. DiMeglio.

31 Despite below-average speed, Pujols would score 100 or more runs nine times and lead the league five times. Pujols was the first rookie since Walt Dropo in 1950 to hit .300 with 30 home runs, 100 RBIs, and 100 runs scored.

32 “Season of Accomplishments,” USA Today, October 9, 2001. Pujols struck out 93 times in his rookie season. He would match that total in 2017 when he was 37 years old. His next highest strikeout total in a season was 76 (2010 and 2012).

33 Pujols’ .359 average was the highest by a St. Louis batter since Joe Torre hit .363 in 1971. It was the first batting title by a Cardinal since 1990 when Willie McGee hit .335 and accumulated enough at-bats to qualify in the NL before a late-season trade to Oakland in the AL. McGee’s overall average ended at .324. Interestingly, Los Angeles Dodgers’ Eddie Murray led the majors with a .330 average but didn’t lead either league.

34 Pujols fell short of the St. Louis record set by Rogers Hornsby, who hit in 33 straight games in 1922.

35 This was the second consecutive year that Pujols had finished second to Bonds in the National League MVP voting.

36 Joe Strauss, “Pujol$, Cards Buck Up by Giving Slugger $100 Million Deal,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 20, 2004: D1.

37 Pujols recorded his final assist in the last game of the season to break a tie with Bill Buckner, who had 184 for the 1985 Boston Red Sox.

38 Associated Press, “MLB Honours Pujols,” October 26, 2008.

39 In “Buddy Walk” games from 2002 to 2008, Pujols batted 10-for-24 with six homers and 11 RBIs, and the Cardinals had a 5-1 record. His record-tying 184th assist as a first baseman came in the 2009 game. Associated Press, “Another Memorable Day for Pujols and Buddies,” Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune, September 9, 2008: 3B.

40 Associated Press, “MLB Honours Pujols.”

41 Bonds was denied the opportunity to win a fifth consecutive time due to a knee injury. He made his season debut on September 12 and hit .286 with five home runs and 10 RBIs in 14 games.

42 Reuters, “Pujols Ties Record,” Eurosports.com, April 18, 2006, https://www.eurosport.com/baseball-softball/mlb/2006/pujols-ties-record_sto869613/story.shtml.

43 https://www.statmuse.com/mlb/ask/who-has-the-most-hr-in-a-season-in-the-month-of-april.

44 United Press International, “Albert Pujols Goes to the DL,” June 4, 2006, https://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2006/06/04/Albert-Pujols-goes-to-the-DL/16161149458267/.

45 Phillies won 85 games, two more than St. Louis, but finished second in the NL East behind the New York Mets, who won 97 games.  “Pujols Apologizes Over MVP Remarks,” USA Today, December 4, 2006.

46 “Pujols feels his MVP message was lost in translation,” ESPN.com, December 4, 2006, https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=2685770.

47 Ben Reiter, “Risky Business?”, Sports Illustrated, April 14, 2008, https://vault.si.com/vault/2008/04/14/baseball.

48 Pujols hit his 47th homer of the season on September 9 and did not homer in his final 79 at-bats but still edged Prince Fielder (46) and Howard (45).

49 ESPN.com, “Pujols to Have Elbow Procedure,” October 20, 2009, https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=4581000.

50  Ben Nicholson-Smith, “Cardinals Exercise Pujols’ 2011 Option,” MLB Trade Rumors, October 6, 2010, https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/10/cardinals-exercise-pujols-2011-option.html.

51 The second one came against Rodrigo López, against whom Pujols was 0-for-12 before the home run.

52  Grant Brisbee, “Albert Pujols to Be Activated From Disabled List,” SBNation.com, July 5, 2011, https://www.sbnation.com/2011/7/5/2259878/albert-pujols-injury-st-louis-cardinals-news.

53 Associated Press, “Albert Pujols Gets 2,000th Career Hit,” ESPN.com, July 29, 2011, https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/6817681/cardinals-albert-pujols-doubles-2000th-career-hit.

54 Ruth did it twice (1926 and 1928). San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval later hit three in Game One against Detroit in 2012. https://www.baseball-almanac.com/rb_ws2.shtml.

55 https://www.baseball-almanac.com/rb_ws2.shtml.

56 Tyler Kepner, “Pujols Leaves Behind Fractured Legacy in St. Louis,” New York Times, December 8, 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/sports/baseball/in-st-louis-pujols-leaves-behind-a-statue-and-a-fractured-legacy.html.

57 “Deidre Pujols explains decision,” ESPN.com, December 12, 2011, https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/7346376/albert-pujols-wife-deidre-explains-why-los-angeles-angels-slugger-left-st-louis-cardinals.

58 Pujols had 51 doubles with the Cardinals in both 2003 and 2004. Miguel Cabrera later accomplished this feat with Florida (2006) and Detroit (2014).

59 David Leon Moore, “Plantar fasciitis knocking top athletes off their feet,” USA Today; August 20, 2013; https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2013/08/20/albert-pujols-plantar-fascitis/2679445/.

60 Dan Caesar, “Clark Accuses Pujols of Steroid Abuse,” Stltoday.com, August 9, 2013, https://www.stltoday.com/sports/professional/mlb/cardinals/media-views-clark-says-pujols-used-performance-enhancing-drug/article_9afc6d86-6a7f-5e49-b636-2f893df579a1.html.

61 Mike DiGiovanna, “Angels’ Albert Pujols Denies Taking PEDs, Says He Will Sue Jack Clark,” Los Angeles Times, August 9, 2013, https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/la-sp-0810-angels-pujols-20130810-story.html.

62 Tim Daniels, “Albert Pujols Drops Lawsuit Against Jack Clark over PED Accusations,” Bleacherreport.com, October 4, 2013, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1798501-albert-pujols-suing-jack-clark-over-ped-accusations.

63 Pujols was the first player to hit his 499th and 500th career homer in the same game.

64 Tied with Álex Rodríguez.

65 Pujols joined Aaron and Rodríguez as the only three players with 2,000 RBIs. RBIs became an official statistic in 1920; therefore, Ruth and Cap Anson, whose careers began before 1920 and had over 2,000 each, are not officially recognized as having over 2,000.

66 Ruth had 2,214 RBIs but is not officially on the career list because RBI was not an official stat until 1920, five years after his major-league debut.

67 Jenifer Langosch, “Pujols Receives Standing Ovation in Busch Return,” MLB.com; June 22, 2019, https://www.mlb.com/news/albert-pujols-makes-return-to-busch-stadium.

68 Mark Feinsand, “’Never a right time’ as Angels DFA Pujols,” MLB.com, May 6, 2021, https://www.mlb.com/news/albert-pujols-released-by-angels.

69  R.J. Anderson, “Albert Pujols, Los Angeles Dodgers Reach Agreement on Big-League Contract,” CBSSports.com, May 16, 2021, https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/albert-pujols-los-angeles-dodgers-reach-agreement-on-big-league-contract/. Pujols joined Tim Wallach (1996) and Shea Hillenbrand (2007) as the only players to homer for both the Angels and Dodgers in the same season.

70 Ryan Glasspiegel, “Albert Pujols Cites ‘Irreconcilable Differences’ in Divorce Filing,” New York Post, April 5, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/04/05/albert-pujols-irreconcilable-differences-in-divorce-from-wife/.

71 Adam Wainwright was the winning pitcher in this game. It was his 203rd victory with Yadier Molina as his catcher, making them the winningest battery in major-league history. John Denton, “Waino, Yadi Set Wins Record as Cards Erupt,” May 15, 2022, https://www.mlb.com/news/adam-wainwright-yadier-molina-set-battery-wins-record.

72 Jim Sergent and Gabe Lacques, “22 Historic Moments of the 2022 Baseball Season,” USA Today, October 6, 2022, https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/graphics/2022/10/06/2022-mlb-records-judge-pujols-top-list/8122641001/.

73 Bob Nightengale, “Pujols Enjoying Retirement After 22-Year Career,” USA Today, February 23, 2023: 3C.

74 Nightengale.

75 Aashna, “MLB All-Star Albert Pujols and Nicole Fernandez Exchange Vows in a Fairytale Wedding,” Sportskeeda.com, February 3, 2023, https://www.sportskeeda.com/baseball/news-albert-pujols-ties-knot-nicole-fernandez-took-instagram-celebrate-big-day.

76 Reuters, “Albert Pujols Named Special Assistant to MLB Commissioner,” June 5, 2023, https://www.espn.com/mlb/story?id=37800354&_slug_=albert-pujols-named-special-assistant-mlb-commissioner.

77 Posnanski.

For one thing, Beltré wasn’t as lauded as one might expect. Although he recorded more hits (3,166) than any third baseman in major-league history, won five Gold Gloves, and four Silver Sluggers, Beltré was selected to only four All-Star teams and finished in the top six of his league’s MVP voting just twice.

Yet, by the time he walked away from the game, Beltré had become one of the most beloved, joyful players of his generation. His presence touched countless fans and players alike. Shortstop Elvis Andrus, Beltré’s teammate for eight years in Texas, wrote on Instagram, “Thank u [sic] for everything you’ve done in my career in and off the field and for always teach[ing] me to believe in myself, respect the game and the most important…enjoy the game.”2 Hall of Famer Chipper Jones, the contemporary to whom Beltré was often compared, called him the “total package at the hot corner” and vowed to “save [him] a seat at the third baseman’s table of the members dinner in Cooperstown.”3

In 2024, Beltré became the fifth Dominican-born player to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame, earning 95.1% of the votes cast by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Even before Adrian Beltré Pérez was born, his dad, Bienvenido, thought that he and his wife, Andrea Pérez, had something special on the way. As legend has it, Bienvenido told his friend, Dominican baseball legend Felipe Alou, that his pregnant wife would give birth to a great ballplayer. Bienvenido, nicknamed “El Negrito”4 because he was dark and handsome, would train him to be a star, and Alou could help mentor him.5 On April 7, 1979, Adrian entered the world in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.

Bienvenido had built the family home in the Café de Herrera neighborhood, in the southwestern sector of the city. He was an industrial mechanic who trained roosters for cockfighting, a popular and legal sport in the country. He was also a professional baseball player.6 His son followed him everywhere. “He would take me to the fields [to] watch him play,” Beltré said. “He was a big influence on my life.”7 When Alou managed in Dominican winter ball, he took young Adrian with him. “I thought he’d be asleep after the game,” Alou recalled. “I was surprised that he was awake. He talked about the game all the way back.”8

Despite being a scrawny youngster, Beltré loved playing baseball like his dad. He found ways to get games going with friends even without proper equipment. “We [were] very creative,” Beltré said. “We find a way to keep ourselves entertained and make baseball out of anything – a sock, a tennis ball, anything we have to create a baseball game.”9

Shortly after Beltré turned 11, his father introduced him to Franklin Rodríguez, who operated a baseball school on the grounds of the Hogar Escuela Santo Domingo Savio. (Beltré was a student at the Escuela Rafaela Santaella, not the Liceo Máximo Gómez as some reports indicate.) Over the ensuing quarter-century, more than 200 of Rodríguez’s pupils signed professional contracts, including D’Angelo Jiménez, Melky Cabrera and Edinson Vólquez. “He [Beltré] had strength in his arm and hit the ball very hard,” Rodríguez recalled in Spanish.10

At the time, Beltré also loved basketball and tennis. In 1991, however, he watched a Houston Astros game on a grainy television set and decided he wanted to be like their slick-fielding third baseman. “Ken Caminiti,” he explained. “I saw how hard he played. I saw the plays he made, and I got serious about baseball.”11

Los Angeles Dodgers scout Pablo Peguero donated balls and other supplies to Rodríguez’s camp, so Beltré wound up in that organization’s pioneering workout facility in 1994.12 Although Beltré weighed only 130 pounds, Peguero and fellow scout Ralph Ávila spotted him and fell in love with his rocket arm13 and lightning line drives. The pair insisted that the Dodgers offer him a contract as soon as possible. Even though Beltré was only 15 – a year younger than the minimum age – the Dodgers signed him for $23,000 on July 7, 1994, using documents that recorded his birth year as 1978. “I often tell players… once you sign, you’re not going to be a kid any longer. You are a professional,” Alou said. “His dad really coached him to be a pro.”14

Beltré developed his talents at the Dodgers’ Campo Las Palmas complex and made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League in 1995. He batted .307.15

Upon arriving in the United States in 1996, Beltré skipped rookie ball and became the youngest player in the Class A South Atlantic League when he was assigned to the Savannah (Georgia) Sand Gnats. “I lived with several Latinos, and they did not speak English, so we adapted little by little. We started by ordering food at McDonald’s or at Subway after the game,” Beltré said. “What helped me was arriving at the place, pointing at a photo [of food], saying something as if I were murmuring, letting them answer me, and saying ‘yes.’ But I didn’t know what they were going to give me… I went hungry a lot because I’ve always hated pickles… I’d immediately throw it in the trash.”16

On the field, Beltré blasted through his competition. Based on his .307/.406/.586 slash line in 68 games with Savannah, he was named the league’s best prospect.17 He was promoted to the High-A California League and finished the season with the San Bernardino Stampede. Between the two clubs, he produced 26 homers and 99 RBIs in 131 games.

In 1997, Beltré batted .317 for the Vero Beach Dodgers and led the High-A Florida State League in homers (26), RBIs (104) and slugging (.561). He was voted the circuit’s MVP. Baseball America exclaimed, “He hasn’t shown any weaknesses in two years of minor-league ball.”18 Beltré struggled with the glove, making 37 errors on 351 chances that season. But he would soon be considered one of baseball’s best defenders.

Entering 1998, Baseball America ranked Beltré as the majors’ number-three prospect.19 He started the year with the San Antonio Missions, where he was five years younger than his average competitor in the Double-A Texas League. Over 64 games, he hammered 13 homers and batted .321. It seemed only a matter of time before he starred at Chavez Ravine.

On June 24, 1998, Beltré was called up and given a seat at “the table of baseball’s most dysfunctional family.”20 The Dodgers were in the midst of a tumultuous season, having fired their manager and general manager three days before Beltré’s arrival. Future Hall of Famer Mike Piazza had been traded away in mid-May. Beltré’s opportunity came, in part, because one of the players obtained for Piazza – third baseman Bobby Bonilla – had just gone on the disabled list with an intestinal infection. “What’s too soon?” asked former Dodgers skipper Tom Lasorda, who had just assumed the club’s interim GM duties. “The kid has got talent, and he’s got everything he needs to be here.”21

In his first at-bat, Beltré roped an RBI double down the left-field line off Anaheim Angels starter Chuck Finley to announce himself to the big-league world. “I was really nervous,” he said. “I had a butterfly in my stomach… I was thinking, ‘Whatever he throws me I’m going to swing at it because I can’t feel my body.’ It’s like I was floating.”22 He also singled before the contest was over. Six nights later in Texas, he hit his first home run.

Although Beltré hit only .215 with seven homers in 77 games, he remained with L.A. for the rest of the season. His place as the team’s starting third baseman was secured that fall when new Dodgers GM Kevin Malone shipped Bonilla to the New York Mets to make room for “one of the game’s best prospects.”23

That offseason, Beltré played winter ball in his native country for the third straight year. He had hit .219 in 76 games for the La Romana-based Azucareros del Este over his first two campaigns. However, playing for Santiago-based Águilas Cibaeñas in 1998-99, he batted .301 with 10 homers in 58 games to win Dominican League MVP honors. The Aguilas were eliminated in the playoff semifinals, but Beltré accompanied the champion Tigres del Licey to the Caribbean Series in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There he made the all-tournament team and helped the Dominican Republic prevail.

In 1999, Beltré appeared in 152 games for the Dodgers and hit a moderate .275 with 15 homers. During spring training, he had informed his agent, Scott Boras, that he was 19 years old rather than his listed age of 20. Realizing Beltré was underage when he first signed with the Dodgers, Boras initially offered to drop the matter if the club offered compensation. When the team refused, Boras pushed Major League Baseball to allow his client to become a free agent, as other Latin-born players who were signed too early had. After an investigation, Commissioner Bud Selig ruled that Beltré – despite his denials – knew his birth year had been altered on certain documents. Beltré was ordered to remain with the Dodgers but awarded the difference between the signing bonus he received and what he could have made one year later ($48,000). Selig also fined the Dodgers $50,000, shut down their Dominican baseball operations for one year, and suspended scouts Ávila and Peguero.24

Beltré joined the San Pedro de Macorís-based Estrellas Orientales for the last eight regular season Dominican League games in 1999-2000. In 25 playoff contests, he notched 29 RBIs and batted .300 with seven homers, including three in the seven-game final series. The Estrellas lost to the Aguilas, but Beltré was named the finals MVP anyway.25

In 2000, Beltré increased his production to a .290 batting average with 20 homers and 85 RBIs for the Dodgers. Still just 22, he seemed primed to take an even bigger leap the next season. Instead, he ran into a strange and life-threatening wall.

That winter, Beltré underwent a botched appendectomy in the Dominican Republic, resulting in a serious infection and additional surgery. He was flown back to Dodgertown in Vero Beach in February 2001 and struggled through a slow recovery. He lost 15 pounds and was attached to an IV bag until nearly March. “When they opened me up, my appendix had already burst,” Beltré recalled. “You can’t even imagine how close I was to death. It was the scariest time in my life, by far.”26

Beltré made his season debut in early May but never got it going. He finished the season with a .265 batting average and a .310 OBP. Whether owing to the debilitating infection or not, Beltré’s woes continued to haunt him over the next two seasons. He scuffled to a .257 batting average in 2002, and bottomed out at .240 in 2003, with a disappointing .290 OBP (both career-lows as a full-timer).

The Dodgers grew impatient, and criticisms of Beltré’s play went public. It was written in the Los Angeles Times that “he was a ‘5 o’clock hitter,’ incapable of translating batting-practice power into games. He allowed emotion to overwhelm him.” As Beltré later recalled, “They also thought I was going to get fat.” (He was listed at 5-foot-11, 220 pounds later in his career.27) Heading into his contract year, a rumor percolated that offseason that Beltré might be dealt to the Yankees to replace Aaron Boone. The talks died when New York acquired Alex Rodríguez instead.28

With everything to prove, Beltré enjoyed an uncharacteristically hot start in 2004, batting .478 with three homers in the season’s first week. He had been a .227 and .247 career hitter in May and June, respectively, up to that point, but he kept producing as the calendar progressed. Beltré entered the break with 22 home runs (one off his previous career-high) and a .315 batting average, but he was left off the All-Star team in favor of Scott Rolen and Mike Lowell. “If Belly can continue with the hot start,” said teammate Shawn Green, “he’ll be able to really relax and do what he does in the second half of the season.”29 That’s exactly what happened.

After the snub, Beltré got even hotter. By season’s end, his.334/.388/.629 (1.017 OPS) slash line established career highs across the board. He also achieved personal bests in homers (a NL-leading 48), RBIs (121), runs scored (104), hits (200), and fielding percentage (.978). In September, the Dodgers clinched their division to end the franchise’s longest postseason drought (eight seasons) since they’d relocated from Brooklyn in 1958. Beltré was named the National League Player of the Month. “Remember when the Dodger fans chanted ‘M-V-P’ for me last season?” Beltré asked the following year. “Every day during the last month? I was thinking those chants were better than the award itself.”30 As it happened, he garnered six first-place votes in MVP balloting but finished second to the Giants’ Barry Bonds, the only major leaguer to exceed Beltré’s 9.6 WAR.

The Dodgers were defeated by the St. Louis Cardinals in a four-game NLDS in which Beltré went 4-for-15 without an extra base hit.

Shortly thereafter, he became a prized free agent; on December 17, 2004, Beltré signed a lucrative five-year, $64 million deal with the Seattle Mariners. Not usually a major player in free agency, Seattle had lured one of the biggest fish to join a contending club that had won at least 91 games for four straight seasons. “The bottom line is, the Dodgers didn’t want to sign me,” Beltré said. “If they had only talked to me and told me their plan, I would have signed for less money to stay there.”31

Years later, Beltré reflected, “I wanted to stay [in LA] forever… Everything happened for a reason.”32 During his time with Seattle, that reason wasn’t entirely clear, as he sank back into obscurity with a team that missed the playoffs in each of his five seasons. In 2005, Beltré lost his ability to punish fastballs, and his numbers showed it. He batted .255 (his lowest mark since his rookie year) with 19 homers and a .716 OPS.

When Beltré made his first trip to Dodger Stadium as a visiting player on June 20, 2006, he slammed a first-inning home run. “I thought I was going to get booed more loudly than [I was],” he said. “I just went up there trying to get a good pitch and hit a line drive somewhere. I tried not to strike out. I didn’t want to get booed again.”33 Asked if he might have struggled as badly if he’d stayed in Los Angeles, Beltré replied, “Probably not.”34

Though he didn’t approach the heights he’d attained in 2004, Beltré improved to .268 with 25 homers in 2006, closer to his average production. His high points included a two-homer game against the Yankees in August, and a five-RBI performance against Kansas City in September. He continued to play his usual stellar defense at third. Still, given the expectations of a big contract and his new team’s consecutive fourth place finishes, Beltré’s time in Seattle was ranked “somewhere between disappointment and disaster” by Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.35

In 2007, the Mariners enjoyed their only winning season during Beltré’s time with the team, finishing 14 games above .500. On May 28, Beltré tied a franchise record with four extra-base hits (two home runs and two doubles). Overall, he had his best season with Seattle: .276 with 26 homers and 99 RBIs. He also received some long overdue recognition when he was awarded his first Gold Glove.36

Beltré’s bat stayed consistent, but the Mariners regressed in 2008. Seattle finished fourth for the third time in four seasons while Beltré managed 25 homers but just 77 RBIs with a .266 average. On September 1, he hit for the cycle, and his defense was better than ever. Per Baseball-Reference, Beltré’s major league-leading 3.1 dWAR was the third-highest among third basemen in the 2000s. He received his second consecutive Gold Glove.

The 2009 season, the final one on Beltré’s contract, was painful. He was hitting .259 with only five home runs in 73 games when he underwent surgery to remove a bone spur from his non-throwing shoulder on June 30. Expected to miss up to eight weeks initially, he returned on August 4 looking like his old self, batting .390 over 41 at-bats. On August 12, however, a laser groundball kicked up and caught him in the groin. Beltré wasn’t wearing an athletic cup and suffered a ruptured testicle. “When I look down, after the game, it wasn’t a pretty sight,” he said. “My testicle got the size of a grapefruit. Thank God it didn’t really damage anything.”37

After a stint on the disabled list, he returned on September 1, still without a cup. “They say I’m crazy,” Beltré said. “But I say, if the ball’s going to hit me there every 11½ years, I’ll take my chances.”38 Egged on by Ken Griffey Jr., the Mariners’ public address system played The Nutcracker Suite before Beltré’s return at-bat.39 Overall, Beltré played only 111 games in 2009 and batted .265. The eight home runs he mustered were the lowest full-season total of his career.

Through the life of his contract with Seattle, Beltré averaged only 20 homers, a .266 batting average, and a mediocre .317 OBP. John McLaren, the Mariners’ manager for parts of two of those seasons, believed Safeco Field’s spacious dimensions “got in his head.”40 Beltré said he realized during his last years in Seattle that he needed to “stop taking everything so seriously…It was when I learned how to enjoy the game that my talent took off a little bit more.”41

With the Mariners, Beltré endeared himself to his teammates as a friend and inspiring leader. He and Seattle pitcher Félix Hernández developed a relationship that carried over the next decade. The day after Beltré recorded his 3,000th hit in 2017, for example, Hernández walked off the mound to wrap him in a hug at home plate.42

In December 2009, Beltré turned down the Mariners’ one-year, $12 million arbitration offer and chose to test free agency instead. The risk didn’t immediately pay off – it seemed that most clubs believed the 30-year-old third baseman’s best days were behind him. Beltré settled for a one-year, $9 million deal with the Boston Red Sox.43

With Boston, Beltré exploded for his highest batting average (.321), OBP (.365), homers (28) and RBIs (102) since his 2004 career season. With the help of the Green Monster at Fenway Park, he cranked a career-high and American League-leading 49 doubles. The Red Sox missed the playoffs, but Beltré was named to his first All-Star team, won his second Silver Slugger Award, and finished ninth in MVP voting.

Off the strength of his 2010 campaign, Beltré signed a six-year, $96 million contract with the Texas Rangers in January 2011. The Rangers were coming off the first World Series appearance in franchise history and hoped that Beltré’s veteran presence would get them over the top.

Part of the deal allowed Beltré to wear his preferred uniform number 29, which had belonged to outfielder Julio Borbón. Beltré also agreed to donate $100,000 per season to the Rangers Foundation, dedicated to improving the lives of the community.44

Rangers manager Ron Washington, a former big-league infielder, said Beltré’s hands were the key to his outstanding defense, explaining, “Beltré does a lot flat-footed, and it’s all in his hands. A line drive will get hit to him, and you’re going, ‘Dang it, he’s in the wrong position.’ And the ball will hit in his hands. He comes to a complete stop before he throws the baseball. That’s why he can throw that ball from all kinds of angles. You wouldn’t teach [Beltré’s] style of play. But he’s pretty dang good.”45

Beltré started the All-Star Game for the first time in his first year with Texas. But he strained his hamstring 10 days later and went on the disabled list for six weeks. When he returned in September, he won AL Player of the Month honors after homering 12 times in 15 games. The Rangers won a franchise record 96 games and clinched their division. Beltré completed his second straight stellar season, batting .296 with 32 homers and 105 RBIs.

In Beltré’s first trip to the playoffs in seven years, he sealed Texas’s ALDS triumph over the Tampa Bay Rays by homering three times in a 4-3 victory in the clinching Game Four. Although six players before him had gone deep three times in a postseason contest, Beltré became the first to do it in a game that his team won by one run.46 He batted a light .222 in the ALCS against the Detroit Tigers, but his RBI single off Max Scherzer gave the Rangers a lead that they never surrendered in the decisive Game Six.

Next, the Rangers met the St. Louis Cardinals in a classic seven-game World Series. Beltré hit safely in five of the first six contests, including a four-hit performance in Game Three. In Game Five, Beltré secured his place as a Rangers legend by hitting what is arguably the most iconic home run in franchise history.47 With the series tied and his team down, 2-1, with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Beltré went down on one knee and launched an 0-1 pitch from Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter over the left field fence. The homer tied the game and ignited the Rangers’ 4-2 victory. Unfortunately, St. Louis won the next two games to capture the title. Beltré went 0-for-3 in the Rangers’ 6-2 defeat in Game Seven.

Beltré took the loss personally. “I’m trying to get over it,” he said that winter while accepting his third Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards. “It’s hard. Hopefully, when I get to spring training, it’ll be all gone.”48

In 2012, Beltré extended his consistency. Fans voted him an All-Star Game starter, and he clobbered 36 homers, drove in 102 runs, and batted .321. On August 12, Beltré’s seventh-inning single off Twins reliever Kyle Waldrop completed his second career cycle. Beltré earned his fourth Gold Glove and finished third in MVP voting. The Rangers won 93 games but finished second to Oakland and lost the inaugural Wild Card game to the Baltimore Orioles.

After being afforded relative anonymity in Seattle, Beltré became a household name in Texas as the baseball’s social media universe developed and his myriad of personality quirks became apparent. Most notably, it became known that Beltré had a serious aversion to having his head touched. “I’ve never liked people touching my head, not even my kids,” he explained in 2012.49

As clips and gifs surfaced of his teammates – especially Elvis Andrus – playing the part of mischievous little brother and playfully touching his head, Beltré’s reputation as an idiosyncratic elder statesman grew. “Like a great silent-film performer,” The New Yorker wrote, “Beltré told entire stories with simple facial expressions – incredulity, disgust, disappointment, or an angry stare that would occasionally break into a secret smile, as if the game of baseball were an extended private joke inside his own head.”50

Beltré also became known for his violent swings that spun him into pretzels, sometimes knocking off his helmet, and other times resulting in home runs while down on one knee. He also had a playful rapport with teammates and opposing players alike. When Victor Martínez hid Beltré’s helmet before a game, Beltré joked, “I thought about killing him…but I have a family, so I didn’t.”51

Beltré’s antics became the stuff of legend, and he never ceased adding new acts to the list. He made highlight reels by throwing his glove at a ball that screamed past him down the line52, swatting Miguel Cabrera in the midsection when he dared go for his head53, and dragging the on-deck circle after being warned by the umpire to stand on it. For the on-deck incident, the umpire ejected him. “I wasn’t being funny,” Beltré said. “He told me to stand on the mat, so I pulled the mat where I was and [stood] on it. I actually did what he told me. I was listening.”54

On the field, Beltré remained a model of consistency from 2013 to 2016, averaging .307 with 25 homers and 89 RBIs. He led all third basemen in hits and batting average during that period. In 2014, he made his fourth and final All-Star appearance and won his fourth Silver Slugger. In 2016, he led all third basemen in defensive runs saved and captured his fifth Gold Glove.

On May 15, 2015, Beltré became the fifth third baseman in MLB history to hit 400 homers55 when he took Bruce Chen deep to dead center during an 8-3 Rangers loss. The team unfurled a congratulatory banner in the outfield. “I don’t like those situations but it was nice for the fans,” Beltré said. “The banner was nice, too, but would have felt a lot better if we won the game today.”56 That summer, Beltré’s fifth-inning home run off Mike Fiers on August 3 clinched his third career cycle – a feat that hadn’t been accomplished in 82 years.57 After the game, Beltré joked, “When you’re fast like me, it’s not that difficult.”58

Prior to the 2016 season, the Rangers tacked two additional years (each valued at $18 million) onto the end of Beltré’s original contract, taking him through 2018 with the club.

Beltré entered 2017, his 20th big-league season, just 55 hits shy of 3,000. On July 4, he became the 17th player ever to collect 600 career doubles. Three days later, he became the 21st player to amass 5,000 total bases. Finally, on July 30, Beltré laced a line drive into left field off Orioles’ starter Wade Miley for his 3,000th hit, becoming the first Dominican-born player to reach the milestone.

One of the few disappointments that Beltré experienced in 2017 occurred on the Players Weekend of August 25-27, when nicknames were permitted on the backs of uniform jerseys. Because of copyright issues, Beltré was not allowed to use “Kojak,” the nickname his uncle gave him in tribute to the baldheaded 1970s television detective played by Telly Savalas. Instead, Beltré’s uniform featured the shortened “El Koja.”59

Beltré showed signs of wear in 2018 as the Rangers entered a rebuild, batting .273 in 119 games, with 15 home runs (his lowest totals for Texas). In November, at age 39, he announced, “After careful consideration and many sleepless nights, I have made the decision to retire from what I’ve been doing my whole life, which is playing baseball, the game I love.”60

Over 21 seasons, Beltré batted .286. As of 2022, his 1,707 RBIs and 3,166 hits remain major-league records for third basemen.61 At that position, only Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt and Eddie Mathews produced more WAR or hit more homers than Beltré’s 477. Brooks Robinson is the lone player to participate in more double plays or appear in more games at the hot corner.

Beltré joined the Rangers after he turned 30 years old and became one of their greatest and most popular players ever.62 Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels said, “Adrian is one of the best people I’ve had the opportunity to work with. He stands out as much off the field as he does on it.”63 In June 2019, the team retired Beltré’s number. Three years later, he was inducted into the Rangers Hall of Fame.

Even outside of baseball, Beltré is adored. In 2018, the Dallas News named him a finalist for Texan of the Year64 and the Fort Worth Zoo named a baby giraffe ‘Beltré.’65 Madison Kocian, a 2016 Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics, was born the same year that Beltré made his big-league debut. She spoke for many of her fellow native Texans when she commented, “Beltré is probably my number one because I’m a huge Rangers fan, so he’s always been an inspiration for me…he’s dealt with a lot of injuries…he’s fought through them, and he’s just a team player overall, so I’ve looked up to him for a long time.”66

Beltré married Sandra Pérez in 2003 and the couple has three children: Cassandra, Adrian Jr, and Camila. Adrian Jr. was getting attention67 as a professional prospect in 2021 when he was 15, the same age his dad was when he first signed with the Dodgers.

Although he moved his family to Pasadena, California, Beltré’s pride remained with his homeland. He played for the Dominican Republic in the first World Baseball Classic in 2006 and made the all-tournament team.68 In 2017, he represented his country in the WBC again. In 2021, Beltré went back to the baseball stadium where he used to play at Hogar Escuela Santo Domingo Savio. He provided the financial resources for its reconstruction. In his dedication speech, Beltré said in Spanish, “This is a special place for me. I hope the children enjoy it, that they take care of it because I want this to be the place where you see your future and have an idea of where you can go…”69

After watching the newborn that he once held grow into a superstar, Felipe Alou said, “This is a man that should be an example. We are a very small country where everybody knows everybody. Everybody knows the kind of man and player he is. Serious about his trade, his profession.”70 While Beltré’s path to Cooperstown wasn’t as obvious as it might seem, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 2024. He’s revered as much for his on-field performance as his enormous heart and delightful quirks.

Last revised: January 23, 2024

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Malcolm Allen and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Henry Kirn.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and Shrpsports.com.

Adrian Beltré’s Dominican League statistics from https://stats.winterballdata.com/players?key=341 (Subscription service. Last accessed June 29, 2022).

Notes

1 Ian Crouch, “Why Adrian Beltré, A Great Baseball Weirdo, Was My Favorite Player,” The New Yorker, November 20, 2018.

2 Matt Johnson, “MLB players react to Adrian Beltré’s retirement,” Sportsnaut, https://sportsnaut.com/mlb-players-react-to-Adrian-Beltrés-retirement/, November 20, 2018.

3 Johnson, “MLB players react to Adrian Beltré’s retirement.”

4 Gerry Fraley, “Flashback: From holding him as a baby to watching him chase 3,000, Felipe Alou knows Adrian Beltré,” Dallas Morning News, November 20, 2018.

5Joe Posnanski, “The Baseball 100: No. 52, Adrian Beltré,” The Athletic, February 4, 2020.

6 Rafael Hermoso, “Beltré’s All-Around Ability Finally Comes to Light,” USA Today (McLean, Virginia), August 31, 2004: C6. Marc J. Spears, “Beltré is Sight for Sore Eyes,” Daily News (Los Angeles, California), June 25, 1998: S10. The latter source says that Beltré’s father had been a minor-leaguer in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, while the former identifies him as a former third baseman/outfielder for the Dominican League’s Leones del Escogido. However, there is no statistical evidence that Bienvenido Beltré appeared in any official games.

7 Rebecca Lopez, “Adrian Beltré, 1st Dominican-born player to record 3,000 hits, reflects on baseball beginnings,” KHOU, July 20, 2017.

8 Fraley, “Flashback: From holding him as a baby to watching him chase 3,000, Felipe Alou knows Adrian Beltré.”

9 Lopez, “Adrian Beltré, 1st Dominican-born player to record 3,000 hits, reflects on baseball beginnings.”

10 Ramón Rodríguez, “De El Café de Herrera Salió Beltré,” Listín Diario (Dominican Republic), August 2, 2017, https://listindiario.com/el-deporte/2017/08/02/476549/de-el-cafe-de-herrera-salio-Beltré (last accessed July 2, 2022).

11 Mike Berardino, “Can’t Dodge Destiny,” Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida), March 5, 1999: 9C.

12 Rodríguez, “De El Café de Herrera Salió Beltré.”

13Jonah Keri, “The Often Under-Appreciated Adrian Beltré,” Grantland, https://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-often-underappreciated-Adrian-Beltré/, September 4, 2013.

14 Fraley, “Flashback: From holding him as a baby to watching him chase 3,000, Felipe Alou knows Adrian Beltré.”

15 John Sickels, “Adrian Beltré Prospect Retro,” SB Nation, July 9, 2005, https://www.minorleagueball.com/platform/amp/2005/7/9/23459/18509 (last accessed July 2, 2022).

16 Marla Rivera, “Adrian Beltré on his transition to the big leagues,” ESPN.com, https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19707372/rangers-star-Adrian-Beltré-english-lessons-latino-fans-pickles, June 23, 2017.

17 Adrian Beltré Stats & Scouting Report, Baseball America, https://www.baseballamerica.com/players/12719/Adrian-Beltré/

18 Adrian Beltré Stats & Scouting Report, Baseball America.

19 “1998 Baseball America MLB Prospect Rankings,” Baseball Cube, https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/prospects_mlb/1998~BA/ (last accessed July 2, 2022). The only players ahead of Beltré were Athletics outfielder Ben Grieve and Paul Konerko, a Dodgers’ prospect who moved from third to first base in 1998.

20 Matt McHale, “Dodgers Bruised by Sheffield Incident,” Santa Cruz Sentinel (Santa Cruz, California), June 30, 1998: 14.

21 Chris Foster and Jason Reid, “Beltré Contributes Immediately,” Los Angeles Times, June 25, 1998: 10. 0

22 Lopez, “Adrian Beltré, 1st Dominican-born player to record 3,000 hits, reflects on baseball beginnings.”

23 Murray Chass, “Mets Take a Big Step Back to the Future,” The New York Times, November 12, 1998.

24 Murray Chass, “Dodgers Get to Keep Beltré, but Are Penalized,” The New York Times, December 22, 1999.

25 Adrian Beltré’s Dominican League statistics are from https://stats.winterballdata.com/players?key=341 (Subscription service. Last accessed July 3, 2022).

26 John Nadel, “Healthy Beltré Is Grateful,” AP News, March 2, 2002.

27 Andy McCullough, “To Dodgers, Adrian Beltré is the Hall of Famer who got away,” Los Angeles Times, June 12, 2018.

28 Posnanski, “The Baseball 100: No. 52, Adrian Beltré.”

29 Bruce Bolch, “Early Returns for Beltré Are Encouraging,” Los Angeles Times, April 12, 2004.

30 Bill Plaschke, “Beltré didn’t want to leave LA,” Los Angeles Times, February 28, 2005.

31 Plaschke, “Beltré didn’t want to leave LA.”

32 Matt Borelli, “Rangers’ Adrian Beltré Reveals He Wanted To Remain With Dodgers Organization ‘forever’,” Dodger Blue, https://dodgerblue.com/rangers-Adrian-Beltré-wanted-remain-dodgers-organization-entire-career/2018/06/13/, June 13, 2018.

33 Shaikin, “Beltré Looks Right at Home,” Los Angeles Times, June 21, 2006.

34 Shaikin, “Beltré Looks Right at Home.”

35 Bill Shaikin, “Beltré Looks Right at Home.”

36 Between 1998-2007, Beltré had the second highest dWAR (11.2) amongst third basemen and the 10th highest all players at any position.

37 Ryan Hudson, “Despite Grapefruit-Sized Testicle, Beltré Still Does Not Wear a Cup,” SBNATION, https://www.sbnation.com/2010/3/3/1335540/Adrian-Beltré-testicle-cup-red-sox, March 3, 2010.

38 Hudson, “Despite Grapefruit-Sized Testicle, Beltré Still Does Not Wear a Cup.”

39 Adrian Beltré, Baseball-Reference Bullpen.

40 Tyler Kepner, “Rangers’ Adrian Beltré Plays Third Base Like No One Else,” New York Times, August 31, 2012.

41 Efrain Ruiz Pantin, “The Joy of Adrian Beltré,” La Vida Baseball, November 20, 2018

42 Whitney McIntosh, “Felix Hernandez congratulated Adrian Beltré on 3,000 hits in the middle of an inning,” SBNATION, https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2017/7/31/16073928/felix-hernandez-congratulates-Adrian-Beltré-middle-of-inning-hugz-on-hugz (last accessed August 10, 2022)

43 “Red Sox reach deal with Beltré,” ESPN.com, https://www.espn.com/boston/mlb/news/story?id=4795915 (last accessed August 10, 2022).

44 Richard Durrett, “Free Agent Adrian Beltré, Texas Rangers agree to 6-year deal,” ESPN.com, https://www.espn.com/dallas/mlb/news/story?id=5991829, January 5, 2011.

45 Joe Christensen, “The Top of His Game; The Best Third Baseman in Baseball?” Star Tribune (Minneapolis), July 24, 2011: C7.

46 Adrian Beltré, 2018 Topps Tribute baseball card.

47Joshua Carney, “Reliving Memorable Rangers Moments: Adrian Beltré Goes Yard From One Knee in in 2011 World Series,” Fan Nation, https://www.si.com/mlb/rangers/news/rangers-Adrian-Beltré-home-run-one-knee-2011-world-series, March 24, 2020.

48 Gerry Fraley, “Adrian Beltré ‘still trying to get over’ World Series,” Dallas Morning News, January 12, 2012.

49 “2012 MLB All-Star Game: Adrian Beltré’s Biggest Fear,” Youtube, uploaded by Secret Base, July 10, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YurfBBLq-IE.

50 Crouch, “Why Adrian Beltré, A Great Baseball Weirdo, Was My Favorite Player.”

51 Stephanie Apstein, “Future Hall of Famer is missing one thing: a ring,” Sports Illustrated, March 29.2016.

52 Rodger Sherman, “Adrian Beltré throws glove at ball, has had just about enough of Carlos Gonzalez,” SBNATION, https://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2014/5/6/5689778/Adrian-Beltré-throws-glove-at-ball-has-had-just-about-enough-of, May 6, 2014.

53 Evan Grant, “Adrian Beltré on Miguel Cabrera’s head pat: ‘I can’t say anything about the best hitter in the league,’” The Dallas Morning News, May 24, 2014.

54 Sam Butler, “Adrian Beltré was asked to go back to the on-deck circle, so he dragged it to where he was instead,” Cut 4, https://www.mlb.com/cut4/Adrian-Beltré-moved-the-on-deck-circle-to-where-he-wanted-it-to-be-and-was-eject, July 27, 2017.

55 Eddie Mathews, Mike Schmidt, Darrell Evans, and Chipper Jones are the others.

56 “Adrian Beltré of Texas Rangers hits 400th career HR,” ESPN.com, https://www.espn.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/12895412/Adrian-Beltré-texas-rangers-hits-400th-career-hr, May 15, 2015.

57 John Reilly, Bob Meusel, and Babe Herman were the others. Trea Turner and Christian Yelich have since joined them.

58 T.R. Sullivan, “Beltré joins elite club with third cycle,” MLB.com, https://www.mlb.com/news/Adrian-Beltré-hits-for-cycle-for-third-time-c140986632, August 3, 2015.

59 Joseph Myers, “Copyrights to Keep Three MLB Participants From Using Preferred Nicknames During Players Weekend,” Promo Marketing Magazine, August 24, 2017, https://magazine.promomarketing.com/article/copyrights-keep-three-mlb-participants-using-preferred-nicknames-players-weekend/ (last accessed July 3, 2022).

60 “Statement from Adrian Beltré,” MLB.com, https://www.mlb.com/press-release/statement-from-Adrian-Beltré-300952152, November 20. 2018.

61 For players who played at least 30% of their games at third base.

62 Chris Halicke, “Texas Rangers All-Time Team: Position Players,” Fan Nation, https://www.si.com/mlb/rangers/news/texas-rangers-all-time-team-position-players, April 24, 2020.

63 T.R. Sullivan, “Beltré steps away after legendary career,” MLB.com, https://www.mlb.com/news/Adrian-Beltré-announces-retirement-c300949902, November 20, 2018.

64 Dallas Morning News Editorial. “Texas of the Year finalist Adrian Beltré brought a love of baseball to Texas Rangers fans,” Dallas Morning News, December 23, 2018.

65 Patrick Basler, “Fort Worth Zoo names baby giraffe Beltré and baseball got a lot cuter,” SBNATION, https://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2017/7/31/16069586/fort-worth-zoo-baby-giraffe-name-Adrian-Beltré-3000-hits, July 31, 2017.

66 “Texas of the Year finalist Adrian Beltré brought a love of baseball to Texas Rangers fans.”

67 Tyler Henderson, “Baby Beltré fits nicely into the Texas Rangers’ long term plans,” Nolan Writin’, January 7, 2022.

68 “2017 WBS MVP and All-Tournament Team Announced,” MLB.com, March 23, 2017, https://www.mlb.com/press-release/2017-wbc-mvp-and-all-tournament-team-announced-220520420 (last accessed July 3, 2022).

69 “Adrian Beltré inaugurates the remodeling of the Domingo Savio home school,” El Nuevo Diario (República Dominicana), December 6, 2021.

70 Fraley, “Flashback: From holding him as a baby to watching him chase 3,000, Felipe Alou knows Adrian Beltré.”

After a nine-year career in Japan, where he won an unprecedented seven consecutive batting titles, seven consecutive Gold Glove awards, and three consecutive MVP awards, Ichiro Suzuki became the first position player from Nippon Professional Baseball in the major leagues in 2001. Proving many doubters wrong, his stellar hitting continued in the U.S. against major-league pitching, as he began his big-league career with an unprecedented 10 straight 200-hit seasons, including a record-setting 262 hits in 2004.

Ichiro’s style was reminiscent of an earlier era. Although he could hit for power, Suzuki usually used his tremendous bat control to spray the ball around the field. Appearing almost to run before his bat struck the ball, he sped down the line from the left-hand batter’s box and beat out many infield choppers and bunts. His pre-pitch ritual was inimitable and distinctive. Swinging the bat in a long arc, he pointed it at the pitcher, and then tugged on his right sleeve. Only then was he ready to hit. Baseball columnist Thomas Boswell opined, “To see Ichiro hit is to be taken back almost a century to the hit ’em where they ain’t technique.”1

His outstanding offensive abilities were complemented by great defense. Playing primarily in right field, as well as some time in center, he also won 10 consecutive Gold Glove awards. One highlight reel of his defensive gems contains 10 minutes of diving catches, stolen home runs, and frozen-rope throws.2 After one strong throw from right field to third base, Mariners announcer Dave Niehaus, making one of his most famous calls, exclaimed, “I’m here to tell you that Ichiro threw something out of Star Wars down there at third base!”

In addition, he enjoyed All-Star appearances each year during his first decade in the majors. His outstanding play in two countries made him an international celebrity, known by one word alone like soccer hero Pelé. Ichiro’s success in the U.S. changed the perception that major-league teams had of Japanese baseball players. He paved the way for future stars such as 2009 World Series MVP Hideki Matsui and 2021 AL MVP Shohei Ohtani.

Suzuki played major-league baseball for 19 years. He had a 28-year professional career in Japan and the U.S. combined. His longevity exceeds that of major-league leaders Nolan Ryan and Cap Anson, who each played for 27 seasons. Suzuki finished with 3,089 big-league hits, which puts him 24th on the all-time career hit list (as of 2022). Adding his 1,278 hits while playing in Japan’s Pacific League gives him a total of 4,367 hits at the top level in each nation. That total exceeds the record 4,256 hits that Pete Rose amassed during his big-league career.

Suzuki also excelled on the basepaths. He is one of only seven major-leaguers to have 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases.3 Ichiro and Lou Gehrig are the only players in the modern era to have eight seasons with 200 hits and 100 runs scored. His stellar offense, superb defense, and success running the bases meant that Ichiro Suzuki was the first Japanese player elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 2025.

Ichiro (the name means brightest, most cheerful) Suzuki was born on October 22, 1973, in Nichi Kasugai-gun (a suburb of Nagoya), Japan.4 His parents are Nobuyuki and Yoshie Suzuki, and his only sibling is his older brother, Kazuyasu.5 Ichiro’s love of the game, and famous work ethic, were instilled in him by his father. Nobuyuki was a former high school pitcher who bought Ichiro his first glove, and played catch with him, when Ichiro was just 3 years old. Although Suzuki was naturally right-handed, Nobuyuki taught Ichiro to bat left-handed because lefties get to first base faster. When Ichiro was 7, the two established a daily afternoon routine – summer and winter, regardless of the weather. The boy would throw 50 pitches, hit 200 tosses from his father, and do 50 infield and 50 outfield fielding plays. After dinner every day, the two would go to the local batting cage, where Ichiro would take 250 to 300 swings.

By the time Ichiro was 12, he knew what he wanted to do with his life. In a sixth-grade essay he wrote, “My dream when I grow up is to be a first-class professional baseball player…. I have the confidence to do the necessary practice to reach that goal…. I only had five or six hours (per year) to play with my friends. That’s how much I practiced. So I think I can become a pro.” Reflecting on this period, Nobuyuki said, “Baseball was fun for both of us.” Ichiro replied, “It might have been fun for him, but for me … it bordered on hazing and I suffered a lot. But I also couldn’t say no to him. He was doing his utmost to help me.”6

High school baseball in Japan is taken with the same seriousness that Texans take high school football. For promising Japanese baseball players, the choice of where to go to high school is given the same consideration as where to go to college is given in the U.S. The high school that Ichiro attended, Aikodai Meiden Kokko, in Nagoya, is one of the top baseball schools in Japan and is well known for sending its best athletes to the professional ranks. Ichiro’s time there was difficult. As a freshman he had to scrub the dormitory floors and got up at 3 A.M. to do laundry for the upperclassmen. After he became a starter in his junior year, the chores were replaced with running, and drills such as throwing car tires, and hitting Wiffle balls with a shovel. Ichiro called his time at Meiden “the hardest thing I have ever experienced.”7

But the hard work paid off – Ichiro batted .502 during his high school career. He never struck out swinging in over 500 high-school at-bats and was called out on strikes just 10 times. He twice led Meiden to the most prestigious high school baseball tournament in Japan. However, in spite of these stellar numbers, he was not chosen until the fourth and final round (36th overall) of Japan’s 1991 draft, by the Orix Blue Wave. Scouts for most teams did not think he could compete because of his small stature (he was then 5-feet-9 and just 120 pounds).8

Ichiro made his Nippon Professional Baseball debut with the Blue Wave at age 18 in 1992. But the manager of the team had doubts about his future in baseball because of his small size and unorthodox hitting technique, so he spent most of his first two seasons in the minor leagues. As part of his development, Orix sent Suzuki to play in the Hawaii Winter Baseball League after the 1993 Japanese season. Playing for the Hilo Stars of the four-city circuit, Ichiro led the team to a 28-20 record and a first-place finish. League owner Duane Kurisu said Suzuki’s play stood out even then. He exclaimed, “Ichiro, man. His name would keep popping up throughout. It was from Day 1. One day I was with some farm directors, they said you gotta look at this kid. Here was this small guy hitting bombs. This was the first inkling of who Ichiro was. I saw it in BP. He was hitting things beyond these warehouses that were over 450 feet away.”9

When Orix changed managers in 1994, Ichiro was allowed to play every day. Leading off for the Blue Wave for most of the season, his 210 hits marked the first time anyone exceeded 200 hits in the circuit’s 130-game season. He batted .385 and scored 111 runs. His reward for this stellar offense was the Most Valuable Player award in the Pacific League.10 In addition, he won the first of seven consecutive Gold Gloves (in Japan) for his defensive prowess.

It was also in 1994 that he became known as Ichiro. Suzuki is a common surname in Japan, so in order to draw attention to their budding star, the Blue Wave decided to put Ichiro on his jersey rather than Suzuki. The team also announced his at-bats by Ichiro. Suzuki did not like the idea at first. “I’ve got to admit, though, that it embarrassed me when the public address announcers announced the starting lineup with me as ‘Ichiro,’ not as ‘Suzuki’ and there was a great stir among the crowd.”11 But over the course of the season, as he became famous nationwide and endorsement offers came rolling in, it was the only name by which he wanted to be known.12 How famous was Ichiro in Japan? He said that letters with the address, Ichiro, Japan, would reach him as long as the address was written in katakana (Japanese phonetics).13

The Orix club is based in Kobe, Japan. Suzuki was there when the Kobe earthquake struck in January 1995. Of the experience he said, “I really felt like I might be killed. I can’t put into words how frightening it was.”14 Yet the baseball season went on as planned, in spite of extensive loss of life and damage to the city, and Ichiro continued his offensive onslaught in 1995. He led the Pacific League in hits (179), RBIs (80), stolen bases (49), and batting average (.342), and won his second consecutive MVP award. The Blue Wave won the Pacific League by 12 games, then played in the Japan Series against the Central League champion, the Yakult Swallows. Although Orix lost the series in five games, the season set the stage for 1996. Paced by Ichiro’s 193 hits and .356 batting average, the Blue Wave won their second consecutive Pacific League title. Facing the famed Tokyo Yomiuri Giants in the Japan Series, Orix prevailed in five games, and Suzuki won his third consecutive MVP award.

Although the Blue Wave never won another league title while Ichiro was there, his offensive heroics continued over the next four years. With batting averages of .345, .358, .343, and .387, he earned an unprecedented seven consecutive batting titles. The press started referring to him as the “Human Batting Machine” and later simply as kaibutsu. This is high praise in Japan: kaibutsu means monster. Ichiro thought he could be the first Japanese player to bat .400 for a season.15

It was during this period that Ichiro married Yumiko Fukushima, an announcer at a major Tokyo television station who spoke fluent English. The wedding took place on December 3, 1999, at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. The small, private ceremony was held outside of Japan in order to avoid the media crush that certainly would have accompanied an in-country wedding. Recalling the experience, Ichiro mused, “After it was all over, I thought to myself what a wonderful thing a wedding is.”16

Ichiro had played against American stars in postseason exhibition games and became interested in playing in the U.S. During one exhibition series, Barry Bonds is reported to have said, “That little s–t can really hit the ball.”17 But getting to play in the U.S. was a complicated proposition. Japanese players couldn’t become free agents for nine years, and Ichiro’s sense of duty to Orix precluded him from using the “voluntarily retired” loophole that Hideo Nomo had used to come to the U.S. in 1995.18 However, the financially strapped Orix club, aware that Ichiro would become a free agent soon, and knowing they could get a big payment from an American team, agreed to “post” him. This meant that U.S. teams could bid on his services.19

How did the small-market Seattle Mariners get Ichiro instead of one of the big-market teams? Jim Colborn, the Pacific Rim scouting coordinator for the Mariners, had been the pitching coach for Orix in the early 1990s. When Ichiro was shooting Nissan commercials during the winter, he stayed at Colborn’s house in California. Colborn had also given him jerseys from Ken Griffey Jr. (Suzuki’s favorite player). In addition, Orix and the Mariners had an agreement to share marketing ideas in exchange for information about Japanese players.

When Orix posted Ichiro, Colborn convinced the Mariners’ general manager, Pat Gillick, that the team should vigorously pursue him. Gillick then sold the Mariners’ principal owner, Hiroshi Yamauchi, president of Nintendo, on the idea. Yamauchi wanted Ichiro badly enough to add a few million of his own money to the Mariners bid.20 Seattle’s $13 million offer earned the club the right to negotiate with Ichiro, and Suzuki soon signed a three-year, $14 million contract with the Mariners. The ploy worked in part because most big-league teams believed Ichiro was too small to be successful in the U.S.

Ichiro was the Mariners’ starting right fielder on opening day, 2001. It didn’t take him long to prove he could play in the U.S. In Seattle’s eighth game of the season, at Oakland, Ichiro’s leadoff single in the top of the eighth inning sparked a three-run rally to break a scoreless tie. In the bottom of that inning, he made a defensive effort that is now simply referred to as “The Throw.” Playing right field, he threw Terrence Long out at third base with a perfect throw. Rick Rizzs, the Mariners radio announcer, called it a “laser beam strike,” and said it was one of the greatest throws he had ever seen.21

Yet despite this start to the season, there were still doubts, even among his teammates, that he could play in the major leagues. In an interview Ichiro stated, “If I said there wasn’t concern among the team, I wouldn’t be telling the truth. There were all sorts of views about my performance among the Mariners players then, not just positive opinions. It took longer than the month of April to gain their trust.”22

But his stellar play continued. By the All-Star break, he led the majors with 133 hits. Ichiro started the All-Star Game in center field for the American League and beat out an infield single against 6-foot-10 southpaw Randy Johnson. His success against Johnson was not unusual. Unlike many left-handed hitters who struggle against lefty pitchers, Ichiro batted .329 versus southpaws compared to .304 against righties during his major-league career. Suzuki felt honored to be among the All-Stars. Asked about his All-Star experience, he gushed, “I loved playing in that game. Every time I looked around during the game, I got the feeling of Wow! These are the All-Stars.”23

In addition to putting up tremendous individual numbers, Ichiro sparked the entire team to play great baseball. The Mariners had a 63-24 (.724!) record at the All-Star break and led the American League West by 19 games. Seattle wound up winning 116 games – tying the 1906 Cubs’ all-time win record and surpassing the 1998 Yankees’ AL mark of 114. The Mariners beat Cleveland in the ALDS before losing in five games to the three-time defending champion Yankees in the ALCS. Asked about that opponent, Ichiro said, “There’s a sense of awe that’s always there with the Yankees. The atmosphere’s different. The Yankees had gone to the World Series four years in a row, and I think they’re amazing.”24

The numbers that Ichiro put up in 2001 were pretty amazing too. Although his lengthy Japanese career meant that the 27-year-old Suzuki was far from a typical rookie, he won the American League Rookie of the Month awards for April, May, August, and September. In 157 games, he led the league in batting average (.350) and ranked second with his career-high 127 runs scored. He led the major leagues in plate appearances (738), at bats (692), hits (242), and stolen bases (56). His 242 hits were the highest total since Bill Terry’s 254 in 1930. Ichiro was the first player to lead a league in batting average and stolen bases since Jackie Robinson in 1949. His efforts were rewarded with a Silver Slugger award, a Gold Glove, and Rookie of the Year honors. In a close vote, he edged the Oakland Athletics’ Jason Giambi for Most Valuable Player honors, 289 points to 281. Seattle’s Bret Boone also received seven first-place votes. Suzuki was surprised that he won, saying, “I really hadn’t been thinking about the MVP at all. I was sure all the time that my teammate, Bret Boone, would win it. I figured Boone was the best man for the MVP.”25

In both the 2002 and 2003 seasons, Suzuki recorded at least 200 hits, scored 111 runs, won a Gold Glove, and started the All-Star Game. The Mariners won 93 games each season but failed to make the playoffs. The stage was set for one of the greatest hitting seasons in baseball history.

At the end of April 2004, Suzuki was batting just .255, and the Mariners’ record was 8-15. While Seattle struggled all season, finishing 63-98, Ichiro was hitting .315 by the end of June. In July, however, he collected 51 hits and batted .432. In August, he added 56 more hits with a .456 average. In the 60 games between July 1 and September 6, he hit safely a record 121 times, and batted .458. Only Rogers Hornsby (.486 in 1924) produced a higher average over the same number of contests.26

Through September 6, Ichiro had 226 hits, with 25 games remaining to chase George Sisler’s record of 257 in 1920. He managed just 10 hits over the next 12 games but added 13 hits in the following four contests to put the mark within reach. On October 1, in front of a sellout crowd at Safeco Field that included Sisler’s daughter, Ichiro broke the record with a three-hit performance in Seattle’s 160th game. When he hit safely in his final at-bat of the season two days later, the new record was 262.

Ichiro was glad that the pressure of the chase was over. He said, “It was a big relief. I felt like something got off my shoulders. To see the fans and to see my teammates, it was just a very exciting time for me. It was a very special moment, definitely the highlight of my career.” His father, Nobuyuki, watching in Japan, added, “You can tell how happy and proud I am just by looking at me. The tears just won’t stop flowing.”27

It was truly a season for the ages. In addition to setting the hits record, Ichiro became the first player to get 200 hits in his first four years in the major leagues. His 924 hits in those four years are the major-league mark for most hits in any four-year span. His 225 singles are the major-league record, and his 80 multi-hit games set the club record. He had 50 hits in a month three times (50 in May, 51 in July, 56 in August) and was the first player since Pete Rose to have four 50-hit months (Suzuki also had 51 hits in August 2001). He had five hits four times and led the majors with 57 infield hits. He set career highs in batting average (.372, which also led the majors), OBP (.414), and OPS (.869). He stole 36 bases and had a career-high four steals against Boston on July 20.28 He also earned his fourth straight All-Star appearance and fourth straight Gold Glove award. Ichiro had proved his doubters wrong, and showed that Japanese position players could compete in the U.S.

The Mariners never made it back to the playoffs after 2001 while Ichiro was on the team. Seattle was in first place in August of 2002 and 2003 but faded down the stretch both years. In 2007 the team got within a game of first place in August, but soon fell off the pace. However, Suzuki was a model of consistency. By the end of the 2010 season, he had produced at least 200 hits in 10 straight campaigns – no other player has ever done that – while being selected to the All-Star Game and winning a Gold Glove in each campaign.

Noteworthy events during this period include career highs in home runs (15) and triples (12) in 2005. He set the American League record with 45 straight successful steals from April 19, 2006 to May 17, 2007. In 2009, he had a career high 27-game hitting streak from May 6 to June 3, and he victimized Mariano Rivera with his first career walk-off home run on September 18.

One of Ichiro’s All-Star Game highlights came in 2007. He came to bat in the fifth inning with the AL trailing, 1-0. Suzuki crushed a pitch from Chris Young to the right field wall at AT&T Park in San Francisco. The ball took an unexpected carom off the wall, and Griffey could not track the ball down soon enough to prevent Ichiro from scampering for an inside-the-park home run – the only such homer in All-Star Game history. Ichiro went 3-for-3 in the game and was voted MVP in the American League’s 5-4 victory. Surprisingly, he never hit an inside-the-park home run during the regular season.

During this portion of his career Ichiro also played for Japan in the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic and the second edition in 2009. In 2006, Japan played Cuba in the final game of the tournament. Ichiro’s two hits and three runs in the final game contributed to Japan’s 10-6 victory to win the tournament. Defending their title in 2009, Japan played the U.S. in one of the semifinal games. Facing three-time All-Star Roy Oswalt, Japan scored five runs in the fourth inning to break open a close game, earning a berth in the final against South Korea. As the home team, South Korea got a run in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the final game into extra innings. In the top of the 10th, Ichiro came to bat with two outs and two men on. His single scored the two runs that proved to be the margin of victory, as Japan won the World Baseball Classic for the second consecutive time.29

Ichiro was reserved when talking to the media, always speaking through a translator so he would not be misunderstood, even though he could speak English well. Even so, teammates said that he was exuberant and very funny in private. Mariner teammate Aaron Sele opined, “I don’t think people realize how funny he was.” Mike Sweeney was part of the All-Star team that visited Japan to play exhibition games after the 2000 season. When an American got a hit, the public address announcer would say, “Nice batting.” Sweeney thought he would return the favor when Ichiro got a hit the following season, saying “Ichiro, nice batting.” Ichiro replied, “Mike Sweeney, nice ass.”

When Ichiro spoke English, he used the F-word liberally. Mariners trainer Rick Griffin said, “He dropped many, many F-bombs in many different varieties and different forms. Just screaming and yelling and hopping up and down — and then he walked away and sat down like nothing happened.” A story from the 2002 All-Star Game is a good example. Before the game, Joe Torre (the manager for the AL team) made a calm, professional speech to the players. Torre then pointed to Ichiro and asked him if he had anything to add. After a brief pause, Ichiro shouted out, “Let’s kick their f—ing fat asses.” The other players cheered, “Yeeeaaahhhhh!” So, Ichiro got the last pregame word at every All-Star game he played in, and he always finished with similar remarks.30

But even Ichiro’s talent and hard work could only fend off Father Time for so long. In 2011, at age 37, he batted .272 – his first sub-.300 average as a professional, and his first season with fewer than 200 hits (184) since coming to the majors. He was batting just .261 at the 2012 All-Star break when the Mariners – who hadn’t been to the playoffs since 2001 – decided to trade their beloved star rather than give him a lucrative contract for the following year.31 The Yankees, believing Ichiro could regain his form in a new setting, traded relievers D.J. Mitchell and Danny Farquhar to acquire him.

From September 1 through the end of the 2012 season, Ichiro batted .362 with 38 hits in 31 games as the Yankees went 20-11 to win the AL East by two games. New York faced Baltimore in the AL division series. Although Ichiro batted only .217 for the series in his second taste of postseason action, he drove in a crucial run in the sixth inning of the decisive Game Five victory. Subsequently, Suzuki’s .353 batting average in the ALCS was the team’s best, but the Yankees were swept by the Tigers. This was Ichiro’s last postseason appearance, and he never played in a World Series.

Ichiro was unable to continue his late 2012 season form into 2013, as he batted .262 with 136 hits. After he followed that up with a .284, 102-hit showing in 2014, the Yankees allowed him to become a free agent. He was signed by the Miami Marlins as the team’s fourth outfielder for 2015. He played more than expected because of an injury to Giancarlo Stanton, appearing in 153 games, but batted just .229 with 91 hits. (He also made his only big-league appearance on the mound that year.) Nonetheless, that was enough, combined with his still formidable defense, to entice the Marlins to re-sign him for 2016.

That set the stage for another career highlight. Ichiro was just 65 hits shy of 3,000 for his major-league career on Opening Day. The total increased slowly through the year because he was used mostly as a late-inning defensive replacement. But on August 7, at Coors Field, the 42-year-old Suzuki ripped a stand-up triple off the right-field wall to become the 30th player with 3,000 hits (Paul Molitor was the other player to achieve the milestone with a triple).

Good defense, and Suzuki’s .291 batting average, caused the Marlins to re-sign him for another year. But even though he said he wanted to play until he was 50, the Marlins didn’t offer him a contract after he batted .255 with 50 hits in 2017.32 That season, he had 27 pinch-hits (in 100 at-bats), falling just one short of John Vander Wal’s single-season mark.

Ichiro wanted to play in 2018, but even though his agent had contacted every major-league team, he still didn’t have a contract in early February of that year. Wright Thompson of ESPN the Magazine spent five days with Suzuki in February and wrote a widely read feature article about him. Thompson portrayed Ichiro as a compulsive baseball savant, but also as someone having difficulty envisioning a life beyond baseball. Former Marlins teammate Dee Gordon said, only half-jokingly, “I really just hope he keeps playing, because I don’t want him to die. I believe he might die if he doesn’t keep playing. What is Ichiro gonna do if he doesn’t play baseball?” Suzuki echoed the sentiment. When asked by a Miami journalist what he will do after baseball, Ichiro replied, “I think I’ll just die.”33

Fate then intervened to bring a storybook ending to Ichiro’s stellar career. During spring training in 2018, three Mariners outfielders were injured, and Seattle was unable to find any suitable short-term replacements. They turned to Ichiro. Despite not arriving at spring training until March 8, Suzuki was in the starting lineup for the Mariners’ opener on March 29. At 44 years, five months, and seven days, he was the fifth-oldest player to make an Opening Day start in the major leagues. The largest regular-season crowd in Safeco history, 47,149 fans, gave Suzuki a thunderous ovation when his name was announced, and chants of “I-chi-ro!” filled the stadium when he came to bat. When asked about getting to play for the Mariners again, he replied, “The dreams that I have, one of them came true.”34

Ichiro started 10 of the first 15 games for the Mariners in 2018, and played in 15 games total, batting just .205, before his last appearance on May 2. The Mariners used Suzuki as a mentor, front-office advisor, and a batting, base running, and outfield defense instructor for the rest of the year, with the intention of keeping him in the organization for the long term.35

The fates were not through with Ichiro just yet. The fairy tale ending continued in 2019, as MLB scheduled the Mariners to play in the Japan Opening Series at the Tokyo Dome. After starting both games for the Mariners, in the eighth inning of the second game his teammates left the field; Ichiro, tipping his hat, exited to a standing ovation from the adoring Japanese crowd. He announced his retirement at a press conference immediately following the game. After answering questions for 30 minutes, Griffey told Suzuki that the fans were still waiting for him to make a curtain call. In a manner similar to Cal Ripken after he broke the consecutive games played record, Ichiro walked slowly around the perimeter of the field, surrounded by photographers, saluting the crowd. Ichiro was overcome with emotion. He said, “I’m very thankful to the fans, to the Mariners and all the people that work for the Mariners…it doesn’t get better than tonight. Nothing can top what happened tonight for me.” It was a fitting ending to his unparalleled career.36

At his retirement press conference Suzuki exclaimed, “I have achieved so many of my dreams in baseball, both in my career in Japan and, since 2001, in Major League Baseball. I am honored to end my big-league career where it started, with Seattle, and think it is fitting that my last games as a professional were played in my home country of Japan.” He added, “I want to thank not only the Mariners, but the Yankees and Marlins, for the opportunity to play in MLB, and I want to thank the fans in both the U.S. and Japan for all the support they have always given me.”37

Since his retirement Ichiro has served as special assistant to the chairman in the Mariners organization. His role in that capacity has been as a uniformed instructor during spring training for the team.38 He lives in Seattle with his wife and their dog, Ikkyu.

He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote in 2025.

Last revised: January 21, 2025

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to SABR members Malcolm Allen and Rory Costello. Their careful review of this biography, and the numerous additions they suggested, significantly improved the final product.

This biography was also reviewed by Norman Macht and fact-checked by David Kritzler.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-reference.com.

Notes

1 Robert Whiting, The Meaning of Ichiro: The New Wave from Japan and the Transformation of Our National Pastime (New York, New York: Warner Books, 2004), 33.

2 Made the Cut, “Ichiro Suzuki Defensive Highlights,” March 21, 2020, You Tube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnzgoNELh3w, (last accessed February 4, 2022).

3 The other six are Lou Brock, Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins, Rickey Henderson, Paul Molitor, and Honus Wagner.

4 Ichiro’s name is often incorrectly translated as “first boy.” Reddit, “Baseball,” https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/dah7c/the_japanese_name_ichiro_is_often_written_郎, (last accessed January 6, 2022).

5 Dennis Normile, “Museum Showcases Ichiro’s Baseball Career,” New York Times, August 27, 2012.

6 Whiting, 5-6.

7 Whiting, 10.

8 All of the information about Ichiro’s childhood and high school career came from the book, Whiting, The Meaning of Ichiro: The New Wave from Japan and the Transformation of Our National Pastime, 1-12.

9 Matt Monagan, “Baseball in Hawaii, As Cool as it Sounds,” MLB.com, https://www.mlb.com/news/hawaiian-winter-league-look-back, (last accessed February 5, 2022).

10 Sports Team History, “The Career of Ichiro Suzuki,” https://sportsteamhistory.com/the-career-of-ichiro-suzuki-yesteryears-player, (last accessed January 5, 2022).

11 Narumi Komatsu (translated by Peter Gabriel), Ichiro on Ichiro (Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 2004), 167.

12 Whiting, 16.

13 Michael Knisley, “Baseball,” The Sporting News, March 19, 2001: 13.

14 Komatsu, 169.

15 Whiting, 18.

16 Komatsu, 182-185.

17 Whiting, 20.

18 Whiting, 96-106.

19 Tyler Conway, “MLB-NPB Japan Posting System: Explaining Rules, Format, and Bid Process,” BleacherReport, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1831683-mlb-npb-japan-posting-system-explaining-rules-format-and-bid-process, (last accessed January 10, 2022).

20 Jake Kring-Schreifels, “The Colossal Legacy of Ichiro’s Rookie Season, 20 Years Later,” The Ringer, https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2021/9/14/22664414/ichiro-suzuki-seattle-mariners-2001-rookie-season-legacy, (last accessed January 10, 2022).

21 Kring-Schreifels.

22 Komatsu, 21.

23 Komatsu, 30-31.

24 Komatsu, 43-44.

25 Komatsu, 5.

26 Matt Kelly, “The Best 60-Game Stretches in MLB History”, MLB.com, https://www.mlb.com/news/best-60-game-performances-in-mlb-history, (last accessed January 14, 2022). Kelly’s article says Hornsby batted .466 between June 21, and August 29, 1924. But Hornsby played in 71 games during that time period, not 60. From July 1 to August 29, 1924, Hornsby played in 60 games, and went 106 for 218, batting .486 over that period.

27 Tim Korte, “The Record Falls: Ichiro Breaks Sisler’s 84-year-old Mark for Hits,” Indiana Gazette, October 2, 2004.

28 Misc. Baseball, “Some Trivia About Ichiro’s 262 Hit Season in 2004,” https://miscbaseball.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/some-trivia-about-ichiros-262-hit-season-in-2004/ (last accessed January 15, 2022).

29 Jack Curry, “Ichiro Suzuki Delivers Memorable End to World Baseball Classic,” New York Times, March 24, 2009.

30 Corey Brock, Rustin Dodd, Jayson Jenks, “Untold Stories of Ichiro: Wrestling With Griffey, All-Star Speeches, and Ichi-Wings,” The Athletic, https://theathletic.com/2678297/2021/07/06/untold-stories-of-ichiro-wrestling-with-griffey-all-star-speeches-and-ichi-wings/, (last accessed January 18, 2022).

31 Luis Torres, “Trade Retrospective: Mariners Trade Ichiro Suzuki to the Yankees,” Beyond the Box Score, https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2018/1/31/16927274/ichiro-suzuki-mariners-yankees-trade-retrospective, (last accessed January 18, 2022).

32 ESPN.com News Services, “Ichiro Suzuki Wants to Return to Marlins, Play Until at Least 50,” https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20868828/ichiro-suzuki-wants-return-miami-marlins-play-least-50, (last accessed January 19, 2022).

33 Wright Thompson, “When Winter Never Ends,” ESPN the Magazine, http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/22624561/ichiro-suzuki-return-seattle-mariners-resolve-internal-battle, (last accessed February 5, 2022).

34 Steve Freidman, “March 29, 2018: Ichiro Returns to the Seattle Mariners,” First Games Back Project, SABR Games Project, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/march-29-2018-ichiro-returns-to-the-seattle-mariners/#_ednref11, (last accessed January 20, 2022).

35 Bill Shaikin, “Ichiro Suzuki Retires — for This Year, at Least,” Los Angeles Times, May 3, 2018.

36 Mariners Blog, From the Corner of Edgar and Dave, “Ichiro’s Historic Career Wraps up at the Tokyo Dome,” https://marinersblog.mlblogs.com/ichiros-historic-career-wraps-at-the-tokyo-dome-56ae3b5839d4, (last accessed January 21, 2022).

37 Mariners Blog, From the Corner of Edgar and Dave, “Ichiro’s Historic Career Wraps up at the Tokyo Dome.”

38 Larry Stone, “Ichiro Makes Seamless Transition From Star Player to Seattle Mariners Coach,” The Spokesman Review, https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/feb/29/larry-stone-ichiro-makes-seamless-transition-from-/, (last accessed January 25, 2022).

What is fame? “I’m not too sure but I’ll know it when I see it!” That sounds like something that may have been said or attributed to Yogi Berra, but when a person has a presence, be it on the ball field, at the television studio, or in any room he enters, and if his short, four-letter hyphenated nickname is all that is needed to identify him, and only him, A-Rod has fame. His celebrity, much like that of Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, and Tiger Woods, has transcended sport.

The mention of Alex Rodríguez conjures up images favorable and unfavorable. For almost three decades, his image has been in the public eye, often for all the wrong reasons. In an era of “you love him or you hate him” personalities, there are times when he seems to be the most loved, and others when he is the most vilified. His record-high salary in 2001 at the age of 25 was the envy of many, but his 156 home runs over the next three seasons seemed to validate all that money. Eight years later, in 2009, he was at the center of a scandal, largely of his own making.

Propelled into the national spotlight during his senior year of high school at the age of 17, Alex Rodríguez was destined for a baseball life that would make him one of the premier players in the game for two decades. With that spotlight would come a scrutiny that would entangle him in controversy for the final years of his baseball career, and beyond, as his name would be linked to the steroid abuse that regrettably defined the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Never lacking in confidence, he confronted each situation from gunning out runners with a rifle arm to using his sweeping swing to hit 696 home runs during a major-league career that extended, with a very public interruption, from 1994 through 2016.

Alexander Enmanuel Rodríguez was born on July 27, 1975, in New York City. His parents, Victor and Lourdes (Navarro) Rodríguez, were Dominican immigrants who lived in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. They owned a shoe store in the neighborhood. The business was run by his father, and his mother worked in a GM assembly plant just north of New York City.

Alex’s father had been married previously, from 1955 until 1961, and in 1960, Victor and his wife, Pouppe Martinez, had a son named Victor Rodríguez Jr. Alex did not get to know his older brother when he was growing up, as Victor, who was raised by his mother, joined the Marines when Alex was three years old. In 2003, Victor, by then a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, reunited with Alex.2

Alex was raised along with a half-brother and half-sister, Joe and Suzy Dunand, children from his mother’s first marriage. When Alex was four years old his parents moved back to the Dominican Republic. The family owned a pharmacy there for several years, during which they enrolled Alex at an Americanized school in Santo Domingo. They struggled to make the business successful but eventually it failed.

The family moved back to the United States and settled in Miami when Alex was nine. Shortly after their return, his father left the family. In a 1998 interview, Rodríguez said, “From talking with Mom, I found out that Miami wasn’t fast-paced enough for Dad, that he wanted to go back to New York and Mom didn’t. They talked but couldn’t agree. So, he split.”3

Alex’s mother raised the three children by herself. She worked two jobs to provide for the family. She eventually owned two businesses, an immigration office and a Latin American restaurant. Rodríguez later said that his mother’s work ethic made a big impression on him. “My mom is hard-working and smart. She is also a good businesswoman. I wanted to give her $10,000 once to go away on a great vacation to rest, so as to thank her for all she had done for us. She said she would invest the money instead.”4

Although Alex was born in New York and his early education came at an Americanized school in the Dominican Republic, Spanish was spoken at home, and his English comprehension was at a level below that of his classmates when he entered school in the United States.5 But his mastery of the language of baseball opened doors as he overcame the absence of a father and eventually acquired the skills to effectively communicate with the American audience.

His interest in baseball started on the streets of Santo Domingo and fully developed after he met Juan Diego Arteaga, who coached a youth-league team at Alex’s elementary school in Miami. Arteaga invited Alex to join his team when they were short a player, and Arteaga, who also coached his son J.D. Jr., on the team, ended up being a second father to Rodríguez.

“[Arteaga] didn’t really have a preference for one boy over the other, he treated them both as equals and rode them pretty hard. That’s why they were so disciplined,” said Juan Pascual, another coach in the league. Arteaga took Alex to school with his son, enrolled him on travel teams and tournaments, and even had him eat with his family when Alex’s mother was working. “I’m telling you that without J.D. Arteaga, there would have been no Alex Rodríguez,” said Pascual.6

Rodríguez started high school at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami but thanks to Arteaga, he earned a scholarship to Westminster Christian School in Miami after his freshman year. He played shortstop on the baseball team and quarterback on the football team for the next three years.

Rodríguez thrived at Westminster, becoming one of the best high-school players in the country. “By his junior year, I was predicting big-league success for him and first-round draft status before most people did,” said his coach, Rich Hofman.7 Rodríguez batted .505 with 9 home runs, 36 RBIs, and 35 stolen bases in 1993, his senior year. He was American Family Insurance ALL-USA High School Baseball Player of the Year that year as well.

Rodríguez had committed to attending the University of Miami. Shortly after his high-school graduation, the Seattle Mariners made him the first pick in the first round of the June 1993 amateur draft. On the eve of his first university class, Rodríguez signed a professional contract with the Mariners. He received a $1 million signing bonus and a three-year, $1.3 million contract.

Taking a leading role in the negotiations (along with agent Scott Boras) with the Mariners was Alex’s sister, Suzy Durand-Silva, who had become an attorney.

“We think he’s a special player. The last time we had the No. 1, we got a very special player in Ken Griffey Jr. We’re not trying to put pressure on Alex, but we feel he deserved to be the top pick,” said Mariners President Chuck Armstrong.8

Rodríguez quickly moved up the minor-league ladder of the Mariners organization, advancing from Class A to the majors in a matter of months. He started the 1994 season with the Appleton Foxes of the Class A Midwest League. He hit .319 with 14 home runs and 55 RBIs in 65 games there. After playing 17 games with the Double-A Jacksonville Suns, he was called up to the Mariners in July.

Rodríguez made his major-league debut, batting ninth, at Boston on July 8, 1994, just three weeks before his 19th birthday. He became the youngest position player to start since 18-year-old Brian Milner took the field for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1978. After batting just .204 in 17 games, Rodríguez was sent back down at the end of July, and he spent the rest of the season with the Triple-A Calgary Cannons (Pacific Coast League). The demotion proved fortuitous as the major-league players went out on strike on August 12. In 32 games with Calgary, Rodríguez regained his hitting stride, finishing with a .311 batting average while stroking seven doubles and six home runs.

Rodríguez split time between the Mariners and the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers (PCL) in 1995. He spent the first month of the season with Tacoma and was there for another stint in August, batting .360 with 15 home runs and 45 RBIs for the year in Triple A. He told a Tacoma sportswriter that he “was still trying to find my stroke. I know it’s going to take some time, but it’s something I’m always working on.” He went on to say that “Any time you’re up here, you feel a little more comfortable.”9 Rodríguez ended up getting into 48 games with the Mariners that season, batting .232 with 5 home runs and 19 RBIs. The first of his 696 big-league homers came on June 12 against Tom Gordon of the Kansas City Royals in a 10-9 Seattle loss at the Kingdome.

The Mariners made Rodríguez their everyday shortstop in 1996, the year in which he began to be called A-Rod. Per author Selena Roberts, during the spring of 1996, Rodríguez took to writing “A-ROD” on his equipment bag and before long teammates and media personalities were using the term,10 arguably one of the most recognized nicknames in big-league history.

When told of his being named the everyday shortstop, he said, “It’s time. There is no doubt in my mind that I’m ready. None whatsoever. I can bring the team good defense, energy, speed, and some power.”11 Rodríguez had an outstanding 1996 season, finishing with a league-best .358 batting average. It made him, at 21, the third youngest batting leader behind Al Kaline in 1955 and Ty Cobb in 1907, who were each 20 when they won their titles.

Rodríguez was selected for his first All-Star Game that year and entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the top of the seventh inning. In the bottom of the inning, he went into the game at shortstop, replacing Cal Ripken Jr. When the season ended, he had set major-league records for a shortstop in runs scored (a league-leading 141), hits (215), and extra-base hits (91). Rodríguez finished second in the balloting for the MVP award, just three points behind Juan Gonzalez of the Texas Rangers. When asked about the results, Rodríguez said, “How can I be considered the MVP of the league when I’m not even the MVP in this room?” — a reference to his teammate Ken Griffey Jr. who finished fourth in the voting.12

In 1997 Rodríguez’s productivity was affected when he suffered a rib injury. On June 11 he collided with the Red Sox’ Roger Clemens at home plate, spent two weeks on the disabled list, and was hampered for the balance of the season. He had been batting .320 through his team’s first 63 games, including a game in Detroit on June 5 when he hit for the cycle. After returning, he batted .283 for the balance of the season. While he batted .300 for the season with 29 homers and 84 RBIs, the numbers were well below expectations.

Over the next three years, Rodríguez resumed his record-setting pace with the Mariners. He became the third major leaguer to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season when he homered against Jack McDowell of the Anaheim Angels on September 19, 1998. That season, his only 40/40 campaign, he batted .310 with 42 homers, 124 RBIs, and 46 stolen bases, while playing in all of his team’s games, but the Mariners, despite a wealth of offensive talent, finished in third place in the AL West with a 76-85 record. The team finished below .500 again in 1999, but Rodríguez continued to flourish, batting .285 with 42 homers and 111 RBIs, and receiving his third Silver Slugger award. The Mariners, who moved into Safeco Field on July 15 of that season, finished third again, at 79-83. Rodríguez went on to eclipse the 40-homer mark in each season through 2003.

After Seattle traded Griffey to Cincinnati before the 2000 season, Rodríguez became the team leader. Scott Boras, his agent, said, “This begins the Alex Rodríguez era there. He’s going to be called upon to do a great deal more than his personal performance. Alex wants to bring a team attitude to the Mariners.”13 Rodríguez had another successful season, becoming the first shortstop to record at least 100 RBIs, 100 runs scored, and 100 walks in the same season. His 41 homers gave him three straight seasons at the 40-homer plateau and were a major factor in Seattle’s improving to 91-71. Their record secured them a second-place division finish and a wild-card berth in the playoffs.

In the three-game sweep over the Chicago White Sox in the American League Division Series, Rodríguez batted .308 (4-for-13) with two RBIs.

Rodríguez led his team in the Championship Series, batting .409 with two home runs and five RBIs, but the Mariners lost to the Yankees in six games. He finished third in the voting for the American League MVP.

When Rodríguez became a free agent after the 2000 season, his services were sought by several teams. He eventually signed the largest contract ever given to a professional athlete, $252 million over 10 years, to play with the Texas Rangers. Rangers owner Tom Hicks was quoted as saying that he “‘fell in love’ with Rodríguez and told Rodríguez’s agent that he would do whatever was necessary to sign him.”14

With the Rangers in 2001, Rodríguez had one of his best seasons. He played in all of his team’s games, hitting 52 home runs, scoring 133 runs, and amassing 393 total bases, each the best in the American League. He pounded a career-high 57 home runs in 2002 to again lead the league, and his 142 RBIs and 389 total bases were also the best in the league. Rodríguez won his first Gold Glove that year. His .987 fielding percentage was the highest of his career to that point.

Rodríguez married Cynthia Scurtis in 2002. They had two children, Natasha, born on November 18, 2004, and Ella, born on April 21, 2008. In July 2008, Cynthia filed for divorce in a highly publicized proceeding that focused on Alex’s infidelity.

Rodríguez earned his first MVP award in 2003. His 47 home runs were the best in the American League for the third consecutive year. Rodríguez also led the league in runs scored (124) and slugging percentage (.600). Despite his success at the plate, the Rangers failed to make the playoffs in each of A-Rod’s three years with the team, finishing below .500 in each season. And there was “an elephant” in the clubhouse. The identification of that problem, years later, would overshadow A-Rod’s success. It would bring into question the legitimacy and authenticity of any and all of the achievements by him, his teammates, and their adversaries.

After the 2003 season, Texas began to look for a way to trade Rodríguez. In December the Rangers reached an agreement to send A-Rod to the Boston Red Sox, but the Players Association vetoed the deal because it would have required a restructuring of Rodríguez’s contract with the Rangers.15 After Yankees third baseman Aaron Boone injured his ACL on January 16 and it was determined that he would miss the entire 2004 season, New York went shopping for a replacement. On February 16 Rodríguez was traded to the Yankees for Alfonso Soriano and a player to be named later (Joaquin Arias).16 The Rangers agreed to pick up $67 million of the remaining $179 million of Rodríguez’s contract to facilitate the trade.17

Scott Boras said that Rodríguez was looking forward to playing in New York. “He really is excited about the idea of going to the park every day as part of a winning environment, a team of that caliber, being a part of it. First base, center field, third base, just to be part of it would be worthwhile,” Boras said.18

Rodríguez had worn number 3 on his uniform throughout his career in Seattle and Texas, but that number was unavailable with the Yankees. Babe Ruth’s iconic number had been retired in 1948. Rodríguez chose 13, quarterback Dan Marino’s number with the Miami Dolphins. He explained his choice saying, “Thirteen was my number when I played quarterback [in high school] and carrying the legacy of Dan Marino and my roots in Miami to the Bronx was pretty cool.”19

Rodríguez moved to third base after joining the Yankees. Derek Jeter was established as New York’s shortstop, having played the position regularly since 1996. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said at the time, “You go with the man who brought you to the dance, and Derek Jeter continues to get us to the dance at that position. This move would not happen if Alex Rodríguez would not agree to switch positions and play third base.”20

The reunion of Jeter and Rodríguez was bittersweet. They had become the closest of friends after they first met in the spring of 1993 at a Michigan-Miami baseball game in Florida.21 The close friendship of the two of the three premier shortstops in the game (they shared the cover of a Sports Illustrated issue in February 1997) was fractured in 2001 when Rodríguez, in an interview with Esquire magazine, said, “Jeter’s been blessed with great talent around him. He’s never had to lead. He can just go and play and have fun. And he hits second – that’s totally different than third or fourth in a lineup. You go into New York, you wanna stop Bernie (Williams) and (Paul) O’Neill. You never say, ‘Don’t let Derek beat you.’ He’s never your concern.”22

In 2004 Rodríguez batted .286 with 36 home runs, 106 RBIs, 112 runs scored, and 28 stolen bases. It was the seventh consecutive season that he had hit at least 30 home runs, scored at least 100 times, and batted in 100 or more runs.

When the Yankees reached the postseason in 2004, Rodríguez played well in both the Division and Championship Series. He batted against .421 when New York eliminated the Twins three games to one in the ALDS. In the decisive fourth game, the score was tied 5-5 after nine innings and was not decided until the 11th inning. With one out, Rodríguez hit his second double of the game, stole third base, and scored on a wild pitch by Kyle Lohse.

In the ALCS, Rodríguez also hit well as the Yankees played the Red Sox for the American League crown. In Game Three, he tied the single-game postseason record when he scored five runs as the Yankees romped to a 19-8 win and were poised to return to the World Series in quest of their 27th Series championship. In Game Four, a third inning two-run homer by Rodríguez gave New York an early 2-0 lead. But after the lead had changed hands twice, the Red Sox tied the score in the bottom of the ninth and forced Game Five when David Ortiz homered in the bottom of the 12th inning. The Red Sox went on to win the series in seven games. A-Rod’s quest for a World Series ring went unfulfilled one more time.

Rodríguez had another outstanding season in 2005. He led the league in home runs (48), runs scored (124), and slugging percentage (.610). When he hit two home runs against the Brewers at Milwaukee on June 8, the second off Jorge De La Rosa in the eighth inning, he became the youngest player to reach the 400-home-run plateau. “It was a very special day for me, especially if you do it in a win that we needed most desperately,” he said.23 The 12-3 win broke a three-game losing streak and brought the team’s record to 29-30. They went on to post a 95-67 record, tying them for first place with the Red Sox and securing their 11th of what was to become 13 consecutive postseason berths.

The Yankees’ postseason lasted only five games as they fell to the Los Angeles Angels in the best-of-five ALDS. Rodríguez was not a factor in the series, batting just .133 with two hits.

He won his second MVP award, becoming one of five players to win the award with two different teams. When asked how he narrowly beat David Ortiz for the award, the outspoken Rodríguez said, “There are probably like 15 or 16 offensive categories, if you want to be a baseball junkie. I’m not sure, but I think I won in 10 or 12 of those. But I think defense, for the most part, and being a balanced player and also taking away a lot of runs on the defensive side was a major factor.”24

Rodríguez played in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in March 2006 as part of Team USA. Although the team, managed by Buck Martinez, was eliminated from the tournament in the second round (finishing eighth of the 16 teams entered) Rodríguez felt that he benefited from the experience of being part of the team. “To me, I got a little bumps and chills when I saw my uniform, No. 13, Rodríguez, and I saw the USA, the red, white, and blue, as corny as it sounds. This is an enormous deal. Nobody’s here for the money. You’re here for the pride, and to represent the U.S., and I like that part of it.”25

Rodríguez notched his 2,000th hit on July 21, 2006. It was also the 450th home run of his career and came off A.J. Burnett in a 7-3 loss at Toronto. Coming during what was to be a three-month batting and fielding slump, Rodríguez said, “In a week of so much criticism, it’s good to get a little reminder that you’ve done some special things in this game from an early age. I think it’s pretty cool.”26 He was named to the All-Star team for the 10th time in 11 seasons, but a World Series ring with the Yankees remained elusive.

The Yankees failed to get past the Division Series for the second consecutive year. Rodríguez got just one hit in the series as the Tigers came back to win three straight after losing the opener. When A-Rod was criticized for his 2006 performance, rumors circulated that he might opt out of his contract.27

But he told the press on November 15 that he was committed to staying in New York and improving. “There’s no question last year was a very challenging year for me personally, but I think New York wants to see people have a tough time and come out of it and fight through it,” Rodríguez said.28

The challenges of 2006 to which A-Rod referred stemmed from on-field frustrations which, in New York, were amplified by an always-present media onslaught. In what was considered an off-year by A-Rod standards, he batted .290 with 35 home runs and 121 RBIs. As Tom Verducci noted in Sports Illustrated, “his (year-end) statistics (couldn’t) erase the pain he felt during his three-month slip into a dark abyss, when he lost his confidence, withered under media and fan pressure, and, some teammates believe(d), worked a little too hard at keeping up appearances, displaying, per teammate Jason Giambi, ‘a false confidence.’”29

For three months, A-Rod had underperformed. From June 1 through August 30, he batted only .257. On defense, his fielding woes were amplified. On July 17, in a game at Yankee Stadium, he made three errors while going 0-for-4. Although the Yankees won the game, 4-2, there was a sense of frustration, and the headline in the New York Daily News, “E-Rod’s Night a Mess,” distracted from the win that kept the team within one-half game of the division-leading Red Sox.30

When Rodríguez showed up for spring training in 2007, he had lost 12-14 pounds and was down to about 225 pounds. He also worked on his swing with the new Yankees hitting coach, Kevin Long, over the winter. Rodríguez “shortened his swing, examined video, tried to cut down on upper- and lower-body movement, worked on trying to swing less forcefully and with a more technical approach.”31

Rodríguez started the season on a tear, and it was clear that his hard work had paid off. By the end of April, he had 14 homers and 34 RBIs. When asked about Rodríguez on April 19, by which time Rodríguez had 10 homers, including two of the walk-off variety, Jeter said, “I haven’t seen anything like it before. It’s like everything he hits is a home run.”32 The Yankee captain added, “It’s fun to watch. Everyone should enjoy it.”33

A year later, when asked to contribute a memory or two to Yankee Stadium: The Official Retrospective, Rodríguez remembered the April 7 walk-off grand slam against Baltimore:

“You dream of situations like that. To be able to come through and have the Stadium go crazy was pretty special. Bottom of the ninth, two strikes (the count was 1-2), bases loaded – that’s as good as it gets. I was the happiest guy in the Stadium. Sixty thousand people, and I was the happiest one. Right when I hit it, I knew it was a home run. It’s a feeling you get.”34

Rodríguez’s success continued through the rest of the season. He hit his 500th home run on August 4 off Kyle Davies of Kansas City to become the youngest player, at age 32, to reach that milestone. “I acted like a goofball running around the bases, but you only hit 500 once,” he said. “It was awesome and then you kind of get that high school reception when you hit a home run and all of the guys are out of the dugout. Pretty cool.”35

Rodríguez ended up leading the American League in runs scored (143), home runs (54), RBIs (a career-high 156), and slugging percentage (.645). The Yankees lost in the first round of the playoffs for the third consecutive year. Rodríguez batted .267 (4-for-15), including one home run in the best-of-five Division Series as New York lost to the Cleveland Indians in four games.

Rodríguez earned his third MVP award in 2007. He noted that there was still something missing. “There’s definitely a huge hole in the resume. It’s my third MVP and I’m here to say that I would trade all three for one world championship. I wouldn’t think twice about it.”36

Throughout the 2007 season, Rodríguez had told the press that he wanted to remain with the Yankees even though he could opt out of his contract. But during the fourth game of the World Series, Scott Boras announced that Rodríguez would not return to the Yankees, causing an uproar due to the timing of the announcement.

Bob Dupuy, MLB’s chief operating officer, said, “We were very disappointed that Scott Boras would try to upstage our premier baseball event of the season with his announcement. There was no reason to make an announcement last night other than to try to put his selfish interests and that of one individual player above the overall good of the game.”37 Rodríguez eventually signed a new 10-year contract with the Yankees. He severed his relationship with Boras in the process.

Rodríguez had another solid season in 2008. He batted .302 with 35 home runs, 103 RBIs, and a league-leading .573 slugging percentage. But it was not enough to help the Yankees reach the postseason, as they finished in third place in the AL East under new manager Joe Girardi.

Rodríguez’s name became linked to steroid use in early 2009. Sports Illustrated published a story on its website saying that he tested positive for the anabolic steroid Primobolan in 2003 while with the Texas Rangers.38 Although Rodríguez had, as early as a December 17, 2007, interview on 60 Minutes, denied using steroids,39 he eventually said in an ESPN interview that “[w]hen I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me and I needed to perform and perform at a high level every day. I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time. I did take a banned substance. And for that, I am very sorry and deeply regretful.”40

On March 4, 2009, Rodríguez was diagnosed with a torn labrum and cyst in his right hip that required surgery41 and forced him to miss the World Baseball Classic (he was scheduled to play for the Dominican Republic) and the first month of the season. After he returned, Rodríguez continued to set records. By the end of the season, he had hit 583 home runs, placing him 10th on the all-time list. Despite playing in only 124 games, Rodríguez was second on the Yankees in homers (30) and RBIs (100).

The Yankees returned to the postseason in 2009. They swept the Division Series against the Minnesota Twins and, in the ALCS, beat the Los Angeles Angels in six games to return to the World Series for the first time in eight years. Rodríguez excelled in both series. He was 5-for-11 against the Twins with a pair of homers including a seventh-inning blast in the third game that gave the Yankees their first run of the game. Against the Angels, he went 9-for-21 with three home runs and six RBIs.

The Yankees faced the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series and won the championship in six games. Rodríguez played important roles in New York’s wins in Games Three and Four. In Game Three, his two-run homer in the fourth inning put the Yankees on the scoreboard, and they went on to gain an 8-5 win. The next day, he came to bat in the top of the ninth inning with the score tied, 4-4. There were two outs and runners on the corners. His double scored Johnny Damon with the lead run and the Yankees went on to win the game, 7-4.

Rodríguez was chosen by the New York Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America as postseason MVP. Upon receiving the organization’s Babe Ruth Award, he said, “I’ve been to these dinners a couple of times to receive MVP awards and those, I’m very proud of those accomplishments. But none of those accomplishments will ever compare to the feeling you get from being part of a team that won a world championship.”42

Rodríguez continued to produce in 2010, and, in the last season in which he drove in more than 100 runs, he reached another major milestone. He hit his 600th home run on August 4, the third anniversary of his 500th homer, becoming the youngest player to have done it. The two-run first-inning homer came off Toronto’s Shaun Marcum in a 5-1 win at Yankee Stadium. Rodríguez had 30 homers and 125 RBIs in 2010. It was the 13th year in a row that he had at least 30 homers and 100 RBIs, something no other player had ever accomplished. In postseason play, the Yankees defeated the Twins in the division championship before bowing in six games to the Rangers in the ALCS.

In 2011 the 35-year-old Rodríguez batted .276 with just 16 home runs and 62 RBIs, his lowest totals since 1995. He missed 38 consecutive games from July 8 through August 20 after arthroscopic surgery during which, per writer J.R. Moehringer, “the doctor sanded and shaved the ball joint of his left leg, to help it fit more smoothly into the hip socket.”43 Rodríguez played in only 99 games for the season, missing half his team’s games after his return. The Yankees returned to the postseason but fell to Detroit in the best-of-five ALDS, with Rodríguez managing only two singles in 18 at-bats.

Rodríguez, fully recovered from his surgery, played in 94 of his team’s first 97 games in 2012. For the first time in his career, he had significant time as a DH. In those first 94 appearances, 26 were as a DH and three were as a pinch-hitter. On July 24 at Seattle, he was hit on his left hand by a pitch thrown by Felix Hernandez of the Mariners. He suffered a nondisplaced fracture44 and missed 36 games, returning to action on September 3. But his production remained low. At the time of his injury, he was batting only .276 and had hit 15 homers in 352 at-bats (one per 23.47 at-bats), well off his career pace of one homer per 14.62 at-bats.

In 2012, for the second time since 1999, A-Rod failed to be named to the American League All-Star team. The then 36-year-old Rodríguez batted only .272 for the season with 18 homers and 57 RBIs. In the postseason, the Yankees defeated Baltimore in the ALDS before falling to Detroit in the ALCS. Rodríguez again had a bad postseason, batting only .120 (3-for-25) in the two series.

Rodríguez had further surgery on his left hip on January 16, 2013, to bring back flexibility in his body. Years of stress on his 6-foot-3-inch, 230-pound frame had resulted in a calcium buildup that could be remedied only by what was termed a “miracle surgery” by Dr. Bryan Kelly.45 After six months of rehabilitation, he prepared to return to the Yankees in July. Two days before he was scheduled to join the Yankees, he injured his quadriceps muscle. He finally rejoined the Yankees in August and was in their starting lineup on August 5.

During his recovery from the second surgery, newspaper accounts linked Rodríguez to Biogenesis, a Florida company that was being investigated for providing performance-enhancing substances to baseball players.46

On August 5, the day that Rodríguez returned to the Yankees lineup, MLB announced that 13 players, Rodríguez among them, had been suspended. He received the longest suspension, 211 days (each of the others received a 50-day suspension), and immediately announced that he was going to fight it.47

The 2013 season was Rodríguez’s least productive to date. While contesting his suspension, he played in 44 games, batted .244, and hit only seven home runs to go with 19 RBIs. The only meaningful highlight of that tumultuous season came when he hit his 24th grand slam on September 20 to break Lou Gehrig’s major-league record. He would end his career with 25 grand slams, still, as of 2021, the major-league record.

Early in 2014, Rodríguez confronted the reality of his situation and realized that pursuing the fight against his suspension was only hurting him. He accepted his fate.

Rodríguez’s suspension was upheld, and he missed the entire 2014 season. Late in 2014, newspaper stories detailed Rodríguez having, in testimony given early in the year, admitted to using PEDs starting in 2010.48 Rodríguez met with Commissioner Bud Selig in early 2015. Shortly thereafter, he released a letter to baseball fans saying:

“I take full responsibility for the mistakes that led to my suspension for the 2014 season. … I accept the fact that many of you will not believe my apology or anything that I say at this point. I understand why and that’s on me. … I’m ready to put this chapter behind me and play some ball. This game has been my single biggest passion since I was a teenager. When I go to Spring Training, I will do everything I can to be the best player and teammate possible, earn a spot on the Yankees and help us win.”49

Rodríguez was in the Yankees’ lineup in 2015, but he was used primarily as a designated hitter. The time off had not slowed down his offense. Although Rodríguez struggled in the final two months of the season, he finished with a team-best 33 home runs. The Yankees lost to the Houston Astros in the wild-card game; Rodríguez did not get a hit in the game, his last postseason competition.

The highlight of his season came when he reached the 3,000-hit milestone on June 19 with a home run off Detroit’s Justin Verlander in a 7-2 Yankee win. “I’m grateful. I’m extremely appreciative to the Yankees for giving me an opportunity to put the uniform back on. There were days last year I never thought I would sometimes get that uniform back on, to be able to play in this stadium in front of these fans,” he said after the game. “Everything about this year has been a surprise. I’ve never enjoyed the game as much as I have this year.”50

Rodríguez struggled again in 2016. He spent most of May on the disabled list with a strained hamstring in his right leg, and when he returned, he never could find his stride at the plate. His final home run, the 696th of his career, came on July 18 against Kevin Gausman in a 2-1 win against the Orioles. It put him fourth on the all-time list for career homers and first among American League right-handed batters.

Rodríguez had hit only nine home runs with 29 RBIs when he stated, on August 7, 2016, that his final game would be on August 12. The Yankees also announced that he would become a special adviser to the club. “This is a tough day,” Rodríguez said. “I love this game, and I love this team, and today I am saying goodbye to both. I do want to be remembered as someone who was madly in love with the game of baseball. I also will hopefully be remembered as someone who tripped and fell a lot but kept getting up.”51

Rodríguez’s ledger as a player was complete: a career batting average of .295 with 3,115 hits, 696 homers, 2,086 RBIs, 329 stolen bases, three MVP Awards, 14 All-Star Game appearances, 10 Silver Slugger Awards, two Golden Gloves, and one championship World Series ring.

His legacy as a man was far from complete.

After his playing days, Rodríguez involved himself in broadcasting. He joined Fox Sports as a baseball analyst in 2017 after two stints working the postseason for the network. The following year Rodríguez joined ESPN for its Sunday Night Baseball broadcasts, an assignment he still had as of 2021. His analyses during broadcasts reveal him to be a keen observer of the game.

Rodríguez, who had been romantically linked with performer Madonna at the time of his divorce in 2008, was often seen dating prominent and beautiful women including actresses Kate Hudson and Cameron Diaz. He began dating singer and actress Jennifer Lopez in February 2017. The couple announced their engagement on March 9, 2019, but on April 15, 2021, the relationship came to an end.52 As of 2021, the main ladies in A-Rod’s life were his daughters, Natasha, who was 16 in 2021, and Ella, 13.

During the time that he was engaged to Jennifer Lopez, the couple was involved in many business enterprises, among them being, in 2020, an attempt to buy the New York Mets. They eventually lost out in the bidding to billionaire Steve Cohen.53

On May 14, 2021, it was announced that Rodríguez and investment partner Marc Lore had purchased the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association and the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA. Final approval from the NBA Board of Governors was pending in 2021.54

His celebrity should not cause even the most casual observer to forget that over the course of a big-league career that began in 1994 and ended in 2016, Rodríguez was one of the most exciting players of his generation. But his image became tarnished and his legacy uncertain when his steroid use was publicized and subsequently acknowledged.

After the 2021 season Rodríguez’s name will appear on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time. Others on the ballot include Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Curt Schilling, and former MVP rival David Ortiz.

As noted by Andrew Simon of the MLB Network, “The 2022 voting cycle is likely to be just the beginning of a protracted conversation about Rodríguez’s candidacy and baseball legacy.”55 It is, in truth, a conversation that began with the “elephant” in the Texas Rangers’ clubhouse two decades earlier.

Regardless of the Hall of Fame balloting, A-Rod’s legacy, like that of Babe Ruth, will in large part be forged by his impact on youngsters. For many of them, his achievements as a player have been matched by his philanthropy. While in New York, he became involved with the United Youth Baseball League in the Bronx, where the kids looked up to him. He also involved himself in philanthropic pursuits in Miami.

In 2009, on the day after the Yankees had clinched the American League championship, Alex Rodríguez visited a parochial school in the Bronx serving at-risk kids. As told by Ray Negron, he traded high fives with the kids seated along the sides of the center aisle of the school’s auditorium as he walked to the stage. Any fatigue from the night before disappeared as he stood on the stage and spoke to the audience. He gave an impassioned speech about the importance of reading. As the kids cheered wildly, the observer could see that Alex understood the magnitude and importance of what he meant to them.56

That understanding, despite some well-documented ups and downs, has continued to grow.

Last revised: July 14, 2021

Acknowledgments

Preliminary research and identification of sources was done by Thomas J. Brown Jr. This biography was reviewed by Warren Corbett, fact-checked by Carl Riechers, and edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com and the following:

Berman, Len. The 25 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time, (Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks, 2010), 120-125.

Elfrink, Tim, and Gus Garcia-Roberts. Blood Sport: Alex Rodriguez, Biogenesis, and the Quest to End Baseball’s Steroid Era (New York: Dutton, 2014).

Posnanski, Joe. “The End of an Era,” Sports Illustrated, February 16, 2009. https://vault.si.com/vault/2009/02/16/the-end-of-an-era

Notes

1 J.R. Moehringer, “The Education of Alex Rodriguez: Six Months, Four Cities, Two Coasts and One Batman Suit – We Chronicle the Fallen Slugger’s Winding Road Back to Pinstripes,” ESPN, The Magazine, February 18, 2015. https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/12321274/alex-rodriguez-return-new-york-yankees.

2 Jack Curry, “Matching Pinstripes with Camouflage, Alex Rodriguez and Half-Brother Are Years and Worlds Apart,” New York Times, September 4, 2007: D1, D5; Arnie Starks, “Alex Rodriguez Thinks His Half Brother Victor’s Career Is ‘Far More Impressive’ Than His Own,” Sportscasting.com, June 12, 2020. https://www.sportscasting.com/alex-rodriguez-thinks-his-half-brother-victors-career-is-far-more-impressive-than-his-own/.

3 Bob Finnigan, “Missing Dad – In the 13 Years Since His Father Left, Alex Rodriguez Has Found Fortune and Fame in Seattle, but Has Been Unable to Reconcile with the Man Who Vanished,” Seattle Times, March 22, 1998. D-1.

4 Finnigan.

5 Ian O’Connor, The Captain, The Journey of Derek Jeter (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, 2011), 129.

6 Quotation from Julie K. Brown, “Before He Was A-Rod,” Miami Herald website, August 3, 2013. Retrieved from “A Look Back at A-Rod’s Ties to Miami,” Miami Herald website, August 7, 2016. https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/mlb/article94243292.html.

7 “#TBT to When Alex Rodriguez Was ALL-USA Player of the Year in High School,” USA Today.com, August 11, 2016. https://usatodayhss.com/2016/tbt-to-when-alex-rodriguez-was-all-usa-player-of-the-year-in-high-school.

8 Associated Press, “M’s Rodriguez Glad That Long Contract Hassle Is Over,” Longview (Washington) Daily News, August 31, 1993: D1; Mike Phillips, “Rodriguez Gets ‘Record’ Deal,” Miami Herald, August 31, 1993: D1, D5.

9 Corey Brock, “Rodriguez Has No Doubt He Should Stay in Seattle,” Tacoma News Tribune, reprinted in Spokane Spokesman Review, June 15, 1995: C4.

10 Selena Roberts, A-ROD: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez (New York: Harper-Collins, 2009), 91.

11 Associated Press, “M’s Give Shortstop Job to Alex Rodriguez,” Longview Daily News, February 24, 1996: B3.

12 Laura Vecsey, “Junior, Not Gonzalez, Beats Out Rodriguez,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, reprinted in Spokane Spokesman Review, November 17, 1996: C10.

13 Associated Press, “M’s A-Rod Won’t Be Traded This Season,” Longview Daily News, March 9, 2000: B3.

14 Murray Chass, “Rodriguez Strikes It Rich in Texas,” New York Times, December 12, 2000: D1.

15 Ken Davidoff and Jon Heyman, “Trade Interrupted: Union Rejects Rodriguez Ramirez Deal,” Newsday, December 18, 2003: A84.

16 Ken Davidoff and Jon Heyman, “A Wild Pitch to A-Rod,” Newsday, February 16, 2004: A2, A3.

17 Ian O’Connor, The Captain, The Journey of Derek Jeter, 246.

18 Bill Madden and Anthony McCarron, “World A-Waits,” New York Daily News, February 16, 2004: 53.

19 Alfred Santasiere III, “Yankees Magazine: Crossing Routes: Alex Rodriguez and Dan Marino – Legends of Baseball and Football – Caught up with Each Other in Miami,” MLB.com, March 28, 2016. https://www.mlb.com/news/yankees-a-rod-nfl-s-marino-legends-in-miami-c169449928.

20 Joh Delcos, “Deal Is Done – Questions Just Starting,” White Plains (New York) Journal News, February 17, 2004: C1.

21 Ian O’Connor, The Captain, The Journey of Derek Jeter, 123-126, 129.

22 Scott Raab, “Jackpot,” Esquire, April 1, 2001. https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a1578/alex-rodriguez-esquire-2001/.

23 “Around the American League: At 29, A-Rod Youngest to Reach 400 Home Runs,” Chicago Tribune, June 9, 2005: Section 4, 4.

24 Jack Curry, “Rodriguez Is the Complete M.V.P.,” New York Times, November 15, 2005: D1, D6.

25 Bob Baum, “Star-Studded U.S. Team Begins Practice,” Reno Gazette Journal, March 4, 2006: B3.

26 Sam Borden, “A-Rod’s Blast-A,” New York Daily News, July 22, 2006: 52.

27 Ken Davidoff, “Time for A-Rod to Go,” Newsday, October 8, 2006: B8.

28 Tyler Kepner, “Rodriguez Says He’s Committed to Yankees,” New York Times, November 16, 2006: D2.

29 Tom Verducci, “A-Rod Agonistes,” Sports Illustrated, September 25, 2006. https://vault.si.com/vault/2006/09/25/arod-agonistes.

30 Filip Bondy, “E-Rod’s Night a Mess: Field of Screams Ends After Three Hours, Bad Toe,” New York Daily News, July 18, 2006: 62-63.

31 Associated Press, “A-Rod’s Amazing April,” Poughkeepsie (New York) Journal, April 23, 2007: 5C.

32 “A-Rod’s Amazing April.”

33 Barbara Barker, “How Bizarre! Hot Streak Turning A-Rod from Reviled Superstar into Fan Favorite,” Newsday, April 20, 2007: 84-85.

34 Mark Vancil and Alfred Santasiere III, Yankee Stadium: The Official Retrospective (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008), 173.

35 Associated Press, “Rodriguez Becomes Youngest in Baseball History to Hit 500 Home Runs,” ESPN.com, August 4, 2007. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story?id=2961185&src=desktop.

36 Ronald Blum (Associated Press), “A-Rod Wins Third MVP,” Binghamton Press and Sun Bulletin, November 20, 2007: 1C.

37 “Yankees Bid Farewell to A-Rod After Likely MVP Opts Out,” ESPN.com, October 29, 2007. https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=3085166.

38 Selena Roberts and David Epstein, “Sources Tell SI Alex Rodriguez Tested Positive for Steroids in 2003,” SI.com, February 7, 2009. https://www.si.com/mlb/2009/02/07/alex-rodriguez-steroids

39 “Eye to Eye: A-Rod Speaks Out,” 60 Minutes, December 17, 2007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVcqLt9sJLs.

40 “A-Rod Admits, Regrets Use of PEDs,” ESPN.com, February 9, 2009. https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=3894847; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8zy1mW1QHI.

41 Mark Feinsand and Corky Siesmaszko, “He Should Be Okay-Rod: ‘No Surprises’ as Yankee Slugger Gets Hip Fix in Colo.,” New York Daily News, March 10, 2009: 5.

42 Associated Press, “Rodriguez Chokes up During Speech,” ESPN.com, January 24, 2010. https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=4853444.

43 J.R. Moehringer, “The Education of Alex Rodriguez.”

44 Tim Booth (Associated Press), “With Rodriguez on Shelf, Chavez Gets Opportunity,” Franklin (Indiana) Daily Journal. July 26, 2012: B2.

45 Cork Gaines, “Alex Rodriguez is on Fire at Age 39, and a ‘Miracle Surgery’ He Had in 2013 Is a Huge Reason Why,” Business Insider, August 20, 2015. https://www.businessinsider.com/alex-rodriguez-arod-surgery-mlb-yankees-2015-4.

46 Jane Woodridge, “A Year of Transformation for Miami’s Alex Rodriguez,” Miami Herald, October 31, 2015. https://www.miamiherald.com/article42080511.html.

47 Andrew Seligman, “Yankees’ Rodriguez Digs in for His Appeal,” Rochester (New York) Democrat and Chronicle, August 6, 2013: 3D.

48 Jim Weaver, “A-Rod’s Confession,” Miami Herald, November 6, 2014: 1A, 2A.

49 Russell Berman, “A-Rod’s Desperate Search for Authenticity,” The Atlantic, February 18, 2015. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/02/arods-apology-handwritten-letter-fans-authenticity/385591/.

50 Tyler Kepner, “Alex Rodriguez at No. 3,000, with Bullet and Asterisk,” New York Times, June 20, 2015: D1.

51 David Waldstein, “Alex Rodriguez to Retire and Join Yankees as an Adviser,” New York Times, August 8, 2016: D1.

52 Frank Lovece, “J-Rod: We Are Better as Friends,” Newsday, August 16, 2021: A18; Madeleine Marr, “It’s Official: Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez Have Split: For Real, This Time,” Miami Herald, April 18, 2021: 4D.

53 Dennis Young, “Thanks a Billion: Cohen Reaches Agreement to Buy Mets at Last,” New York Daily News, September 15, 2020: 32.

54 Marc Stein, “Alex Rodriguez and Partner Reach Deal on Timberwolves and Lynx,” New York Times, May 14, 2021. https://www.proquest.com/usmajordailies/docview/2526924755/fulltext/C68A4A4DB3EF48AFPQ/1?accountid=46995.

55 Andrew Simon, “Storylines to Watch on ’22 Hall of Fame Ballot,” MLB.com, January 26, 2021. https://www.mlb.com/news/hall-of-fame-ballot-2022-storylines#:~:text=While%20the%202022%20ballot%20won,Jonathan%20Papelbon%20and%20Ryan%20Howard.

56 Ray Negron and Sally Cook, Yankee Miracles: Life with the Boss and the Bronx Bombers (New York: Liveright Publishing, 2012), 202.

A left-handed batter and thrower, Palmeiro played 20 seasons in the major leagues, from 1986 through 2005. He spent his first three years with the Chicago Cubs, where he mostly played left field. After he was traded to the Texas Rangers, he became a full-time first baseman, winning three consecutive Gold Gloves from 1997 through 1999. As he aged, he was also used as a designated hitter.

In the American League, Palmeiro hopped between two teams. He played with Texas for five years, the Baltimore Orioles for five years, then Texas for another five years before returning to Baltimore for the final two years of his career.

Born in Havana, Cuba, on September 24, 1964, Rafael was the third of Maria Corrales and José Palmeiro’s four sons. His brothers are José, Jr., Rick, and Andy. José, Jr. is 13 years older than Rafael, Rick, two years older, Andy, two years younger.

While Rafael’s father owned a concession stand in Cuba and made a good living, he and Maria thought America offered more opportunities. After years of trying, the family was finally allowed to leave Cuba in 1971 and settled in Miami, Florida.2 But when they left, José, Jr., 19 years old at the time, was not allowed to go because he was required to serve in the Cuban military. Although they kept in touch, it would be 21 years before the family reunited. 3

Once a fleet center fielder on a top Cuban amateur team, José would return from his job and practice baseball with his sons. “He’d come home at 4:30 every afternoon from being out in the sun working construction,” remembered Rafael, “and he’d come in, drink a glass of water, eat a sandwich and we’d go to the ballpark. That takes a lot of dedication and love.”4

José pushed the boys to improve, criticizing failure and ignoring success. “If I went 3-for-4 and struck out,” said Rafael, “he wouldn’t comment on the three hits. He would criticize the strikeout.” While his father’s method may not have been supportive, Rafael said, “[it worked] with me, because I understood what he was trying to do.”5

Rafael’s wife is the former Lynne Walden, whom he met in college. They married in December, 1985 and have two children, Preston and Patrick,6 both of whom have played minor-league baseball.

After proving his skill at Jackson High School in Miami, Palmeiro was selected by the New York Mets in the eighth round of the 1982 MLB June Amateur Draft. But when he was offered a full scholarship to Mississippi State University, he decided to go to college instead. “[The Mets] offered me $30,000 to sign,” Palmeiro said, “You can’t turn down four years of college for $30,000.”7 (In 2004, Palmeiro and his wife made the chief donation toward Mississippi State’s Palmeiro Center, a $3.8 million practice facility for baseball and football.)8

As a freshman, Palmeiro started the season with a 20-game hitting streak — the second-longest in Mississippi State history. An outfielder, he led the Bulldogs in batting average (.406) and home runs (18),9 set the school record for hits in a season (95),10 and was the only freshman selected to the Baseball America College All-America team.11

The next year Palmeiro led the Southeastern Conference (SEC) with a batting average of .415, 94 RBIs, and a record 29 home runs, becoming the first SEC player to win the Triple Crown.12 Teammate Will Clark was right behind with 93 RBIs and 28 home runs. Their 57 combined home runs were the most by teammates in SEC history13 and the duo became known as “Thunder and Lightning.”14 Although he didn’t win, Palmeiro was nominated for the Golden Spikes Award, given to the best college player in the country.15

As a junior, Palmeiro had his poorest season, batting only .300 with 20 home runs and 67 RBIs.16 Despite that, he set SEC career records for hits, home runs, and RBIs. So when he decided to enter the MLB draft at the end of the season, he was disappointed when he wasn’t chosen until the Cubs took him with the 22nd pick.

From 1985 through 1987, Palmeiro advanced through the Cubs’ minor league system and, at each stop, had a batting average over .290 and an OPS17 over .800. He spent most of September 1986 in the majors, but started the 1987 season with Triple-A Iowa. By mid-June he had earned a spot with the Cubs, finishing with a .276 BA and .879 OPS.

In 1988 he had the second-highest batting average in the National League (.307) and made the All-Star team, but hit only eight home runs in 580 at bats. As Jerome Holtzman of the Chicago Tribune wrote, “[Palmeiro’s production] would be acceptable from a slick-fielding, base-stealing middle infielder, but not from an outfielder-first baseman.”18

On December 5, 1988, the Cubs traded Palmeiro along with Drew Hall and Jamie Moyer to the Texas Rangers for Mitch Williams and five other players. Unhappy about the deal, Palmeiro said, “That’s what happens when you have [a manager and general manager] who don’t know what the hell’s going on.”19

After a mediocre first year with Texas, Palmeiro improved each of the next two seasons, leading the AL in hits (191) in 1990 and in doubles (49) in 1991. After taking two steps forward, Palmeiro took one step back in 1992. His OPS dropped 136 points and he made 25 fewer extra-base hits. In early September, the Rangers acquired the massively-muscled José Canseco, who would later call himself “the Godfather of Steroids.”

Through 1992, Palmeiro had hit 2.9 home runs per 100 at bats. In 1993, his home run rate more than doubled and he began an 11-year stretch during which he hit 37 or more home runs and drove in 100 or more runs 10 times. From 1993 through 2003, he led the AL in home runs (433) and RBIs (1266).

When Palmeiro became a free agent after the 1993 season, the Rangers said he asked for a six-year contract worth nearly $40 million. At that price, the team feared they would be unable to sign him and if they didn’t act quickly, would be left without a competent first baseman. On the market was Palmeiro’s former Mississippi State teammate, Will Clark, whom the Rangers swiftly signed to a five-year, $30 million deal. 20

In the aftermath, Palmeiro trashed Clark, saying, “That’s Will. That’s the way he is. He’s got no class. Friendship didn’t matter to him. He was looking out for himself. I don’t think much of Will. He’s a lowlife.”21

Palmeiro’s dislike for Clark went back to their college days. “[Our relationship] wasn’t that good.”22 He felt that Clark wanted to be the star of the team at Palmeiro’s expense. “I always pulled for him to do well. [But] I can’t say the same about him.”23

He also attacked Clark’s ability as a player. The previous season Palmeiro had hit 39 home runs and driven in 105 runs, while Clark hit 14 homers and drove in 73. “Fourteen home runs and 73 RBIs? That’s nothing,” he said.24 “Obviously, I’m the better player.”25

The next day, Palmeiro backed off, saying, “I think Will Clark is a great person and a great ballplayer. I was speaking out of frustration and I want to apologize to Will.” 26

Maybe he was also speaking out of jealousy. Clark had been drafted second, 20 picks before Palmeiro, even though it was Palmeiro who had set SEC batting records. Also, in their first eight MLB seasons, Clark had been an All-Star five times (Palmeiro twice) and finished in the top five in MVP voting four times (Palmeiro zero).

Palmeiro saved some venom for the Rangers. He called Rangers president Tom Schieffer, “a bozo”27 and “a backstabbing liar”28 and said, “[Schieffer] is very stupid when it comes to baseball.” 29 He also implied that Schieffer exhibited anti-Latino prejudice:30 “All I wanted was some respect as a player and a person. I feel like I got no respect. I think the man has something against me.”31

Palmeiro probably regretted overplaying his hand and was shocked when the Rangers forced him out. He said, “The whole idea was to build our dream house in Texas, sign, and stay there.”32 Rangers General Manager Tom Grieve said, “It evidently was very important to Rafael to stay in Texas — more important than it appeared . . . during negotiations.”33

Three weeks after the Rangers signed Clark, Palmeiro took Clark’s place in Baltimore, signing a five-year contract with the Orioles for $30.35 million.34 After hitting 23 home runs in the strike-shortened ’94 season, in each of the next four years he hit 38 or more home runs and drove in more than 100 runs, with peaks of 43 homers in 1998 and 142 RBIs in 1996 when he finished sixth in MVP voting. In 1998, the last year of his contract, he had the second-best season of his career, compiling a 6.3 WAR. The Orioles made the playoffs twice during those years, winning the Division Series, but losing in the League Championship Series — to the New York Yankees in 1996 and the Cleveland Indians in 1997.

Although it seemed Palmeiro had incinerated his bridges when he left Texas in 1993, he signed a five-year deal with them when his contract with the Orioles expired in 1998. Continuing the symmetry of their careers, Will Clark was signed by Baltimore to replace Palmeiro.

Measured by traditional statistics, Palmeiro had his best offensive season in 1999. In the first season of his return to Texas, he finished second in the AL and set career highs in home runs (47), RBIs (148), total bases (356), slugging percentage (.630), and OPS (1.050). He also placed fifth in voting for the MVP Award, the highest finish of his career. Texas won the AL West, but lost in the Division Series to the Yankees, three games to none. In Palmeiro’s other four seasons, Texas won no more than 73 games and did not qualify for the playoffs.

In 2003, the last year of his contract, Palmeiro joined Barry Bonds, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, and Darrell Evans as the only players who hit 38 or more home runs in a season after becoming 38 years of age. But his OPS dropped below .900 for only the second time since 1993, an indication that his production was finally fading. When his Texas contract ended, Palmeiro returned to Baltimore for two years, concluding his 20-year career in 2005.

The beginning of Palmeiro’s end came when writers and fans began to suspect players of using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). In the late 1990s and early 2000s, bloated versions of Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa became record-breaking home run machines. (Although MLB had banned steroids in 1991, it wasn’t until 2003 that it finally began testing players and handing out suspensions for failed tests.) In December 2003, Bonds had to testify before a grand jury in the BALCO steroids case.35 Thereafter, concern about steroid use rose to such a level that President George W. Bush condemned the drugs in his 2004 State of the Union address.36

The final shoe dropped when, in February 2005, former AL Most Valuable Player José Canseco unveiled his book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big. In the book, Canseco named several MLB stars who he said had used steroids; one of them was Rafael Palmeiro. Canseco claimed that when they were teammates with the Texas Rangers, he had injected Palmeiro “many times.”37

Although the book was an indictment of the sport over which he presided, Commissioner Bud Selig said he would not investigate Canseco’s allegations. Selig’s inaction prompted Congress to investigate on its own.38 Because of his appearance in Canseco’s book, Palmeiro was invited to attend the Congressional hearing on March 17, 2005. Initially he declined because March 17 is his wife’s birthday.39 Soon after, Congress’s polite invitation was replaced by a subpoena.40

When it came time for his statement, Palmeiro wagged his finger as if to scold his interrogators and said, “Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids, period. I do not know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never. The reference to me in Mr. Canseco’s book is absolutely false. I am against the use of steroids. I don’t think athletes should use steroids, and I don’t think our kids should use them.”41

It was not long before Palmeiro’s honesty was called into question. On May 4, he was selected under MLB policy for a random, unannounced drug test. About two weeks later, he was informed he had tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol. (Palmeiro submitted a second sample on May 27, which tested negative for all banned substances. Injected stanozolol is detectible for about three to four weeks, taken orally, only seven to 10 days.)42 Palmeiro challenged the positive test result, contending that if there had been steroids in his body, he had no idea how they had gotten there. His grievance arbitration hearing began on June 16. 43

Several things came out in arbitration that support his claim that he never knowingly took steroids. He tested negative in 2003, 2004, and after his positive test in 2005.44 Physicians and trainers associated with the Rangers and Orioles testified they never saw Palmeiro use steroids nor had any professional reason to believe he had. One pointed out that Palmeiro never developed the pumped-up body typical of a steroid user.45

Palmeiro’s representative at the arbitration hearing argued that Palmeiro “had nothing to gain and everything to lose by using steroids in 2005.” 46 He stated that since Palmeiro was in the last year of his career, he wouldn’t have done it to enhance his future earnings nor to help recover from an injury since he had none. He also contended that Palmeiro had no personal incentive to improve his performance,47 although that point is dubious because, as the season began, Palmeiro needed 78 hits to reach 3,000.

In the part of his book in which he named Palmeiro, Canseco also mentioned Texas teammates Juan Gonzalez and Ivan Rodriguez, writing. “I sat down with Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez, and Ivan Rodriguez, and educated them about steroids. Soon I was injecting all three of them. I personally injected each of those three guys many times, until they became familiar with how to use a needle and were able to do it by themselves.”48 In interviews with the arbitration panel, both Gonzalez and Rodriguez denied Canseco’s claims.49

Though in Palmeiro’s favor, the preceding points hardly mattered because none addressed the positive test. In his only attempt to explain how he could have taken the drug unknowingly, he advanced the notion that it may have come from taking vitamin B-12 contaminated with the steroid. 50 Palmeiro told the panel he had gotten the B-12 from teammate Miguel Tejada. But when his representatives obtained another vial of the B-12 from Tejada’s batch and had it tested, no trace was found of stanozolol or any other banned substance.51

When his representative admitted, “The Player’s Association does not contend that the B-12 shot that Mr. Palmeiro took caused his positive test result. We have no evidence to suggest that,”52 the panel ruled that he had not met “his burden of proof”53 and denied his challenge. (However, the panel made it a point to say its decision did not imply that Palmeiro had lied to them or to Congress and he was never charged with perjury.)54

Palmeiro served his 10-day suspension from August 1 through August 10. He returned to the Orioles’ lineup on August 14, but soon after missed five games due to injuries to his right knee and ankle. He came back on August 24, played five games, and went 0-for-18. In his last game, Palmeiro wore earplugs in an attempt to block out boos directed at him from opposing fans.55

On September 5, Orioles management told Palmeiro to leave the team and rehab his leg at home. Palmeiro agreed that his presence had become a distraction and said, “It was their idea . . . and I think it’s a good idea. I’ll be back. I’m not sure how long it will take, but I’ll be back.”56 He never made it.

The team’s concerns were realized soon after, when it was leaked that Palmeiro had compromised Tejada in an attempt to save himself. “I’m disappointed if that’s true,” said Orioles teammate Jay Gibbons. “I don’t think it would help to say another teammate gave you something. I think you’ve got to look in the mirror and take responsibility for your actions.”57 (Although Palmeiro had dragged Tejada into the steroid mess, Tejada did not seem to hold a grudge and publicly welcomed Palmeiro before his first game back from the suspension.)58

Palmeiro won the Silver Slugger Award twice, made the All-Star team four times, and finished in the top 20 in MVP voting 10 times. He was a consistent presence in his team’s lineup; in the 16 seasons from 1989 through 2004, he missed only 62 games, an average of fewer than four per year. He ranks 13th in home runs (563) between Harmon Killebrew and Reggie Jackson, 17th in RBIs (1835) between Ken Griffey, Jr. and Dave Winfield, and 29th in hits (3020) between Lou Brock and Wade Boggs. All these players are in the Hall of Fame.

Below are selected career totals for Palmeiro and Eddie Murray. They indicate Palmeiro was every bit as good as Murray, a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

But, because of the positive steroid test, Palmeiro was seen as a cheater through the eyes of enough Hall of Fame voters to prevent him from being enshrined. Some voters have publicly expressed their disdain for steroid users:

• “Steroid users] bastardized baseball, eroded the implicit fairness of it and disadvantaged those who chose to play fairly to extents never seen before.” — Tom Verducci (si.com, January 8, 2013)59
• “I have been clear on my position on cheaters. I don’t vote for them.” — Murray Chass (murraychass.com, formerly of the New York Times, December 31, 2017)
• “If you cheated, you cheated and it’s not fair to all the players who played the game without cheating.” — Bill Madden (New York Daily News, on MLB Now, January 16, 2017)60

Many Hall of Fame members don’t want PED users inducted. In 2017 Hall of Famer and vice-chairman of the Hall, Joe Morgan, sent an email to voters in which he wrote, “Section 5 of Rules for Election states, ‘Voting shall be based on a player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which a player has played.’” Morgan continued, “. . . if a player did steroids, his integrity is suspect; he lacks sportsmanship; his character is flawed; and, whatever contribution he made to his team is now dwarfed by his selfishness.” Morgan added, “We hope the day never comes when known steroid users are voted into the Hall of Fame. They cheated. They don’t belong here.”61

In 2011, the first year Palmeiro was eligible for the Hall, he was named on 11.0 percent (75 percent needed for election) of the ballots, followed annually by 12.8, 8.8, and 4.4 percent. Because the last total was below 5 percent, his name was removed from future ballots.

Palmeiro is not alone. As of 2020, several players have been or probably will be denied membership due to the taint of PEDs. On that list are definite Hall of Famers Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, and Mark McGwire and borderline candidates Sammy Sosa and Gary Sheffield.

In 2008, he was elected to the Mississippi State University Sports Hall of Fame62 and, in 2012, to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.63 On February 16, 2019, a statue of Palmeiro (and one of Will Clark) was unveiled at Mississippi State’s baseball field.64

Palmeiro never made it back to Baltimore after he was told to leave in September 2005, and no other major league team signed him. In 2018, at the age of 53, he attempted a short-lived comeback with an independent team.65 He still maintains he never intentionally took steroids and says he’s at peace with baseball and himself. “There’s a lot of other things in my life that are way more important [than the Hall of Fame].” 66 But at times, the sting of rejection remains. “I try not to think about it too much, because it hurts.”67

Last revised: January 13, 2021

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Paul Proia and Norman Macht and fact-checked by David Kritzler.

Sources

Unless otherwise noted, statistics come from baseball-reference.com.

Notes

1 Barring special circumstances, achievement of either milestone, let alone both, has meant certain membership in the Hall of Fame.

2 Ed Brandt, Rafael Palmeiro, At Home With the Baltimore Orioles (Childs, Maryland: Mitchell Lane Publishers, 1998): 125.

3 Donald Dodd, “Big League Reunion,” Clarion Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi), April 29, 1992: 1.

4 Dan Connolly, “Palmeiro’s Way: Quiet, Steady and Strong,” Baltimore Sun, July 17, 2005: A1.

5 Buster Olney, “Palmeiro’s Burning Desire Sparked On By Fiery Father,” Baltimore Sun, March 30, 1996: 1C.

6 Brandt, Rafael Palmeiro, At Home With the Baltimore Orioles, 125.

7 Barry Lasswell, “Palmeiro Has Designs for More Than Baseball,” Clarion Ledger, April 26, 1983: C1.

8 https://hailstate.com/sports/baseball Accessed July 22, 2020

9 Associated Press, “Palmeiro, Winkler Make All-America Team,” Clarion Ledger, June 4, 1983: 2C.

10 “Dawgs End Season With Hope,” The Yazoo Herald (Yazoo City, Mississippi), June 8, 1983: A7.

11 Associated Press, “NBA Fines 10 Players, Two Teams for Exhibition Games,” Clarion Ledger, July 14, 1983: 4C.

12 Armando Salguero, “Success Has Rafael Palmeiro Whistling Dixie,” The Miami News, May 24, 1985: 3B.

13 “State Enjoys Record-Breaking Year,” Enterprise Journal (McComb, Mississippi), May 31, 1984: 7.

14 Michael Bonner, “ESPN Puts Its Focus on ’85 Team,” Clarion Ledger, May 5, 2015: C1.

15 “McDowell Winner of Golden Spikes,” The Sporting News, November 19. 1984: 63.

16 Special Reports, “1985 an Unforgettable Year For Bulldogs,” Hattiesburg American, June 10, 1985: 1B.

17 OPS is short for On-base percentage Plus Slugging percentage. It has become popular because it is easy to understand and correlates well with a batter’s ability to produce runs. OPS+ indicates how much a player’s OPS is above or below average. Palmeiro’s lifetime OPS+ was 132, 32 percent above average.

18 Jerome Holtzman, “Calm Down, Palmeiro Fans, It Was Good Deal for Cubs,” Chicago Tribune, December 11, 1988: 3-6.

19 Alan Soloman, “Ranger Raffy Rips Frey and Zimmer,” The Dispatch (Moline, Illinois), December 6, 1988: C1.

20 Deene H. Freeman, “Palmeiro May Have Miscalculated Rangers,” The Kilgore News Herald, November 28, 1993: 2A.

21 Associated Press, “Will Clark: A ‘Lowlife’ or a ‘Great Person?’,” The Marshall News Messenger (Marshall, Texas), November 28, 1993: 5B.

22 https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1994/03/01/texas-still-hurts-deep-in-heart-of-palmeiro/10a3f978-b8ff-4ee7-8714-1911d20f5582/

23 https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1994/03/01/texas-still-hurts-deep-in-heart-of-palmeiro/10a3f978-b8ff-4ee7-8714-1911d20f5582/

24 “Palmeiro: Rangers Are ‘Low-Class,’ Clarks’ a ‘Lowlife’,” Tampa Bay Times, November 24, 1993: 2C.

25 “Palmeiro: Rangers Are ‘Low-Class,’ Clark’s a ‘Lowlife’.”.

26 Associated Press, “Rangers Sign Scioscia,” Tyler Morning Telegraph (Tyler, Texas), December 15, 1993: 2-4.

27 Amy Niedzielka, “Palmeiro Rips Rangers,” Miami Herald, November 24, 1993: D1.

28 Gil LeBreton, “Palmeiro’s Pouting Reeking with Greed,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, November 24, 1993: C1.

29 Tony DeMarco, “Unhappy Palmeiro Blasts Team’s Decision,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, November 23, 1993: C1.

30 Randy Galloway, “Palmeiro Deserves Credit for Engineering Reunion,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, December 3, 1998: 1D.

31 “Palmeiro: Rangers Are ‘Low-Class,’ Clarks’ a ‘Lowlife’,” Tampa Bay Times, November 24, 1993: 2C.

32 Peter Schmuck, “Palmeiro Adapts to Lonely Star State,” Baltimore Sun, March 1, 1994: C1.

33 Amy Niedzielka, “Palmeiro Rips Rangers.”

34 Associated Press, “Will Clark: A ‘Lowlife’ or a ‘Great Person?’”.

35 Rob Gloster, “Bonds Talks on BALCO,” The San Francisco Examiner, December 5, 2003: 1

36 United States Congress House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform, Investigation Into Rafael Palmeiro’s March 17, 2005 Testimony At The Committee on Government Reform’s hearing: Restoring Faith In America’s Pastime: Evaluating Major League Baseball’s Efforts To Eradicate Steroid Use: 4.

37 Jose Canseco, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big (New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2005): 133.

38 U.S. Congress: 3.

39 U.S. Congress: 4.

40 U.S. Congress: 5.

41 U.S. Congress: 5.

42 U.S. Congress: 13.

43 U.S. Congress: 7.

44 U.S. Congress 13.

45 U.S. Congress 27-33.

46 U.S. Congress: 11.

47 U.S. Congress; 11.

48 Canseco, Juiced: 133.

49 U.S. Congress: 34.

50 U.S. Congress: 17.

51 U.S. Congress:: 9.

52 U.S. Congress: 12.

53 U.S. Congress: 12.

54 U.S. Congress: 12.

55 Roch Kubatko, “Palmeiro Covers His Ears, But O’s Can’t Plug Skid, 7-2,” Baltimore Sun, August 31, 2005: 3E.

56 Jeff Zrebiec, “Palmeiro to Rehab in Texas,” Baltimore Sun, September 6, 2005: C1.

57 Roch Kubatko and Dan Connolly, “Under Cloud of Steroids, He’ll Sit Out Season’s Final 10 Days,” Baltimore Sun, September 23, 2005: F1.

58 Dan Connolly, “Palmeiro Returns to Orioles, 10 Days Were ‘Tough Time’,” Baltimore Sun, August 12, 2005: F1.

59 https://www.si.com/mlb/2013/01/08/hall-fame-ballot-steroids-mark-mcgwire-barry-bonds-roger-clemens Accessed August 28, 2020.

60 https://www.cooperstowncred.com/hall-of-fame-conundrum-barry-bonds-roger-clemens/ Accessed September 8, 2020.

61 C. Trent Rosecrans, “Morgan: Keep Steroids out of Hall,” The Cincinnati Enquirer, November 22, 2017: 3C.

62 “Sports in Brief, Miscellaneous,” Clarion Ledger, August 20, 2008: 2C.

63 Associated Press, “Rafael Palmeiro Inducted Into Miss. Hall of Fame,” Public Opinion (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania), July 29, 2012: 6B.

64 Tyler Horka, “Palmeiro, Clark Forever Linked,” Hattiesburg American, February 17, 2019: 2C.

65 Drew Davison, “No Joke: Palmeiro Serious About Comeback,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, January 13, 2018: 1B.

66 https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23784220/at-age-53-rafael-palmeiro-looks-rewrite-career-end Accessed September 10, 2020.

67 https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2017/01/17/rafael-palmeiro-hall-of-fame-steroids-veterans-committee/96670114/ Accessed September 10, 2020.

Yount endeared himself to Brewers fans and teammates because of his all-out hustle, humble nature, and team-first attitude. “Part of the reason I played as hard as I did,” he said years after retiring, “was because I didn’t want to embarrass myself. If you’re fearless, sometimes you get careless, and that’s when mistakes happened.”1 Yount never changed that style, even when he was nearing the end of his career. “He runs out every groundball to the pitcher as hard as he can,” said teammate B.J. Surhoff about the 34-year-old in 1990. “He is the best baserunner in baseball, he plays hitters perfectly, he’s an incredible clutch hitter, he gives himself for the team at all personal costs. When you play with him, you realize that he plays the game on the edge.”2

At 6-feet tall and just 165 pounds, Yount certainly did not have the physical build of a power hitter, yet was surprisingly muscular and quick, both with the bat and on his feet. He developed surprising power as he matured, spanking 20-plus home runs in a season on four occasions. He was a natural spray hitter and took advantage of the powers alleys to collect doubles, hitting at least 40 in four seasons, and 30-plus eight times, and triples, racking up double figures four times. Yount had a closed stance and gripped the bat in an unorthodox style; instead of lining up the knuckles of his forefingers and and pinky on the bat as most right-handed hitters do, his hands were slightly twisted, the left hand clockwise and the right hand counterclockwise. “Nobody else looks quite like Robin Yount in the batter’s box,” observed sportswriter Gary D’Amato. “He has a distinctive stance; his right foot drawn back, left heel off the ground, left toe pointed in, crouched low.”3

“My swing was certainly not the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen, even though it worked for me,” Yount told ESPN The Magazine. “I had very few mechanical thoughts. … I was strictly a reaction hitter. I would let the ball get as deep on me as I could, try to recognize it as early as I could, and … I tried to hit it as hard as I possibly could.”4 Said knuckleballer Charlie Hough of Yount, “He doesn’t have the type of swing you would teach. It’s a very unorthodox style. He actually looks like he’s tied up, but just when you think you have him beat, he gets the bat head out there for a single or double down the line.”5

Milwaukee sportswriter Tom Flaherty described Yount as “the most modest superstar in sports.”6 Shy, quiet, and unassuming by nature, Yount was a club leader who led by example and deed, and not by a rah-rah attitude. He kept his teammates loose with his relaxed approach and humor, and willingly let them take the spotlight. “Publicity? I don’t especially like it,” he quipped as an 18-year-old rookie, “but I understand there is a need for it in baseball.”7 As he developed into star and MVP, reporters always flocked to him for interviews, but Yount was never good with sound bites. About the 1982 World Series and his record-setting hitting, he retorted, “If there is a drawback, I suppose it would be all the exposure.”8

Robin R. Yount was born on September 16, 1955, in Danville, Illinois, just over the state line from where his parents, Phil and Marion Yount, lived in Covington, Indiana. Within a year of Robin’s birth, the elder Yount relocated the family, which also included his older brothers Jim and Larry, to the affluent community of Woodland Hills, in the San Fernando Valley about 25 miles northwest of Los Angeles. An aerospace engineer, he began a job with Rocketdyne, a division of Rockwell International.9

A precocious youngster, Robin was always small for his age, yet a gifted athlete with myriad interests. By the age of nine, he began golfing and two years later was racing motorcycles, two passions that remained constant throughout his life. At Taft High School he played basketball and football, though he abandoned them after his sophomore year to concentrate on baseball. He initially pursued it with a certain nonchalance, unlike his brother Larry, five years older, who was an acclaimed pitcher and was selected by the Houston Astros in the fifth round of the 1968 amateur draft. Robin’s attitude to baseball became more serious in the summer of 1972, after his junior year, when he moved to Oklahoma City to live with his brother, who was playing for the 89ers of the Triple-A American Association. “That exposed me to the professional life,” explained Yount years later. “I lived it — went to the park early, hit, took grounders, hung around the clubhouse, hung out with the guys.”10

Aided by a noticeable growth spurt, the 6-foot, slightly-built yet sinewy 165-pound Yount emerged as a star in his senior year. That spring dozens of scouts followed the hard-hitting shortstop, who with a stellar .455 batting average led his team to the West Valley League championship.11 He was named the league’s Co-MVP, as well as All-Los Angeles City Player of Year.12 Just days after graduating, the 17-year-old Yount was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers, on scout Gordon Goldsberry’s recommendation, with the third overall pick in the 1973 amateur draft, after the top selections, pitcher David Clyde and catcher John Stearns.13 Two decades later, the longtime veteran talent evaluator Goldsberry still considered Yount “the best athlete I’ve ever been associated with.”14 Yount withdrew his letter of intent to play baseball at Arizona State University15 and signed with the Brewers, accepting an estimated $75,000 bonus.16

The Brewers assigned Yount to the Newark (New York) Co-Pilots in the short-season Single-A New York-Penn League. The club was atrocious, winning just 15 of 70 games, but Yount was its bright spot, batting .285, earning All-Star honors at shortstop and being named the league’s player most likely to reach the majors.

Yount was invited as a non-roster player to the Brewers spring training in Sun City, Arizona, in 1974. The club was coming off its fourth consecutive miserable season in Milwaukee since relocating from Seattle and changing its name from the Pilots after its inaugural season in 1969. Skipper Del Crandall initially gave little thought to Yount making the club, not just because he had only 64 games of A-ball under his belt; but also because Yount had made 18 errors in those games, plus the shortstop spot seemed to be secure on club with Tim Johnson making 135 starts in his rookie season in 1973. But Yount proved that he was no ordinary 18-year-old big-league wannabe. He impressed the staff as much with his physical prowess as with his mental toughness.

“Some people are always worrying about what just happened, and that makes them unprepared for what happens next,” quipped Crandall, himself a former 11-time All-Star catcher. “Others, like Robin, have the ability always to concentrate on what’s coming up next.”17 Unfazed by Yount’s smooth transition to the speed and cerebral aspects of game was Goldsberry, noting, “One reason Robin adapted to the major leagues at age 18 was that he had been exposed to professional ball by Larry. Robin had worked out with Triple-A players and had seen that he could do all the things they could do.”18

As the Brewers’ roster was gradually trimmed during camp, Robin was briefly reunited with Larry who was traded to the club on March 30. While Larry was ultimately cut, Robin was named the starting shortstop and debuted as the majors’ youngest player on April 5 against the Boston Red Sox at County Stadium. Surprisingly relaxed, Yount claimed he felt no pressure to perform. “I had nothing to lose,” he said years later. “If I didn’t play well, they would send me back to the minor leagues which was probably where I belonged anyway.”19 Batting ninth, Yount drew a walk off Luis Tiant in his first at-bat and flied out to left field in his other plate appearance before he was lifted for pinch-hitter Felipe Alou.

Hitless in his first 10 at-bats, Yount singled off Baltimore’s Dave McNally on April 12 in Milwaukee for his first hit. The next day he went from goat to hero in a matter of minutes. His error on Bobby Grich’s grounder enabled the Orioles to tie the game, 2-2, in the top of the eighth. Moments later, Yount led off the bottom of the frame by smashing his first home run, off starter Ross Grimsley, to give the Brewers the lead and eventual victory, 3-2. Yount seemed overwhelmed by big-league pitching early in the season, with his batting average under .200 through May 11; however, he proved his mettle, collecting 18 hits in 49 at-bats (.367 average) from May 12 through May 31 to secure his position on the field, which he didn’t relinquish for the next 20 years.

“I don’t think about how scared I should be because I’m in the major leagues at 18,” Yount told sportswriter Pat Jordan for his Sports Illustrated feature in 1974. “I just go out and play. When I’m at bat I concentrate on hitting the ball, and when I’m in the field I concentrate on picking it up.”20 By early August, Yount’s mobility was becoming compromised by tendinitis in his feet, a malady that ultimately shelved his season after August 17. Praised by Brewers beat reporter Lou Chapman as “display[ing] the poise and ability of a Marty Marion,” Yount’s totals (3 HRs, 26 RBIs, .250 batting average, .276 on-base percentage, and .346 slugging average) belied what his future foretold.21

Cast into national spotlight as a teenager, hailed as the next superstar, and dubbed “the Kid,” Yount handled the psychological pressure to perform and the demands of the press. “I can’t worry about how old I am,” he said, deflecting questions about his age. “There are too many other things to think about.”22 Some of that pressure subsided in 1975, when the Brewers acquired Henry Aaron from the Atlanta Braves. Yount got off to a hot start, batting .386 and slugging .649 to be named the AL Player of the Month in April, but a severely sprained ankle on the artificial turf in Kansas City sidelined him for two weeks in May, and he never regained that form. In an era when shortstops weren’t expected to produce offensively, Yount exceeded expectations (8-52-.267) and played in 147 games to finish with 256 games played as a teenager, which ranked second in major-league history, behind the Chicago Cubs’ Phil Cavarretta’s 277 (1934-1936).23

Yount was praised for his range at shortstop and his strong arm. “He’s got Mark] Belanger’s lateral rhythm,” said Chicago White Sox coach Al Monchak, comparing Yount to the Orioles fielding whiz. “He’s always in control of his body. He moves backward after flies better than any young player I’ve ever seen.”24 Nonetheless, Yount was still learning the position and suffered a setback in ’75, committing the most errors (44) of any player in baseball; consequently, he participated in the Brewers’ Arizona Fall Instructional League.

In 1976 Yount revealed his fiercely independent streak, foreshadowing a bigger confrontation two years later. Empowered by arbitrator Peter Seitz’s ruling that major-league players could become free agents by playing out their option, Yount threatened to play the entire season without a contract to test his market value, though he did report to spring training on time.25 He eventually signed a two-year pact in late April.26 Durable, he played all but three innings the entire season, improved his defense (committing 13 fewer errors), and batted in the .280s through July before slumping in July and August to finish with a lackluster .252 average and just a .301 slugging average. By the end of the 1977 season, however, Yount could lay legitimate claim to be the best all-around shortstop in the AL. Emerging offensively, he collected 174 hits and batted .288, both of which ranked second behind Cecil Cooper on the team.

After four years in the big leagues, Yount was sick of losing and playing for an uncompetitive team, which had averaged 92.5 losses per season since his arrival. Even before the 1977 campaign concluded, Brewers players seemed in open revolt against skipper Alex Grammas. “It’s depressing, day in and day, out,” said Cooper about the losing.27 Yount, whose contract was to expire at the end of the season, said, “I can’t say that I’ve enjoyed baseball that much. It’s not as much fun as it should be.”28 The cornerstone and future of the team, Yount considered the players’ attitude to be part of the problem and made it known that he’d like to see the Brewers make substantial on-the-field improvements and commit to winning if he were to sign with the club again. Team owner and President Bud Selig made wholesale changes in the offseason, including hiring Harry Dalton as new GM and George Bamberger as manager, and also signed free agent Larry Hisle, the reigning AL RBI leader, and acquired Ben Oglivie in a trade.

Optimism abounded when the Brewers spring training opened in 1978, with Selig claiming the squad was the best club in franchise history.29 Before camp concluded, Yount was on the DL, away from the team, and actively contemplating retirement. For the second time in three years, he had reported to camp without a contract. He was still unsigned by mid-March, and trade rumors swirled. Adding to the mental stress of his contract situation, Yount was struggling on the diamond, plagued by painful tendinitis in his feet, a recurring problem since his rookie year, and a sore right elbow, hampering his throwing. On March 28 he was placed on the DL, and soon thereafter abruptly left the team.30 Frustrated mentally and physically, Yount contemplated quitting baseball to became a pro golfer. Reactions from sportswriters were diverse: Some criticized Yount for being impetuous and selfish, holding the Brewers hostage with his indecisiveness; while some like Bob Wolf of the Milwaukee Journal were sympathetic at a time when athletes were often portrayed as a spoiled millionaires, opining that Yount is “an unusual young man, one who supposedly is more interested in contentment than money.”31

Looking back on this this period in his life, Yount commented to Robert Creamer, “I’m not very introspective, but I guess I was at an age, 20, 21, 22, when people wonder what they’re going to do with their lives. I suppose I was beginning to wonder if playing baseball was what I wanted to do. I think now it might have been a part of growing up. I was very fortunate. Bud Selig was very patient with me. It’s as though he said, ‘Give the young man all the time he needs to straighten this out.’”32

The 1978 season opened without Yount, his future with the club still cloudy. His absence paved the way for another wunderkind, 21-year-old shortstop Paul Molitor, a non-roster invitee to camp, who like Yount had only 64 games in single-A ball. Molitor had been reassigned during camp, but Yount’s injury and then self-induced exile forced the club to recall the player who was the Brewers starting shortstop on Opening Day. After conversations with Dalton and Selig, Yount returned to the club in May, though he remained unsigned. Not yet ready to play the field and needing extra time to get his arm back in shape, Yount debuted on May 6 by pinch-hitting, then started his first game at shortstop on May 15 (in the club’s 31st game of the season), shifting Molitor to second base.

Yount seemed rejuvenated, batting .315 (17-for-54) in his first 14 starts, as the club went 9-5 to move over .500. The Brewers seemed to fulfill Selig’s prediction, stringing together 10 straight victories to move 10 games over .500 on June 17, though in fourth place in the power-packed AL East. During that stretch, Yount hit the first of his 10 career walk-off home runs, sending the first pitch from the Toronto Blue Jays’ Tom Murphy over the wall to give the Brewers a 5-4 victory, after which his “teammates acted as it were the World Series,” quipped Lou Chapman in the Milwaukee Sentinel, emptying from the dugout.33 “I enjoy playing with this club more than I ever had,” said an elated Yount after his heroics.34

By the end of the month, Yount came to terms with the Brewers, signing a five-year deal, reportedly for in excess of $2.3 million, a hefty increase from his $80,000 salary.35 The contract, negotiated by his brother Larry, who had become a successful real-estate developer, definitively ended the incessant trade speculation buzzing around Yount since his return to the team. It was a new era in Brewers baseball, characterized by a dazzling offense that led the majors with 173 homers, featuring Hisle (34-115-.290) and Gorman Thomas (32-86-.246), and five other players with at least 13 round-trippers.

On September 6 Yount added his name to the home-run bonanza by spanking two for the first of 14 times in his career, victimizing the Blue Jays at Exhibition Stadium, highlighting a 4-for-4 performance with 5 RBIs in a 7-0 shellacking. It was part of the most productive stretch in his career thus far, batting .356 and slugging .546 over 41 games (July 26 to September 7). Despite missing almost one-fifth of the season, Yount had his most productive campaign at the plate (9-71-.293). The Brewers set a team record with 93 wins, finishing in third place, 6½ games behind the New York Yankees.

In 1979 Yount married Michele Edelstein, whom he knew in high school. They welcomed four children into the world in the 1980s, Melissa, Amy, Dustin, and Jenna. He fiercely guarded his family’s privacy and shielded them from media attention. A born competitor, Yount enjoyed living on the edge. “I didn’t play for the love of baseball,” he quipped, “I played for the love of competition.” He had various offseason pursuits, some of which probably made the Brewers’ front office cringe.36 Throughout his baseball career, he raced motorcycles on off-road courses, all-terrain vehicles, and go-carts. He later dabbled in auto racing, once crashing a car in the late 1980s. “I had just bought a new race car, a Sports 2000,” Yount told sportswriter Peter Gammons. “One of the first times I raced it, I took a corner wrong at about 120 and flipped. As I was lying there upside down, I thought, this must not be for me. A brand-new car, and look what I did to it.”37 Yount also fished, hunted, skied, and continued to play golf.

The 23-year-old Yount began his sixth big-league season in 1979 looking for consistency. After a seeming breakout season in 1978, he had regressed the following year, batting .267, with a .308 on-base percentage, while slugging just .371, the second lowest totals among regulars on the club, though all three statistics matched his career averages to that point (.270, .308, and .364). His rising star seemed to have been eclipsed by Molitor, who hit .322 in his sophomore season, and Thomas (who led the AL with 45 home runs). The Brewers bashers, dubbed Bambi’s Bombers in honor of their skipper, George Bamberger, slugged their way to a team-record 95 wins in 1979, the second-best record in the AL, but finished a distant runner-up to the 102-win Orioles.

In the best physical shape of his life, Yount got off to a hot start in 1980 en route to one of the most productive seasons for a shortstop in big-league history. He collected 22 hits in 52 at-bats in a 13-game stretch, from April 12 to April 27, to raise his average to .400. “People would say that I had ‘potential,’” said Yount,” but they never understood that I needed to learn to play the game after a half-season in the minors. It is different when you’re learning in the majors, because everyone sees you, and there isn’t any room for patience. For me, it’s a matter of consistency.”38

On May 4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago, he smashed his first career grand slam in the Brewers’ 11-1 laugher. Yount appeared stronger and more determined. After hitting just 34 home runs in his first six seasons, he walloped his 10th of the campaign on June 14 to set a new personal best. He batted almost exclusively all season long in the two-hole, which afforded him better pitches and more protection; his power numbers soared and his new-found offensive prowess gained him more exposure He was finally selected to his first All-Star Game, as a backup to the starter, weak-hitting Bucky Dent of the Yankees. [Yount went 0-for-2]. On August 16 Yount went 3-for-5 with two doubles, a home run, and four RBIs.

It’s hard to imagine in a sport as obsessed with statistics as baseball, but lost completely on sportswriters at the time was that Yount’s second hit, a double off Sandy Wihtol in the 10-5 drubbing of the Indians at Cleveland Stadium, was the 1,000th base hit of his career, making him the sixth youngest player to reach that milestone, after Ty Cobb, Mel Ott, and Al Kaline, Freddie Lindstrom, and Buddy Lewis. Bambi’s Bashers once again led the majors in home runs, but were sunk by 10 losses in 11 games in the second half of August and ultimately finished in third place (86-76), while their intra-divisonal rivals, the 103-win Yankees and 100-win Orioles, produced the two best records in baseball. Competing in the tough AL East did no team favors in the pre-wild-card era.

In a phenomenal campaign, Yount joined Ernie Banks as the only shortstops in big-league history to collect 80 or more extra-base hits in a season, and became the first AL shortstop to compile more than 300 total bases since 1965 AL MVP Zoilo Versalles of the Minnesota Twins.39 Yount set Brewers records for runs scored (ranking 2nd in the AL with 121) and doubles (a major-league-most 49), while batting .293, slugging .519, and hitting 23 home runs.

Yount’s encore to his phenomenal season seemed like a resounding failure with three weeks to go in the 1981 season, one of the most forgettable in big-league history, yet most memorable in Brewers lore. A strike by the players union (the Major League Baseball Players Association) canceled about one-third of the season, leading owners to divide the season into halves with the “winners” playing one another in a newly established divisional series in order to generate interest for the postseason. The Brewers finished in third in the first half (31-25), and were fading in the second half, having lost five of eight games to fall to third place, 20-16, three games behind the Detroit Tigers on September 14. Just 3½ games separated the top five teams. Yount’s batting average at the time was just .251 with a paltry .295 on-base-percentage and a .389 slugging percentage.

Defying the odds, the Brewers got hot and their pesky shortstop was in the middle of the club’s unlikely march to the first postseason berth in its 13-year history. With the Brewers trailing the Tigers, 6-5, on September 25 in the first game of a pivotal three-game series in Detroit, Yount “salvaged a pennant race,” exclaimed sportswriter Tom Flaherty in the Milwaukee Journal, smashing a dramatic three-run home run off starter Jack Morris to give the Brewers an 8-6 lead.40 The victory pulled the Brewers, piloted by Buck Rodgers, to within a half-game of the Red Sox and Tigers; a loss would have dropped them 2½ back.41 After splitting the next four games, the Brewers pulled into first place with the Tigers on September 30 with a resounding 10-5 victory over the Red Sox at County Stadium. “The team has gradually grown up,” quipped Yount, who led the way with four hits and three runs. “Experience and doing pretty well in pressure situations have given us confidence.”42

The spotlight was set on the final series of the season, a winner-take-all three-game set against the Tigers in Milwaukee. Yount once again supplied the offensive power, going 3-for-4, giving him nine hits in his last 13 at-bats, and knocking in two runs in a thunderous 8-2 shellacking. “I’m not trying to do anything different,” said Yount of his offensive explosion after his season-long struggles. “When you’re hitting good, you don’t think that much.”43

With the Brewers trailing 1-0 in the eighth inning the following night, Yount’s all-out hustle on a routine sacrifice bunt led to the winning run and the second-half championship. After Molitor led off with a walk, Yount laid down a perfect bunt to first baseman Ron Jackson. According to Flaherty, Jackson looked to second, but was unable to make the throw with the speedy Molitor; that delay was costly.44 By the time he threw to shortstop Lou Whitaker covering first, Yount was safe. Four batters later, Yount scored what proved to be the winning run, 2-1, on Thomas’s sacrifice fly. It was the conclusion of the most exciting eight-game stretch thus far in Brewers history, and Yount led the way, collecting 15 hits in 33 at-bats and scoring nine runs, more than compensating for his otherwise disappointing offensive numbers (10-49-.273).

The Brewers faced the Yankees in the ALDS, which surprisingly unfolded as a battle of pitchers instead of sluggers, featuring just 32 combined runs (13 by the Brewers) in the five-game series. The Brewers lost the first two contests at home, then won the next two at Yankee Stadium, to set up another do-or-die game. Yount collected three hits but the Yankees emerged victorious, 7-3. The Brewers batted just .222 collectively, while Yount led the club with six hits and four runs.

The Brewers got off to another sluggish start in 1982, dropping into the AL East cellar on May 31. The next day Rodgers was fired and replaced with Harvey Kuenn. Whereas Rodgers was a nervous type, pacing in the dugout, the 51-year-old Kuenn, who had had a leg amputated two years earlier, was laid back with his atmosphere-changing “Have some fun” mantra.45 The players immediately responded to Kuenn’s style, posting a 30-11 record under his guidance, and moved into first place. Harvey’s Wallbangers, the power-packed lineup that crushed a major-league-most 216 home runs, were born, featuring the Fu Manchu-wearing Gorman Thomas, who tied for the AL-lead with 39 home runs; Ben Oglivie, who smashed 34; the criminally underrated Cecil Cooper (32-121-.313); and Molitor with a major-league-most 136 runs scored; however, no one put on a show like Yount.

Unlike his team, Yount started off the 1982 season red-hot, rapping three hits on Opening Day, and had collected 13 hits in 29 at-bats in his first nine games. While the Brewers clawed their way into contention, trading the top spot in a fierce back-and-forth battle against the Red Sox with the Orioles lurking behind, the 26-year-old Californian surged over a 28-game stretch (June 30 to July 31), batting .410 on 48 hits, including 8 home runs, 24 RBIs, and 32 runs, and was named the AL Player of the Month for July. He became the second Brewer to be selected to consecutive All-Star Games (joining Don Money, 1976-1977), earning the start and going 0-for-3.

It appeared as though the Brewers might run away with the crown, hold a commanding 6½-game lead over the Red Sox on August 27. While the Wallbangers played inconsistently in September, the Orioles surged, at one point winning 30 of 40 games. The two powerhouses played each other seven times in the final 10 games, and as in the previous season, Yount’s bat was decisive. In the first of those games, on September 24 in Milwaukee, Yount’s two home runs and career-best six RBIs propelled the Brewers to a 15-6 thumping. But the Brewers lost the next two to the Orioles and held a precarious one-game lead on October 1 on the eve of a season-defining four-game series in Baltimore to close the season. Skipper Earl Weaver’s bunch slaughtered the Brewers in the first three games, outscoring them 26-7, setting up a dramatic winner-take-all-game on the last day of the season. Yount cracked a first-inning home for the first run of the game and another solo shot in the third, marking the seventh time in the season that he hit two round-trippers in one game. He also added a triple, his career-best 12th, in an electric 3-for-4 performance with four runs scored as Harvey’s Wallbangers strolled to a convincing 10-2 victory. “If there were skeptics around who didn’t believe that Robin Yount was the most valuable player in the American League,” wrote Flaherty in the Journal, “they changed their minds.”46

Yount was a star on a team filled with them, concluding one of the best seasons for a shortstop in baseball history: He became first shortstop to lead the AL in total bases (367) and slugging percentage (.578); only the Chicago Cubs’ Banks and Pittsburgh Pirates’ Honus Wanger had ever accomplished that feat. Yount also paced the circuit with 210 hits and 46 doubles, while clubbing 29 home runs and driving in 114 runs. Yount lost the batting title by one point to the Royals’ Willie Wilson (.332 to .331) in an episode that produced some controversy when skipper Dick Howser sat Wilson on the final day of the season to protect the title.47 “He’s the best all-around shortstop I’ve ever seen,” opined Kuenn, himself a former 10-time All-Star, about Yount.48 Yount received 27 of 28 first-place votes to become the second Brewer to win the league’s MVP Award (Reliever Rollie Fingers was named AL MVP and AL Cy Young Award winner in the strike-shortened 1981 season). He also won his first and only Gold Glove Award, a year after leading the AL in fielding percentage at short.

The Brewers captured their first pennant after a stunning comeback against the California Angels in the ALCS. After losing the first two games in Anaheim, Kuenn’s crew won the next three in Milwaukee. Yount managed only four hits in 16 at-bats without an RBI.

The 1982 World Series featured a contrast in styles: Harvey’s Wallbangers vs. Whitey Ball, the St. Louis Cardinals’ version of small ball and speed, espoused by their skipper Whitey Herzog. The Brewers flipped the script in Game One, relying on 13 singles and just one home run to crush the Redbirds, 10-0, in the Gateway City, led by Molitor’s five hits and Yount’s four. Quiet in Games Two and Three, the Brewers exploded for six runs in the seventh inning of Game Four, including Yount’s checked-swing, bases-loaded two-run single, to win, 7-5, and tied the Series.49

In front of 56,562 screaming fans in Game Five, the third consecutive record-breaking crowd at County Stadium, Yount once again provided the fireworks, becoming the first player in World Series history to record two four-hit games in the same World Series. His home run in the seventh brought a lusty chant of “MVP!” from the crowd, in the Brewers 6-4 victory. A win away from the first world championship for Milwaukee since the Braves won the title in 1957 (they relocated to Atlanta after the 1966 season), the Brewers lost the final two games in St. Louis. Yount went 1-for-8 in those two contests, finishing with a Series-high 12 hits, as well as a team-best six runs and six RBIs (tied with Cooper).

The end came abruptly for Harvey’s Wallbangers, though it was not immediately evident in 1983. Widely expected to win another pennant, the 1983 Brewers were racked by injuries, losing their reigning Cy Young Award winner, 18-game winner Pete Vuckovich, for all but three starts, 1980 Cy Young recipient Rollie Fingers, whose forearm injury forced him to miss the entire ’82 postseason and all of ’83; while Oglivie and Thomas missed significant portions of the season and combined for just 18 home runs, down from 73 the year before. The Brewers struggled to play .500 ball through the first half of the season, then went on a roll, winning 24 of 33. On August 11 Yount went 2-for-4 with two RBIs in the Brewers’ 6-4 win over the Blue Jays to catapult the Brewers into first place, one game ahead of the Tigers, Yankees, and Orioles.

The emotional leader of the team, however, was suffering, plagued by lower back pain since at least the All-Star Game (his third and final), which had forced to him to the bench for several games and into a designated hitter role for a few more. On August 22 he blasted a walk-off solo home run, his first round-tripper in five weeks, in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Brewers a 3-2 victory, their seventh in eight games, and keep them on top of the East by a half-game. Two days later, he had another walk-off hit, a clutch single with the bases loaded in the 14 against the Angels, but that proved to be one of the last highlights for the Brewers. Two days after that, they began their collapse, losing 18 of 24, including 10 in a row, and finished in fifth place. Their 87 wins marked the club’s sixth consecutive winning season, which they have not matched as of 2020.

Despite back pain, eventually diagnosed as a ruptured disc which would have far-reaching implications in his career, Yount (17-80-.308) finished with a .503 slugging percentage; scored 102 runs, hit 42 doubles; and led the AL with 10 triples. According to one modern metric established well after he retired, Yount was once again the league’s most valuable offensive player, following up his 9.9 oWAR with 7.6 in ’83, though he finished 18th in the MVP voting.50

A turning point for Yount came in 1984 when a series of injuries threatened to derail his career. Two years after winning the pennant, the Brewers finished with the worst record in the AL, (followed by two successive sixth-place finishes in 1985 and 1986). Injuries, aging players, and an unproductive farm system had decimated the club. Just 28 years old, Yount began his 11th big-league season in 1984 still feeling the lingering effects of lower back pain that had zapped his power in the second half of 1983, hitting just four home runs in his final 67 games. By mid-July he began having pain in his right arm and shoulder, making it difficult to throw to first, and was ultimately shifted to DH for most of the final month of the season. A rare bright spot on an awful team, Yount led the club in almost every offensive category, including 16 home runs, as the Brewers hit the fewest in the league, and 105 runs scored.

A month after the conclusion of the regular season, Yount underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove bone spurs in his shoulder and shore up tendons, and was expected to be ready for spring training in 1985. He reported on time, but his shoulder pain remained, making it impossible to play shortstop. Skipper George Bamberger, who had replaced Rene Lachman after one season, moved his inspirational team leader to left field, a position Yount hadn’t played since Little League. “It’s difficult just getting used to the ball. The angle is different,” said Yount, who didn’t complain about the move, though that didn’t make it easier. “It’s a different game. I don’t know if I’d call it boring. There’s a lot of standing around, but there’s plenty for me to think about because I still have to learn the position.”51 A naturally gifted and instinctive athlete, Yount was moved to center field in July to take advantage of his speed, but runners exploited his weak arm, which was limited by pain and required cortisone shots. “The year just became one of those wasted seasons,” said Yount. “Eventually I realized that something had to be done to clean up the shoulder.”52 Yount’s season ended on September 1 and he underwent his second shoulder surgery in less than 10 months to remove bone spurs and calcium deposits.53

Frustrated and concerned, Yount wondered if he’d ever be pain-free or play baseball again after his second invasive procedure. He had already resigned himself to the idea that he would never play shortstop again — and never did, not even an inning — after his last start on September 7, 1984. “If the operation didn’t work, I would have said, ‘It’s been nice,” and would have gone on to other things,” explained Yount the following year. “I love baseball and wanted to keep playing. But I was prepared to leave. I didn’t see myself as a DH.”54

A 13-year veteran at the age of 30, Yount revived his career as a full-time center fielder in 1986. He was pain-free for the first time in almost three years, and it showed at the plate. He didn’t have the power as before, hitting just nine home runs, but he made solid contact, batting a robust .312 (sixth best in the league) mainly from his accustomed two-spot. He made a seamless adjustment to center field, leading all AL outfielders in fielding percentage (.997). “He’s a manager’s dream,” said Bamberger. “Never complains, never wants to sit out, just shows up every day and plays.”55 Propelled by 12 hits in his previous six games, Yount became the seventh youngest player in big-league history (following Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Ott, Aaron, Joe Medwick, and Jimmie Foxx) to collect 2,000 hits when he singled against the Indians at County Stadium on September 6. “Robin has never changed in all the years I’ve known him,” said coach Larry Haney. “I’ve only seen a couple of players in my 19 years in the game that I haven’t seen dog it at least once, Robin’s one of them.”56

Beginning in 1987, Yount enjoyed the most productive three-year stretch in his career, culminating with his second MVP award in 1989 as a 33-year-old in his 16th season. He played in 480 of 486 games, collected at least 190 hits each season, and twice knocked in at least 100 runs. On April 15, 1987, Yount made arguably the most memorable defensive play in his career, diving to snag a flyball from the Orioles Eddie Murray to preserve Juan Nieves’s no-hitter, the first in franchise history, as part of the Brewers’ major-league record-tying 13 consecutive wins to start the season.57 After an early-season lead in the division, the Brewers lost 12 straight, falling well off the front-running Tigers and Blue Jays, and finished in third place (91-71).58 In 1988 the Brewers played below .500 before ending the season on a torrid 22-9 streak, to finish in third place again, two games behind the Red Sox.

The Brewers finished with an 81-81 record and in fourth place in 1989, which unfolded as a magical year for Yount. Five days after collecting his 2,500th hit in a 3-for-5 performance with a home run and five RBIs in the Brewers’ 10-2 drubbing of the Yankees in New York, Yount was feted at County Stadium on Robin Yount Day on July 7. “The attention, I don’t need it,” quipped Yount in his typical modest fashion. “I’m just a human being with the ability to play baseball. I’m nothing special.”59 In his first at-bat against the Orioles, Yount delighted the County Stadium faithful by hitting a homer. Always appreciative of the support he received from fans, Yount brushed off his accomplishments. “You can’t play the game without recognition, but statistics just aren’t what make me go,” he said. “I enjoy the competition.”60 And competing he was. The day after his career-longest 19-game hitting streak ended, Yount raked the 200th home run of his career and 13th of the season in the Brewers’ 6-1 victory over the Indians in Milwaukee on July 31. That blast put an exclamation point on an especially productive month (40-for-101, 22 runs, 5 home runs, 24 RBIs in 26 games) garnering him the AL Player of the Month Award. In a surprisingly weak division, the Brewers moved to within a half-game of the first-place Orioles on August 20, but struggled thereafter, finishing with a .500 record and in fourth place. Praised by sportswriter Dennis Punzel for “almost singlehandedly [leading] the Brewers from the depth of despair into contention,” Yount became the first player in AL history to be named MVP who did not play for a winning team and just the third player in major-league history to win MVP awards at different positions (following Hank Greenberg and Stan Musial).61 In a tight four-man vote in a year with no truly dominating player in the AL, Yount collected eight of the 28 first-place votes. Judged by one modern metric (WAR), sportswriters made the right decision as Yount (21-103-.318) led the AL in offensive WAR for the third time in his career (7.3) and ranked in the top five of many offensive categories, including third in slugging percentage (.511) and second in total bases (314).

Declared a free agent after the season, Yount expressed his desire to play for a winner and consequently tested his market value. His brother Larry handled negotiations with several teams, including the Angels, Dodgers, Cubs, Royals, and Blue Jays, but in the end, the decision was easy. Yount re-signed with the Brewers, inking a three-year deal in mid-December for reportedly $9.6 million, making him the highest-paid player in baseball in 1990 ($3.2 million). “Bud Selig was a big part of the reason for staying,” Yount told sportswriter Peter Gammons. “Milwaukee’s been a big part of the reason I’ve had some success. It’s small, without a ton of media attention, and it’s easier to play there than in a big media town. It’s a family city. I can go to the park, play, come home, and be with my family. The kids are very happy in our neighborhood.”62

In his final four seasons (1990-1993), Yount experienced a pronounced decline in production while the Brewers competed for the division crown just once. During this stretch, Yount batted between .247 and .264, slugged as high as .390, and had a .330 cumulative on-base percentage; however, he remained healthy, averaging 141 games per season. “I’ve been just good enough to keep my name in the lineup — never too good and never too bad,” Yount told Los Angeles sportswriter Ross Newhan in September 1992, as he approached his monumental 3,000th hit. “It’s a game of streaks, but my strength … is consistency.”63 On September 9 in front of a capacity crowd of 47,589 at County Stadium, Yount stepped into the batter’s box against the Indians reliever Jose Mesa. The Brewers legendary radio announcer Bob Uecker made the call, “One strike on him. Back against Mesa, who is working from the windup. The 0-and-1 pitch. Swings and there it is! A base hit into right-center. He’s done it! Three thousand for Robin!”64 At 36 years of age, Yount became the third youngest (after Cobb and Aaron) and the 17th player to reach the coveted milestone.

Yount signed a one-year contract to return for his 20th and final season with the Brewers, in 1993. His Hall of Fame bona fides were secure: 2,856 games, 3,142 hits, 1,632 runs, 583 doubles, 126 triples, and 251 home runs. He batted .285, slugged .430, and had a .342 on-base percentage. Remarkably consistent, Yount produced a .288/.347/.435 line at home in County Stadium; and .283/.338/.425 on the road; against right-handed pitching (.285/.337/.430) and against southpaws (.286/.354/.429). Yount’s importance to the Brewers, his loyalty to the team and its fan base, however, transcended his statistics. “Robin is what the Brewers stand for,” said Bud Selig. “He’s perfect for this franchise. He’s a great player, but also a great person.”65

In one of the most widely anticipated Hall of Fame elections with three other extremely popular and sure-bet Hall of Fame players, Nolan Ryan, George Brett, and Carlton Fisk, also in their first year of eligibility, there was some doubt whether Yount would receive the required 75% of the vote. He did (77.5%) and joined Brett (98.2%), and Ryan (98.8%) as the triumphant trio of the class of 1999. (Fisk received 66.4% of the vote, and was elected the following year with 79.6%.)

As he was during his playing career, Yount kept a low profile after hanging up his spikes. He resided with his family in the Phoenix area, where he had lived in the offseason for much of his playing career. Yount never lost his desire to compete and continued riding motorcycles and racing cars. He also coached some Little League ball; his son Dustin was chosen by the Baltimore Orioles in the ninth round of the 2001 amateur draft. (He played eight seasons, rising as high as Double A.)

The most famous player in Brewers history, Yount maintained a close relationship to the club. By 1996 he was back at spring training with the Brewers, serving as an assistant, helping players with hitting and throwing batting practice. Though he harbored no intention to manage, Yount felt the tug to put on a major-league uniform and the ideal situation arose. In 2002 he joined the defending World Series champion Arizona Diamondbacks, serving as skipper Bob Brenly’s first-base coach for two seasons. In two separate seasons Yount was back in a Brewers uniform as bench coach: in 2006 on Ned Yost’s staff and in 2008 with Yost and Dale Sveum, both of whom were former teammates of his. After that he continued to work with the Brewers during spring training and act as an ambassador of sorts for Brewers baseball.

In 2012 Yount was part of an ownership group, which included Bob Uecker, for the expansion Lakeshore Chinooks, an amateur collegiate team in Mequon, Wisconsin, of the Northwoods summer league.

As of 2019, Michele and Robin Yount resided in both greater Milwaukee and the Phoenix area.

Last revised: June 9, 2020

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also accessed Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, the SABR Minor Leagues Database, accessed online at Baseball-Reference.com, SABR.org, The Sporting News archive via Paper of Record, the player’s Hall of Fame file, the online archives via Newspaper.com, and Ancestry.com.

Notes

1 Peter Gammons, “3 of a Kind,” ESPN The Magazine, February 2, 1989: 94.

2 Peter Gammons, “Forever a Kid,” Sports Illustrated, April 30, 1990. https://si.com/vault/1990/04/30/121905/forever-a-kid-robin-yount-has-mvp-talents-worth-millions-but-revels-in-high-risk-fun-with-very-big-toys.

3 Gary D’Amato, “Yount’s Slashing Swing Not Class, but It Works,” Milwaukee Journal, September 11, 1989: 4.

4 Gammons, “3 of a Kind,” 98.

5 Joe Bierig and Bruce Levine, “Robin, the Boyish Wonder,” The Sporting News, July 27, 1992: 11.

6 Tom Flaherty, “Dead? No! Champions? Yes,” Milwaukee Journal, October 4, 1982: 22.

7 Milton Richman, UPI, “ ‘The Kid’ Robin Yount Not Worried About Age,” The World (Coos Bay, Oregon), May 14, 1974: 16,

8 Dale Hofmann, “Winning, Not Record, Counts — Yount,” Milwaukee Sentinel, October 11, 1982: III, 1.

9 Robert W. Creamer, “This Robin’s a Rare Bird,” Sports Illustrated, September 27, 1982. si.com/vault/1982/09/27/625002/this-robin-is-a-rare-bird.

10 Peter Gammons, “Forever a Kid.”

11 “Taft’s Chamberlain, Yount Share Award in West Valley,” Van Nuys (California) News, June 15, 1973: 62.

12 “Taft’s ‘Finest’ Robin Yount Named 1973 City Baseball Player of the Year,” Valley News, June 19, 1973: 46.

13 The 1973 draft proved to be historic, producing three Hall of Famers: Robin Yount; third-round pick Eddie Murray (Baltimore Orioles) and Dave Winfield, chosen after Yount, with the fourth pick in the first round by the San Diego Padres. Only two other drafts (as of 2019) produced at least three Hall of Fame players 1971 (George Brett, Jim Rice, and Mike Schmidt) and 1985 (Randy Johnson, Barry Larkin, and John Smoltz).

14 Gammons, “Forever a Kid.”

15 “Texas Pitcher First Pick,” Los Angeles Times, June 6, 1973: III, 7.

16 Susan Shemanske, “Yount: a Winner All the Way,” The Journal Times (Racine, Wisconsin), September 1, 1992: journaltimes.com/sports/yount-a-winner-all-the-way/article_45612bbb-26c2-592d-9279-9ec3d9c2a7ba.html.

17 Pat Jordan, “Years Ahead of His Time,” Sports Illustrated, July 29, 1974. si.com/vault/1974/07/29/616164/years-ahead-of-his-time.

18 Gammons, “Forever a Kid.”

19 Tom Flaherty, “The Kid. Yount’s Love for the Game Never Grows Old,” Milwaukee Journal, September 11, 1982: 6.

20 Jordan.

21 Lou Chapman, “Brewers Get Glad Tiding; Yount’s Foot Good as New,” The Sporting News, December 7, 1974: 58.

22 Richman.

23 Prior to Cavarretta, Mel Ott held the record of 241 set from 1926-1928 with the New York Giants.

24 Jordan.

25 Associated Press, “Robin Considers Playing Out His Option,” Lacrosse (Wisconsin) Tribune, March 12, 1976: 8.

26 Associated Press, “Yount Signs,” Daily Tribune (Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin), April 21, 1976: 8.

27 Lou Chapman. “Brewers Players Gripe … They’re Sick of Losing,” The Sporting News, September 24, 1977: 16.

28 Ibid.

29 Lou Chapman, “’78 Brewers Best in Club History, Selig Says,” The Sporting News, February 4, 1978: 54.

30 Associated Press, “Yount Put on Disabled List,” Stevens Point (Wisconsin) Journal, April 3, 1981: 13.

31 Matthew J. Prigge, When Robin Yount Almost Quit,” Shepherd Express (Milwaukee), December 14, 2015. shepherdexpress.com/sports/brew-crew-confidential/robin-yount-almost-quit/.

32 Creamer.

33 Lou Chapman, “Yount’s Homer Caps Big Day,” Milwaukee Sentinel, June 12, 1978: III, 1.

34 Ibid.

35 Murray Chass, “Suddenly Millionaires Are a Dime a Dozen,” The Sporting News, March 10, 1979: 31.

36 Gammons, “3 of a Kind,” 98.

37 Gammons, “Forever a Kid.”

38 Peter Gammons, “Yount, Mature at 24, Reaching Potential,” The Sporting News, April 26, 1980: 12.

39 Since Versalles’ feat, as of 2018 only one shortstop in the majors had exceeded 300 total bases in a season before Yount did it: The St. Louis Cardinals Garry Templeton had 308 in 1979.

40 Tom Flaherty, “Brewers Still in Contention, Thanks to Yount,” Milwaukee Sentinel, September 26, 1981: 1.

41 After games of September 25, the Red Sox and Tigers were both 26-18; Brewers 26-19; the Orioles 1½ back at 24-19.

42 Bob Wolf, “Yount’s Hits Spark Drive,” Milwaukee Journal, October 1, 1982: 4.

43 Don Kausler Jr., “Brewers Need One More Win,” October 3, 1981: II, 1.

44 Tom Flaherty, “Celebration! Brewers Win Title,” Milwaukee Journal, October 4, 1981: 21.

45 Tom Flaherty, “Brewers Having a Blast,” The Sporting News, August 9, 1982: 3.

46 Tom Flaherty, “Dead? No! Champions? Yes.”

47 Howser’s decision to bench Wilson on the last day of the season was just the tip of the iceberg in a smoldering controversy. When news reached Kansas City that Yount had gone 3-for-4 and was about to come to the plate in the ninth, Howser contrived to stop action in his game against the Oakland A’s and had even been in contact with A’s manager Billy Martin for help. Howser hurriedly called Wilson to get ready to pinch-hit while Martin visited the mound to stall, even though his hurler Dave Beard, was not in trouble. It proved for naught as Yount was hit by a pitch, leaving him at .331, a point behind Wilson, who returned to the bench. See “Yount Almost Gets a Batting Title,” Milwaukee Journal, October 4, 1982: 22

48 Kevin Horrigan, “Cards Analyze Loss: ‘That’s Baseball,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 17, 1982: 1F.

49 Ibid.

50 WAR: Wins Above Replacement is an attempt by the sabermetric community to quantify a player’s contributions in the total number of wins he provides in comparison to a replacement player.

51 Tom Flaherty, “Yount Playing Left Like an Old Pro,” The Sporting News, April 15, 1986: 18.

52 Paul Attner, “Robin Rebounds with a Flourish,” The Sporting News, June 2, 1985: 8.

53 Ken Picking, “Yount to stay in center,” Wausau (Wisconsin) Daily News, September 4, 1985: 7.

54 Attner.

55 Ibid.

56 “Yount Singles for Hit No. 2,000,” Milwaukee Journal, September 7, 1986: 9C.

57 The Atlanta Braves opened the 1982 season with 13 victories.

58 The Brewers started the season with 13 straight and were 20-3 before losing 12 straight games and 18 of 20, after which they played about .500 ball the remainder of the season.

59 Gary Reinmuth, “Yount Not Counting Hits,” Chicago Tribune, July 13, 1989: B1.

60 Ibid.

61 Dennis Punzel, “Yount’s Play Recalls ’82 Season,” Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), August 1, 1989: 13.

62 Gammons, “Forever a Kid.”

63 Ross Newhan, “Hitting His Stride,” Los Angeles Times, September 9, 1992: C1.

64 “How Bob Uecker Called No. 3,000,” Milwaukee Journal, September 10, 1992: C5.

65 Attner.

The above proclamation was part of a short speech made by Oakland’s Rickey Henderson just moments after he stole base number 939 in his career. The thievery of third base in the bottom of the fourth inning in a game against the New York Yankees on May 1, 1991, moved Henderson to number one all-time on the stolen base leader board. To some, his statement may have seemed boastful, disrespectful, or just plain out of line. But the truth stands alone, and the truth is that Rickey Henderson is the greatest base stealer of all time.

Henderson had been caught stealing by New York catcher Matt Nokes in the first inning of the May showdown. Henderson took note of Nokes’ exuberance at his success. Soon-to-be-second-place Lou Brock had been traveling with the A’s so he could be present when Henderson set the new record. Henderson was in his hometown of Oakland, with his mother in attendance. If he needed extra incentive to run into the record books, Nokes may have provided it.

In his second at-bat, Henderson reached first base when Yankee shortstop Alvaro Espinoza could not field Henderson’s groundball cleanly. Henderson checked into second base when Dave Henderson followed with a single. Jose Canseco followed with a fly out to center field. Henderson then took off, making history with the record-breaking stolen base. A short celebration was held on the field to commemorate the achievement. The 36,139 who were in attendance roared their approval. “I said to myself: ‘It’s all over. You’re No. 1.’” said Henderson. “A lot of pressure left me at that moment, like I was 50 pounds lighter. There had been so much pressure to get it done.”2 Brock told Henderson, “Today you are the greatest competitor that ever ran the bases in the big leagues.”3

Rickey Henderson was born Rickey Nelson Henley on December 25, 1958, in Chicago. He was the second son (after older brother Tyrone), born to John and Bobbie Henley. John Henley left the family two years after Rickey was born. Bobbie gathered up her family (in addition to Tyrone and Rickey, there were brothers Alton, John, and Douglas) and moved them to her native Arkansas and settling on her mother’s farm in Pine Bluff.

After a few years, Bobbie sought a better opportunity for her family in California. She went ahead to search for a place to live and a job that could support her family sufficiently. Once she was settled, she sent for her family to live with her in Oakland. Bobbie met Paul Henderson, whom she married, and he adopted her five sons. The boys took the name Henderson as their surname, and soon two sisters, Paula and Glynnes, joined the family. Paul Henderson was employed by General Motors, while Bobbie worked as a registered nurse.4

Henderson enrolled at Oakland Technical High School, and was a three-sport star in baseball, basketball and football. It was the gridiron that was his first love. “Ronnie Lott, Rickey, and myself were among the top high school players in the country our senior year,” said future A’s teammate Dave Henderson. “We didn’t play against each other, but we saw each other in All-Star workouts and things like that. Ronnie and I saw Rickey take the ball on a sweep one time, hit the corner, and he was gone, 80 yards. I thought I was pretty good, but I remember thinking ‘We gotta tackle guys like that?’”5

“He was such a pleasure,” said his high school baseball coach Bob Cryer. “Always upbeat and positive, always showed up on time and worked hard. I was never very close to Rickey, but I always liked him and wanted the best for him.”6

It was also in high school where Henderson met his future wife, the former Pamela Palmer. They had three daughters: Angela, Adrianna, and Alexis.

Henderson could have gone either route—to college on a football scholarship, or the path to a baseball career in the big leagues. Although his dream was to play professional football, he left the decision to his mother. “It was a tough decision to make, but I didn’t make it,” said Henderson. “My mother made the decision. I loved football; I thought I could be an All-American, but she thought baseball was better for me. I gave her the choice to make and she chose baseball.”7

The Oakland Athletics selected Henderson in the fourth round of the free-agent draft on June 8, 1976. Oakland scout Jim Guinn wrote a glowing report of Henderson, thus summarizing his opinion: “Henderson is the best-looking prospect in the Alameda County League and the Oakland Athletic League. I am impressed with this youngster mainly because of his all-around athletic ability.”8

Henderson performed exceptionally well in the minor leagues. He hit above .300 in each class of the minors and was stealing bases constantly once he got to first. Perhaps the one season that gave a glimpse of what the future held was in 1977 at Modesto of the Class A California League. Henderson batted .345, walked 104 times, hit 11 home runs, drove in 69, and scored 120 runs. He also stole 95 bases, giving a lot of the credit for his success to his manager Tom Trebelhorn. “When I got into pro ball, Tom Trebelhorn helped my base-stealing,” said Henderson. “We used to sit up and look at films. I looked at Lou Brock and Ty Cobb, and those were kind of my idols. Trebelhorn was my manager in rookie ball and then he moved up with me to Class A ball. He was probably the biggest influence in my becoming a great base-stealer. He took the time to teach me. He took me out individually and looked at the things I was good at. He took me and made me better. Plus, he also let me steal whenever I thought I could make it, and that gave me a lot of confidence. That was a big thing for me, just coming out of high school, but I guess he saw something in me.”9

He opened the 1979 season at Ogden of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League. After 71 games, Henderson was called up to Oakland and made his major league debut on June 24, 1979. He went 2-for-4 against Texas with a double and a stolen base. Henderson led the team with 33 steals and batted .274.

The Athletics were a dismal team that year. Their record was 54-108 and they finished 34 games behind California in the American League West Division in 1979. That all changed when manager Jim Marshall was shown the door and Billy Martin took over. Martin could turn around a club’s fortunes as well as anyone and he did so in Oakland. Remarkably, the Athletics’ record improved to 83-79 as they finished in second place, 14 games behind Kansas City’s juggernaut in 1980.

Martin preached playing aggressively, or “Billy Ball,” as it was commonly referred to. This style suited his team just fine. Henderson also improved, finishing second in the league in walks (117), third in on-base percentage (.420), and he batted .303. He was selected to participate in the first of ten All-Star Games. Henderson was also the recipient of his first and only Gold Glove Award in 1981. Henderson led the league in stolen bases with 100 thefts, beginning his dominance of that category, and his assault on the record books. He accomplished the feat two more times in his career: 1982 (130) and 1983 (108). Henderson led the AL in base thievery the next seven straight seasons and eight-of-nine years. He became the first player, and as of 2017 the only player, in American League history to steal 100 bases in a season.

Henderson had a slightly different theory regarding stealing bases. While most players would study a pitcher’s pickoff move to first base, Henderson paid attention to the pitcher’s move to home plate. He believed that if he could accurately detect when the pitcher was going home with the pitch, he would be able to get more of a jump on his way to stealing a base.     

The 1981 season was broken into two halves due to the players’ strike. Henderson led the league in runs (89) and hits (135) as well stolen bases (56). “Rickey is a once-in-a-lifetime player,” said Martin. “You see very few Rickey Hendersons. You might not see another one for fifty years.”10 The pitching staff was sublime. Rick Langford (12-10, 2.99 ERA), Steve McCatty (14-7, 2.33), Mike Norris (12-9, 3.75) and Matt Keough 10-6, 3.40) anchored a formidable staff. The A’s won the West in 1981 and defeated Kansas City in the Division Series. But they were swept by the Yankees in the ALCS. Still, the transformation from just two years prior was remarkable.

But just as fortunes change for the better, the opposite is also true, as the A’s sank to fifth place in 1982. The pitching staff faltered, as not one of the starters posted a winning record. For the first time in his career, Henderson led the league in walks (116), the first time in four seasons that he would do so. He also set a new major league record with 130 stolen bases in 1982, breaking the old mark of 118 set by Brock in 1974. “When I stole 130 bases, we didn’t have the home run hitters, we didn’t have the players,” Henderson later remarked. “When we’d go to spring training all we had were “scrap players” and Billy Martin would say ‘All we can do is run. Everybody’s going to run.’”11

Martin was fired after the season, but resurfaced in New York as manager of the Yankees. The Athletics predictably did not improve under his replacement, Steve Boros, and then Jackie Moore.

For Henderson, he was a showman out on the field. He made snap catches with his glove, pranced around the bases, beat his chest, and was noted as a hot dog. But he felt the fans were paying to see him play, so they should be entertained.

Often he would refer to himself in the third person: “People are always saying, ‘Rickey says Rickey’. But it’s been blown way out of proportion. People might catch me, when they know I’m ticked off, saying ‘Rickey, what the heck are you doing, Rickey?’ They say, ‘Darn Rickey, what are you saying Rickey for? Why don’t you just say I?’ But I never did. I always said ‘Rickey’ and it became something for people to joke about.” 12

Henderson was traded with pitcher Bert Bradley to the Yankees on December 5, 1984. The A’s received five players in return (Stan Javier, Jose Rijo, Eric Plunk, Tim Birtsas and Jay Howell). To complete the deal, Henderson signed a five-year deal worth $8.6 million with the Yankees. Although his stolen base total (66) in 1984 was considerably less than in previous seasons, he still led the league and it was four more than the entire Yankee team. He was also reunited with Billy Martin. “Oakland wanted a power team,” said Henderson. “We had some guys who didn’t want me running. Billy likes the running game. He believes in me. The aggressiveness I have goes with the aggressiveness Billy has.”13 Martin was pleased with the reunion. “Rickey’s the same as (Mickey) Rivers was: Exciting. But he’s got more than Rivers had,” said Martin. “Rivers got thrown out. This guy doesn’t get thrown out.”14

On August 30, 1985, the Yankees trailed Toronto by five games in the AL East. The Yankees won 11 straight from August 31 through September 10. They closed the gap to 1 ½ games. But then the bottom fell out and they posted a 3-10 record from September 11 to September 24. Even though they closed out the season on a run of 10-3, they could not catch the Blue Jays, who claimed the division title by two games. In 1986, they fell short again, finishing in second place to Boston by 5 ½ games.

For Henderson, the switch from the West Coast to the East did not affect his game. He led the AL in runs in 1985 (146) and 1986 (130). He also added the long ball to his repertoire, slugging 24 home runs in 1985 and 28 in 1986. Henderson was switched to center field from left, where he was stationed defensively in Oakland. Henderson was sidelined with a hamstring injury in 1987, and he missed 67 games. His streak of leading the AL in stolen bases was snapped, although he still managed to swipe 41. Lou Piniella, who had replaced Martin after the 1986 season, questioned Henderson’s commitment to the Yankees. It caused a strain on the manager-player relationship. If there was any doubt, Henderson returned in good health in 1988, and batted .305 and stole 93 bases. “There was a lot of pressure in New York with the George Steinbrenner era — George was very vocal then,” said Dave Righetti. “Rickey was the one guy who seemed to loosen that team up. He relaxed our club, on and off the field, with his personality and the way he played.”15

But New York was mired in the middle of the pack in the AL East. They were not getting much better in 1989, and traded Henderson back to Oakland on June 21, 1989, for pitchers Eric Plunk and Greg Cadaret, as well as outfielder Luis Polonia. “When Rickey got traded to the A’s, we’d walk through the locker room, someone would say ‘Hey Hendu’, and we’d both look up,” said Dave Henderson. “We had to figure something out. So, we’re both in the on-deck circle one day and I say, ‘The first guy who goes deep is Hendu’, the other guy will be Dave or Rickey.’ I forgot the guy had the most leadoff home runs ever. He hits a homer in his next at-bat and he’s coming around the bases laughing like crazy, yelling ‘I’m Hendu! I’m Hendu!’ Well, the pitcher and catcher start getting pissed — they think he’s showing them up. I had to explain things before they started throwing at me. Rickey goes back to the dugout and he’s still yelling, ‘I’m Hendu! I’m Hendu!’ The funny part is, everyone knows he’s always been Rickey and I’ve always been Hendu. But it was still a bad bet.”16

The A’s were the defending American League champs, but lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series in 1988. As Henderson said when he was dealt to New York, the Athletics were looking to build a team of power hitters. And they did just that. In 1988, Jose Canseco led the AL in round-trippers with 42. Mark McGwire added 32 and Dave Henderson smacked 24. Canseco and McGwire, known as the “Bash Brothers”, formed a formidable pair in the middle of the A’s lineup, along with Dave Henderson and Carney Lansford. Now they added Rickey Henderson to the top of the lineup and they were unstoppable.

Oakland outlasted the Royals by seven games to win the AL West. They wiped out Toronto in five games in the ALCS. Henderson was named MVP of the ALCS as he batted .400 (6-for-15), two home runs, five RBIs, eight runs, seven walks, and eight steals. It was a performance for the ages. “We’re a very relaxed club that knows what we have to do to win,” said Henderson. “I like to think that I’m a money player. When we need a steal or drive home a run, I like to think I’ll deliver.”17

The 1989 World Series became known as the “Earthquake Series.” Oakland was facing its northern California neighbor, the San Francisco Giants, when an earthquake measuring 6.9 shook the Bay Area. Candlestick Park lost power, as well as sustaining structural damage. Commissioner Fay Vincent called a halt to the series until further noticed. Play was resumed on October 27 at Candlestick Park. Oakland, which held a 2-0 advantage, went on to sweep the Giants. Henderson did not suffer a hangover from his performance in the LCS. He batted .474 (9-for-19) with one home run and three RBIs, with two triples and three stolen bases. “Rickey was on base in the 1989 World Series and Terry Kennedy was catching for the Giants,” said Lansford. “I walked up to the plate and Kennedy was talking to himself—he was saying. ‘Go ahead and steal it. You’re going to take it anyway.’ Next pitch, he stole. Terry tried to be quick and dropped the ball. That’s how frustrated catchers were behind the plate—they knew he was going to run, but they couldn’t do anything about it.”18

Oakland had little trouble holding off Chicago to win its third straight AL pennant under Tony La Russa in 1990. They outdistanced the White Sox by nine games with a 103-59 record. Henderson was named American League MVP, as he batted .325, and led the league in runs (119), stolen bases (65) and on-base percentage (.439). He tied a career-high in home runs with 28. He finished 31 points ahead of runner-up Detroit’s Cecil Fielder, who led the AL in home runs (51) and RBI (132). “I felt like I was cheated the last three times I was involved in the voting,” said Henderson. “But it’s not my decision. You can’t take away what Cecil did, and if he had won, I would have tipped my hat to him and not felt cheated this time. I still think that (1985) was my best year, but this isn’t far off. The only difference is that I hit for a higher average this season. That was a better year — and I had some great years in New York — but this was good because it helped the team win.”19

Oakland swept the Red Sox in the ALCS. They were heavy favorites to beat Cincinnati in the World Series, but it was the Reds who pulled a major upset, sweeping the A’s. “Some people had some great years on this club,” said Dennis Eckersley. “We won our division and we won a pennant. But we’ll be remembered now for getting our ass kicked. We did everything but win the World Series — and we didn’t look good doing it. I said before that if we didn’t win the World Series, it meant we choked. Well, that’s what we did.”20

Henderson made two trips to the disabled list in 1992, as did Bob Welch, Scott Brosius, and Dave Henderson. In spite of the injuries, the A’s won the AL West by six games over the Twins. However, they were dumped in six games by Toronto in the ALCS.

On July 5, 1993, Oakland hosted Cleveland in a doubleheader. Henderson led off both games with a home run. It was believed that Henderson was the first player in 80 years to accomplish the feat. Harry Hooper of Boston turned the trick on May 30, 1913, against Washington.

Henderson was dealt to Toronto on July 31, 1993, for pitcher Steve Karsay and a player-to-named-later who turned out to be outfielder Jose Herrera. It was a tale of two teams, as the A’s were rebuilding and were in the cellar in the AL West. Toronto was tied with New York atop the AL East at the time of the deal.

Henderson stole 22 bases in 44 games for the Blue Jays. Toronto finished on top in the East and eliminated Chicago in six games of the ALCS. In the World Series, the Jays made it two World Championships in a row as they toppled Philadelphia in six games in the World Series.

Henderson returned to Oakland in 1994 for his third tour of duty with the A’s. He signed a two-year $8.6 million-dollar contact. In spite of some differences that he had with La Russa, Henderson returned to the familiar surroundings of his home. The season was cut short by the players’ strike on August 12, 1994, forcing the cancellation of the remainder of the season and for the first time since 1904, the postseason. Each league was now split into three separate divisions. Oakland finished a scant one game behind Texas in 1994.

The strike extended into the 1995 season, wiping out the first three weeks. Henderson batted .300 and swiped 32 bases in 112 games. But the Athletics finished in last place with a 67-77 record, 11 ½ games behind division-winner Seattle.

Henderson signed a two-year $6.2 million-dollar contract with San Diego in 1996, entering the National League for the first time in his career. “The negative stuff people were talking about when we got him here, that he was going to come to spring training late, that he was going to be a disruptive force in the clubhouse, I haven’t seen it,” said Tony Gwynn. “I’ve seen a guy who’s prepared. I’ve seen a guy who works hard, loves to help young guys, and who has done whatever the club has asked him to do, not only on the field, but off the field.”21

He may have been a great teammate, but his production slipped. Henderson batted .241 and the following year, he was traded to the Anaheim Angels on August 13, 1997. For the 1998 season, Henderson signed a one-year deal with Oakland, the fourth time he suited up for the Athletics. At 39 years of age, Henderson led the AL in stolen bases (66) and walks (118) in 1998 despite a .236 average in 542 at-bats.

The New York Mets inked Henderson to a two-year deal worth $3.9 million after he 1998 season wrapped. He was named The Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year in 1999. He batted .315 with 37 stolen bases, 12 home runs, 42 RBIs, and a .423 on-base percentage. The next year, he was released by the Mets on May 13, 2000. Tempers were hot from the year before when it was reported that during the Mets’ Game Six loss to Atlanta in the LCS, he was playing cards in the clubhouse with Bobby Bonilla. Henderson denied the allegation and demanded that the accuser confront him face-to-face. Of course, it never came to that. He reported late to spring training the following season. “It’s addition by subtraction,” said Mets general manager Steve Phillips.22 Henderson signed with Seattle and finished out the year with the Mariners.

Rickey returned to the Padres in 2001, which proved to be a record-setting one for Henderson. On April 25, 2001, the Padres were trailing Philadelphia, 5-3, heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. Henderson led off with a walk against Phillies closer Jose Mesa. The free pass was the 2,063rd of Henderson’s career, surpassing Babe Ruth for the top spot on the all-time walk list. On October 4, 2001, Henderson hit a home run off Dodger pitcher Luke Prokopec in the third inning. As he neared home plate, Henderson slid into home plate to commemorate the 2,246th run scored in his career, passing Ty Cobb on the all-time runs scored list. “When I first started in the big leagues,” said Henderson, “I felt that as the leadoff hitter, my job was to get on the base paths, create stuff, and score some runs to help my teammates win some ballgames. It just happens over the 23 years I think I went out there and did my job as well as I could do … and all of a sudden, it’s a record breaker … it’s just an honor.

“Going out and scoring so many runs is just not an individual record. It’s a record that you’ve got to have your teammates help you out and in the 23 years I have had some great teammates.”23

On October 7, 2001, the San Diego Padres were hosting the Colorado Rockies in Tony Gwynn’s last major league game. Henderson added to the festivities when he hit a double to right field off pitcher John Thomson to record his 3,000th career base hit. “I thought it was going to come,” said Thomson. “I gave up three hits to him in Colorado. I’m glad he got it. I’d feel really weird if he had three or four at-bats and he didn’t get a hit. Now when someone asks who gave up Rickey Henderson’s 3,000 hit, the answer will be ‘John Thomson’”.24

Boston signed Henderson to a minor league contract in 2002. To this point in his career, Henderson had stolen 1,395 bases, totaling more than the Red Sox franchise, which in the same amount of time, had amassed 1,382 stolen bases.25 The Red Sox passed Henderson early that year.

In a surprise development at the start of the 2003 campaign, Henderson signed a contract with the independent Newark Bears of the Atlantic League. He was 44 years old, making $3,000 playing for a team that was considered on par with a Class AA team in the minor leagues. “If I don’t feel I have the skills, I’d be happy to hang up my shoes and go be with my kids,” said Henderson. “But I know I have the skill. The speed guys who can score runs? I think I am better than the guys in the major leagues. Will I get the chance?”26

Indeed, that opportunity came his way, as Rickey signed on with the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 14, 2003. He played 30 games, batting .208.

That was the last season in the major leagues for Henderson. He ranks first all-time in stolen bases (1,406), runs (2,295), and leadoff home runs (81). Henderson ranks second all-time in walks (2,190). For his career, he smacked 297 home runs, drove in 1,115 RBIs, and batted .279.

In retirement, Rickey was a special instructor for the Mets in spring training, and served as their first base coach in 2007.

Rickey Henderson was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009. On August 1 that year, Henderson’s number 24 was retired by the Athletics.

In later years, he served as the special assistant to Oakland A’s President David Kaval. The A’s named the playing field at the Oakland Coliseum in Henderson’s honor on April 3, 2017.27

Henderson participated in several public ceremonies to acknowledge the Athletics’ final season in Oakland in 2024, just months before his death at the age of 65 on December 20, 2024.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Joel Barnhart and fact-checked by Jeff Findley.

Photo credits: SABR-Rucker Archive, Trading Card Database.

Notes

Seems to Move in Perpetual Sunshine

“Baseball is a lot about attitude — not getting too up or down, enjoy each game, then forget it and go on. Review the game, learn from your mistakes, but don’t let it burden you. A lot of things matter more than talent: work, education, never being satisfied. These intangibles have made Derek what he is.”2 — S. Charles Jeter, 2002

The young boy went with his parents and sister to Tiger Stadium in Detroit on a Sunday afternoon in 1985, three days before his 11th birthday. He was a Yankees fan at the time. Although he had grown up in Michigan, he spent summers with his maternal grandparents in New Jersey and had been going to games at Yankee Stadium from an early age. His favorite player was Dave Winfield, and he was able to obtain Winfield’s autograph after the game. That evening he told his parents, “One day, you’re gonna go to Tiger Stadium and see me play.” Two decades later, Jeter recalled, “I went to sleep that night knowing what I wanted to do with my life. I had great dreams about it. And I’m not sure if I’ve woken up since.”3

On June 7, 1996, Derek Jeter, in his 68th big-league game, made his first appearance at Tiger Stadium. His parents were there, as they would be for many great moments over his career, culminating in his Baseball Hall of Fame election in 2020.

In 1996 Jeter was unanimously selected the American League Rookie of the Year and was on a world championship team as the Yankees won the World Series for the first time since 1978. In the decisive Game Six, Jeter was in the middle of a three-run third-inning rally that put the Yankees ahead of the Atlanta Braves. His single to left field scored Joe Girardi with the Yankees’ second run. Jeter stole second base and scored on a single by Bernie Williams. The Yankees won, 3-2, and it was time for the players to parade through New York’s Canyon of Heroes. After the parade Jeter said, “I’ve never in my life seen that many people. It was unbelievable. It was overwhelming. I’d never seen anything like it before. I didn’t realize there were that many Yankee fans. I didn’t realize that there were that many people in New York, period. It was absolutely packed. Unless you’re there, you really can’t describe it.”4

Derek Sanderson Jeter was born in Pequannock Township, New Jersey, on June 26, 1974, to a mixed-race couple, Dorothy Connors Jeter, an accountant, and Sanderson Charles Jeter, a substance-abuse counselor. His parents met while serving in Germany with the US Army. His father had played shortstop at Fisk University in Tennessee. When Derek was a child, his parents made him sign a contract each year that defined acceptable and unacceptable forms of behavior. Charles Jeter outlined the terms of the contract: “First of all, we want (Derek and sister Sharlee, five years younger) to do well academically. And we want them to be involved in things (outside of the classroom). The contract outlines study hours, and participation in school activities.”5 Sharlee, like Derek, took an interest in athletics and was a star softball player in high school.

The Jeters moved from New Jersey to Kalamazoo, Michigan, when Derek was 4 years old. There, Derek’s father completed his graduate studies at Western Michigan University. Derek and Sharlee lived in Kalamazoo with their parents during the school year and spent their summers with their maternal grandparents in New Jersey. It was during these summers that Jeter became a fan of the Yankees. He also had more values instilled in him by his grandparents, Sonny and Dot Connors.

Derek starred at Kalamazoo Central High School and in his junior season batted .557 with seven home runs and 34 RBIs. When not on the diamond, he participated in cross-country and basketball. He was named honorable mention to the all-conference basketball team in his junior year. Before his senior year, he won a full scholarship to the University of Michigan to play for coach Bill Freehan, who, in his 15 years as a catcher with the Detroit Tigers, had been named to 11 All-Star teams and been awarded five Gold Gloves. As he began his final year of high-school play, Jeter, who had been named a “Super-25 Player” by USA Today, was attracting scouts from most major-league teams. As April turned into May, he was batting .643 and was the top prospect in the country. Playing on an icy, muddy infield, he suffered a severe ankle sprain rounding first base in an early-season game and played in pain for the bulk of the season.6 Nevertheless, he finished the season with a .508 average and four home runs in his team’s 24 games. (Three of the four homers came before the ankle injury.) Playing for coach Don Zomer, Jeter was named the top high-school player in the country by Baseball America. Zomer said, “He’s got a gun for an arm. He was timed at 91 miles per hour from shortstop to first. One of the problems was getting a first baseman who could handle his throws. He’s got it all, and I still say he’s a better person than a baseball player.”7

On the eve of the June 1, 1992, draft, it was clear that Jeter would be selected early in the first round. The only question was where. Each team had its own needs, and Jeter’s name was not called by the first five selecting teams, each of which selected a college player. The Yankees, after their third consecutive losing season (71-91) in 1991, had the sixth pick. It was a no-brainer. On the recommendation of scout Dick Groch, the Yankees offered Jeter $800,000 to sign and take a road that would see him playing at Yankee Stadium during the 1995 season.

Jeter, after signing on June 28, 1992, did not get off to the best of starts in the minor leagues. He began with the Yankees’ entry in the Gulf Coast League. Errors in the field and frustrations at the plate led him to question whether he had made the right decision in forgoing the scholarship at Michigan. The Rookie League season was two weeks old when he first saw action, on July 2.8 He was hitless in his first 14 at-bats. As the summer wore on, Jeter, under the tutelage of manager Gary Denbo, began to find his stroke at the plate and finished with a .202 batting average. Playing in 47 games, he led his team in doubles (10), homers (3), and RBIs (25). The Yankees were encouraged and sent him to Greensboro in the Class-A Sally League, where he played in 11 games and began his long association with Greensboro teammates Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada.

After the season, Jeter attended the University of Michigan for the fall semester. It was his goal to get a college education but he would not return to school after that first semester.

Jeter played the full season at Greensboro in 1993 and it appeared that the Yankees’ investment would harvest the anticipated dividend. He batted a team-leading .295 and his 30 extra-base hits were punctuated by a team-best 11 triples. Mariano Rivera was a teammate for the first time. Jeter got a taste of postseason play as the Greensboro Hornets advanced to the best-of-five league championship round, losing to Savannah in five games. During the season, Jeter’s fielding was not on a par with his hitting. He made 56 errors, and there were those in the organization who felt his future was not at the shortstop position. In The Life You Imagine, Jeter said, “I was the king of robbing a player of a potential hit and whipping it past first so the hitter wound up on second.”9 Despite his fielding lapses, he was named to the All-League team at shortstop.

The 1994 season was all the dreams of youth wrapped up in a miracle ride that took Jeter from Single-A Tampa to Double-A Albany-Colonie to Triple-A Columbus on a whirlwind tour. With each team, he batted well over .300 — his combined average was .344 with 43 extra-base hits and 50 stolen bases. By the time the dust had settled, Jeter was named minor-league player of the year.

Jeter’s road to the big leagues appeared to be without impediment, However, the Yankees acquired shortstop Tony Fernandez from Toronto before the 1995 season and after being out of post-season play since 1981 were on a path to return to the playoffs. In 1995, the postseason had been expanded to include a wild-card team in each league. How would all this affect Jeter’s dream?

Injuries to middle infielders Fernandez and Pat Kelly forced the Yankees to make a move and they called up Jeter from Triple-A Columbus. He played in his first game on May 29, 1995, at Seattle. Batting ninth, he went 0-for-5, but he found the range a day later, going 2-for-3. In the fifth inning, with the Yankees trailing 2-0, he led off with a single against Tim Belcher and scored on a double by Jim Leyritz double. Leading off the seventh inning, Jeter singled again and scored on a single by Paul O’Neill. Seattle won, 7-3, but Jeter had his first taste of contributing to the team. On June 2, 1995, for the first time, he stepped to the plate at Yankee Stadium and received the ever-familiar introduction, “Batting for the Yankees, Number 2, Derek Jeter, Number 2.” The sound was that of the legendary Bob Sheppard, but on that day, in that first at-bat, Jerry Seinfeld, doing an impression of Shepard, did the honors. Henceforth, it would be Shepard at the microphone. Once the injured players returned, Jeter and his .234 batting average (11-for-47 with 11 strikeouts) returned to Columbus. With the Clippers, he posted a .317 batting average with 38 extra-base hits in 123 games. He rejoined the Yankees for the stretch run but played in only two games, getting a double in his only at-bat. He was not named to the postseason roster.

Just before the start of the 1996 season, despite his being a top prospect, Jeter’s status with the Yankees was uncertain. That is until Gene Michael, one of owner George Steinbrenner’s most trusted aides, came out in support of Jeter. Jeter was the Opening Day shortstop in 1996 and would be the Opening Day and everyday shortstop for the next 17 seasons.

On April 2, 1996, the Yankees not only had a new shortstop, they had a new manager as well. Joe Torre had taken over from Buck Showalter. Yankee Stadium had seen great players over the three-quarters of a century before Jeter took to the field and many uniform numbers had been retired. The only single-digit uniform numbers left were Jeter’s number 2 and Torre’s 6. A little more than two decades later, those numbers were also affixed to the wall in New York’s Monument Park.

Opening Day at Cleveland proved to be a harbinger of things to come. Batting against Dennis Martinez, Jeter led off the fifth inning with a home run to left field to extend the Yankees’ lead to 2-0. The score was still 2-0 when Cleveland batted in the bottom of the seventh inning. With a runner on second and two outs, Omar Vizquel lifted a short fly ball over the infield and Jeter chased after it into short center field, making the grab to keep Cleveland off the scoreboard. With his bat and his glove and his flair for the dramatic Derek Jeter was well on his way to becoming the Yankees’ marquee player.

Teammate Paul O’Neill said, “I remember saying — actually a lot of us saying — Derek was the best all-around player we ever played with. From day one, that day in Cleveland, you knew that Derek was to become this great player. The confidence he had. There’s just so many ways he helps you win a game.”10

Although the Yankees won their division in 1996, there were some tense moments. With George Steinbrenner as the owner, there seemed to always be anxious moments. The Yankees went into first place to stay on April 28 and three months later had a commanding 12-game lead in the American League East. As August came to a close, the lead had shrunk to four games. Jeter took a batting average of .306 into September and fashioned a 17-game hitting streak from September 7 through 25 during which he batted .412 with 22 runs scored and 13 RBIs. Jeter sat out the second game of a doubleheader on September 25 after the Yankees clinched the division crown in the opener with Jeter’s second-inning double plating two runners in the midst of a 10-run uprising that led to a 19-2 win over Milwaukee. Four days earlier, in one of the iconic moments that would dot his career, Jeter had, with the bases loaded, delivered a 10th-inning game-winning single, his third hit of the game, against the Red Sox, prompting him to say, “When the games mean more, it’s a lot easier to play.”11

That month the Yankees swept a three-game series in Detroit, with Jeter going 6-for-13 with a triple and three RBIs. Before the series, he shared a pizza with his dad and talked about life. Derek told his father that he wanted to start a foundation to give something back to the community, much as his hero, Dave Winfield, had done. On February 7, 1997, the Turn-2 Foundation was born and was dedicated to fighting drug abuse through working with at-risk teens. It has flourished in the years since, raising upwards of $11 million.12

In the Division Series against Texas, Jeter, after going hitless in Game One, posted a .412 average for the series (7-for-17) with key hits in each of the Yankees’ three wins. It was then on to the League Championship Series against Baltimore where Jeter and a young boy, with one out in the eighth inning of the first game, would become part of baseball lore. The Yankees were trailing 4-3 and Jeter came to the plate against Armando Benitez. Facing the hard-throwing Benitez, Jeter used the inside-out swing that he had perfected and hit a fly ball to the opposite field and the familiar short porch. Baltimore right fielder Tony Tarasco went back to the wall and reached up to corral Jeter’s fly ball, but the flight of the ball was interrupted by a young spectator. Reaching over the wall with his gloved hand was 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier. The ball bounded off Maier’s glove and went into the seats. First-base umpire Rich Garcia ruled that Jeter had his first postseason home run, and was besieged by protesting Orioles. The game was tied and went into extra innings. Bernie Williams’s 11th-inning homer gave the Yankees a one-game lead in the series. Maier was an instant celebrity.

Jeter batted .417 in the LCS and fielded Cal Ripken Jr.’s grounder for the final out of the five-game series as the Yankees advanced to the World Series against the National League champion Atlanta Braves, who were looking to win their second straight World Series. Jeter would play most of the Series in pain after he was hit in Game Two by a Greg Maddux pitch as the Braves took a 2-0 lead. In Game Three, won by the Yankees, Jeter didn’t get the ball out of the infield safely, but made his presence felt nonetheless. A first-inning sacrifice set up the Yankees’ first run and a seventh-inning infield single ignited a three-run rally that gave the Yankees a 5-1 lead. In Game Four, after the Braves had taken a 6-0 lead, the Yankees fought back. Jeter’s leadoff single to short right field in the seventh inning ignited a rally that cut the lead to 6-3. The game went into extra innings and, in the 10th inning a walk, an infield hit by Jeter, and another walk filled the bases with two out. The Yanks scored twice in the inning, won the game and evened the Series. New York won Game Five in Atlanta and returned to the Bronx to wrap up the Series. In Game Six, Jeter’s single plated Joe Girardi with the first of three third-inning runs and the Yankees went on to clinch the Series with a 3-2 win.

After his rookie season, there were questions as to whether Jeter could repeat his 1996 performance and go on to the great career that some thought was a guarantee. Jeter kept things in perspective when he was presented with the Rookie of the Year Award: “Baseball is a real humbling sport. You are on top one day and the bottom the next. I’ll enjoy this (rookie award) now, but you don’t have to worry about me getting a big head.”13

Over the next 18 seasons, Jeter’s career would be marked by iconic performances on iconic teams on the biggest of stages. Five times his team won the World Series. His face would become as recognizable as that of any Yankee legend, any United States president, any Oscar-winning movie star, any other star athlete in any sport. His off-the-field endorsements and appearances on television (his first Seinfeld appearance came shortly after the 1996 season) and in movies made him wealthy beyond the dreams that marked his youth in Michigan. A unique accolade for Jeter came shortly after the World Series when he appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman and was called “Dr. Hardball” by the host.

In 1997, the Yankees returned to postseason play for the third consecutive year, this time as a wild card, but were eliminated by Cleveland in the Division Series. The season was filled with frustration as Jeter’s average dropped to .291, its lowest in any season between 1996 and 2009.

Second place was never good enough for either Derek Jeter or owner George Steinbrenner and there was a new determination in 1998. There were also new faces as second baseman Chuck Knoblauch and third baseman Scott Brosius flanked Jeter in the Yankee infield. And after the team lost four of its first five games, the ever-volatile Steinbrenner was ready to pounce. However, the team quickly turned things around and surged to a 114-48 record, the best in the history of the franchise. Jeter rebounded to bat .324 with 19 home runs and 84 RBIs. He was named to his first All-Star team and finished third in the MVP balloting.

And the young Jeter, only 24 years old, became the acknowledged team leader. Pitcher David Cone said, “He was more of a leader than anyone knew. We had a relentless nature where nobody gave away an at-bat no matter what the score was, and that’s who Derek was.”14 Jeter’s life off the field was guarded, but when he began dating superstar singer Mariah Carey, four years his senior, on whom he had had a crush since high school, it was hard for Jeter to avoid the 24-hour-a-day limelight. Their relationship ended during the course of the 1998 season.

The Yankees raced through the postseason in 1998, sweeping the Texas Rangers and eliminating the Cleveland Indians in six games before sweeping the San Diego Padres in the World Series, in which Jeter batted .353.

The Yankees continued their winning ways in 1999 and 2000. In 1999 they faced several challenges, not the least of which was an early-season bout with cancer by manager Joe Torre. But they prevailed, winning the AL East by four games. Jeter had 219 hits to lead the American League and posted a career-high .349 batting average. He also had career highs in homers (24) and RBIs (102). Once again. the postseason went by in a blur. The Yankees swept the Rangers for the second consecutive season and went on to face the Red Sox in the LCS. They thwarted Boston’s hopes of returning to the World Series for the first time since 1986 by eliminating the Red Sox in five games. Jeter was the picture of consistency, batting .455 against the Rangers and .350 against Boston. Against the Braves in the World Series, the Yankees had their second sweep in as many years as Jeter batted .353 in the four games.

The 2000 season saw the Yankees win their fourth World Series in five seasons. Jeter was elected to start the All-Star Game at shortstop for the first time in a league that seemed to have more premier shortstops than Santa had reindeer. He was named the game’s MVP, going 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. He eclipsed the 200-hit mark (with 201) for the third time in as many seasons. The Yankees won their third of nine consecutive division titles. In the postseason, they bested Oakland in five games and Seattle in six games to advance to the World Series against their crosstown rivals. The New York Mets were in the World Series for the first time since 1986. Jeter batted .409 in the Series. The Yankees won the first two games, marking 14 consecutive World Series games won by manager Torre. After the Mets won Game Three, Jeter took care of matters in Game Four. His leadoff homer gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead and he tripled and scored in his second at-bat to make it 3-0. The Yankees won the game, 3-2. In the fifth and final game, Jeter tied the contest with his second homer of the Series as the Yankees went on to win 4-2 and clinch the championship. Jeter was selected the MVP of the Series, becoming the first player to be named All-Star Game and World Series MVP in the same season.

In 2001 Jeter was once again named to the All-Star team and, after entering the game as a defensive replacement in the top of the sixth inning, led off the home half of the inning with a homer that gave the American League a 3-1 lead in a game they went on to win 4-1. The Yankees once again won the AL East with Jeter batting .311. He also joined the 20/20 club for the first time, stealing 27 bases and hitting 21 home runs. But the early 2001 season was one of challenge for the Jeter family as his sister Sharlee was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease. She had been diagnosed in late 2000 and underwent six months of chemotherapy. In May 2001, she was free of the cancer.

The postseason iconic moments for Jeter resumed in 2001. He batted .444 in the LCS against Oakland, but it is not for his bat that he will be remembered. The A’s had won the first two games at Yankee Stadium and the third game was a nail-biter. The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning on a Jorge Posada home run, and the score had not changed when the A’s came up in the seventh inning. With Jeremy Giambi on first base with two out, Terrence Long hit a ball down the right-field line for a double. Yankees right fielder Shane Spencer’s throw-in was way off-line. Jeter, backing up on the play, raced across the infield, grabbed the errant throw and backhanded the ball to catcher Posada, who tagged Giambi as he tried to score from first base standing up. The Yankees held on to win the game and stay alive.

Game Four went to the Yankees, 9-2, and, in the decisive Game Five, the Yankees took a 5-3 lead into the eighth inning. Long came up with a runner on base and hit a foul fly ball in the direction of the third-base stands. Jeter grabbed the ball and went over the short wall into the stands. Four outs later, the Yankees were on their way to the World Series.

Still another iconic moment came in 2001. The Yankees were looking for their fourth consecutive World Series win. They were playing the upstart Arizona Diamondbacks and the mound staff of Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, and little else. Arizona won the first two games easily and Jeter went 0-for-7 over the course of the two games. The Yankees came back to win Game Three by the barest of margins, 2-1, and Jeter contributed a single.

Schilling was back on the mound for Game Four, on Halloween night, October 31. Arizona scored two eighth-inning runs to take a 3-1 lead and Byung-Hyun Kim took over on the mound for Schilling. He struck out the side and the game went to the ninth inning. The Yankees were down to their last out when a two-run homer off the bat of Tino Martinez tied the score. Extra innings dawned, as did the beginning of a new day and month. After Mariano Rivera retired Arizona in order in the top of the 10th inning, Kim recorded two quick outs in the bottom half. Jeter came to the plate. He was 0-for-4 in the game and 1-for-15 in the Series.

After falling behind 0-and-2, Jeter worked the count to 3-and-2 and found a pitch he liked. Early in the at-bat, the scoreboard flashed “Welcome to November Baseball,” and eight pitches into the at-bat, a fan stood up and showed a homemade “Mr. November” sign. As if by design, the ninth pitch was intercepted by Jeter’s inside-out swing and sailed into the right-field seats. The homer, the first walk-off of Jeter’s career, came after midnight and earned him the title Mr. November. The Yankees lost the World Series in seven games, and Jeter batted only .148. Nevertheless, he had carved another notch on the baseball memory tree.

On December 1, he hosted Saturday Night Live. At the beginning of the show, Jeter was interrupted by applause on several occasions, and completed the opening monologue by apparently hitting balls into the audience, injuring the spectators. Of course, it was a staged gag, and the home audience was in on the joke. In a sketch, involving “Yankee Wives,” Jeter, dressed in drag, became a Yankee wife. He made quite a good-looking lady.

In 2002 Jeter and the Yankees once again won their division, this time with a 103-58 record. Jeter’s batting average slipped to .297. In the Division Series against the Angels, although Jeter went 8-for-16 with a pair of homers, the Yankees lost in four games.

The next season, on June 3, 2003, Jeter was officially named the team captain. But his season almost didn’t happen. On Opening Day, he dislocated his shoulder sliding headfirst into third base in the third inning, and missed the next 36 games, returning to the lineup on May 13. Jeter’s batting average was once again above .300 and the shortstop’s career hit total went above 1,500. The Yankees were in their familiar postseason spot, having once again won the AL East. In the playoffs, they ousted the Twins and Red Sox. The Twins had won the opener of the Division Series, but the Yankees came back to win three straight, with Jeter’s ninth-inning homer completing the scoring in the final game.

In the LCS, the teams went to extra innings in the seventh game. Although Jeter did not have a productive series, his bat came alive at the right moment. With one out in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Red Sox in front, 5-2, Jeter stroked a double that ignited a three-run rally and tied the game. Aaron Boone’s leadoff homer in the 11th inning propelled the Yankees to the World Series. The Yankees lost to the Marlins in the World Series, as Jeter’s .346 batting average went for naught. During the season, he appeared on the big screen, playing himself in a brief scene in the film Anger Management.

After the 2003 season, a series of circumstances took place that changed the face of the Yankees. An offseason injury to Aaron Boone created a void at third base and by the time the dust settled, Alex Rodriguez, who had been coveted by the Red Sox to replace Nomar Garciaparra (who was not expected to re-sign with Boston), was with the Yankees. Rodriguez was, along with Jeter, one of the premier shortstops in the league. They had been friendly rivals over the years, as Rodriguez put up power numbers that put him on a collision course with the all-time greats. Over the prior three seasons with the Texas Rangers, he had hit 156 homers and batted .305. He had also won a Gold Glove in 2002 and 2003, an honor that had eluded Jeter. But Jeter was the Yankees shortstop, and Rodriguez moved to third base after joining the Yankees.

If there was a defect in Jeter’s approach to the game, it was in his tendency to swing at pitches early in each at-bat. By not being selective, he was chasing bad pitches and the pitchers were cognizant of this weakness. Cognizant or not, it had not been a big problem for Jeter, who through 2003 had a career batting average of .317 with 1,546 hits. However, in 2004 Jeter got off to a terrible start. At one point, from April 20 through April 28, he went 0-for-32 before homering on April 29. At the end of April, his batting average stood at .168. But he turned things around. He put together a 17-game hitting streak that extended from July 30 through August 17, batted .379 during the stretch drive, and by the end of his season had brought his average to .292.

Once again, it was the Yankees and Red Sox competing for the AL East Championship and, during the season, it was time again for a Jeter iconic moment in perhaps the most thrilling game of the season. The date was July 1, and the Red Sox were visiting Yankee Stadium. The Yankees had won four in a row and were seeking to extend their lead on the second-place Red Sox. Matchups between the teams seldom ended in less than four hours. Before a packed house of 55,265, the Yankees took a 3-0 lead, but the Red Sox came back to tie things up in the seventh. The game went into extra innings and, in the 12th inning, the Red Sox mounted a rally. They had runners on second and third with two out and pinch-hitter Trot Nixon at the plate. The left-hander hit a Tanyon Sturtze pitch in the air down the left-field line. Jeter made a mad dash for the ball which, had it landed safely, would have given the Red Sox a two-run lead. He grabbed the ball crossing the line into foul territory, plunged into the stands and emerged with a bloody nose and the third out of the inning. In the next inning, the Red Sox took the lead on a Manny Ramirez homer, but the Yankees scored two runs in their half of the inning to win the game and extend their first-place lead to 8½ games.

The Yankees finished first in the AL East and advanced to the postseason for Jeter’s ninth consecutive appearance in the playoffs. Jeter led the Yankees past the Twins in the Divisional Series with a .316 batting average. In the League Championship Series, the Yankees won the first three games against the Red Sox, but their leadoff hitter was slumping with only two hits and a stolen base to show for his first 11 at-bats. The Red Sox came off the floor to win the final four games (two in their last at-bat) and Jeter could not muster more than one hit in any of those games. For the series, he batted .200 (6-for-30). At season’s end, there was some consolation for Jeter. His fielding, which had never been perceived by critics as a strong point, was rewarded with the first of five Gold Gloves.

New York’s media put Jeter under a searing spotlight but he held up to the pressure of not only the media but playing for owner George Steinbrenner. The euphoria of four world championships in his first five years with the team had evaporated into frustration in succeeding years. Most of the cast from those early years was gone, and the new players were unable to blend as a cohesive unit. The frustration continued from 2005 through 2008. Although the Yankees reached the playoffs in each year from 2005 through 2007, they were unable to advance to the World Series.

In 2008, for the first time in his career, Jeter did not play in the postseason. In a city impatient with defeat, the headlines were negative. The New York tabloids were quick to stir the pot by focusing on an uneasy peace between Jeter and Rodriguez stemming from negative remarks attributed to A-Rod. In 2009 things turned around. By then, Joe Girardi was in his second season as Yankees manager and Derek Jeter came into the season sitting on 2,535 hits and a career batting average of .316. Not known as a slugger, he had managed to go over the 200 mark in home runs for his career. For most mortals, these were borderline Hall of Fame numbers but that was all secondary. With the Yankees and Jeter, it was all about winning the World Series, and the failure to win since 2000 was gnawing at the Yankee captain.

The unfinished business of one more championship was resolved in 2009. Jeter batted .334, and was selected to start at shortstop in the All-Star Game. He batted .407 (including 3-for-5 with a double in Game Six) in the World Series, as the Yankees defeated Philadelphia in six games for their 27th championship. He was named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year. He also appeared in the forgettable action adventure film A Trivial Exclusion.

In 2010 Jeter set the all-time Yankees hit mark, passing Lou Gehrig with hit number 2,722. He returned to the silver screen, appearing as himself in the police comedy The Other Guys, where he was inadvertently shot in an early scene by actor Mark Wahlberg, who co-starred in the film with Will Ferrell. A scene toward the end of the film with Jeter appearing destitute after his shooting was deleted from the theatrical release. However, the picture of Jeter appearing as a bum made its way to the New York tabloids. Baseball fans were quick to observe that the Police Captain in the film, portrayed by Michael Keaton, was named Gene Mauch. Baseball’s Gene Mauch had managed the Angels and Ferrell was an Angels fan.

July 9, 2011, was a very special day for Jeter. He had been chasing the 3,000-hit mark and suffered an injury in mid-June, missing 18 games stuck on hit number 2,994. He returned to action on July 4 at Cleveland. Going into the game against the Tampa Bay Rays on July 9 at Yankee Stadium, he still needed two hits to become the first Yankee to get 3,000 hits. He went 5-for-5 and his 3,000th hit was a homer on a 3-and-2 count to tie the game. Later in the game, hit number 3,003 was an RBI single that gave the Yanks a 5-4 win. During the weeks leading up to this milestone, HBO cameras followed Jeter from injury to rehab to his glorious day in a documentary, Jeter — 3K. Cameras were rolling as he returned to Tampa to train at the Yankee facility and they followed him through a two-game rehab stint with the Double-A Trenton Thunder. He revealed more of himself in the documentary than he had in thousands of newspaper and magazine interviews over the years.

There was one more great season left for Jeter. In 2012, he batted a team-leading .316 with a league-leading 216 hits as the Yankees advanced to the postseason for the 17th time in Jeter’s 18 years with the team. But this time the iconic moment would not be accompanied by cheers, but with an eerie silence. In the Division Series against Baltimore, Jeter batted .364 and had a team-leading eight hits as the Yankees eliminated the Orioles in five games. The first game of the League Championship Series against Detroit saw its share of thrills. The Yankees, down 4-0, had tied the game in the bottom of the ninth thanks to homers by Ichiro Suzuki and Raul Ibanez. In the top of the 12th inning, Detroit had pushed a run across and had a runner on second base. Jhonny Peralta sent a groundball to the left side. A diving Jeter gloved the ball but could do nothing with it. That Detroit now had runners at the corners was irrelevant as Jeter lay motionless on the ground.15 He had suffered a broken ankle that would effectively end his productive career.

The Yankees failed to make the playoffs in each of Jeter’s last two seasons. He missed much of the 2013 season, playing in only 17 games and batting .190. Before the 2014 campaign he announced that he would retire at the end of the season, and he filled seats around the major leagues in his final trip into each city. The accolades were well beyond Jeter’s productivity; he batted only .256. But Jeter’s last game at Yankee Stadium was something special. On September 25, it came down to the ninth inning. Against the Orioles, the score was tied 5-5 and there was a runner on second base. Before Bob Sheppard had passed away in 2010, he had recorded the introduction which was used at each of Jeter’s at-bats through 2014. So, one last time, the crowd heard the intonation of Sheppard, the Voice of God since 1951, saying, “Now Batting for the Yankees, Number Two: Derek Jeter, Number Two.” And one last time, Jeter brought the crowd to its feet, singling home the winning run in his last at-bat at Yankee Stadium.

Two games later, it was all over. Twenty seasons, 3,465 hits, 260 home runs, 1,311 RBIs, five world championships, and 14 All-Star Games. Although he never was named league MVP, he finished in the top 10 eight times, and every part of his early-childhood dream was fulfilled.

Although often seen in the company of starlets, Jeter managed to keep his life away from baseball quite private. Fewer than 100 people were in attendance when he married model Hannah Davis, a native of the US Virgin Islands, on July 9, 2016 (the fifth anniversary of his 3,000th hit) in California’s Napa Valley. Their courtship had begun in 2012.

In early 2016 Jeter appeared in the baseball documentary Fastball, in which he discussed what it was like to go up against the hardest throwers in the game. Many hard throwers were featured in the film, including Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, and Nolan Ryan. In September 2016 Jeter was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame. The Yankees retired his number 2 on May 14, 2017. It was Mother’s Day, a fitting time for Derek to be with the four most important women in his life — his grandmother, his mom, hi sister, and his wife. The tributes were many, from contemporaries to former teammates. Perhaps the most fitting came from Bryce Harper who saw Jeter as not only the captain of the Yankees, but a captain for all baseball. Four months later, on August 17, Derek and Jeter welcomed their first child, Bella Raine Jeter.

On October 2, 2017, a group including Jeter and principal owner Bruce Sherman purchased the Miami Marlins from Jeffrey Loria. Jeter was named to oversee baseball operations as CEO.

On January 21, 2020, it was announced that Jeter had been elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame. His name was checked on all but one ballot submitted by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Jeter’s 99.7 percent of the vote was the second highest in history.

Last revised: January 21, 2020

This biography originally appeared in “From Spring Training to Screen Test: Baseball Players Turned Actors“ (SABR, 2018), edited by Rob Edelman and Bill Nowlin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used the Derek Jeter file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Baseball-Reference.com, and the following:

Appel, Marty. Pinstripe Empire (New York: Bloomsbury, 2012).

Thornley, Stew. Derek Jeter; Daring to Dream (Berkeley Heights, New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, 2004).

Notes

1 Ira Berkow, Summers in the Bronx (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2009), 23.

2 Curt Smith, What Baseball Means to Me: A Celebration of Our National Pastime (New York: Warner Books, 2002), 123-124.

3 Alan Schwartz, Once Upon a Game: Baseball’s Greatest Memories (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2007), 77.

4 Bob McCullough, My Greatest Days in Baseball: 1946-1997 (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1998), 116.

5 Mike McCabe, “Kalamazoo’s Jeter a Lock for Round 1,” Detroit Free Press, May 27, 1992: 6D.

6 Kimberley Gatto, Derek Jeter: A Baseball Star Who Cares (Berkeley Heights, New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, 2014), 17.

7 McCabe.

8 Ian O’Connor. The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter (New York: Houghton-Mifflin, 2011), 45. Baseball-Reference.com reports that Jeter signed on June 27.

9 Derek Jeter with Jack Curry, The Life You Imagine (New York: Crown Publishers, 2000), 35.

10 Bill Madden, Pride of October: What It Was to Be Young and a Yankee (New York: Warner Books, 2003), 415-416.

11 O’Connor, 96.

12 Jeter with Curry, 198, 203.

13 Joel Sherman, New York Post, November 5, 1996.

14 O’Connor, 136.

15 David Waldstein, “For Yankees, Thrilling Rally Ends Badly,” New York Times, October 14, 2012.

There has never been a sports icon linked to a city quite like Tony Gwynn is to San Diego. The eight-time batting champion went to college at San Diego State, spent his entire Hall of Fame career with the San Diego Padres then returned to his alma mater to become a collegiate baseball coach for 12 seasons. Gwynn’s link to San Diego made him a larger-than-life icon, but meanwhile, his quiet personality balanced his play on the field, giving the city a home-grown legend who was engrained in the community.

Anthony Keith Gwynn was born May 9, 1960, in Los Angeles, the son of Charles and Vendella Gwynn. Charles was a warehouse manager and Vendella was a postal worker. Tony was the middle child between older brother Charles and younger brother Chris. The family moved to Long Beach when Tony was nine years old. To avoid breaking windows with baseballs, the brothers would use a fig off one of the trees in their yard or a homemade sockball for the ball. Growing up, the Gwynns were Dodger fans and Tony’s favorite player was Willie Davis. But in the back yard, Tony and Chris would pretend to be the Cardinals and Pirates when they played “because they had all the left-handed hitters,” Tony said.1

Tony attended Long Beach Poly High School in Long Beach, California, before attending San Diego State in 1977. He was a multi-sport star in high school and joined the Aztecs as a point guard on the basketball team, where he soon became a star. He was an all-conference player twice in the Western Athletic Conference and is still the only WAC athlete in history to earn all-conference honors in multiple sports. He holds the school record for assists in a game (18), a season (221) and a career (590).  

Gwynn didn’t play baseball until his sophomore year, and he had an immediate impact. He led the team in hitting twice and was a two-time All-American in his three seasons. His junior season, Gwynn batted .423 with six home runs and 29 RBIs. As a senior, Gwynn batted. 416 with 11 home runs and 62 RBIs. Gwynn learned to balance both sports, even when he had to switch gears quickly. One of Gwynn’s legendary feats came during his final season at San Diego State. On Saturday, March 7, 1981, he concluded the basketball season with a 16-point, 16-assist performance at home against New Mexico. Two days later (March 9), he was on the baseball field for a doubleheader against the University of Southern California. In that twin bill, he went 3-for-7 with a double, three runs scored, five RBI, and a stolen base. He recorded game-winning RBIs in both contests.2

Gwynn’s success in both sports attracted plenty of interest from professional scouts in Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association. In 1981, the San Diego Padres drafted him in the third round and the San Diego Clippers of the NBA in the 10th round — both franchises looking to capitalize on having a home-grown star.

Tony Gwynn met his wife Alicia in elementary school. The two dated in high school and attended San Diego State together. Alicia was a member of the track and field team. The couple got married right after the draft, and Tony decided to sign with the Padres. He immediately reported to Walla Walla of the Northwest League. In rookie ball, he batted .331 to earn league MVP honors before being called up to Double A. He spent the final three weeks of the season at Double-A Amarillo, Texas, where he hit .462 over 23 games. He began the 1982 season with the Triple-A Hawaii Islanders of the Pacific Coast League. He was hitting .328 in 93 games there when he got the call to come play with the big boys.

Gwynn made his major-league debut on July 19, 1982, against the Philadelphia Phillies. He went 2-for-4 with one RBI, and went on to appear in 53 more games in 1982 after his July callup. He had 209 plate appearances and batted .289 on the season. Astonishingly, this rookie year would be the only year of his career that he didn’t bat .300. Gwynn was also a part-time player in 1983, hitting .309 in 86 games.

But Gwynn’s fortunes—and those of his team —changed when Gwynn became a full-time player. He made his first of his 15 All-Star Games in 1984 and would also go on to win the first of his eight batting titles with a .351 batting average. He also led the National League in hits with 213. He began to showcase his speed once reaching base, stealing 33 bases. But more importantly, with Gwynn leading the team’s surge, the San Diego Padres made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

And their season wasn’t yet over. The Padres faced the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS in 1984, and Gwynn continued to hit. He batted .368, scoring six runs and driving in three as the Padres erased a 2-0 deficit to win the final three games of the five-game series—yet another chapter in the Cubs’ seemingly endless futile quest for a championship.

Unfortunately for the Friars, despite their thrilling victory over the Cubs, and their first World Series appearance, they had to play the American League monster Detroit Tigers. The Padres were no match for them. Detroit, which had opened the year 35-5 and cruised to the pennant easily dispatched the upstart Padres in five games. The Series featured the first of Kirk Gibson’s pair of famous World Series home runs clinching the final-game win with a blast off of Hall of Fame closer Goose Gossage, who didn’t want to walk Gibson. Gwynn batted .263 in the Series with five hits and one run scored.

The Padres’ right fielder followed up his stellar 1984 season with another strong one in 1985. Gwynn batted .317 with 197 hits and 90 runs scored. It was just a taste of what the rest of the 1980s would look like. Gwynn batted .329 with a league-leading 211 hits and 107 runs in 1986, proving he was an all-around star by winning his first of five Gold Glove awards as the best fielder at his position. He then soared to a .370 mark to win his second batting title in 1987, also leading the league with 218 hits, scoring 119 runs and stealing a career-high 56 bases. It was the first of three consecutive batting titles. In 1988 he won with a .313 average, earning his 1,000th career hit against Nolan Ryan on April 22 in Houston, then followed with a .336 mark in 1989, also leading the NL with 203 hits.

Gwynn was rapidly becoming one of the greatest hitters in the history of baseball. While talent played a big role in his success, Gwynn put in the work to master his craft. “I am a natural hitter, but I have to work hard to keep it.” He did so with countless hours in the batting cages and on the tee, sharpening his hand-eye coordination. But what set Gwynn apart was the way he studied hitting. He became one of the first players to accumulate and watch video of himself and of opposing pitchers during games. He was known to take multiple VCRs on road trips, taping the game on one and taping his at bats on the other, then studying them in his hotel room afterwards.3

Gwynn also perfected the art of hitting the ball the other way, shooting many of his hits between the third baseman and shortstop, something most left-handed hitters don’t regularly do. “One of the reasons I get so many hits that way, is because it’s hard to read the ball off my bat. My hands come through the zone first, and the barrel trails and it kind of hides the ball from the fielder until I’ve already hit it. They don’t see the ball hit the bat. They just see the ball off the bat. By the time they react, they can’t get to it.”4

After three batting titles in a row, Gwynn almost amazingly didn’t win another for four years. He still managed to average .324 with an OPS+ of 124 from 1990-93, the year he collected his 2,000th career hit at home off of Colorado’s Bruce Ruffin on August 6.

Then came 1994, when amidst Gwynn’s best season yet a labor strike by the Major League Players Union heartbreakingly ended the season prematurely. Gwynn had been flirting with the .400 mark for much of the season and would have been the first player since Ted Williams, before the US entered World War II, to bat .400 had he maintained his torrid pace. When the strike occurred he was hitting .394 with a league-leading 165 hits in 110 games. Gwynn of course was disappointed. “When you go through it in a strike year and they finally pulled the plug on the season,” he said, “you get kicked to the curb like everyone else. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wanted to make a crack at .400.”5

When after a rocky spring between players and owners big league baseball finally resumed in a slightly truncated 1995 season, Gwynn resumed his batting title monopoly for the next four consecutive seasons. He followed up his .394 in 1994 with similarly potent marks of .368, .353 and .372 in 1997, along with a career-high 119 RBIs and 220 hits, this last also leading the NL. In 1996, the Padres returned the playoffs, but lost the NLDS to the St. Louis Cardinals in in three games. Gwynne had a decent series—.308/.385/.692—but it wasn’t the Padres’ year.

That would come in 1998, even though for the first time he betrayed his age. The conventional performance measurements, .321/.364/.501 with an OPS+ of 133 were solid. But his WAR slipped to 1.5 from 4.3 the previous year. It was still one of the most special seasons for Gwynn. He batted .321, ninth highest in the NL, and led the Padres to the National League West division title and a spot for the franchise in the playoffs for the third time.

San Diego defeated Houston in four games in the NLDS (Gwynn sparked the Padres scoring the first run of the series after a hit) then knocked off the Atlanta Braves in six games to win the pennant and give Gwynn (who batted .200 in the Houston series and .231 against the Braves, but had two hits in the pennant-clinching game) and the Padres a second chance at a World Series title. But again, the Padres faced a juggernaut. The 1998 New York Yankees, one the greatest baseball teams ever, were in the midst of a 13-year stretch of straight playoff appearances that included four World Series Championships, and had no problem sweeping the Padres in the series. Despite winning in four games, the Yankees did have a problem getting Gwynn out. The crafty veteran batted .500 for the series with eight hits in 16 at-bats. He hit the only postseason home run of his career, drove in three runs, and scored twice. For many fans who missed Gwynn’s first Fall Classic 14 years before, 1998 showcased the incredible abilities of a mostly unsung future Hall of Famer at Yankee Stadium and in front of record television audiences.

Gwynn’s World Series finale was also the last real good-bye for him on the national stage. He would never play a full season again, playing 111 games in 1999, the season in which he passed the 3,000-career hit plateau. He got that seminal hit on August 6, 1999, at Montreal: a first-inning single to right-center off Dan Smith. First-base umpire Kerwin Danley had been one of Gwynn’s college teammates, which added to the special moment. Gwynn was the third-fastest player to reach 3,000 or more hits in both games played (2,284, behind only Tris Speaker and Stan Musial) and at-bats (8,874, behind only Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie). 

As his career wound down, Gwynn played just 36 games in 2000 and 71 the following season because of several injuries. He and fellow legend Cal Ripken Jr., who would both be retiring at the end of the season, were honored at the 2001 All-Star Game. Both had played their entire careers with one team, and both would be first-ballot Hall of Famers five years later.

The Hall of Fame was all but automatic for a 15-time All-Star, who was an NL starter in the Summer Classic a record 11 times, an eight-time batting champion—tying the NL record with Honus Wagner—and finished his career with a stunning slash line of .338/.388/.458 and an OPS+ of 132. In 2007 he was easily elected to the Hall of Fame on his first try with 97.6 percent of the vote by the BBWAA. Gwynne’s was the eighth-highest voting percentage in Hall of Fame history.

The Hall of Fame was just the latest in a growing collection Gwynne was accumulating. In 1995, he was presented the Branch Rickey Award given to the top community activist in MLB as well as the inaugural Chairman’s Award, given to the San Diego Padre who best exemplifies community spirit. He was inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame in Boise, Idaho, in 1999.

Right after his retirement from major-league baseball, Gwynn became the head baseball coach at his alma mater, joining San Diego State in September of 2001, officially taking over the program for the 2002 season. He was named the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year in his second season after leading the Aztecs to the league’s regular-season title in 2004. In 2009, Gwynn led the Aztecs to a 43-21 record and its first trip to the NCAA regionals since 1991. In 2013, San Diego State returned to the NCAA regionals. Gwynn’s coaching record was an even 363-363, and he developed future major leaguers like Stephen Strasburg and Justin Masterson.

Gwynn continued his devotion to community service in his hometown area after retirement from baseball. With his wife, Alicia, he established the Tony Gwynn Foundation to help fund many worthy organizations supporting children in need such as the Casa de Amparo, Neighborhood House, YMCA, and the Police Athletic League. For 14 years, he hosted the annual Tony Gwynn Celebrity Golf Classic to raise money for the foundation.6

Tony and Alicia had two children, Tony Gwynn Jr., who also played at San Diego State and then made it to the majors, and Anisha Nicole, who is a recording artist. Tony’s brother Chris was also an All-American at San Diego State, playing for the 1984 U.S. Olympic team before joining his brother in the big leagues.

It was while he was coaching at San Diego State that health problems began cropping up for Gwynn, who at one point weighed more than 300 pounds. He had a tumor in his neck removed for the third time in 12 years in 2000. But the biggest issue stemmed from his career-long use of chewing tobacco. He was finally able to quit, but it was extremely difficult—and too late. The addiction took a toll on him as much as the effects. “I miss it every day,” Gwynn said in 2011. “I screwed up. I made my mistakes. “I’m living with them. I was pretty messed up and I didn’t even know it.”7

After having two benign tumors removed, the third one turned out to be cancerous. “I just thought it was going to come back benign,” Gwynn said. “And when it [didn’t] your life kind of stops that day when he tells you that he found some cancer. I guess I wasn’t surprised, but I was still stunned.” Gwynn underwent radiation and chemotherapy for months for salivary gland cancer, and after years of treatment, he succumbed to the disease on June 16, 2014, at age 54.

Today an outsized statue of Gwynn, the “San Diego Legend,” overlooks right field at Petco Park in the city. Gwynn’s legacy was honored in two different ways at the 2016 All-Star Game, which was played there.

The first happened the day before the game when Chicago White Sox pitcher Chris Sale was selected as the American League starter. Sale talked about his own history with chewing tobacco and the impact Tony Gwynn’s death had on him during a news conference: “He actually made a very big impact in my life. I chewed tobacco from 2007 until the day he passed away, I remember seeing that and just being so shocked. He was a larger-than-life person. He was an inspiration to the game for many, many people for a lot of different reasons. But I quit that day,” Sale continued, “and I haven’t touched it since. In a sense, I owe him a huge thank you for not only myself but for my family and, you know, hopefully I can maybe sway somebody in the right direction as well like he did for me.”8

The other came just before the All-Star Game when Major League Baseball announced that the National League batting crown would be named after Gwynn. His wife Alicia and his children were on hand to accept the honor. “Tony is considered one of the greatest hitters in the history of the National League and there is no better place to honor him than in San Diego,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a news conference following the presentation.9 The entire crowd at Petco Park erupted into “To-ny, To-ny!” chants that moved many, including members of the Gwynn family, to tears.

Few players have ever received that sort of reaction, ovation, and emotion after their death. But few players have ever engrained themselves so much into a community, a team, and a sport like Tony Gwynn.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame player file on Tony Gwynn.

Notes

1 “Tony Gwynn 19,” http://www.goaztecs.com/sports/mbasebl/mtt/tony_gwynn_94674.html, accessed September 22, 2016.

2 Ibid.

3 Jill Lieber, “Gwynns Create A Terrific Team,” USA Today, October 16, 1998,

4 Samantha Stevenson, “Tony Gwynn: A Portrait of the Scientist in the Batter’s Box,” New York Times, June 17, 1991.

5 Mark Newman and John Rawlings, “Man to Man,” The Sporting News, July 28, 1997.

6 “Tony Gwynn 19.”

7 Barry Bloom, “Gwynn taking fight with cancer a day at a time,” April 4, 2011, MLB.com.

8 Associated Press, “Chris Sale Says Tony Gwynn’s Death Caused Him to Quit Chewing Tobacco,” Denver Post, July 11, 2016. https://www.denverpost.com/2016/07/11/sale-says-gwynns-death-caused-him-to-quit-chewing-tobacco/, accessed July 30, 2018.

9 Scott Boeck, “MLB Batting Titles Named After Tony Gwynn, Rod Carew, USA Today, July 12, 2016, https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2016/07/12/mlb-batting-titles-named-after-tony-gwynn-rod-carew/87013594/ accessed July 30, 2018.

Trying to stretch that base hit into a double and getting thrown out at second also made him the first player to reach 3,000 hits on a play on which he was retired.1 Then, as if to make amends for that dubious distinction, Biggio sparked a two-out rally in the bottom of the 11th inning by beating out his grounder to shortstop for his fifth hit of the game. Three batters later, with the bases loaded with Astros, Carlos Lee gave Biggio’s historic night a storybook ending when he hit a grand slam home run for an 8-5 Astros victory.

The hustle Biggio exhibited that night, at the age of 41, was the trademark of a career that put him in elite company among MLB’s all-time hitting leaders, among whom he ranks 21st in hits, 15th in runs and 5th in doubles, his 668 being the most ever by a right-handed batter. He is the only player in major-league history to amass more than 3,000 hits, 600 doubles, 250 home runs, and 400 stolen bases. Looking back on his career, he recalled, “I tried to play the game hard and play the game right every single day. I remember where I came from. I remember how hard it was to get to the big leagues. And I try to go out there and play every game like it was going to be my last game.”2

One experience that compelled Biggio to play each game as though it were his last was being knocked unconscious by a lightning strike that killed one of his teammates in a 1984 summer league game. Shortly thereafter, Biggio left for Seton Hall where, he later said, “I went in as a kid and I came out as a man.”3 Throughout his career, he also remembered his father’s teaching that he should finish what he started. As a result, in an era when players routinely switched teams to maximize their salaries, he opted to spend his entire career with the Astros for less money than he could have earned elsewhere. All of the people and events that marked where Biggio came from molded him into the player who, on January 6, 2015, learned that he was going into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, having received votes on 82.7% of the ballots cast in his third year of eligibility.

Craig Alan Biggio was born on December 14, 1965 in Smithtown, New York, the third child of Gordon Lee and Johnna Biggio. Growing up in Kings Park, Long Island provided Biggio with fond memories of activities like delivering newspapers and practicing baseball with his dad. In spite of the long hours that Gordon worked as an air-traffic controller, he made time to teach Craig his old high-school position of catcher because he believed it was the easiest way for a player to make it to the major leagues. Biggio confessed, “I liked catching because I wanted to control the game,”4 and New York Yankees catcher Thurman Munson became his childhood idol. In addition to helping his son learn the game of baseball, Gordon also instilled in him valuable life lessons; Biggio asserts, “I’m who I am today because of the respect and values he made sure I had.”5

Biggio demonstrated prowess in both baseball and football in high school. In fact, football was his preferred sport. He was prepared to quit his high school baseball team in the ninth grade, but Gordon Biggio intervened and reminded him, “You finish what you start.”6 Biggio’s father also arranged for his 14-year old son to play on a Connie Mack-league team for 15 to18-year old boys so that he could face tougher competition. In high school, Biggio started out as a catcher, played mostly shortstop during his junior year, and returned to catcher as a senior. He played catcher so well that he finished second in the voting for the Yastrzemski Award, which honored Suffolk County’s best baseball player.

While Biggio honed his skills on the diamond and gridiron, he became impressed by his young neighbor Chris Alben’s struggle against leukemia. Biggio visited Alben often and, when the boy died at the age of eight, he became a surrogate big brother to Chris’s six-year old brother Charlie. Two-sport star Biggio, who had been a dominant running back as a senior and won the Hansen Award as Suffolk County’s best football player, accepted the honor in the name of Chris Alben. His interactions with the Alben children in his teen years contributed to a lifetime role as spokesperson for The Sunshine Kids, a charity dedicated to providing activities and emotional support for kids who are battling cancer.

After high school, Biggio turned down a college-football scholarship offer to play defensive back at Boston University, and he rebuffed the Detroit Tigers’ inquiries as to whether he would sign a contract if they drafted him. Instead, he accepted a partial scholarship to play baseball under head coach Mike Sheppard at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.

Before leaving for college, Biggio played on a summer league team again and filled in at second base for one game. During the game, a storm blew in and lightning hit the playing field, knocking Biggio and his teammates to the ground. Shortstop Adriano Martinez, who was positioned to Biggio’s immediate right and was the lone player wearing metal cleats rather than rubber ones, did not get up again. According to a coach who was present at the game, “The bolt came down and evidently hit the backstop . . . It went under the ground and got him. It killed him.”7 With this experience fresh in his memory, Biggio departed home for Seton Hall.

At Seton Hall, Biggio experienced firsthand the hard-nosed demeanor for which Sheppard was known, but he also appreciated the fact that the coach’s no-nonsense approach was intended for his benefit. Sheppard emphasized respect just as Biggio’s father had done, saying, “If you have respect, you will do the right thing.”8 In addition to giving respect, Biggio earned respect as he transformed himself from a player Sheppard called “the worst defensive catcher I had ever seen”9 into an All-Big East player during his sophomore season.

Biggio was Seton Hall’s captain during his junior season (1987) and again received All-Big East honors. Although he batted .417 for the season, he did not even lead his team in hitting; that honor belonged to teammate Marteese Robinson, who led the NCAA with a .545 batting average that year. Biggio, Robinson, and Maurice (Mo) Vaughn were dubbed the “Hit Men” in a promotional campaign created by one of Seton Hall’s pitchers. Seton Hall was eliminated in the NCAA’s South Regional tournament, but Biggio and his two fellow sluggers became college legends and the subjects of a 2002 book titled The Hit Men and the Kid Who Batted Ninth, which examined their backgrounds, college careers, and early professional careers.

After his junior season, Biggio entered the draft. His professional prospects were now much brighter than they had been in 1984, a fact Biggio later acknowledged as he conceded, “I think if I would have signed out of high school, I wouldn’t have lasted very long.”10 The scouting reports on Biggio projected him as a future major-leaguer. Scout Phil Rossi gave him “added points for [his] ‘hard-nosed’ and aggressive style of play.”11 Before Biggio was even drafted in the first round by the Houston Astros on June 2, 1987– the 22nd overall pick – both Rossi and fellow scout Billy Blitzer foreshadowed the path his career would take by noting his versatility and suggesting that he could play other positions in both the infield and the outfield.

Biggio signed with Houston one week after he was drafted and was assigned to the Asheville Tourists of the Class-A South Atlantic League. He played in 64 games, starting 59 at catcher and batting .375 with 9 home runs, 49 RBIs, and 31 stolen bases. His performance helped Asheville reach the “Sally” League’s championship series, but the team lost in five games to the Myrtle Beach Blue Jays.

In 1988, Biggio was invited to the Astros’ Spring Training camp, where he came under the tutelage of Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra, an Astros coach at the time. Biggio began the season with the Tucson Toros of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, but he was called up by the Astros on June 26, 1988 after an injury to starting catcher Alan Ashby had put the team in the precarious position of having only one available catcher.

In Biggio’s first start, on June 26, he caught Jim Deshaies’ 6-0 shutout of the San Francisco Giants, a game in which he walked once, stole a base, and scored his first run. On July 9, he caught Nolan Ryan’s 100th victory for the Astros, a 6-3 win over the New York Mets. Biggio struggled at the plate, however, and Alex Trevino began to get most of the playing time at catcher. Once Ashby was healthy, Biggio was optioned back to Tucson on August 30, having batted .202 in 36 games. His second stay with the Toros was a short one, though, as he was recalled on September 6 when the Astros expanded their roster. After that, Biggio never played in another minor-league game. The Astros entered a rebuilding phase following the 1988 season and served notice that Biggio was their catcher of the future by releasing longtime starter Ashby on May 11, 1989.

The 1990’s were a watershed time in Biggio’s personal and professional lives. In February 1990, he married his girlfriend Patty Egan, whom he had met while at Seton Hall, and the couple now has three children, sons Conor and Cavan and daughter Quinn. In 1991, Biggio’s progress as a major-league player was rewarded when Cincinnati Reds manager Lou Piniella chose him as an All-Star reserve catcher. The All-Star selection did not keep the Astros from proposing a change prior to the 1992 season – a move from catcher to second base – that soon turned Biggio into a superstar.

The Astros had been contemplating the position switch for a couple of seasons to prolong Biggio’s career and to make better use of his all-around skills. As Astros manager Art Howe explained, “He had great speed but catching wore him down. Bidge was maybe 165 pounds back then. I could picture Dave Parker [6’5” and 230 lbs.] coming home and putting him in the nickel seats somewhere, and I knew how good he could be offensively.”12 The Astros had played Biggio at second base in a late-September series at San Francisco in 1991, but the results had been discouraging. Astros coach Matt Galante remembered that the first grounder hit Biggio’s way went right under his glove, and Galante told Howe, “We’re done. He’ll never do this.”13

Biggio used everyone’s doubts as the motivation he needed to succeed at making the switch to second base, saying, “I wanted to do it because everybody said I couldn’t. I’m stubborn.”14 In spite of his initial doubts, Galante worked with Biggio in the off-season to help him learn his new position. Instead of a glove, Galante had Biggio learn to field grounders by using a circular piece of foam that had pads sewn on for his fingers. Biggio described it as a paddle that was taped to his wrist and said, “I had to stop the ball with the paddle. If you didn’t stop it right in the middle of the paddle, it really hurt. I took about a thousand balls a day with that.”15

Biggio also received help from an unlikely source, Billy Doran. Doran had been the Astros’ starting second baseman from 1983 to 1990 before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds in late 1990 as the Astros began to push for Biggio to move to second base. Doran flew to Houston and spent a weekend working with Biggio at the Astrodome, saying, “Listen, if you’re going to play second base, I’m going to teach you how to play it the right way.”16

Biggio learned well and was picked as an All-Star reserve second baseman in 1992, becoming the first major-league player to be selected as an All-Star at both catcher and second base. Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, the 1991 National League Rookie of the Year, combined to usher in an era of sustained success for the Astros that was unlike any prior period in franchise history. From 1994 to 2006, the team won four division titles and finished in second place eight times; on two of the latter occasions, they captured the wild-card spot, and the 2005 wild-card team won the Astros’ first and only NL pennant. Biggio and Bagwell played together for 15 years and were nicknamed the “Killer B’s,” a group that at different times also included teammates Sean Berry, Derek Bell, and Lance Berkman.

In 1994, Biggio was again an All-Star reserve and won his first of four consecutive Gold Gloves at second base; he gave his 1996 Gold Glove to Galante out of gratitude for helping him to make the successful career transition. After a 1995 season in which Biggio also won his first of four consecutive All-Star elections as the NL’s starting second baseman, he was granted free agency and was pursued by several teams, including the division-rival St. Louis Cardinals. In the end, Biggio signed with the Astros at a “hometown discount” and said, echoing his father’s words, “The thing with me is that I want to finish what we started in Houston . . . I want to show we can win in Houston.”17

Both Biggio and the Astros continued to improve. The team won its first NL Central Division title in 1997, a season in which Biggio banged out 191 hits, stole 47 bases, and scored 146 runs. In addition to those numbers, he managed the remarkable feat of grounding into zero double-plays in 619 official at-bats. Biggio’s best season came in 1998 when he batted .325 with 210 hits, 20 HRs and 88 RBIs, and he became only the second major leaguer ever – along with Hall of Famer Tris Speaker – to have 50 doubles and 50 stolen bases in the same season, recording 51 and 50 respectively. The Astros won three consecutive division titles from 1997-1999, but they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs each year; the only blight on Biggio’s career to this point was his lackluster performance in the postseason.

A new decade in a new century would eventually, although not right away, bring about changes in both circumstances. In 2000, the Astros moved into their new ballpark, Enron Field (now Minute Maid Park), but the success they had enjoyed in their final three years in the Astrodome eluded them as they finished in fourth place with a 72-90 record. Biggio, who struggled to a .268 batting average in 101 games, had his season come to a premature end on August 1 at Miami’s Pro Player Stadium. Florida Marlins center fielder Preston Wilson slid hard into second base to break up a double play, hitting Biggio’s leg and tearing both the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee. It was the only injury in Biggio’s career that caused him to miss any significant amount of playing time, and he vowed to come back strong the next year.

Biggio and the Astros both rebounded in 2001 as the team won its fourth NL Central title in five years with a 93-69 record. Biggio batted .292, registering 180 hits and scoring 118 runs, but the Astros were once again eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Atlanta Braves.

After the Astros finished in second place in 2002, the team aimed to improve its fortunes via a move that also impacted where Biggio would play: They signed free-agent second baseman Jeff Kent, a slugger who had won the 2000 NL MVP Award while playing for the San Francisco Giants. For the second time in his career, Biggio was asked to change positions – this time to center field – only now the switch was made to accommodate Kent rather than Biggio.

Though he was initially caught off guard by the move, Biggio placed team success above his personal desires and began training for his new position. This time, rather than learning how to field grounders or how to make the double-play pivot, Biggio learned outfield positioning and how to read the ball off the bat. At the same time, he prepared himself for the extra demands of center field by “taking four and five-mile runs near his Houston home to build up stamina.”18

The 2003 season was one of adjustments, but greater success came in 2004. After a mid-season managerial change put Phil Garner at the helm, the Astros charged to a 92-70 record and made the playoffs as the NL’s wild-card team. For the first time in franchise history, the Astros won a postseason series when they defeated the Atlanta Braves in five games, and Biggio broke out of his postseason doldrums with a .400 batting average that included eight hits and four RBIs. The Astros faced the Cardinals in the NL Championship Series, and Kent hit a walk-off home run in Game 5 that gave the Astros a 3-to-2 game lead; however, the Cardinals came back to win the NLCS, leaving the Astros one step short of the World Series. Kent left the Astros to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 2004 season, and Biggio returned to second base.

As the 2005 season began, a repeat of the previous year’s postseason exploits appeared unlikely. Kent was gone, Bagwell spent most of the year on the disabled list, and a now 39-year old Biggio batted .264 for the season. In late May, the team had a 15-30 record, and its season was declared dead by a Houston Chronicle article that was accompanied by a drawing of a tombstone; however, a 22-7 July began a run to an 89-73 record and a second consecutive NL wild card playoff appearance.

The Astros again eliminated the Atlanta Braves and, in a reversal of the previous year, defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in six games in the NLCS to earn the franchise’s first trip to the World Series. Biggio continued his late-career postseason upsurge by batting .316 with six hits and six runs against Atlanta and .333 with eight hits against St. Louis. World Series Game 3 – on October 25, 2005 – was the first World Series game to be played in Texas, but the excitement of the moment was fleeting as the Chicago White Sox swept the Astros in four tightly-contested games.

In 2006 spring training, Bagwell realized that the shoulder injury that had caused him to miss most of 2005 now meant the end of his career; he began the season on the disabled list and, after missing the entire year, officially retired in December of that year. Thus, Biggio was separated from the teammate with whose career his own had become inextricably linked. Their run of success had led Minute Maid Park to be referred to as “The House That Biggio and Bagwell Built,” and statues of both players stand outside of the stadium. As for their many years together, Bagwell had said in 2003, “It’s been like a marriage more than anything else. You go through the same emotions.”19 Time had passed, though, and the end of an era neared as Biggio posted a.246 batting average in 2006 and the Astros managed only an 82-80 record.

After 2006, Biggio signed a one-year contract with the Astros which made it evident – though he had not yet made a formal announcement – that 2007 would likely be his final year. He entered the season only 70 hits short of 3,000, and the fans and media focused on his pursuit of that goal.

He was batting only .238 as the Astros began a four-game home series against the Colorado Rockies on June 28, but that night his seventh-inning single for hit number 3,000 was a moment for celebration. As everyone at Minute Maid Park cheered Biggio’s milestone, Biggio pulled Bagwell, who was visiting in the Astros’ dugout in anticipation of this moment, onto the field with him. After the game, Biggio explained: “I wanted him on the field, between the lines, one more time with me, to really let the fans say goodbye. … He deserved it.”20

From the moment of his 3,000th hit onward, Biggio’s remaining time with the Astros appeared to follow a Hollywood script, beginning with the game-winning rally he started in the eleventh inning of that June 28th game. On July 24 Biggio made the official announcement that he would retire after the season, and that evening he hit a game-winning grand slam in a 7-4 victory over the Dodgers. In his penultimate game on September 29, against the Braves, Biggio started at catcher for the first time since October 5, 1991, and caught two innings behind the plate before moving back to second base. Finally, on September 30, after his final game, Biggio took a lap around Minute Maid Park, tipped his cap to the fans, and went home into retirement.

Biggio’s final career numbers included a .281 batting average; 3,060 hits; 1,844 runs; 668 doubles; 291 home runs; 1,175 RBIs, and 414 stolen bases in 2,850 games played. His 53 leadoff home runs are the National League record, and he also holds the modern major-league record for most times hit by a pitch with 285, placing him two behind all-time leader Hughie Jennings who played most of his career in the 19th century.

In addition to his on-field accomplishments, Biggio won the Branch Rickey Award for community service in 1997 and the Roberto Clemente Award, which is given to “the player who best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team,” in 2007. 21 The following season, the Astros honored Biggio by retiring his uniform No. 7 on August 17, 2008.

When he had announced his retirement on July 24, 2007, Biggio had expressed a desire to spend more time with his family. After the head baseball coach at his sons’ school – St. Thomas High School in Houston – departed for another job, Biggio stepped in to coach the team and led it to Texas Class-6A state championships in 2010 and 2011.

At this writing, Conor and Cavan Biggio both attend Notre Dame University and play on the baseball team there, while Craig Biggio has retired from high school coaching. He continues his work with The Sunshine Kids and serves as a special assistant to the Astros’ general manager, in which capacity he assists with player development, scouting, and talent evaluation.

On July 26, 2015, Biggio will become the first player to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame wearing a Houston Astros cap, a circumstance about which he said, “[…] to be able to finally get an Astro guy in there, I take a lot of pride in that.”22

Last revised: July 8, 2015

Sources

Baseballhall.org

Baseball-reference.com

Brown, Bill and Mike Acosta. The Houston Astros: Deep in the Heart (Houston: Bright Sky Press, 2013).

Houston.astros.mlb.com

Houston Chronicle

MLBcommunity.org

Siroty, David. The Hit Men and the Kid Who Batted Ninth (Lanham, Maryland: Diamond Communications, 2002).

Sports Illustrated

Notes