A five-tool threat, Bobby Abreu combined power, speed, and plate discipline across 18 major-league seasons. He finished with over 2,400 hits, 400 stolen bases, and nearly 1,500 walks. (Jerry Coli / Dreamstime)

On August 3, 2019, the Philadelphia Phillies included on their Wall of Fame a Venezuelan who in the United States was known as Bobby, but in his native country called by many “El Comedulce.”1

Bob Kelly Abreu Vásquez was born in Maracay, Aragua state, on March 11, 1974, the second of six children in the family raised with great effort by Nelson Abreu, a worker at the Kraft Heinz food company, and his wife, Águeda Vásquez de Abreu.

Living in a neighborhood called Sorocaima, Bobby began to show his affinity for sports, playing volleyball, soccer, basketball, foosball, and, of course, baseball.

His love for the sport that brought him fame and fortune was born thanks to his father. “He played baseball too. He was left-handed. And he was the one who took us together with my mother, but we followed my dad a lot, because he was good. My mom says that he didn’t want to sign (to professional baseball),” Abreu said. “The people of Maracay know my dad. He was a well-known man in Maracay and in San Carlos de Cojedes, where he was born. He was our idol and he was the person we followed to play baseball.”2

Bobby, along with his older brother Nelson, and younger brother Dennis, were the ones who applied themselves the most in that sport, all of them later signing to play professional baseball. But before they learned how to play the game, they learned a very good education, along with their other siblings, Nielsen, Anaís (who died in 2018), and Amarily.

“We grew up with the fundamentals and foundations of the home, and when I was about 10 or 11 years old, my father suffered an accident,” Abreu recalled. “My older brother was 15, and that’s the age when we’re all rebellious, and my mom had to deal with the six children alone, because my dad was in bed.”3 Despite experiencing very hard times in their adolescence, the Abreu family managed to prevent their children from taking a bad path on the streets of Sorocaima.

“Sometimes there was not enough to eat and we wanted to make enough food for everybody, making arepas.4 Today we laugh at that very beautiful remembrance, because with a little can of deviled ham we filled five arepas,” Abreu said. “My mother is the fundamental pillar in my life, in my career, because she has been there since we had nothing. My dad was my hero, even though he didn’t see me play in the major leagues, and my mom taught us to respect the values of the home, but it was a pretty hard stage, because we lived in a neighborhood where you could take any path, but we always we stood right there.”5

Bobby began to stand out in baseball from a very young age and represented the state of Aragua in several tournaments, before joining the Houston Astros academy, which was led by Andrés Reiner, who years later became a special assistant to the general manager of the organization.

“I got there at the age of 15. Andrés Reiner for me, and for many of my colleagues, was like our father, who guided you, gave you the best advice, ‘dedicate yourself, you have to work hard, you’re never tired, you have to work twice as hard as others to be able to improve,’” Abreu said. “Andrés Reiner, really, was the best thing that has happened to me as a counselor, because apart from signing me as a scout, he was watching you, how your things were going, if you were doing things well or badly. He knew how to talk to you and we really always carry him with us, because he has been an exemplary person for all of us.” Abreu signed with the Astros on August 21, 1990, and traveled to his first spring training, in the United States, in 1991.

“Before I got to the training camps I was scared. The farthest I (had gone) from my house was to San Carlos de Cojedes, two hours from my house, and always with the family. On that occasion (spring training), I had to be alone, without my father or my mother,” Abreu recalled. “I had to go traveling with Roberto Petagine, Raúl Chávez, Henry Centeno, my compadre, may he rest in peace, Argenis Conde, (Jesús) Aristimuño, who was our coach, and I was behind them, because I had never been even in an airplane, nor in an airport. When I (got) to Miami, at immigration, you have to be alone and when the guy started to speak English to me, I wanted to cry. I wanted to go home.”

Despite the fear, Abreu arrived at his first spring training remembering Reiner’s advice.

“I come to spring training, at 17 years old, and you are rubbing shoulders with older people, and you come to see that the baseball that you played as an amateur was not the same as the one that you played as a professional,” he said. “When they start talking to us about fundamentals, I already came with Andrés Reiner’s class, who had to do everything running, jostling, you’re never tired here. They would say that Venezuelans never get tired,” he stressed. “At that time I was supposedly playing shortstop. I would stand there, but I didn’t have those good hands. That’s why they sent me to the outfield.”

One of his early mentors was legendary Dominican outfielder César Cedeño, a four-time All-Star, five-time Gold Glove winner, and a Houston Astros Hall of Famer.

“At that time I was a switch-hitter. I stood right-handed, and César Cedeño saw that I always took BP from the left side. He asked me, ‘How come you hit with both hands and the BP is always left-handed? From now on you are only going to hit left-handed.’… And I ended up hitting left-handed.”

“César Cedeño helped me a lot in hitting. I was taking his advice and I had a good season.”

Abreu played right field throughout his career and was listed as 6 feet tall and 220 pounds.

Abreu debuted with a .301 average in the Gulf Coast League in 1991, and continued to climb the circuit each year, from Class A to Triple A in 1996, also trying to apply what he saw on television from his idols.

“When I began to watch baseball games, I liked Ozzie Guillén a lot, because of the way he played, because he was a great leader and knew how to use his skills. He was not looking to do more than he could do,” he said.

“Also Roberto Alomar. I saw Roberto Alomar a lot, when he went to the World Series with Toronto, also when he was in Baltimore. When I was in the minor leagues, the Baltimore games were on TV a lot and I watched him hit, how he stole the bases, how he played the ball with ease and elegance, with confidence and intelligence, he was always ahead of the plays, and Roberto Alomar was one of the people I admired. The other was Ken Griffey Jr. So I saw those patterns and I wanted to get details from them to continue growing on the game and be like them.”

In 1993, when Abreu was 19, he received one of the hardest blows in his life, the death of his father, Nelson, to whom he wanted to pay a lifetime tribute.

“My dad was called ‘El Comedulce.’ When he passed away, in 1993, I asked the media to call me ‘El Comedulce’ in his honor,” he said.

Abreu not only honored his father with his nickname, but with greater determination in his goal of reaching the major leagues. In 1994 he hit .303 in Double-A and developed more power by hitting 16 home runs and driving in 73 runs.

Little by little he earned his place among the best prospects in the organization and as a more complete player, stealing 24 bases in Triple A in 1996.

“I was looking for my opportunity to reach the major leagues,” he said during spring training. “I think as you go through the minor leagues and start watching the big-league games, you say, ‘Hey, I want to be there.’ More when you go to spring training.”

“The Astros had all four fields and the major-league field next to it.That’s where I want to be,” he recalled. “You have to work hard and you tried harder every day to get to the major leagues.”

The reward for that effort came in the last month of the 1996 season, after Abreu batted.283 with 86 runs scored, 14 doubles, 16 triples, 13 home runs, and 68 RBIs in 132 games in Triple A.

“(Manager) Tim Tolman calls me to his office, and as a baseball player, you don’t want to go to the office. What did I do wrong? Are they going to scold me or are they going to kick me out?” he recalled. “He tells me, ‘Congratulations, because you are going to Pittsburgh.’”

The Astros were finishing a series against the Pirates. “I didn’t believe it. The first thing I did was cry, give (Tolman) a hug and call my mom to say, ‘Mom, you have a major-league son.’”

His big-league debut came at Three Rivers Stadium, where he couldn’t hide his nerves during batting practice.

“I remember that in my first BP I didn’t hit the ball out of the cage. It was pure fly and fly. The nerve hits you,” he said. “In my first at-bat, I was shaking. My legs were shaking. (Manager) Terry Collins tells me, ‘Abreu, you’re going to hit.’ I was so nervous.”

Abreu was called to pinch-hit for reliever Chris Holt in the top of the ninth inning, but he didn’t get to have his first at-bat.

“That first at-bat they had a left-handed pitcher in the bullpen and Mike Simms was the right-handed pinch-hitter. They brought in the lefty (Dan Plesac) and they brought in Simms (as a pinch-hitter). It took me like 13 at-bats to get that first hit.”6

His first hit came in his 11th major-league game, on September 24, 1996, at the Astrodome against the New York Mets. His first victim was Bobby Jones; pinch-hitting in the eighth, Abreu sent a line drive to right field. Afterward, he started three games, getting a hit in each, with his first double and his first RBI coming September 28 against the Florida Marlins.

The next season, 1997, Abreu became the starting right fielder for the Astros and after a slow start in the first two months, in which he averaged .245, an injury took him out of action and he underwent surgery in Houston to remove the hook of the hamate bone in his right wrist.

He returned to the field on July 3, but in a substitute role, so in the middle of the month he went to the minor leagues to get more playing time, returning to the majors in September.

Despite Abreu’s being well regarded within the organization, the Astros did not protect him and he was taken in the November 18, 1998, expansion draft to stock the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks.

“I was playing in Venezuela. My agent, Peter Greenberg, called me and he tells me, ‘Tampa picked you in the draft.’ I was happy, because I was going to have the opportunity to play,” Abreu said. “Two hours later he calls me again. ‘Peter, what happened? Bob, I have other news for you: They traded you to Philly, they traded you for Kevin Stocker, it’s a good trade for you.”

In a matter of minutes he had moved through three organizations, ultimately ending up with the Phillies, whom he joined in the spring of 1998.

“I went to spring training in Clearwater, in ’98, and I had a good season my first year,” recalled Abreu, who was the undisputed starter and hit .312 with 17 home runs, 74 RBIs, and 19 stolen bases, showing signs of a potential that was about to explode.

In Venezuela, in the Winter League, he also displayed that superstar potential and won the batting title with a record .419 average while playing for Leones del Caracas.

“It was very important, because I remember that that year I went to work against lefties, because I was hitting well against righties, but I needed to hit lefties better and use the right midfield and hit home runs toward the opposite field,” he recalled. “In Venezuela, I faced many left-handed pitchers and that allowed me to work on that. Winter ball helped me a lot to work on what I was failing.”

The following season, 2000, Abreu established himself as an undisputed figure for the Phillies by finishing with the third-best batting average in the National League (.335), setting career highs in all offensive categories by finishing with 118 runs scored, 183 hits, 35 doubles, 11 triples (NL leader), 20 home runs, 93 RBIs, and 109 walks, in what was the first of his eight consecutive seasons with 100 or more walks.

“That was a great season. I was fighting for the batting title with Larry Walker and Luis González. I went 20-20 (homers and steals), drove in 93 runs,” Abreu said. “It was a very good year. I was hitting well all year.”

In 2001 Abreu became the first Venezuelan to join the 30-30 club, after finishing with 31 home runs and 36 stolen bases, an achievement he repeated in 2004, when he hit 30 homers and stole 40 bases, the year in which he participated in his first All-Star Game and won the Silver Slugger Award, repaying in a big way the contract the organization gave him in 2002 for five seasons and $64 million.

“That season you wanted to show more of yourself. You had been doing seasons of 40 doubles, you stole 20 to 30 bases, you hit 20 homers, but you wanted more, you wanted to teach more about your game and show all your tools. Hitting, stealing bases, playing defense, taking bases on balls, I tried to get better in all my numbers and be an all-around player.”

Already one of the most complete players in the major leagues, Abreu experienced one of the most exciting moments of his career when he was chosen for his second All-Star Game, in Detroit, where he participated in a memorable Home Run Derby.

“I didn’t expect it, but when they told me, ‘You’re in the Home Run Derby. You are going to represent Venezuela. It was the only one that was made representing countries. You have to understand what it means to represent your country and the weight you have to do things well.”7

Abreu reached the All-Star Game with 18 home runs, but he had no expectations other than putting on a good show for his country.

“They tell me, ‘Bob, you’re the first to hit.’… My legs were shaking, I was nervous, and I was just asking to hit a little home run in Detroit, in a huge stadium, completely packed, and I knew that all of Venezuela was watching me on television.”

“When I took out the first ball I felt a relief. I was already calm. Then, with the pitcher I had, Ramón Henderson, I started hitting home runs and that was crazy.”

Abreu stole the show and hit 24 homers in the first round, breaking the record of 15 set by Miguel Tejada.

“Venezuela was paralyzed watching the Home Run Derby. I was just asking God and my dad to help me hit at least a home run. One came out and I began to break some of Miguel Tejada’s records,” he said.

Abreu hit six home runs in the second round to advance to the final with catcher Iván Rodríguez, whom he dispatched with 11 homers, also a record at that time, surpassing the Puerto Rican’s five, and ended up hoisting the championship trophy with a total of 41 home runs, a record for the event at the time.

“It was a very beautiful moment that I lived, a very special moment,” he commented. “I was living a dream. I woke up from that dream when I got to the hotel. When I turned on the television, ESPN was showing what I did, and I was crying alone in the room.”

In 2006, Abreu entered the next to last year of his contract with Philadelphia, making him one of the most coveted pieces on the trade market that season.

On July 30, 2006, he waived his no-trade clause and accepted a trade to the New York Yankees, where he would have a chance to play in the postseason, something he hadn’t done since 1997 with the Astros.

“I thought I was going to spend my entire career with Philadelphia. That opportunity was given to go to the Yankees, to the Big Apple, Yankee Stadium. … “I had the no-trade clause in my contract and I agreed to go to New York.”

Abreu went to the Yankees along with Cory Lidle in a trade for C.J. Henry, Matt Smith, Jesus Sanchez, and Carlos Monasterios.

He made the most of that big stage and he began to perform. He came from Philadelphia hitting .277 and in 58 games with his new club he hit .330 to help the Yankees capture the AL East championship with a 97-65 record.

In the Division Series, Abreu hit .333 with four RBIs, but he couldn’t stop New York from being eliminated by the Detroit Tigers in four games.

In 2007 he hit .283 with 40 doubles and 101 RBIs to help the Yankees return to the postseason, but again they lost in the Division Series, also in four games, to the Cleveland Indians.

New York took the option of his 2008 contract for $16 million and the Venezuelan responded with a .296 average, 100 runs scored, 39 doubles, 20 home runs, and 100 RBIs, but they did not offer him a new deal and he became a free agent.

“It was a very nice experience playing for the Yankees, because of the city, the organization, that name weighs heavily,” said Abreu. “It was nice to play with ‘The Captain’ (Derek Jeter), with Alex Rodríguez, and I met two people who were my buddies, like Robinson Canó and Melky Cabrera.”

“I thought I was going to re-sign with the Yankees, because I was a free agent. It didn’t happen and I signed with Anaheim,” said Abreu, who reached a deal for one season and $5 million.

Abreu didn’t slow down and for the seventh straight season he finished with at least 100 RBIs (103) and hit .293, helping the Angels win the AL West title.

In 2009 he played in the postseason for the last time and in the Division Series he was 5-for-9 with four runs scored, two doubles and an RBI to be key in the three-game sweep against the Boston Red Sox.

In the American League Championship Series, Abreu had to face his former Yankees teammates, who ended up winning the ALCS and the World Series, both in six games.

“We went to the playoffs, to the league finals to play against the Yankees. We lost that year, when they were champions, and I didn’t have that luck to win a World Series,” Abreu said. “I have been blessed to play alongside great players. Playing with Vladimir (Guerrero) was excellent. There was Maicer Izturis, (Mike) Napoli. I was one of the oldest and we enjoyed a lot.”

After the 2009 season, Abreu signed a two-year, $19 million deal with the Angels, with a $9 million option for 2012 if he had 550 plate appearances in 2011 or a combined 1,200 in 2010-11.

In 2010 he hit 41 doubles and 20 home runs, but for the first time since 1998 he fell short of 100 RBIs, and for the first time since 1997 his batting average dipped below .280; he hit just .253.

In 2011 his performance dipped further as he hit .253 with just 30 doubles, 8 home runs, and 60 RBIs, but he reached 585 plate appearances to exercise the option on his contract.

In 2012 Abreu’s place in the lineup was no longer guaranteed. With Albert Pujols as designated hitter and with Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells covering the outfield corners, Abreu didn’t have a day-to-day game in manager Mike Scioscia’s lineup.

On April 27, after Abreu hit just .208 (5-for-24), with three doubles and five RBIs in eight games, the Angels released him to call up their best prospect, Mike Trout.

“I arrived in 2009 and he started in the major leagues in 2011. I saw him in spring training and he was with us playing up front. He was a very mature person in the game, respectful in the game and respectful as a person. Excellent person,” Abreu said of Trout. “He is a very humble person, who respects everyone, and when I saw him in spring training I knew that when they gave him the opportunity to play he was going to lose sight of them.”

So it was. Trout’s impact was immediate and at the age of 20 he batted .326 and hit 30 home runs, leading the majors in runs scored (129) and stolen bases (49), unanimously taking the AL Rookie of the Year Award, and being second in the voting for the Most Valuable Player Award, removing the unanimity of the winner of the first Triple Crown since 1967, Miguel Cabrera.

Abreu didn’t last long without a job, nor did he have to make a lengthy move, after signing as a free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 4, 2012.

With the Dodgers he also didn’t see regular action and in 92 games he hit .246.

Unable to get a satisfactory contract, Abreu did not play in the majors in 2013; he played winter ball in 2013-2014 with Leones del Caracas, showing that he still had one more cartridge to burn.

In Venezuela, he batted .322/.416/.461, with 10 doubles, 3 triples, 3 home runs, and 28 RBIs in 50 games. In the postseason he batted .441/.533/.932, with 22 runs scored, 5 doubles, 8 home runs, 26 RBIs, and 13 walks in 16 games.

On his way to turning 40, the Philadelphia Phillies granted Abreu a minor-league deal on January 21, 2014, with an invitation to spring training. Abreu was released on March 27 after hitting .244/.404/.366 in 17 games.

On March 31, the New York Mets gave Abreu a minor-league contract. At Triple-A Las Vegas, he hit .360/.473/.507, with 8 doubles, 1 home run and 18 RBIs in 26 games, and the Mets brought him up.

In 78 games with the Mets, Abreu batted .248. He played his last major-league game on September 28, the last day of the regular season, against the Astros, the team that signed him and the one he made his major-league debut in 1996.

“Something curious. … Fate is fate. When I get to the big leagues, I got my first hit against the Mets and my manager was Terry Collins. And I gave my last hit with the Mets, my manager was Terry Collins and I gave it against the Houston Astros,” said Abreu, who played right field that day.

In his first at-bat he grounded out to second base. In the third inning he took a walk, the 1,476th of his career, while in the fifth inning, against Nick Tropeano, he singled to left field, his 2,470th hit to end his career, leaving Citi Field to a standing ovation.

“In baseball the first at-bat and the last at-bat are the most nervous at-bats you have. In that last at-bat I was very anxious and excited, I had to control myself,” Abreu recalled. “After I hit that hit to left field, Terry Collins gives me the sign, ‘What do you want to do?’ I told him, ‘I’m done. I retire here.’ I retired through the big door, with the hit I needed to say goodbye.”

Collins, Abreu’s first and last major-league manager, smiled and replaced him with a pinch-runner. Another Venezuelan born in Maracay, José Altuve, the Houston Astros second baseman, went to say goodbye to one of the best baseball players that Venezuela has produced.

“Altuve went to first and gave me a congratulatory hug. I couldn’t control myself. At that moment there was an ovation in the New York stadium,” he recalled. “It gave me chills. I didn’t know whether to cry or laugh, but it was very nice to say goodbye that way, with a very pleasant ovation, because they appreciated the way I played ball and I enjoyed it to the fullest.”

Despite not winning numerous individual awards, only a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger, and participating in only two All-Star Games, Abreu retired as one of the most consistent players of his generation, with extraordinary hitting ability and an outstanding discipline that allowed him to play eight consecutive seasons with 100 or more bases on balls, and finish with a lifetime average of .291/.395/.475, with 1,453 runs scored, 574 doubles, 288 home runs, 1,363 RBIs, and 400 stolen bases.

Abreu is one of only four players in history with at least 200 home runs, 1,200 walks, and 400 stolen bases, joining Hall of Famers Joe Morgan and Rickey Henderson, as well as Barry Bonds.

Abreu also joined Bonds in the exclusive group of five players in major-league history with at least 1,000 runs scored, 1,000 RBIs, 2,000 hits, 1,000 walks, 250 home runs, and 400 stolen bases.8

Abreu first appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2020, obtaining 22 votes for 5.5 percent, enough to stay on the ballot.

In 2021 his vote rose to 8.7 percent and in 2022 it fell to 8.6 percent. It climbed to 15.4 percent in 2023, fell again with 14.8 percent in 2024 and rising to his best voting in 2025, 19.5 percent.

His consistency has slowly earned Abreu some support for his Cooperstown candidacy.

“I think we have to keep thinking positive. I very respectfully say that there are numbers. I’m placed with select groups, with Craig Biggio, Roberto Alomar, Rickey Henderson. Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonds. … So you see that you do have numbers, because there are people who are in the Hall of Fame and you are with them, so you see that you have numbers to be there,” he said. “There is a group with Willie Mays and myself, with 150 games and more played for 13 consecutive seasons. … You have to stay positive and ask God to make it happen.”

Although he still doesn’t have enough support to enter Cooperstown, Abreu has already achieved immortality in Philadelphia, where he was inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame in 2019.

“When they called me to tell me that I was going to the Wall of Fame, I said, ‘I did it. So many stars that have played for that team and your mind takes you back to your childhood, to that young man who grew up and wanted to play ball, wanted to play major-league baseball and then it takes you to put a plaque where you are immortal, because your immortality is reflected there with that team, and you just say, ‘Thank you, Lord, for all of this. It is a blessing from God to give me that gift.’”

And while he waits for sufficient support to join the only Venezuelan in the Cooperstown Hall of Fame, Luis Aparicio, Abreu dedicates himself to his business as an entrepreneur, as owner of two professional teams in Venezuela, Panteras de Miranda (basketball) and Mineros de Guayana (soccer), without abandoning the sport he loves, baseball, helping to train new talents in his own academy, the Bob Abreu Baseball Academy 53.

“The academy is a dream I’ve always had. I always wanted to have a facility where I can provide the kids with the knowledge I’ve gained throughout my career, as well as teach them all the techniques they need to help them achieve their dream of signing and going far,” Abreu said of his academy, located in San Diego, Carabobo state, which is part of the MLB Trainer Partnership Program.

“I want to prepare them, educate them in every aspect. At the academy, we give them English classes, because that’s important for their entrepreneurship, and they also have school classes. It’s something different from what we see in Venezuela at the academy level, with a complete facility to provide the kids with comprehensive development so they can achieve their dreams.”9

Last revised: September 15, 2025

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted baseballreference.com, MLB.com, espn.com, and latimes.com.

NOTES

1 A nickname meaning a person that eats a lot of candy.

2 Carlos Baerga: entrevista con el ex Grandes Ligas Bobby Abreu. June 28, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0Vjv2mVSeg. Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations attributed to Bobby Abreu come from this interview.

3 La Estrella Invitada en IG: Bob Abreu. August 5, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN7PqmPh99Y.

4 Arepas is a type of flatbread made of ground maize dough stuffed with a filling like cheese, meat, chicken, etc., and is a very popular meal in Venezuela.

5 La Estrella Invitada en IG: Bob Abreu.

6 Abreu had 11 plate appearances before his first base hit.

7 La Estrella Invitada en IG: Bob Abreu. All quotations related to the Home Run Derby are from this interview.

8 The other four are Barry Bonds, Rickey Henderson, Craig Biggio, and Joe Morgan.

9 Author interview with Bobby Abreu, August 7, 2023.

Possessing a rare combination of power and speed, Beltrán is one of only five players to date to exceed 400 home runs and 300 stolen bases.1 Across his 20-year career, during which he played for seven different teams, Beltrán was a nine-time All-Star. He also won three Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers. At the time he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2026, his 435 home runs ranked fourth all-time among switch-hitters.2

Despite a confrontation or two with the front office, Beltrán was highly regarded by both teammates and management. He was a student of the game, helpful to younger players, and thought to have a future as a manager. But in his final season, Beltrán led the Houston Astros in an illicit sign-stealing scheme that helped them win the 2017 World Series and, at least temporarily, branded Beltrán and his teammates as cheaters.

*****

Carlos Iván Beltrán Valdés was born on April 24, 1977, in Manatí, a city west of San Juan on Puerto Rico’s north shore. He grew up there with his father, Wilfredo, who worked at a pharmaceutical company, and his mother, Carmen (nicknamed “Mimín”). The family also included older brother Nino and younger twin sisters Marie Liz and Liz Marie, who both became volleyball stars.3

After distinguishing himself at Fernando Callejo High School, Beltrán was taken in the second round of the 1995 draft by the Kansas City Royals. He reminded their scouts of former Royals center fielder Amos Otis, who won three Gold Gloves in the early 1970s.4

That summer, the Royals sent Beltrán to the Gulf Coast League (Rookie), where he won the Rookie of the Year Award despite an unimpressive .660 OPS5 and no home runs. Hitting coach Jeff Garber said, “[Beltrán] started slowly …, but at the end of the year he was one of two players who could have been MVP.”6

During the winter of 1995-96, Beltrán played in the Puerto Rican Winter League, getting into three games for the Arecibo Lobos. He played in five more seasons at home, from 1997-98 through 2001-02, batting .270 with 23 homers in 161 games.

In the summer of 1996 Beltrán played with the Single-A Lansing Lugnuts (Midwest League) and Spokane Indians (Northwest League). While at Lansing, Beltrán collided with a teammate, causing a right-knee injury that required surgery.7 The knee would hamper Beltrán his entire career.

Before the season, Beltrán – a natural right-handed batter (and thrower) – and the Royals agreed that he should try switch-hitting. At Spokane, he hit three homers in one day – all while batting lefthanded. His power, though still modest, had improved.8

In 1997, while he was playing for Class A+ Wilmington (Delaware) in the Carolina League, the News Journal called Beltrán the best center fielder in the league.9 He hit 11 home runs but batted only .229. Though Beltrán had started to show flashes of power, he was still a weak enough hitter to be called “an outright disappointment.”10

After starting the 1998 season at Wilmington, Beltrán was promoted to the Double-A Wichita Wranglers of the Texas League. In a flash, he became a better hitter. He batted .352, had an OPS of 1.114, and hit 14 home runs in 47 games. “It takes time for players to develop,” said Royals general manager Herk Robinson. “But then, for some of them, a light just turns on.”11 Consequently, Beltrán was named Royals minor league player of the year.12 Skipping Triple A, he debuted with Kansas City on September 14 and started their final 13 games in center field.

Early in the 1999 season, to relieve pressure on Beltrán, Royals manager Tony Muser told him not to worry about his hitting as long as he played great defense and hustled.13 That, Beltrán did. He played 156 graceful games in center field and led AL centerfielders in assists with 16. In one game Beltrán made two leaping catches, one of which saved a home run, and threw out a runner at home.14

His offense wasn’t bad either. Beltrán became only the second rookie (after Fred Lynn, 1975) in nearly 50 years to score and drive in at least 100 runs. Like Lynn, Beltrán won the AL Rookie of the Year Award.

On November 6, 1999, Beltrán married Jessica Lugo, with whom he had attended high school.15

Beltrán had a great spring training in 2000, hitting .386 with five homers.16 But he aimed to further improve his defense. Although he’d played well the previous season, saving 20 runs above the average fielder, he’d also made 12 errors. “My goal this year is [to win] a Gold Glove,” said Beltrán. “I know I can get better.”17

However, Beltrán hurt his right knee while stretching before the game on July 3. When the injury was diagnosed as a bone bruise, he was expected to miss only two games.18 Instead, he missed two months, during which he refused the Royals’ request to go to their rehabilitation center in St. Petersburg, Florida.19 Beltrán didn’t want to leave his family and thought he could rehab just as well in Kansas City. Consequently, the team tried to suspend him without pay, only to reverse their decision after the players association filed a grievance which could have led to Beltrán being declared a free agent.   Beltrán’s antics caused clubhouse problems, as catcher Gregg Zaun complained, “I did my time on the DL and I went to Florida like I was told… If you’re going to be a team member, you’ve got to follow the rules like everybody else.”20

Before he was injured, Beltrán was batting .247 with only 6 homers in 76 games. His OPS of .694 was almost 100 points below the American League average and he was called the most disappointing player in the AL.21 When he returned he was even worse, hitting only one home run with an OPS of .600 in 22 September games.

Writers portrayed Beltrán as having shaky confidence – the slightest slump would have him terrified of losing his job, muttering that he’d be demoted, and falling into a downward spiral of self-doubt.22

In 2001 Beltrán left behind the negativity and insecurity of the previous season. He had played his way back into form – both physically and mentally – in winter ball, which included a trip to the 2001 Caribbean Series.23 Although a natural introvert, he came to spring training more relaxed and outgoing.24 Muser asked Beltrán what he would change after his struggles the previous season. “If I get off to a bad start,” Beltrán said, “I won’t panic.”25

Entering 2001, Beltrán set lofty goals: a .300 batting average, 100 runs scored, 100 RBIs, 20 home runs, and 30 stolen bases. Before the last game of the season, he had reached all but one. Three RBIs short of 100 with two outs in the ninth inning, Beltrán hit a grand slam, raising his total to 101.26 He would exceed all those milestones – except batting average – in each of the next three seasons.

The next year, when Beltrán was thrown out on May 18, 2002, it ended a streak of 27 consecutive successful steals – part of a longer run of 60 stolen bases in 61 attempts.27

With two years between their young star and free agency, the Royals offered him a three-year contract for between $25 and $30 million. Beltrán’s agent, Scott Boras, countered by proposing an eight-year deal for $120-160 million.28 Another sticking point was Beltrán’s desire to play on a winning team, and having finished 107 games below .500 through his five full seasons, the Royals were certainly not winners.29 With money and winning standing in the way, the Royals and Beltrán were unlikely to strike a deal. “The Royals need to do what’s best for the organization,” Beltrán commented. “If trading me is best, that’s what they need to do.”30

In 2003 Beltrán stole 40 bases for the first time and became only the seventh player31 to bat at least .300 with at least 20 homers, 100 runs scored, 100 RBIs, and 40 stolen bases in a season. By then, he was considered by some the most complete player in baseball.32

Beltrán showed off his baserunning ability in his team’s September 4 game against Arizona. The Royals were trailing 5-4 with the bases empty and one out in the ninth when Beltrán walked and stole both second and third base. Then, on a fly ball to shallow right, he tagged and scored. Royals general manager Allard Baird observed, “You know how when your big brother comes to play baseball in the backyard and does whatever he wants? That’s how Carlos looked. Like he was playing with boys.”33

Beltrán started 2004 with a bang, winning the AL Player of the Month Award for April and continuing to price himself out of the Royals’ market. He made it clear he wouldn’t give Kansas City a home-town discount. “Would you take less money?” he asked and answered. “Me neither.”34 Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star lamented the Royals’ status as a small-market team: “Baseball’s economics virtually exclude the Royals, limited by small market realities, from making a competitive bid to sign the player who might be the best all-around talent in franchise history.”35

On June 24, the Royals took Beltrán’s advice and traded him to the Houston Astros. In the three-way deal, the Royals got John Buck from the Astros, and Mark Teahen and Mike Wood from the Oakland A’s.

Excited about his fresh start, Beltrán reported to Houston the next day. In 90 games for the Astros, he hit 23 homers and stole 28 bases without being caught. In fifth place in the NL Central when Beltrán was acquired, the Astros won 28 of their final 35 games and made the playoffs as the wild card team.

The Astros beat Atlanta in the NLDS, then lost to St. Louis in the NLCS. In one of the most spectacular postseasons ever, Beltrán went 20-for-46 (.435), had eight home runs (as of 2024, still tied for second-most ever in a single postseason),36 21 runs scored (still tied for most ever), and an OPS of 1.557 (still the third-highest ever with 30 or more plate appearances).37 Hall-of-Fame teammate Craig Biggio said, “Every ball he hit was hard … It was one of the most incredible hitting experiences I’ve seen in my life for that time of year.”38

Overall, Beltrán hit 38 home runs and stole 42 bases in the regular season, just two homers shy of becoming only the fourth player (along with José Canseco, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez) to hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases in a season.39

On January 13, 2005, Beltrán parlayed his heroics into a seven-year contract from the New York Mets worth $119 million. The Astros reportedly offered five years plus an option, totaling up to $84 million,40 but would not give Beltrán the no-trade clause he desired.41 His first choice was reportedly the New York Yankees, but they refused to match the Mets’ offer.42

Beltrán started the 2005 season well and was hitting .302/.819 (batting average/OPS)43 on May 21. But that same day he aggravated his right quadriceps,44 and in his next 28 games, batted just .189/.615. He was better in July, but after going 0-for-6 on August 2, Beltrán’s overall numbers dropped to .263/.740 with just 12 homers and 56 RBIs. Consequently, he was booed by fans who, after his fabulous playoff run, expected more.45 Referring to a previous Mets free-agent failure, Mike Lupica of the Daily News called Beltrán “a thinner Mo Vaughn.”46

But he bounced back in 2006 with the best season of his entire career, setting career highs in runs scored (127), RBIs (116), homers (41), OPS (.982), walks (95), and WAR47 (8.2) – second-most in the majors behind Albert Pujols (8.5). He made the All-Star team, won Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards, and finished fourth in voting for MVP.48

Helped by the addition of Carlos Delgado’s 38 home runs and 114 RBIs, the Mets won 97 games and the NL East title – the only time Beltrán reached the playoffs as a Met. After sweeping the Dodgers in the NLDS, the Mets met the Cardinals in the NLCS. Beltrán was terrific in that series, with an OPS of 1.054 and three homers, including a two-run shot which accounted for the only runs of Game One, and two homers in the Game Four win.

In Game Seven, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the Mets down by two, Beltrán came to bat with the bases loaded. With the team’s best player at the plate, fans’ and teammates’ hopes were high. But hopes were dashed when Adam Wainwright snapped off a two-strike curve and Beltrán struck out looking. Unfairly, that is probably how most Mets fans remember him.49 George Vecsey of the New York Times later wrote, “The poor man has become the symbol of failed expectations.”50

The 2007 and 2008 seasons were similar for Beltrán personally and the Mets as a team. Both years he drove in 112 runs, won a Gold Glove Award, and had nearly the same OPS+51. In 2007 the Mets suffered an epic September collapse, blowing a seven-game lead by losing 12 of their final 17 games. In 2008 they blew a 3½-game lead by losing 10 of their final 17. Later in his career Beltrán said, “After [2006], I thought we would be in the playoffs many more times. Unfortunately, something that I have no explanation for happened… It was terrible.”52

Following the games of May 5, 2009, Beltrán led the NL in batting average (.404) and on-base percentage (.504). The next day he said, “I think this is the first year I’ve been here that I’ve been completely healthy … nothing hurts.”53

He should have knocked on wood. Over the next few weeks, Beltrán again developed pain in his troublesome right knee. An MRI revealed a deep bone bruise.54 A cortisone shot made the knee temporarily feel better, but over the next month it worsened, and Beltrán went on the disabled list on June 22.55 It was thought he would miss two weeks, but it turned out to be more than two months. He played only 81 games in 2009, but was terrific when healthy, posting a batting average and OPS of .325 and .915, respectively.

While sidelined, Beltrán traveled to Toronto to be treated by Dr. Tony Galea, who had performed legal platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections for high-profile athletes such as Tiger Woods. Galea was later charged with five felonies, but pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of transporting human growth hormone (HGH) into the US.56 After being questioned by FBI agents, Beltrán said, “[Galea] didn’t inject anything [into me] with HGH or anything like that. I have nothing to worry about, nothing to hide.”57 But, why Beltrán felt the need to see a Canadian doctor, let alone a shady one, for a common procedure like PRP remains mysterious.58

After experiencing setbacks during offseason workouts, on January 13, 2010, Beltrán underwent arthroscopic surgery59 on his right knee. Mets brass was left “stunned and furious” after finding out.60 The Mets claimed Beltrán ignored the team’s request for a second opinion. Beltrán said he informed general manager Omar Minaya of the planned surgery and that Minaya said nothing about postponing it and wished him well.61 The incident caused no contractual repercussions, but left strained feelings on both sides.

Initial reports indicated that Beltrán would be able to start “baseball activities” in about three months, though one uninvolved doctor said the recovery for a professional athlete from arthroscopic surgery could be as little as three to four weeks.62 But Beltrán did not return until July 15, six months after the operation, missing the Mets’ first 88 games. After the surgery, Beltrán began wearing a knee brace and stole only 26 bases in his final eight seasons. 

After playing only center field since 2010, Beltrán switched to right in 2011. In a New Yorker magazine article in May, Mets owner Fred Wilpon said of himself, “We had some schmuck in New York who paid [Beltrán $119 million] based on that one series (2004 playoffs). [Now] he’s 65 to 70 percent of what he once was.”63 Wilpon later apologized. Asked if he felt appreciated, Beltrán said, “From my teammates, I have to say yes. From other people, I don’t know.” 64

Through July 26, 2011, Beltrán was hitting .289/.904 with 30 doubles and 15 home runs, had played in all but five games, and made the All-Star Team. But the Mets apparently thought the 179 games he missed the previous two years were more relevant. With no plans to retain Beltrán after his contract expired at season’s end, on July 28, the Mets traded the balky-kneed 34-year-old, along with cash, to the San Francisco Giants for Zack Wheeler.

Management and players alike were disappointed the productive and popular Beltrán was traded. Rookie manager Terry Collins, grateful for Beltrán’s work with young players, said, “He made life simple.” “He’s just a complete individual,” said R.A. Dickey. “Not only on the field, but off.”65

Since Beltrán’s contract contained a no-trade clause, he was able to force a deal to a contending team.66 The Giants, leading the NL West by three games, fit the criterion. Beltrán batted

.323/.920, but the team went 26-32 after he arrived and failed to make the playoffs.

The Giants did not offer Beltrán a second contract, citing a lack of funds.67 (Though strapped for cash, San Francisco won the following year’s World Series.) On December 23, Beltrán signed a two-year contract with the St. Louis Cardinals for $13 million per year.

Also in 2011, Beltrán established a baseball academy in Puerto Rico to help high school students develop their baseball and academic skills and make it easier for Latino players to transition to America. Beltrán spoke no English when he arrived in the U.S. in 1995. He said, “Imagine – how can you communicate with a coach? It was hard. If a kid is not prepared mentally, [he] is not going to make it.”68 Proud of his school, he beamed, “knowing I’m going to impact so many kids in a positive way. It feels like winning the lottery.”69 As of 2024, the school was still helping young players develop and assimilate.

Beltrán had remarkably similar seasons in 2012 and 2013, with nearly the same on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, and OPS+. He had more home runs, RBIs, and walks in 2012, but a higher batting average in 2013. Both seasons, he led the Cardinals in home runs and was named to the All-Star team.

After the games of June 25, 2012, Beltrán was batting .313/.992 and leading the NL in home runs and RBIs. He was the main cog in a humming Cardinals offense, and the great Pujols, who left via free agency the previous fall, was hardly missed.70

The Cardinals won 12 of their last 16 to finish 88-74 and reach the playoffs as the second wild card. They beat the Braves in the wild-card game and the Nationals in the NLDS, but lost to the eventual World Series champion Giants in the NLCS. Typically excellent, Beltrán batted .357 with an OPS of 1.154.

In 2013 the Cardinals won 97 games, won the NL Central, and beat the Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL playoffs, but lost to the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. Beltrán wasn’t his usual fantastic playoff self, but wasn’t bad either. He may have been hampered as he played through an injury suffered in Game One of the World Series when he banged into the right-field wall in Boston while robbing David Ortiz of a grand slam.71

“There’s not one person in the clubhouse – position players and pitchers – that doesn’t look up to [Beltrán],” said teammate Joe Kelly. “Someday … he might be a manager. I think he’d be very, very, very good at that.”72

Beltrán and his wife started a scholarship fund for college-bound Hispanic students in the St. Louis area. For that and other philanthropy, Beltrán received the 2013 Roberto Clemente Award, “bestowed annually to the player who best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy, and positive contributions, both on and off the field.”73

With younger players needing playing time, the Cardinals offered Beltrán a contract for just one year at $14 million. He rejected it, signing a three-year, $45 million deal with the Yankees – the team for which he’d wanted to play after leaving Houston nine years earlier.

Beltrán had a poor season (for him) in 2014 (OPS .703) but improved each year with the Yankees. He saved his best for last in 2016, when he hit .304/.890, led the team in home runs – though he played only 99 games – and was probably the Yankees’ best player.74

Unluckily for Beltrán, he was a Yankee during one of the team’s poorest three-year spans since the early 1990s. They made the playoffs only once (2015) and then were shut out by the Astros in the Wild Card Game.

On August 1, 2016, the Yankees traded Beltrán to the Texas Rangers for Nick Green, Erik Swanson, and Dillon Tate. The Rangers led the AL West and looked to bolster themselves for the stretch run. Beltrán endured an 0-for-32 slump in late August but bounced back to hit .333 with 20 RBIs in his final 30 games as he transitioned from right field to DH. The Rangers won the West with an AL-high 99 wins but were swept by the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALDS.

On December 5, Beltrán was signed by the Astros to a one-year contract worth $16 million. He played 129 games in 2017, mostly as DH. Houston took the lead in the AL West on April 14 and never relinquished it, winning the division by 21 games. The Astros defeated the Red Sox and Yankees in the ALDS and ALCS, respectively, and the Dodgers in the World Series, the first championship for both Beltrán and the club.

After a regular season during which he was poor offensively (OPS+ 81), Beltrán was little help in the postseason, going 3-for-20 with no homers and one RBI. Seeing the end of the road, Beltrán retired on November 13.75 Shortly thereafter, he interviewed for the job as Yankees manager for 2018 but lost out to Aaron Boone.76

In 2019 Beltrán served as special advisor to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. Some thought the move was made to enhance the team’s chances of signing free agent Manny Machado, who was represented by the same agent as Beltrán.77  That December, Beltrán was hired as manager of the Mets.78

The month before, November 2019, in an article in The Athletic, former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers claimed the 2017 Astros had illicitly stolen signs between the opposition’s catchers and pitchers.79 On January 14, 2020, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred issued a report that verified Fiers’ allegations, and led to the suspensions of Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch, along with Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who had been an Astros coach in 2017.

Beltrán, the only player named in Manfred’s report, was found to be one of the “driving force[s]” behind the sign-stealing scheme. 80 Because of his status as a 20-year veteran and potential Hall of Famer, Beltrán had become the team’s dominant voice in the clubhouse and earned the nickname El Jefe (The Boss). When teammates asked Beltrán to end the spying, one player lamented, “He disregarded [our requests] and steamrolled everybody.”81

Fans and opponents, particularly the Yankees and Dodgers, whom the Astros had defeated in the ALCS and World Series, felt the Astros had cheated to become World Champions.

Although their title was not taken away, it was severely tarnished. Cashman later said, “The only thing that stopped us was something ugly and horrific.”82

Beltrán was subsequently fired by the Mets without ever managing a game.83

Beltrán spent two years away from baseball before landing a job in 2022 as a game analyst on the Yankees’ YES network (evidently the team had sufficiently forgiven him).84 However, poor reviews led to the inexperienced Beltrán being pulled from telecasts and relegated to the studio.85 In February 2023 he became special assistant to the Mets general manager and, as of 2025, to their president of baseball operations David Stearns.

*****

Beltrán’s skills were well above average in all facets of the game. He was an excellent baserunner and, before he hurt his knee, a prolific base stealer. He stole 312 in all, and, as of 2024, was the all-time leader in stolen base percentage (86.4%) among players with at least 200 attempts.86 A terrific defender with an exceptional arm, Beltrán gunned down 10 or more baserunners in eight seasons, and prevented the third-most runs (72) of any outfielder from 1999-2008, behind only Andruw Jones (170) and Ichiro Suzuki (92). That 10-year period culminated in Beltrán winning three consecutive Gold Glove Awards.

Beltrán’s main blemish was that he was not an all-time great hitter, though he was superb in the postseason. A career .279 hitter in the regular season, he achieved a .300 or better batting average only three times.87 His lifetime OPS+ (119) ranked number 19288  as of 2024 – the same as Richie Hebner, Sal Bando, and Mark Grace.

However, by combining speed, power, and a long career, Beltrán put himself in elite company. He is one of only four players to accumulate more than 1,500 runs, 1,500 RBIs, 400 home runs, and 300 stolen bases.89 The others are Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Willie Mays.

Among center fielders, Beltrán ranks eighth in career WAR (70). All those ahead of him – and several behind – are in the Hall of Fame. In 2026, in his fourth year of eligibility, Beltrán joined their ranks after receiving 84.2% of the vote from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. 

Last revised: January 20, 2026

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and David Bilmes and fact-checked by Steve Ferenchick.

Photo credits: MLB.com, SABR-Rucker Archive.

Sources 

In addition to sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted baseball-reference.com. Thanks also to SABR member Jorge Colón Delgado for Puerto Rican statistics.

Notes

1 The other four are Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Willie Mays, and Andre Dawson.

2 Mickey Mantle had 536, Eddie Murray, 504, and Chipper Jones, 468.

3 Dick Kaegel, “Home Base,” Kansas City Star, February 3, 2002: C1.

4 Joe Posnanski, “Royals Hope Beltrán is Overnight Sensation,” Kansas City Star, April 4, 1999: J11.

5 OPS is short for On-base percentage Plus Slugging percentage (OBP+SLG). It has become a popular statistic for evaluating batting performance because it correlates well with team runs scored and is easy to calculate. So, .700 to.799 would be below average to above average, .800 to .899, above average to excellent, greater than .900, excellent to elite. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/ops-baseball-meaning-stat-slugging-base- percentage/889639770cdb3b2ac7316521.

6 Chris Derrick, “Indians Are Well-Armed, But Lacking in Catchers,” Spokesman Review (Spokane, Washington), June 15, 1996: C1.

7 Derrick, “Beltrán, Spokane Put Clamps on Everett,” Spokesman-Review, June 21, 1996: C1.

8 La Velle E. Neal III, “Beltrán Switches on the Power,” Kansas City Star, July 28, 1996: B-5.

9 Jack Ireland, “Blue Rocks Report Card,” News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware), September 3, 1997: C5.

10 Posnanski, “Royals Hope Beltrán is Overnight Sensation,” Kansas City Star, April 4, 1999: J11.

11 Posnanski, “Royals Hope Beltrán is Overnight Sensation.”

12 Randy Covitz, “Dos Carlos,” Kansas City Star, May 25, 1999: C1.

13 Posnanski, “Royals Hope Beltrán is Overnight Sensation.”

14 Dutton, “Monty Injured in Return,” Kansas City Star, August 11, 1999: D4.

15 Dick Kaegel, “Dissatisfied, With a Smile,” Kansas City Star, March 11, 2000: C1.

16 Kaegel, “Beltrán Takes the Burden off His Back,” Kansas City Star, February 25, 2001: C1.

17 Kaegel, “Dissatisfied, With a Smile.”

18 Steve Rock, “Suppan Sent to Bullpen,” Kansas City Star, July 4, 2000: C4.

19 Dutton, “Beltrán Returns to Rehab,” Kansas City Star, August 25, 2000: D6.

20 Kaegel, “Players to Meet Beltrán,” Kansas City Star, August 7, 2000: D6.

21 Rock, “Extra Innings: In the Doghouse,” Kansas City Star, July 13, 2000: D5.

22 Posnanski, “Right Can Still Be Wrong in Beltrán’s Situation,” Kansas City Star, August 6, 2000: C1.

23 Javier Maymi, “Beltrán spent winter playing with Puerto Rican club,” ESPN.com, February 3, 2001. https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/2001/0202/1058778.html

24 Kaegel, “Beltrán Takes the Burden off His Back,” Kansas City Star, February 25, 2001: C1.

25 Kaegel, “Home Base,” Kansas City Star, February 3, 2002: C1.

26 Kaegel, “Home Base.”

27 Dutton, “Beltrán Streak Ends,” Kansas City Star, May 19, 2002: C4.

28 Dutton, “Contract Talks Prompt KC to Consider Trade,” Kansas City Star, December 13, 2002: C1.

29 Wright Thompson, “Winning Over Beltrán,” Kansas City Star, May 20, 2003: C1.

30 Posnanski, “Beltrán Set on Short Term,” Kansas City Star, January 22, 2003: D1.

31 The other six were Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, Alex Rodriguez, Vlad Guerrero, Alphonso Soriano, and Joe Morgan.

32 Posnanski, “Our Glimpse at Greatness,” Kansas City Star, September 24, 2003: D1.

33 Posnanski, “Our Glimpse at Greatness.”

34 Dutton, “Over & Out,” Kansas City Star, April 4, 2004: G8.

35 Dutton, “Over & Out.”

36 Andrew Simon, “Players With the Most HR in a Postseason,” MLB.com, October 30, 2024. https://www.mlb.com/news/record-for-most-home-runs-in-a-single-postseason Last accessed December 4, 2024.

37 Thirty or more plate appearances.

38 https://www.mlb.com/news/carlos-Beltrán-s-2004-october-still-a-wonder-c212093354 Last accessed November 17, 2023.

39 The 40-40 Club has since welcomed three more members, Alfonso Soriano (2006), Ronald Acuña, Jr. (2023), and Shohei Ohtani (2024), who is also the inaugural member of the 50-50 Club.

40 Peter Botte, “The Bel of the Ball,” Daily News, (New York, New York), January 2, 2005: 61.

41 Mike Lupica, “Met Run Begins,” Daily News, January 10, 2005: 50.

42 Ebenezer Samuel, “Beltrán Subway Switch,” Daily News, May 20, 2011: 66.

43 For readers more comfortable with traditional batting average and those who prefer the more descriptive OPS.

44 Rubin, “Strains Pain Kaz & Carlos,” Daily News, May 22, 2005: 66.

45 Darren Everson, “Boobirds Back for More,” Daily News, August 4, 2005: 70.

46 Lupica, “Shooting from the Lip,” Daily News, September 11, 2005: 63.

47 WAR measures a player’s value in all facets of the game by deciphering how many more wins he’s worth than a player just good enough to play in the majors. Piper Slowinski, “What Is WAR,” February 15, 2010. Last accessed April 30, 2024. https://library.fangraphs.com/misc/war/

48 Ryan Howard won the NL MVP in 2006 on the strength of 58 home runs and 149 RBIs, despite accumulating 3 fewer WAR (5.2) than Pujols and Beltrán.

49 Andy Martino, “Meet Beltrán in St. Louis,” Daily News, December 23, 2011: 74.

50 Derrick Goold, “Curve in the Road,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 1, 2011: S26.

51 OPS+ is defined by baseball-reference.com as 100*(OBP/league OBP + SLG/league SLG -1) adjusted to the player’s ballpark. (It is NOT 100 times the ratio of a player’s OPS to league OPS (100*OPS/league OPS)). OPS+ is a more meaningful statistic than OPS because it correlates well to runs produced per plate appearance (PA) and, as such, indicates the player’s percentage of runs produced per PA above or below league average (an OPS+ of 150 indicates 50 percent above average, 90 indicates 10 percent below). Because OPS+ is normalized to the particular season’s league average, there is no advantage gained in high-scoring eras or vice-versa, so it can be used to compare players from different eras. It also removes the advantage of playing in a hitter’s park and vice versa. https://library.fangraphs.com/offense/ops/

52 Martino, “The Last Stand,” Daily News, March 6, 2011: 46.

53 Botte, “Free of Knee and Leg Troubles, Carlos Tears up NL Pitching,” Daily News, May 7, 2009: 62.

54 Adam Rubin, “Santos Brings Home a Winner,” Daily News, May 30, 2009: 35.

55 Rubin, “Put Beltrán on DL, Deck Cards,” Daily News, May 26, 2009: 42.

56 Mike Fish, “Anthony Galea Receives No Jail Time,” ESPN, December 16, 2011.https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/7360176/anthony-galea-canadian-doctor-gets-no-jail-time-1-year-supervised- release (last accessed December 9, 2023).

57 Teri Thompson, et al, “Carlos World in Spin,” Daily News, March 3, 2010: 52.

58 Christian Red, “Expert: Procedure is Nothing Bloody Special,” Daily News, March 3, 2010: 54.

59 Anthony McCarron, “Set to Miss Opener after Knee Scope,” Daily News, January 14, 2010: 63.

60 Peter Botte and Anthony McCarron, “Carlos Says GM Knew in Advance,” Daily News, January 15, 2010: 73.

61 Jon Harper, “Sudden Move Another Shock to Met System,” Daily News, January 14, 2010: 63.

62 McCarron, “Plans Might Not Center on Fill-In,” Daily News, January 15, 2010: 72.

63 Martino, “Fred Dances on His Stars,” Daily News, May 24, 2011: 52.

64 Martino, “Wilpon Apologizes to Beltrán, Reyes,” Daily News, May 25, 2011: 60.

65 Martino, “Sandy Agrees to get Minor-League Hurler,” Daily News, July 28, 2011: 61.

66 Jesse Spector, “Beltrán Contends Giants Are Good Fit,” Daily News, June 29, 2011: 68.

67 Andrew Baggerly, “’Ironclad’ Budget Forces Sabean to Stop,” Oakland Tribune, December 8, 2011: C5.

68 Martino, “The Last Stand,” Daily News, March 6, 2011: 46.

69 Goold, “Beltrán Steps Up,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 20, 2012: A01.

70 Bernie Miklasz, “Birds Could Use Beltrán Revival,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 2, 2012: C1.

71 Joe Strauss, “Hard Knocks,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 24, 2013: W4.

72 Mark Feinsand, “Nothing Will Stop Beltrán from Ring,” Daily News, October 26, 2013: 39.

73 2024 Roberto Clemente Award, MLB.com. https://www.mlb.com/community/roberto-clemente-award Last accessed December 14, 2024.

74 Feinsand, “Yanks Clean House,” Daily News, August 2, 2016: 41.

75 Jose de Jesus Ortiz, “Beltrán Made Big Difference,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 15, 2019: B1.

76 Mike Mazzeo, “Passing on Beltrán a Mistake Yankees May Come to Regret,” Daily News, December 2, 2017: 33.

77 Staff, “Report: Beltrán to Yanks as Advisor,” Daily News, December 19, 2018: 39.

78 Deesha Thosar, “Players Kinda Guy,” Daily News, November 5, 2019: 55.

79 Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich, “The Astros Stole Signs Electronically in 2017 – Part of a Much Broader Issue for MLB,” The Athletic, November 12, 2019. https://theathletic.com/1363451/2019/11/12/the-astros-stole-signs- electronically-in-2017-part-of-a-much-broader-issue-for-major-league-baseball/

80 Rosenthal and Drellich, “Details Emerge About Carlos Beltrán’s Role in the 2017 Astros Clubhouse and Sign Stealing Scheme,” The Athletic, February 11, 2020. https://theathletic.com/1600638/2020/02/11/details- emerge-about-carlos-Beltráns-role-in-the-2017-astros-clubhouse-and-the-teams-sign-stealing-scheme/

81 Rosenthal and Drellich, “Details Emerge About Carlos Beltrán’s Role in the 2017 Astros Clubhouse and Sign Stealing Scheme.”

82 Neil Best, “Beltrán Can’t Shake Off Sign-Stealing Scandal,” Newsday, April 4, 2022: A42.

83 Thosar, “Beltrán and Mets Part Ways Over His Role in Houston’s Sign-Stealing Scandal,” Daily News, January 17, 2020: 41.

84 Best, “Beltrán Can’t Shake Off Sign-Stealing Scandal.”

85 Bob Raissman, “Selling the Stench,” Daily News, (New York, New York), February 26, 2023: 63.

86 Career Leaders & Records for SB%, BaseballReference.com. At least 200 attempts from 1901 through 2024. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/stolen_base_perc_career.shtml

87 Seasons in which he qualified for the batting title (502 or more plate appearances).

88 Among those who played the bulk of their careers after 1901.

89 While interesting and informative, such statistics come with a caveat: Beltrán just exceeds the chosen minimums; whereas each of the other three players amassed more than 600 home runs, 1,900 runs, and 2,000 RBIs.

Barry Lamar Bonds was born on July 24, 1964, in Riverside, California, to Bobby Bonds and Patricia Howard. The teenagers had grown up next door to each other, Bobby the star athlete and Pat the beauty, and married at 17. Bobby came from a very successful sporting family; his sister, Rosie, competed in the 1964 Olympics as a hurdler, and his brother, Robert, was drafted by both the National Football League and the American Football League before their merger. A year after Bobby and Pat’s wedding, Barry was born, and two weeks after that Bobby signed a professional contract with the San Francisco Giants. He went on to a prolific major-league career, showing both power and speed while playing for eight teams in a 14-year career.

While Bobby was in the minor leagues, Barry lived with his mother in Riverside, where they welcomed a second son, Ricky, a year after Barry, and a few years later a third boy, Bobby Jr. The family also adopted a girl, Cheryl. The children were raised by the metaphorical village, their mother being helped by friends and family around town while Bobby was away playing baseball.

In 1968 Bobby was called up to the major leagues, making his debut with the Giants in June. He quickly established himself, and soon his family came visiting, Barry making his first appearance in a major-league locker room. Bobby and teammate Willie Mays had become close, and Bobby asked Mays to be Barry’s godfather.

In 1969 Bobby moved his family to San Francisco, to the almost exclusively white area of San Carlos. Barry was usually one of few black children where he lived and at the schools he attended. Later in life he referred to himself as having come from Los Angeles, in an attempt to gain some credibility, but black players who had grown up in the inner city would ridicule him for it.

In school Barry was an average student, but his athletic ability dominated people’s perception of him. Some people considered him a bully on the sports fields, although one of his teachers said that wasn’t the case, but rather that “whatever he was playing – Four Squares or dodgeball – he played to win.”1

Bobby was traded to the New York Yankees at the end of the 1974 season, just as Barry was beginning his own baseball career. As a 10-year-old, Barry awed the adults in the San Carlos Little League, where he played for the Lions Club Yankees under coach Lloyd Skjerdal. “It was as if he had appeared out of nowhere – just showed up one day, ready to be a star,” said Skjerdal.2 Barry hit over .400 each season in Little League, showing both the talent and cockiness that would follow him throughout his career.

In 1978 Barry entered Junipero Serra High School, which was well known for its athletic program, producing a number of future MLB and NFL stars, like Jim Fregosi and Tom Brady. Barry’s high-school coach, Tim Walsh, said, “He wanted to be great. A lot of kids just wanted to play. That wasn’t enough for him.”3 Bonds played basketball and football in high school for a couple of seasons, and played well in both, but it was clear that baseball was his preferred sport. He led the league in home runs, and in his senior year he hit .467 with14 homers and 42 RBIs. But he never studied, he was late for practice, and showed up other teams on the field (watching his home runs, for example, something he would continue to do in the major leagues). As scouts came sniffing around, this behavior began damaging his reputation, with scouts noting his arrogance, one even writing “Asshole” under “Attitude/Personality” in his report.4

Bobby had retired from professional baseball, his career derailed by alcoholism, which had turned a number of teams away. Thus the news that he would act as Barry’s adviser in the coming 1982 draft caused Barry’s stock to drop. An expected first-rounder, he fell to the Giants in the second round. They offered Barry $70,000 to sign, but when Bobby said he wanted $5,000 more, the Giants said no thanks, and Barry headed to college.

Barry attended Arizona State, one of the powerhouses of college baseball. A starter as a freshman, he led the team with 11 home runs and 54 RBIs, and dominated the College World Series, though the team finished third. Barry didn’t make friends easily; his college coach, Jim Brock, said: “I don’t think he ever figured out what to do to get people to like him.”5 Bonds in fact made enemies with his attitude, skipping or being late for practice, ignoring team rules, and generally acting as the big man on campus. Brock, trying to settle things in 1984, told the team to vote on whether Bonds should stay on the team. Almost all the players voted against Bonds, which surprised Brock since he had expected them to want to keep his playing ability. Switching his plan, he told them that he wouldn’t remove Bonds since their vote had not been unanimous.6 The team went back to the College World Series, where it lost again, but Bonds set a College World Series record with hits in seven straight at-bats.

Bonds spent a short period in Alaska in the summer of 1983 after signing with the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks. Because of school commitments, he never played a game in Alaska. He suited up but did not play in the Alaska Baseball League tournament, then played six games for the Goldpanners in the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kansas, where he went 4-for-18 with no home runs.

In 1985 Arizona State suffered severe penalties for NCAA violations; some players were suspended and the team was banned from postseason play. While the team struggled, Bonds got even better, hitting .368-23-66 and being named a second-team All-American. He decided he would turn pro after his junior year. In June 1985 Bonds was drafted in the first round by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he signed a couple of days later for a bonus of $150,000. The Pirates sent him to play for Prince William in the Class A Carolina League, where Bonds performed well, hitting .299 with 13 home runs. This earned him a promotion to the Triple-A Hawaii Islanders of the Pacific Coast League the next season. Bonds enjoyed his time in Hawaii, spending days on the beaches and nights in the ballpark, but he wasn’t there long, hitting .311 with 7 home runs in 44 games.

With the Pirates struggling at 17-24, Bonds was called up and made his major-league debut on May 30, 1986, against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Three Rivers Stadium. Looking to use his speed, manager Jim Leyland inserted Bonds into the leadoff spot, where he remained for the next four years. His debut was a day to forget for Bonds, as he went 0-for-5 with a walk and three strikeouts, and the Pirates lost in 11 innings. Bonds got his first hit the next day, leading off the first inning with a double off Rick Honeycutt – and was then immediately picked off second by Honeycutt.

In one of those scheduling oddities, Bonds ended up with a hit before his major-league debut. The Pirates and Cubs had played on April 20, but the game was suspended in the 14th inning with the score tied. The game was made up on August 11, and Bonds, now with the Pirates, pinch-hit in the 17th inning, hitting a single that scored two runs (one of them on an outfield error), which proved to be the difference in the score. Because major-league rules consider the date of a suspended game to be the date on which it began, Bonds is credited with a hit and an RBI on a date more than a month before his official debut on May 30.

It didn’t take Bonds long to show his power, his first major-league home run coming on June 4 in Atlanta off Craig McMurtry, a day that ended with four hits and four RBIs. It took a few more days to get a stolen base, when on June 7 Bonds stole twice against Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets.

Bonds ended the season hitting just .223 and striking out 102 times. But he showed flashes of his future self, with 16 home runs and 36 steals. This was enough for Bonds to finish sixth in the National League Rookie of the Year voting.

Bonds kept improving with the Pirates, and the team followed. Leading off and running wild, he continued to show the combination of power and speed that he had shown in his rookie year. In 1987 the team traded for Andy Van Slyke to play center field, pushing Bonds to left. This was an acknowledgment that Bonds had not been a good center fielder in his rookie season, seemingly ignoring coaching and playing shallow, trying not to show how weak his throwing arm was. The problem with that was that balls hit over his head could roll forever.

Van Slyke won his first Gold Glove after the 1988 season, and Bonds admired the trophy Van Slyke received. “Next year I’m gonna win me one of these,” he said. It actually took him two years, but in 1990 he began a streak of winning eight Gold Gloves in nine seasons. Van Slyke said that Bonds had felt he hadn’t needed to be a good outfielder, but once he decided to, “he willed himself to become great.”7

In June 1987 the Pirates traveled to Montreal for a series with the Expos, and Bonds went to a local strip club, where he met the bartender, Susann “Sun” Branco. After a telephone courtship for the rest of the season, Sun moved to Phoenix to live with Barry at the end of the year, and in February 1988 they were married in Las Vegas.

Leading off for the Pirates, Bonds got better and better each year. He was hitting for power, he was stealing regularly, and was showing all-round ability in everything he did. He wasn’t liked, though, the working-class city of Pittsburgh occasionally seeing him making little effort, while players like Van Slyke busted on every play. Bonds was almost traded a couple of times, the Pirates making it clear that if they got a good package they would make him available. But he stayed, eventually moving in 1990 to fifth in the batting order, behind Van Slyke and Bobby Bonilla, where the three would spearhead a powerful middle of the order and bring success to the Pirates. “He’s maturing as a player and he’s coming of age,” said Leyland.8

Bonds’ success gleaned personal rewards as well: his first of 14 All-Star games, and his first MVP award for a 1990 season in which he hit .301-33-114. “I decided this year was time for me to get the respect I deserved for myself,” he said.9 He finished a close second in the MVP race to Terry Pendleton of the Braves the next year, many speculating that Bonds’ personality and relationship with the media cost him enough votes for him to lose the race. He made sure that wouldn’t matter the following year, winning the MVP again in 1992 with another dominant season.

Bonds led the Pirates to three postseasons in a row in 1990-92. In those three playoff series Bonds hit just .191 in 20 games, with one home run, coming in a 13-4 win. In one of the iconic moments in postseason history, the Atlanta Braves beat the Pirates in the 1992 NLCS, the final play of the series being Francisco Cabrera’s hit to left field that scored Sid Bream with the winning run, Bonds’ throw home just too late.

In high school, in college, and in the major leagues, Bonds’ performance when the season was on the line was nowhere near his regular-season performance. This was because the opponents were much tougher, and because those teams, recognizing that Bonds was the biggest threat, generally pitched around him. His postseason mediocrity led Pirates fans to say good riddance when he left, using anything to mask their disappointment at their star player leaving.

As his time in Pittsburgh wore down, it became clear that the small-market Pirates would not be able to re-sign Bonds to the big contract the market could give him. He entered free agency as the premier player on the market, but found himself not as wanted as he thought he would be. His personality and his disdain for both fans and media led some teams to think he would be more trouble than he was worth. They were wrong, of course; it has been shown many times in history that performance on the field can far outweigh actions off it. But still, Bonds’ agent, Dennis Gilbert, had to call around and beg teams to make an offer. Their lukewarm response bothered Bonds, but his agent mentioned any kind of contact to the media, telling journalists how many teams were interested in his player. This ended up becoming somewhat of a joke within baseball circles.

Bonds’ demands to be the highest paid player in baseball were more than even the Yankees could afford. But there was a new owner in San Francisco, and as many new owners do, Peter Magowan wanted to make a splash. Splash he did, signing Bonds to what was then the biggest contract in baseball, for six years and $43 million. Bonds was returning to his childhood home. “Every time I step on that field … I know my godfather’s in center field and my dad’s in right field,” he said.10

Immediately Bonds alienated Giants fans, though, being given Mays’ retired uniform number 24. (He quickly changed to 25 when there was an outcry.) That alienation didn’t last long, as he won the fans over with his performance on the field.

For the rest of his career, even when it seemed as if the rest of the baseball world had turned against him, Bonds was loved in San Francisco. He was theirs and they were his, whether he returned their love or not.

Bonds started with a bang in San Francisco, leading the league with 46 home runs and 123 RBIs (his only RBI title) in 1993, and finishing fourth with a .336 batting average, establishing himself as a legitimate Triple Crown contender. He won his second MVP in a row. But then things changed. Bonds still performed at an outstanding level, but he had set the bar so high that when he didn’t reach those heights he lost MVP votes. For example, in 1995 he finished 12th in the voting, when WAR (wins above replacement) suggest that he was the second-best player in the league, behind Greg Maddux (who finished third in the MVP balloting). Unless he was having a truly dominant season, it seemed, voters were not giving him the benefit of the doubt. “Once you’ve won it a few times, the standards for you are very high,” he said11

In 1996 Bonds became just the second player to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a season. (Jose Canseco in 1988 had been the first.) Bonds accomplished the 30-30 feat five times, matching his father, Bobby, as the only two players to have five 30-30 seasons. On three other occasions Barry was close, each time having enough home runs but twice finishing with 29 steals and once with 28.

In 1993, Bonds’ first season in San Francisco, the team had made a huge leap, going from 72 wins to 103, but missing out on the playoffs as Atlanta won 104 games that year. The Giants spent the next few years struggling, but setting things up for a run from 1997 to 2004 in which they finished first or second in their division each year.

In 1998 Bonds got one of the ultimate honors: being intentionally walked with the bases loaded, just the fifth time that had ever happened in the major leagues, and the first since 1944. On May 28, with the Arizona Diamondbacks leading 8-6 with two outs in the ninth, Buck Showalter ordered Bonds walked. The next batter lined out to end the game. This was a huge sign of respect for Bonds, and intentionally walking him (albeit without the bases loaded) was a trend that would grow to historic proportions.

Bonds was a very private person, not letting many people into his inner circle even when he was a child. Stories abound about his social interaction, both with teammates and others. He reportedly did things in private for many people, not wanting any publicity about them. Other reports talk of him yelling at youngsters seeking his autograph. In the clubhouse he was disliked, a loner whom other people didn’t get on with at all. His attempts at humor often fell flat, tending to insult others, and when others played pranks on Bonds, he tended to take it as an insult.

Bonds would use the media when he needed to but would ignore them or be rude to them when he didn’t. He spent much of his career telling reporters “tomorrow” when they asked for an interview, but of course tomorrow never came. Much of this attitude came from his father’s career; Barry had seen how the media had treated Bobby when he fell into drinking and wasting his talent. Bobby had instilled the idea that the media would raise you up when they wanted to and tear you down when they were done with you, and Barry took it to heart. He regularly had people in the locker room protecting him from reporters trying to approach, and would often blow off prearranged meetings or interviews.

All these stories paint a picture of a lonely man, one with a desperate need to be loved and admired for his performance but unable to open up and let others in and see beyond the player. Bonds was admired for his feats, but never loved by fans around the league like his contemporaries, people like Ken Griffey Jr. and Sammy Sosa.

Bonds had divorced Sun in 1995, and married Liz Watson in 1998. They had known each other since before Barry married Sun, a friendship that Sun was not happy about. But Bonds had another life on the road, spending many road trips in the company of a girlfriend, Kimberley Bell. That affair would become public knowledge in 2005, causing Bonds much trouble both personally and in legal matters.

Bonds had a son, Nikolai, in 1990 and a daughter, Shikari, in 1991 with Sun. The children did not spend much time with him, living with their mother after they divorced. They would spend a couple of weeks during the summer with their father, but were never close. Bonds had another daughter, Aisha, in 1999 with Liz. He and Liz separated a couple of times, then divorced in 2010.

After the 1998 season things changed for Bonds. He had just watched Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa battle for the home-run record, and watched the baseball world’s attention turn to them and away from him. Bonds always wanted to be in the limelight. He changed himself and achieved a new level of greatness because of this. Some say it was a strong work ethic that brought him through. Many others allege he did it illegally, that this was the period when he began using performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) to boost himself to new heights.

In the winter following the 1998 season, Bonds began working with a trainer called Greg Anderson. Anderson was a low-level steroids user and dealer, hanging out in local gyms. Bonds began exercising with him, lifting weights and working out in an intense fashion. Anderson also introduced him to various steroids, which Bonds took on a regular basis. He showed up in spring training in 1999 having put on a lot of muscle weight. On first seeing him, teammate Charlie Hayes said to a reporter “Did you see my man? … He was huge!”12 But the rapid muscle gain came at a cost; in early 1999 Bonds suffered a torn triceps from stressing his elbow so much. He required surgery and eventually missed a third of the season.13

Bonds set a career high for home runs in 2000, with 49, but that was just a warmup. The 2001 season began with an Opening Day home run, followed shortly by six straight games with home runs. On April 17 he joined the 500-home-run club with a blast into San Francisco Bay off Terry Adams of the Dodgers. In May he hit nine home runs in six games, including three in a game in Atlanta. After a slow July (six home runs) he ended the month with 45, not far off the pace to attack McGwire’s record 70. Bonds passed his own career high on August 11 with his 50th home run of the season, and kept on going.

He had 63 home runs on September 11, when events at the World Trade Center shocked the world and put baseball on hold. It could have been the end of Bonds’ chase for McGwire’s record if the ensuing games had been canceled, but instead they were postponed and baseball resumed a week later. Bonds resumed hitting home runs, and was up to 69 with a week left in the season, when the Giants went to Houston for a three-game series. The Astros were fighting for a playoff spot, and were determined to not let Bonds beat them. They pitched around him all series long, to the ire of their own fans, who had filled the park in expectation. It wasn’t until the ninth inning of the third game of the series, on October 4, with the Giants leading 9-2, that the Astros finally pitched to Bonds. Bonds homered off Wilfredo Rodriguez to tie McGwire for the single-season record. Back at home against the Dodgers the next day, Bonds took care of things quickly, homering in the first and third innings off Chan Ho Park to break the record, and adding another on the last day of the season to set the single-season record at 73.

Bonds was rewarded with the National League MVP for 2001, the first player to win four MVPs. He also signed a new contract with the Giants in January 2002, a five-year, $90 million deal that astounded people because he was 37 years old. With his age and related injuries – a painful degenerative disk in his back – no one expected that he would be playing by the end of the contract.

By now Bonds was feared, perhaps the most dangerous hitter of all time. He was being intentionally walked at all-time record rates, his 68 intentional walks in 2002 blitzing Willie McCovey’s record of 45 in a season. Two years later, in 2004, Bonds was intentionally walked an incredible 120 times, out of a total of 232 walks, which contributed to his reaching base 376 times that season, just three behind Babe Ruth’s record. Teams would rather put Bonds on base and take their chances with anyone else. The Giants reaped the reward, Bonds scoring over 100 runs for them every season from 1993 through 2004 except for strike-shortened 1994 and injury-shortened 1999. Because of all the walks, he usually ended up scoring more runs than he drove in, a factor in his winning just one RBI title, in 1993. Bonds would probably have broken the career RBI record if he hadn’t been walked so much (and spent the first four years of his career leading off). Still, his 1,996 RBIs were fourth all-time when he retired, not far behind Hank Aaron’s 2,297.

Bonds was well rewarded for his performances in the early 2000s. In 2000 he finished second in the MVP race to teammate Jeff Kent, who hit .334-33-125 compared with Bonds’ .306-49-106, and got 22 first-place votes to Bonds’ 6. It is reasonable to say that Kent benefited from hitting behind Bonds in the lineup, and by most advanced statistical measures Bonds was the better player (WAR of 7.7. against 7.2 for Kent).

Bonds then was voted the MVP in four straight seasons, 2001-04. No other player ever won more than two in a row, and Bonds’ total of seven MVPs outstripped everyone else; the next highest total, shared by nine players, is three. Bonds was simply dominating the league. He won two batting titles, hitting .370 in 2002 and .362 in 2004. In 2001 he barely missed breaking Ruth’s single-season OPS record, then he broke it in 2002, and again in 2004.

There are hardly words to describe how dominant Bonds was in that period. Debates will always rage, but statistically Bonds’ efforts from 2000 to 2004 can be claimed as the greatest five-year period ever for a hitter.

But for all Bonds’ personal success, team success proved elusive. In the 15 seasons he played for the Giants, they won just three division titles (1997, 2000, 2003), losing the National League Division Series each time, and Bonds struggled in all three series. In 2002, their most successful postseason while Bonds was there, they finished second in the National League West, and with their wild-card entry into the playoffs, Bonds finally hit well in the postseason, as the Giants beat the Braves in the NLDS, then the Cardinals in the NLCS.

So Bonds got his one appearance in the World Series spotlight that year against the California Angels, and did all he could, having one of the greatest World Series of all time. In his first World Series at-bat he homered leading off the second inning of Game One, and the Giants held on to win 4-3. In Game Two he walked his first three at-bats, but Giants pitching couldn’t keep the Angels down, and even though Bonds hit a solo homer with two out in the top of the ninth to bring the score to 11-10, it merely staved off defeat when the next batter popped out to end the game.

Bonds put on another display of power in Game Three with a homer in the fifth inning, making it three straight games with a home run, but this time the Angels were far ahead and it didn’t make a difference. By now the Angels had awakened to the fact that Bonds was at last a postseason threat, and intentionally walked him three times in Game Four, although the rest of the Giants did enough to squeak out a 4-3 win. They pitched to Bonds again in Game Five (he hit two doubles), but only because the Giants ran away with the game, 16-4. The Series returned to Anaheim with the Giants leading three games to two, and again Bonds was worked around. He homered leading off the sixth in Game Six, but was walked twice and the Giants bullpen blew a 5-0 lead to lose 6-5. And in Game Seven Bonds was quiet, with a single and a walk, but so were the rest of the Giants and the Angels were 4-1 winners to clinch their first World Series title.

Bonds’ one shot at a ring was gone, despite having by far his best postseason ever. He had hit .471 in the World Series with four home runs (tied with several others for second all-time), 6 RBIs and 8 runs scored, with seven of his record 13 walks being intentional (and most of the rest effectively intentional as well).

Off the field, storm clouds were gathering on the horizon. In September 2003 federal agents raided the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO). Run by Victor Conte, BALCO had for years been supplying both legal and illegal performance-enhancing drugs to athletes across the United States. Bonds’ trainer, Greg Anderson, had introduced him to Conte, and when Conte was questioned, federal agents saidhe admitted that he had supplied various steroids to Bonds. Over the next several months story after story would come out about the allegations against Bonds and many other athletes. In November Bonds won his sixth MVP Award, and at the ensuing press conference, asked about PEDs, he denied any knowledge of them. But in December he appeared before a federal grand jury to answer questions under oath about the relationship he had with BALCO.

A year later, in December 2004, the San Francisco Chronicle printed the supposedly secret grand-jury testimony. Bonds had told the grand jury that he used steroids known as the “clear” and the “cream,” but that his trainer, Anderson, told him they were flaxseed oil and rubbing balm.14 A few months later, Kimberly Bell, Bonds’ longtime girlfriend, told the media that she had seen Bonds using steroids. The case against him was damning.

A longtime knee injury had gotten serious enough that Bonds had required multiple surgeries over the winter of 2004-05. He remained in pain and recovery for much of the 2005 season, and it wasn’t until September that he got back on the field for the last couple of weeks of the season. In 2006 he was almost a shadow of his former self, hitting .270 with 26 home runs – he passed Babe Ruth’s 714 in May – but still receiving plenty of walks of both kinds. He came back again in 2007, with the all-time home-run record in his sights. On August 4 in San Diego he tied Hank Aaron with home run number 755, and three days later, on the 7th, he homered off Mike Bacsik of the Washington Nationals to break the record. San Francisco celebrated wildly, as the city did most things Bonds, but the rest of the baseball world was angry that a cheater had broken the sport’s most illustrious record. “It will be the most challenged piece of sport history in memory,” one writer wrote15. The widespread belief was that the record was tainted by steroids, and many had moved on to other things, including baseball itself, which was beginning to crack down on the problem. Bonds celebrated, but after taking the record to 762 by season’s end, discovered that the Giants were not interested in re-signing him. He worked out and was ready to play, but following an indictment for lying to a grand jury he was a pariah in baseball, and no team would take a chance on him.

Bonds finished with many all-time records to his name, not just the home-run title. The all-time leader in walks and intentional walks. (His 688 far exceeded runner-up Aaron’s 293.) Third in runs scored, fourth in total bases, fifth in RBIs. All-time leader in games played as a left fielder. Perhaps most amazingly, most telling about his all-round talent, was that of the eight players with at least 300 stolen bases and 300 home runs, Bonds is not merely the only one with 400 of each but also of 500 each. He was far and away the greatest combination threat of power and speed ever.

Bonds may have expected in his retirement to receive many accolades, and enjoy a long and happy life, but things didn’t work out that way. Legal trouble and baseball trouble would follow.

During his grand-jury testimony in the BALCO case, Bonds had made statements that were ambiguous about receiving steroid injections from Anderson. The prosecutors decided that he was evading their questions, and in November 2007 he was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice. In 2011 Bonds was convicted on the obstruction charge but the jury deadlocked on the perjury charges. He was sentenced to 30 days of house arrest, along with community service and probation. However, after a series of appeals, in 2015 the conviction was overturned. A federal appeals court decided that although his answers were rambling and evasive, he did not lie on the stand. When prosecutors declined to continue their appeals, the criminal case was over.

That hadn’t helped Bonds’ case with baseball voters, though. His name went on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 2013, and with Roger Clemens also on the ballot, the issue of PEDs climbed into the spotlight. The thought of many was that players who used PEDs should never be allowed into the Hall of Fame, and both Bonds and Clemens suffered in the voting, each receiving just over a third of votes from baseball writers. In the following years his vote total remained very similar, not moving much in either direction. For a player who was almost certainly Hall of Fame level even before he began using steroids, Bonds was clearly being punished by voters. It remained to be seen whether that sentiment would fade, or whether Bonds would be kept out of the Hall of Fame for many years to come.

In recent years Bonds appeared to be trying to change his public image. He regularly posted on social media about events in his life, and tried to present a positive image. Whether that would be sufficient to sway any Hall of Fame voters was doubtful; decades of treating the media badly are difficult to unravel in a short period. Bonds could spend his life beloved in San Francisco but otherwise disliked in public and in baseball, a sad ending for a career that promised so much and delivered on it all, aided perhaps by steroids but also by a strong drive to be the best.

Last revised: December 1, 2015

Photo credits

Barry Bonds, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.

Notes

Left-hander Mark Buehrle pitched in 518 games, starting 493 of them, over a 15-year career. He finished his career with a 214-160 career record with a 3.81 ERA and 1,870 strikeouts in 3,283⅓ innings pitched. Buehrle was a five-time All-Star, and won four Gold Gloves and one World Series championship. He pitched two no-hitters, one of them a perfect game.

Mark Alan Buehrle was born on March 23, 1979, in St. Charles, Missouri to John and Pat Buehrle. John was an ex-Marine who became a paramedic, then the manager of the St. Charles City Water Department. Pat worked in the lunchroom at Barnwell Junior High, where her children attended school. Mark was the youngest of the three boys; they had a younger sister. St. Charles is about 30 minutes northwest of Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis. Mark grew up rooting for the Cardinals, watching them make the World Series three times before he turned 9 years old and admiring pitchers John Tudor and Joe Magrane, both lefties, and closer Todd Worrell, who was his favorite even though he threw right-handed.

Buehrle played a lot of baseball in his youth. “Just like any kid playing baseball, I loved everything about it,” he said. “Waiting for school to end to get dressed into the uniform and get out on the field. I just really enjoyed the competition involved with it.”1

Unlike most kids, Buehrle had superior control. His sister, Amy Buehrle English, fondly remembered:

A story I’ve heard a lot my whole life is when he was like one or two (years old), my parents took him to a church picnic or fair. He played one of those games where you throw a ball and knock something over. He just sat there and threw the ball over and over and over hitting the target each time. People would stop to watch because he was so young and so good. So, I’m pretty sure it was known since he was little that he would be a great ballplayer.2

His control even impressed 1983 Cy Young Award winner John Denny, who agreed to coach him privately. Denny was drafted by the Cardinals in 1970 and was a starting pitcher for them for five seasons before being traded to Cleveland.

In an era before travel ball, the first real test a young man will pass is to make his high-school baseball team. However, Buehrle did not make his freshman baseball team at Francis Howell North high school.

English teacher Neil Berry was the freshman baseball coach. He explained: “The only thing I can tell you is that FHN had a program wide pitching coach who loved Mark from his first day as a freshman. I remember his evaluation of Mark was glowing, and he was so impressed that Mark had pinpoint accuracy. The problem was that he was only 5 feet tall and his pitches were hit back harder than he threw them. The reason he didn’t make the team as a freshman was that he was a pitcher only and threw batting practice speed. He also had a bit of an attitude problem as a freshman.”3

Buehrle tried out again his sophomore year, but still did not make the team even with the new coaching from John Denny. “After I got cut those first two years, I pretty much decided I was done,” Buehrle said. “I just felt like getting cut, not being able to make your freshmen and sophomore teams, then there was going to be no way I’d make the varsity team. I basically just decided that I was done, baseball wasn’t going to be my thing and I should move on.”4

Incidentally, it wasn’t Mark Buehrle who was supposed to be cut from the junior varsity team that year. It was another Mark B. instead. This led to the creation of the “Mark Buehrle rule” at Francis Howell North that declared all cuts in the baseball program had to go through the head coach before being finalized.

However, after his father scolded him for his defeatist attitude, letting him know that he did not raise a quitter, Mark found redemption his junior year after growing nearly a foot during the offseason. During his junior year, he worked out of the bullpen as a lefty specialist and put up a 2-0 record with a 0.60 ERA.

Buehrle worked as a starter his senior year, gaining the attention of local scouts as he continued to fill out and gained velocity on his fastball and stronger bite in his curveball. He chose to attend nationally ranked Jefferson College in nearby Hillsboro, Missouri.

“It was a pretty easy sign,” said Dave Oster, former Jefferson College baseball coach, of landing Buehrle as a recruit. “We saw him play one day, asked him to come down for a visit and the next day he came down, he liked the place and committed, and then it kind of went from there.”5

The scouts quickly took notice. “I remember the first tournament we had was down at Southwest Missouri State,” Buehrle said. “I threw a couple of innings down there and the next thing I knew, there were a few scouts handing me index cards asking me to fill out information on myself. At first I thought someone was playing a joke on me. At the time, there was another lefty who pitched for us that threw harder than I did and was a sophomore. I had thought they mistook me for him.”6

After that first year, the Chicago White Sox selected Buehrle in the 38th round of the June 1998 amateur draft with the 1,139th overall pick. Buehrle did not sign initially. The White Sox used the “draft and follow” strategy, which allowed them to retain his rights for a year. Buehrle was undeterred. He underwent a more rigorous offseason training program, becoming the ace of the Jefferson College pitching staff the following season. Just before their draft rights expired, the White Sox made him an offer of $150,000, and he signed.

Buehrle did not spend much time in the minor leagues. In 1999 he started 14 games for the Burlington Bees of the Class-A Midwest League and went 7-4 with 91 strikeouts in 98⅔ innings. The next season Buehrle started 16 games for the Birmingham Barons of the Double-A Southern League and was 8-4 with a 2.28 ERA. That production was good enough to get a call to the big leagues.

On July 16, 2000, Buehrle made his major-league debut, pitching the ninth inning of a blowout win for the White Sox over the Milwaukee Brewers. He allowed two hits and one earned run. He made his first start three days later against the Minnesota Twins in Minneapolis. Over seven innings he allowed six hits and two earned runs and earned his first major-league victory, 3-2.

Buehrle spent the first 12 years of his career with the White Sox. He mostly worked out of the bullpen his rookie season, After defeating the Twins, he started two more games. However, after getting knocked around by the California Angels in the second of those starts, his next 24 appearances were all in relief.

The White Sox won the American League Central Division title in 2000 but were swept by the Seattle Mariners in the Division Series. Buehrle pitched in one game, getting the call in the top of the ninth inning of Game Two and allowing an inherited runner to score.

Buehrle made the starting rotation in 2001 and became a steady presence on the pitching staff, starting 362 games and going 157-118 with a 3.82 ERA (120 ERA+) over an 11-year period (2001-2011). He was named to four All-Star Games and finished fifth in the Cy Young Award vote in 2005.

Buehrle made his first All-Star Game appearance in 2002, having started 19 games with a 12-7 record while producing a 3.57 ERA in the first half of the season. He pitched two innings, allowing one run. In what ended up being one of the strangest All-Star Games, the game ended in a tie after both teams ran out of pitchers in the 11th inning.

In 2003 Buehrle’s 14-14 record with a 4.14 ERA was better than average (112 ERA+), but not as good as his career average (117 ERA+). In 2004 he led the American League in innings pitched (245⅓) while producing a 16-10 record with a 3.89 ERA (121 ERA+). This was his fourth consecutive season with at least 200 innings pitched, an achievement that would become the norm for him rather than the exception.

Buehrle was a major contributor to the White Sox in 2005, with a record of 16-8. His 3.12 ERA was the best among White Sox starters. Only Jon Garland, with 18 wins, topped Buehrle in victories. Buehrle started the All-Star Game and earned the win for his two innings pitched as the American League scored in the bottom of the second and never gave up the lead, winning 7-5.

Beginning in 2001, Buehrle started each of the remaining 490 games of his career, with one notable exception: On October 25, 2005, after throwing 100 pitches over seven innings in Game Two of the World Series two days before, Buehrle was called upon to close out Game Three. He needed only three pitches to induce the Houston Astros’ Adam Everett to pop out and end the game.

That appearance was notable because of what happened before the event. Assuming that he would not be needed during the game, Buehrle had a few beers.

“Yes, I did have a few beverages on the bench, and I went up to (pitching coach) Don Cooper in the sixth, seventh, or eighth inning. I don’t remember what it was,” Buehrle said. “They were starting to use the bullpen. This guy came in for a third of an inning and this guy came in for a third, so it was getting thinner and thinner there. “I’m like, ‘Will you need me?’ and Coop said, ‘No.’ So I go get another beer. I did that a few times, and it was like, when he said, ‘Yeah, get [your] crap on,’ I thought he was just saying it because he was sick of me asking him. I got ready and went down there.”7

Buehrle’s 2006 season was reminiscent of the tale Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He was good in the first half, putting up a 9-4 record in 16 games started with a 3.22 ERA through June. His final three months was a completely different tale. He finished 3-9 with a bloated 7.12 ERA. Overall, he finished 12-13 with a 4.99 ERA, the highest of his career. The White Sox missed out on the playoffs, finishing five games behind the Detroit Tigers for a wild-card spot..

On April 18, 2007, Buehrle was virtually perfect when the Texas Rangers came to town. The only blemish on his record that day was a walk to Sammy Sosa. Nonetheless, two pitches later, Buehrle caught Sosa leaning in the wrong direction and threw to first baseman Paul Konerko to pick him off, and didn’t allow another baserunner. In a book published in 2008, he said, “When I see my name connected to a no-hitter, it seems unreal. You see “last no-hitter pitched in the Major Leagues” and you see my name. It’s kind of overwhelming.”8

In 2007 Buehrle had 201 innings pitched in 30 starts, producing a 10-9 record with a 3.63 ERA. The White Sox, on the other hand, were the worst they would be in Buehrle’s time with them, going 72-90 and finishing fourth in the AL Central Division with only the Kansas City Royals faring worse.

The White Sox got back to their winning ways in 2008, finishing first in the division with an 89-74 record. Buehrle went 15-12 with a 3.79 ERA. He started Game Two of the American League Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Buehrle threw seven-plus innings and was the losing pitcher, giving up five runs and 10 hits in a 6-2 loss.

On July 23, 2009, at US Cellular Field, Buehrle was perfect against the Rays. Notoriously a quick worker, he mowed through the Tampa Bay lineup almost effortlessly. He breezed through the first inning, using only 10 pitches to induce two groundouts and a strikeout. He used 18 pitches in the second, the most he required for an inning, but was able to get Carlos Peña to pop out, Ben Zobrist to strike out, and Pat Burrell to fly out. (Peña did push him into a full count.) Buehrle settled back down in the third inning, retiring the Rays with only 11 pitches. In the fourth, B.J. Upton worked a full count before striking out. Buehrle quickly retired the next two batters, Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria, getting through the inning having thrown just 11 pitches. He was even better in the fifth, needing only 10 pitches. After getting through the first two batters in the sixth without much trouble, Jason Bartlett pushed him into a full count before grounding out to shortstop. Buehrle needed only nine pitches to get through the seventh inning, inducing two groundouts and a fly ball. In the eighth inning, Buehrle struck out Peña, then Zobrist worked a full count before fouling out to the third baseman, Gordon Beckham, requiring seven pitches. Buehrle needed seven more pitches to retire the next batter as well, retiring Pat Burrell on a lineout to Beckham.

Statcast has a statistic called Tempo, which measures the median time between pitches. Their data exists since 2010. With the bases empty, no one has a faster tempo equivalent to throwing a pitch every 5.9 seconds. Fast pitchers keep defenses on their toes. That proved to be necessary during the ninth inning. Manager Ozzie Guillén brought Dewayne Wise into the game in the ninth inning to help shore up the defense, moving Scott Podsednik from center field to left field while sending bad-fielding Carlos Quentin to the bench. Guillén’s move proved to be the right one. The first batter Buehrle faced in the ninth inning was Gabe Kapler. On a 2-and-2 pitch, Kapler hit a drive to deep left-center field. It looked like the ball was headed over the wall. However, Wise raced back diagonally to the wall, leapt up, and caught the ball, robbing Kapler of a home run. Broadcaster Ken Harrelson described the play as “(u)nder the circumstances, one of the greatest catches I have ever seen in 50 years in this game.”9

Buehrle cinched the major leagues’ 18th perfect game by striking out Michel Hernandéz and getting Jason Bartlett on a weak grounder to shortstop.

“I can’t believe that happened to me,” Buehrle recalled. “I’m not a guy who should be throwing perfect games, with not striking guys out, not hard throwing. Just the same thing with the no-hitter. I said I would never throw a perfect game, or a no-hitter, and I ended up doing both of them. So, it was, ‘No way. That just didn’t happen.’”10

(Coincidentally, the home-plate umpire for the perfect game was Eric Cooper, who worked behind the plate for Buehrle’s no-hitter against the Rangers.)

In his next start, Buehrle retired the first 17 batters he faced. Combining his final out in Baltimore on July 18 with his perfect game and those 17 Twins batters on July 28 summed up to 45 straight batters retired. This was a major-league record, later broken by San Francisco Giant Yusmeiro Petit over a course of eight games in 2014.

In 2010 the White Sox finished with an 88-74 record, seven games behind the New York Yankees for a wild-card spot. Buehrle was 13-13 with a 4.28 ERA, the second worst of his career. This ERA was exactly league average, something that Buehrle was not accustomed to, producing an average ERA+ of 117 during his 15 seasons as a starter with only two seasons below 100.

Buehrle did have one notable moment in the sun that season. On June 19 a poll was conducted by the MLB Twitter account asking “Which pitcher made the best play?” The poll offered the following options: Greg Maddux (2008), Mark Buehrle (2010), Bartolo Colon (2015), and Vince Velasquez (2018) with videos showcasing each pitcher’s impressive defensive play. While this was not a scientific poll since the respondents were self-selected, Buehrle was the winner for his kick save on April 5, 2010 – a through-the-legs glove flip to prevent Cleveland Indians catcher Lou Marson from legging out a single up the middle.11

Buehrle’s defensive prowess was widely recognized. The play on Marson came in one of his four straight Gold Glove years (2009 to 2012). Only 11 pitchers have won the award more often.

Part of good defense in the pitching position is picking off baserunners. According to MLB.com, Buehrle was the best at it, getting 100 pickoffs in his career, one better than Steve Carlton.12 It should be noted that pickoffs did not become an official statistic until 1974. It is widely recognized that Carlton accumulated some 45 more pickoffs in his full career.13

Info Solutions developed a defensive runs saved statistic in 2003. Since that year, the only pitcher who saved more runs than Buehrle is Zack Greinke – 98 to 88. The next closest is Jake Westbrook with 62.14

Buehrle became a free agent after the 2011 season. He signed a four-year contract with the Miami Marlins worth $58 million.15 In 31 starts for the Marlins in 2012, Buehrle posted a 13-13 record with a 3.74 ERA and won a Gold Glove for the fourth consecutive year. His time in Miami was short-lived. After finishing in last place with a 69-93 record, the Marlins decided it was time to trim the fat reminiscent of their post-championship sells of 1997 and 2003. Along with shortstop José Reyes, starting pitcher Josh Johnson, John Buck, and Emilio Bonifacio, Buehrle was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in what appeared to be a salary dump.

“I’m upset with how things turned out in Miami,” Buehrle said in a statement issued through his agent, Jeff Berry.” Just like the fans in South Florida, I was lied to on multiple occasions. But I’m putting it behind me and looking forward to moving on with my career.”16

In his three seasons in Toronto, Buehrle started 97 games and produced a 40-28 record with a 3.78 ERA. He was selected to the All-Star team in 2014.

On October 2, 2015, two days before the end of the regular season, Buehrle threw 6⅔ innings against Tampa Bay and picked up his 15th victory. Many, including Buehrle, thought that this might be the final game of his career. He saved the game ball.

Manager John Gibbons had other ideas. Buehrle had pitched 198 innings. Two more would put him at 200 innings pitched for the 15th consecutive year, a feat that only four other pitchers – Gaylord Perry, Don Sutton, Warren Spahn, and Cy Young – had accomplished. On October 4, the last day of the regular season, Buehrle started against the Rays again. He did not survive the first inning, giving up eight runs (all unearned, thanks to two Blue Jays errors), getting just two outs and giving up five hits and a walk.

“Sad thing, I felt better today than I did on Friday, better than I’ve felt in the last month, month and a half,” Buehrle said afterward. “This game is crazy. I didn’t feel great on Friday and went 6⅔, and today I felt great and they had to take me out in the first inning.”17

After the game, Buehrle was informed that he had not made the Blue Jays’ postseason roster. The Blue Jays decided to carry just four starting pitchers – David Price, R.A. Dickey, Marcus Stroman, and Marco Estrada along with seven relief pitchers. Those 45 pitches thrown on a pleasant day in Tampa Bay would prove to be his final major-league tosses.

“I was told I was retiring,” Buehrle said. “I got about 400 text messages today from friends who are, ‘Sad to see you go, to be retiring.’ And I’m like, ‘What’s going on here?’ Apparently I’m done, and what a way to go out. Nowadays we don’t have a decision. It’s what people tell us.”18

In 2017 the White Sox retired Buehrle’s number 56. It is one of 12 numbers retired by the team. Nine of the players have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said the 38-year-old Buehrle, who was flanked by his wife, his two children, and his mother and father at the 30-minute ceremony. “I really can’t put it into words how I feel. … It’s a special day.”19

In retirement Buehrle devoted himself to being the best father he could be to his two children. Said his sister, Amy Buehrle English, “He is a dad first and foremost.”20 Buehrle spent time hunting, traveling, and woodworking. Buehrle has always enjoyed the outdoors. His sister cited an article from when he was a player that said, “Whenever he has time, sometimes around the All-Star break in July, Buehrle races back to St. Charles to laze around the 18-acre pond on his property. He might take out a boat or just sit on shore with a fishing pole and a worm for bait, watching his bobber.”21

Buehrle and his wife, Jamie, displayed a passion for dogs. While living in Chicago, they provided public service announcements for animal rescue facilities, appeared on pet adoption billboards, and headed a Sox for Strays promotion at US Cellular Field.

When Buehrle signed his contract with the Marlins in 2012, he bought a house in Broward County approximately 30 minutes from the Marlins Stadium in Miami-Dade County because pit bulls are prohibited in the county.22 Once he was traded to the Blue Jays, things got even more complicated since pit bulls are banned in the Province of Ontario. The Buehrles opted to keep their family in the St. Louis area, living with their four dogs while Mark lived by himself during the baseball season.

Since 2000, no one has approached Buehrle’s consistency in producing 14 seasons of at least 200 innings pitched and falling four outs short of a 15th. As of 2024, Justin Verlander was the closest to this level of production, posting 12 seasons of at least 200 innings pitched. Nine of the 10 pitchers with more than 14 (Don Sutton, Greg Maddux, Phil Niekro, Warren Spahn, Bert Blyleven, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Gaylord Perry, and Grover Cleveland Alexander are in the Hall of Fame; the sole exception is Roger Clemens.

Since 2000, Buehrle ranks seventh among all starting pitchers in WAR (as of 2024). The top four – Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, and Zack Greinke – were active in 2024. The sixth, CC Sabathia, was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2025.

In his book One Hundred Years of White Sox Baseball, author Mark Pienkos summarizes Buehrle the player: “Mark Buehrle is one of those rare breeds of pitchers that only comes around once in a lifetime. He was special in so many ways: reliable, great fielder, didn’t waste time between tosses, great command of his pitches so as not to allow lots of walks, yet able to strike out batters without having a great deal of velocity.”23

Last revised: March 1, 2025

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and a number of other sources including the following:

Chicago Sun-Times, White Sox: 2005 World Series Champions (Chicago: Sports Publishing, LLC. 2005).

Lee Jenkins, “Miracle on the South Side,” Sports Illustrated, August 3, 2009.

Colleen Kane, “Mark Buehrle on His Quiet Retirement: ‘I Wanted to Sneak My Way Out,’” Chicago Tribune, February 24, 2017. Retrieved September 10, 2024, from https://www.chicagotribune.com/2017/02/24/mark-buehrle-on-his-quiet-retirement-i-wanted-to-sneak-my-way-out/.

Elliot Lee, Red-Tagged: Dirty Diamonds (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform), 2015.

Mark Buehrle | MLB Contracts & Salaries. (n.d.). Spotrac.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024, from https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/player/_/id/169/mark-buehrle.

Tom Stone, Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises (Chicago: ACTA Publications, 2017).

Notes

1 Jeff Strange, “From Being Cut in High School to an MLB All-Star Team: Mark Buehrle Shares His Story,” Patch.com (St. Peters, Missouri), March 6, 2011. https://patch.com/missouri/stpeters/from-being-cut-in-high-school-to-an-mlb-all-star-teamab0e9608ea.

2 Amy Buehrle English, interview by author, September 19, 2024.

3 Neil Berry, interview by author. December 15, 2021.

4 Strange.

5 James Fegan, “Before Mark Buehrle Made the Hall of Fame Ballot, White Sox Scouts Saw Potential,” New York Times, November 22, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/2191063/2020/11/22/mark-buehrle-hall-of-fame/.

6 Strange.

7 Scott Merkin, “Remembering Mark Buehrle’s Perfect Game,” MLB.com, July 22, 2019. https://www.mlb.com/news/remembering-mark-buehrle-s-perfect-game.

8 Lew Freedman, Game of My Life: White Sox: Memorable Stories of Chicago White Sox Baseball (Chicago: Sports Publishing, 2008), 199.

9 Scott Merkin, “Oral History of Mark Buehrle’s Perfect Game,” MLB.com. Retrieved October 10, 2024, from https://www.mlb.com/news/mark-buehrle-perfect-game-2009-an-oral-history.

10 Scott Merkin, “Remembering Mark Buehrle’s Perfect Game.”

11 Video can be seen on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujUdP7H81no.

12 MLB.com stats. https://www.mlb.com/stats/pitching/pickoff/all-time-totals?expanded=true.

13 Kevin Czerwinski, “The Pickoff Artist,” BallNine, September 27, 2022. https://ballnine.com/2022/09/27/the-pickoff-artist/.

14 Bill James, “Fielding Bible,” Fielding Bible, n.d.. Accessed November 20, 2024. https://archive.fieldingbible.com/DRSLeaderboard.

15 The 2012 Marlins were managed by Ozzie Guillén.

16 Associated Press, “Mark Buehrle: Marlins Lied to Me,” ESPN.com, November 21, 2012. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/8661291/mark-buehrle-says-miami-marlins-lied-multiple-occasions.

17 G. Chisholm, “Buehrle Falls Short of eat, Postseason Roster Spot,” MLB.com, October 4,2015 Retrieved November 14, 2024, from https://www.mlb.com/news/mark-buehrle-falls-short-of-feat-alds-roster/c-153295414.

18 Chisholm.

19 Associated Press, “White Sox Retire Mark Buehrle’s No. 56 Jersey,” USA Today, June 24, 2017. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/06/24/white-sox-retire-former-star-pitcher-buehrles-no-56-jersey/103167590/.

20 English interview.

21 English interview.

22 Jerry Crasnick, “Outlawed Pit Bull Will Keep Buehrle Away From His Family,” ESPN.com, February 7, 2013. Retrieved September 17, 2024, from https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/8921726/outlawed-pit-bull-keep-mark-buehrle-away-family.

23 Mark Pienkos, 1917-2017: One Hundred Years of White Sox Baseball: Highlighting the Great 1917 World Series Championship Team (Sarasota, Florida: Pepperpot Press, 2017), 90.

In spite of the abrupt end to Clemens’ evening and career, as he left the mound, it seemed a certainty that he would be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, as soon as he passed the five-year waiting period for eligibility. Few pitchers in the history of baseball could boast anything near to his accomplishments: a record seven Cy Young Awards, 354 victories, 4,672 strikeouts, seven-time ERA leader with a career 3.12 ERA, six-time 20-game winner, five-time strikeout leader, 46 shutouts in the era of relief specialists and closers, and two-time World Series champion. He was too much of a polarizing figure in his career to exceed Tom Seaver’s record of being named on 98.8 percent of the Hall of Fame ballots, but he seemed certain to be a first-ballot selectee.

On December 13, 2007, little more than two months after Clemens’ final Yankees start, doubt was cast over his future enshrinement among baseball’s immortals when he was mentioned repeatedly in the Mitchell Report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. In the years following the report, Clemens spent almost as much time in courtrooms as he spent on pitcher’s mounds during his career. By the time his first year of eligibility for the Hall of Fame arrived in January 2013, he was named on only 37.6 percent of the ballots and, in his second year, that number declined to 35.4 percent while two of his contemporaries and fellow members of the 300-win club, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, were elected.

Clemens’ life is the tale of a fanatically driven man who worked hard to achieve his dream of stardom and attained the pinnacle of success. Jorge Posada, Clemens’ catcher with the Yankees, was complimentary when he said, “The only thing he wants to do is just win.”1 Cito Gaston, Clemens’ manager with the Toronto Blue Jays until he was fired toward the end of the 1997 season, intended no such praise when he commented, “It’s all about him, nobody else but him.”2 Clemens’ ambition gained him both fans and detractors, helped him to achieve massive success, and ultimately contributed to his fall from grace.

William Roger Clemens was born on August 4, 1962, in Dayton, Ohio, the fifth child of Bill and Bess Clemens. He was only 5 months old when his mother took her children and left his father, with whom he claims to have spoken only once in his life, when he was 10 years old. Less than two years later, Bess married Woody Booher, whom Roger looked up to as a real father. But he became fatherless again at the age of 8 when Booher died of a heart attack.

While his mother provided Roger with an example of the work ethic he would adopt by laboring at several jobs to support her children, he came under the tutelage of his older brother Randy, whom he idolized. In high school Randy was a shortstop on the baseball team, the star shooting guard for the basketball team, and the king of his senior prom, leading Clemens to admit, “While I was growing up, Randy was the star as far as I was concerned.”3 Though the two brothers have become estranged, Randy’s influence was immense as he “instill[ed] in his brother a simple philosophy: Either you’re a winner or you’re a failure.”4 It was a mantra that caused Clemens to question at times whether he was good enough to become the star athlete that both of them wanted him to be.

While Clemens’ baseball career dwarfs his brother Randy’s high-school athletic exploits, his initial attempts to emulate his elder sibling were less than encouraging. He played baseball, basketball, and football, but distinguished himself in none of these sports. In fact, the only notable event from his youth baseball exploits was that he split starts for his 1977 squad with Kelly Krzan, who was the first girl in Ohio to play on a boys’ Little League team.

By the time Clemens was 15 and a high-school sophomore, Randy had married and moved to Sugar Land, Texas, a suburb 20 miles southwest of downtown Houston. Randy had failed to achieve athletic stardom of his own largely due to the development of a substance-abuse problem, but he now wanted to guide his younger brother’s athletic career. After the two brothers received their mother’s permission, Ohio-born-and-raised Roger Clemens made the sojourn to Texas, the state with which he has become identified.

Clemens enjoyed initial success by amassing a 12-1 record and helping Sugar Land’s Dulles High School win a district title, but Randy was plotting a move to more competitive fields. After watching a tournament game between two of the Houston area’s premier high-school teams, Bellaire and Spring Woods, Clemens decided that he wanted to play for the latter team. Bess Clemens had moved to Houston now as well, and she made sure that her son’s wish was granted.

The time spent at Spring Woods High School was a mixed blessing: Clemens played for a coach, Charlie Maiorana, whom he credits for much of his knowledge about mechanics and conditioning, but he spent his junior year seeing little action on a team with two of the state’s best pitching prospects. His determination showed as he became known for his workout regimen, especially his running, and he had his turn as Spring Woods’ number one starting pitcher during his senior year. Still, at that point in his life, the player who came to sit at number three on the major-league strikeout list still threw too softly to draw any notice from either professional or college scouts.

As a favor to Clemens, Maiorana called a colleague, Wayne Graham, the new coach at San Jacinto Junior College, to ask if he could pull any strings to get Clemens to his desired destination, the University of Texas in Austin. Graham could not accomplish that feat, but he did offer Clemens a scholarship to San Jacinto, which is where Clemens’ fortunes were reversed. The failure to achieve high-school stardom resulted in the season that launched Clemens on the path to professional greatness.

The year 1981 was Wayne Graham’s first season to coach at any college level, but he has become a legend by guiding San Jacinto to five national junior-college championships in six years (1985-1990) – a feat that earned him Collegiate Baseball Magazine’s Junior College Coach of the Century Award – and leading Houston’s Rice University to the NCAA College World Series Championship in 2003. What Graham did with Clemens – turning a soft-tossing youth into a flamethrower – was an equally impressive accomplishment. He preached to Clemens that he needed to finish hard on his pitches or he would never have a chance to realize his dream of pitching in the major leagues, a message Clemens took to heart as he finished his sole season at San Jacinto with a 9-2 record while the college won the Texas Junior College Athletic Association championship. His coach’s assessment was that “Roger began the year as one of the guys, and he ended it as an ace.”5

Graham anticipated that Clemens would remain at San Jacinto for a second year, an expectation that was buoyed when Clemens turned down an offer from the New York Mets, who had selected him in the 12th round of the 1981 draft. Clemens went through the motions of throwing for Mets manager Joe Torre and pitching coach/legend Bob Gibson at Houston’s Astrodome, but he had other plans in mind. He had been contacted by University of Texas Longhorns coach Cliff Gustafson, who was now interested in the improved pitcher. The opportunity to play at Texas had been Clemens’ dream, and he pounced on it; however, he failed to contact Graham about his decision and alienated the man who had placed him on the road to stardom.

Clemens fulfilled expectations at Texas, although there were some hiccups along the way. The 1982 Longhorns began their season with a 33-game winning streak that was one win shy of tying the NCAA record. Clemens, who had begun the campaign 7-0, pitched in game number 34 but lost 4-3 to the University of Houston. It was later revealed that he had bursitis while pitching that game, and he missed the next two weeks of the season. He finished 12-2 with a 1.99 ERA, but Texas was eliminated from the College World Series by Wichita State.

The Longhorns suffered under the burden of high expectations in 1983 and plodded through an up-and down season. At one point, the driven Clemens became so frustrated by his personal mound setbacks that he was ready to quit the team, an example of the toll that the insecurity caused by Randy Clemens’ “winner or failure” mentality took on him. While he was not yet a polished pitcher, he still demonstrated great potential. Houston Astros scout Gordon Lakey reported that Clemens’ delivery was not compact enough, but he believed it could be helped and that Clemens would develop more leg drive and become a power pitcher.6 Chicago White Sox scout Larry Monroe’s report echoed that of Lakey as he wrote of Clemens: “Delivery is fluid but does not use body at all. Should be easily improved and no reason why he shouldn’t be in low 90’s. I’m surprised he doesn’t have shoulder problems from standing up and just throwing. Some bend in legs and drive to plate would help velocity, life, and location.”7 Both scouts projected Clemens as a likely second-round draft pick. Owing to rare encouragement from the usually gruff Gustafson, Clemens persevered – he went 13-5 with a 3.04 ERA – and the Longhorns survived their inconsistency to make a return trip to the College World Series.

Before Clemens took the mound for his start against Oklahoma State in the College World Series on June 6, the Boston Red Sox selected him as the 19th player chosen in the major-league draft, a circumstance about which he said, “I was completely surprised. As far as I was concerned, Boston was a foreign country.”8 Five days after defeating Oklahoma State, Clemens capped his Texas career with a complete-game 4-3 victory over Alabama in the College World Series Championship Game to put himself and his team on top of the collegiate baseball world before he departed Austin for Boston, having now been signed by Red Sox scout Danny Doyle. Of course, Clemens did not make it to the parent club straight out of college, but he did take the fast track through the Red Sox’ minor-league system where he already exhibited character traits that became hallmarks of his career.

His first stop was with the Winter Haven Red Sox of the Class-A Florida State League, for whom he went 3-1 with a 1.24 ERA in four starts and where he established his reputation for pitching inside to hitters. Two days before his final Winter Haven start, Clemens had taken umbrage at the Lakeland Tigers’ Ronald Davis taking out his Red Sox (and ex-University of Texas) teammate Mike Brumley at second base, a play on which Brumley was injured. Clemens pitched a 15-strikeout shutout against Lakeland in which he also retaliated for Brumley’s injury by hitting Davis in the head in his first at-bat. Clemens claimed – as most pitchers do – that he had only wanted to brush Davis back and that the pitch had gotten away from him; however, he also claimed that he was prepared to fight, something for which Davis was in no condition as he collapsed and was taken to a hospital.

The split opinion among baseball observers as to whether Clemens merely pitched inside or was a headhunter mirrors the split in opinion about his character in general. Few players thought poorly of Don Drysdale or Nolan Ryan for pitching close inside, but these two pitchers were held in high regard while Clemens was often considered arrogant. Clemens fanned the flames of this negative reputation by both his actions and his words, never more infamously so than after winning the 1986 American League MVP Award. When informed that no less a luminary than Hank Aaron had asserted that pitchers should not receive the MVP, he retorted, “I wish he was still playing. I’d probably crack his head open to show him how valuable I was.”9

After his debacle-marred gem, Clemens was promoted to the New Britain (Connecticut) Red Sox of the Double-A Eastern League and amassed a 4-1 record with a 1.38 ERA in seven starts, but he also continued to draw controversy. In the team’s first-round playoff series, Reading Phillies manager Bill Dancy protested that Clemens was using a glove that had writing all over it and claimed that it was distracting. The home-plate umpire ordered Clemens to use a different glove – an order the pitcher complied with – but he began to curse at Clemens due to the grief he was getting from New Britain’s bench. Clemens charged the umpire but stopped short of any physical contact. Instead, he calmed down, borrowed a teammate’s glove, and proceeded to dominate Reading. Charging umpires became another Clemens trait as his career progressed, but calming down did not. As he accumulated successes, his “winner or failure” mentality and its resultant insecurity morphed into hypercompetitive intensity on and off the mound.

New Britain dispatched the Phillies and faced the Lynn Sailors for the championship, which they won when Clemens pitched a 10-strikeout shutout in Game Four. After he had breezed through two levels of the minor leagues and won his second championship in three months, Clemens’ baseball future looked bright. His personal life became equally so when he began to date Debra Lynn Godfrey, whom he had known in passing at Spring Woods High School, in the offseason. Godfrey was a fellow fitness fanatic who twice auditioned for the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders squad, and the two of them worked out together regularly. They became engaged in May 1984 and were married in November of that year.

Before his engagement to Godfrey, Clemens made one final stop on his way to Boston. He took part in spring training with the parent club in the familiar surroundings of Winter Haven, Florida, but ended up being assigned to Pawtucket of the Triple-A International League to begin the season after posting a 6.60 ERA in Grapefruit League games. Clemens did not allow his disappointment to keep him from excelling at yet another level as he posted a 1.93 ERA in 46⅔ innings for Pawtucket. Enough was enough and, on May 11, 1984, Roger Clemens was officially called up by the Boston Red Sox.

On Tuesday, May 15, 1984, Clemens made his major-league debut against the Indians before a mere 4,004 fans at chilly Cleveland Stadium and learned that minor-league success does not always carry over instantly to the majors. He received no decision after surrendering 11 hits, three walks, and five runs (four earned) in 5⅔ innings, but what was alarming was that Indians baserunners had swiped six bases against him because, in the words of his catcher, Gary Allenson, “(a)t that point, he had no real concept of keeping opposing runners in check.”10 In his next start, against the Minnesota Twins on May 20, he pitched seven strong innings to earn his first major-league victory.

The remainder of Clemens’ rookie season was not as memorable as the one put together by his National League counterpart, Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets, who finished with a 17-9 record and easily won the NL Rookie of the Year award. Clemens was up and down from start to start and later conceded that some people were beginning to question whether he might fall into the same category as David Clyde, the 1970s poster boy for young pitchers who had been rushed to the major leagues too quickly. That fear was put to rest by a 15-strikeout performance against the Kansas City Royals on August 21, but soon a new specter – that of injury – arrived to haunt the Red Sox and their fans. In his final start of the season, on August 31 against the Indians, Clemens registered seven of 11 outs by strikeout and then exited the game with a strained tendon in his right forearm. Though the injury was minor, Clemens was shut down for the year and finished a solid but unspectacular rookie campaign at 9-4 with a 4.32 ERA.

Clemens endured nagging injuries on his way to a 7-5/3.29 sophomore campaign in 1985. The low point of his season came on July 7 when he could not make his scheduled start against the California Angels due to what he described as “[. . .] an intensely sharp pain, as if someone stuck a knife in the back of my shoulder.”11 Clemens’ early-career insecurity came to the fore again as he engaged in a clubhouse meltdown in Anaheim that day, and his fear of failure caused him to break down in tears while repeatedly asking, “Why me?” The next day he was placed on the 15-day disabled list due to shoulder inflammation and, though he returned to the rotation, he never recovered fully that year. On August 30 surgeon James Andrews removed a small piece of cartilage from Clemens’ right shoulder in a 20-minute procedure. Clemens spent the offseason learning new exercises to strengthen his shoulder and waited for the 1986 season to come around.

The Red Sox started out slowly in 1986, but Clemens overcame his spring-training fears about his rehabilitated shoulder and charged out to a 3-0 record with a 1.85 ERA. His fourth start provided the harbinger of things to come as April 29, 1986, became the night on which Roger Clemens vaulted himself to stardom. Facing a free-swinging Seattle Mariners team that had struck out 166 times in 19 games, he turned in a record-setting performance by striking out 20 batters in a nine-inning, complete-game effort at Fenway Park. Clemens began the game in form by brushing back his former college teammate and role model Spike Owen with his second and third pitches of the night. Afterward, he denied throwing at Owen, but a conflicting account exists in which former Longhorns teammate Mike Capel dared him to plunk Owen on the day before the game.

Whatever the truth about Clemens’ intent, the tone for the game was set and the Mariners were baffled for all but one pitch. Gorman Thomas launched Clemens’ lone mistake for a solo home run and a 1-0 Mariners lead in the top of the seventh inning and, for a moment, it looked as though Clemens’ brilliance might be for naught. Fortunately for Clemens and the Red Sox, Dwight Evans hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning for the final 3-1 margin of victory. From that point on, Clemens struck out four more batters to reach the record-breaking total of 20. He became an instant superstar and fulfilled a dream he claimed to have had when he was 12 by making the cover of Sports Illustrated’s May 12, 1986 issue, which carried the headline “Lord of the K’s.”12

After an 11-strikeout victory at Baltimore on June 27, Clemens was only the fifth pitcher in major-league history to start a season 14-0. He suffered his first loss on July 2 against the Toronto Blue Jays, but his 15-2 first-half record led Kansas City manager Dick Howser to name him the American League’s starter in the All-Star Game, which would be held in his adopted hometown of Houston. The Red Sox, meanwhile, were in first place in the AL East with a 56-31 record and a seven-game lead at the break.

There was, however, a downside that accompanied all of this success, and it involved his relationship with the media and its burgeoning demands on his time. According to Clemens, “The attention I enjoyed and appreciated at first after breaking the strikeout record soon became stressful.” He claimed that the press did not realize “how I needed to stay on my program and work.”13 For their part, the reporters began to perceive Clemens as alternately aloof or difficult, depending upon whether or not they could get any worthwhile quotes from the new star. Clemens correctly conceded that this period was “the first time I experienced some problems with the media,”14 but it would not be the last.

The media crush of an All-Star Game that matched Clemens and fellow fireballer Dwight Gooden as the starters did not deter him from turning the event into yet another showcase for his talents. While Gooden surrendered two runs in three innings of work, Clemens retired all nine NL batters he faced, struck out two, and did not allow a single baserunner, a performance that earned him the game’s MVP award. His newfound stardom also birthed a new arrogance that surfaced in the second half of the 1986 season.

In his July 30 start against the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park, Clemens had a new manner of meltdown after first-base umpire Greg Kosc made a disputed call that went against him. With two outs in the fifth inning, Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner had flipped a Harold Baines grounder to Clemens, who thought he had beaten the runner to the bag. Instead, Kosc ruled that Clemens had missed first base and called Baines safe, which allowed what ended up being the winning run to score for the White Sox. Clemens charged at Kosc to argue the call and made incidental contact with the umpire, which resulted in his automatic ejection. Now he came completely unglued – he claimed to have hyperventilated twice during his rampage – and eventually was carried off the field by teammates Jim Rice and Don Baylor. Clemens was suspended for two games and fined, but his outlook on his punishment was revealing: In his autobiography, he stated, “As it turned out, all I lost was a day’s pay – little more than $1,000 – and $250” [for paying his teammates’ (Bruce Hurst and Al Nipper) minor fines].15 A fine was no great consequence to Clemens and, from this point on, he often alternated feats with fits over the course of his career.

The 1986 Red Sox rolled into the playoffs, with Clemens winning his last seven decisions, but Clemens’ own postseason hopes seemed jeopardized when John Stefero’s line drive hit his pitching elbow in his final regular season start, against Baltimore on October 1. X-rays were negative and the swelling went down in time for Clemens to make his Game One start in the ALCS against the California Angels at Fenway. Clemens made three starts in Boston’s hard-fought seven-game series against the Angels: Game One was forgettable as he surrendered eight runs (seven earned) in 7⅓ innings and Game Four resulted in a no-decision in 8⅓ innings during Boston’s extra-inning loss, but in the clinching Game Seven he dominated the Angels and allowed only one run in seven innings to help send the Red Sox to the World Series for the first time since 1975.

World Series Game Two was a Clemens-versus-Gooden rematch, but neither pitcher lasted longer than five innings; a flu-ridden Clemens gave up four walks and three runs in 4⅓ innings of a game that Boston won 9-3. His second start came in Game Six, with the Red Sox holding a 3-2 edge in games, and he struck out eight while surrendering only two runs (one earned) in seven innings. The Red Sox had a 3-2 lead when Clemens was lifted from the game for a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning, but there was controversy over the timing of his exit. Clemens had torn open a blister and had begun bleeding, and manager John McNamara later claimed that Clemens had asked out of the game as a result, a contention that Clemens and several of his teammates denied. Game Six went down in Red Sox infamy as Calvin Schiraldi combined with Bob Stanley, Bill Buckner, and fate to lose to the Mets 6-5 in 10 innings. The Mets’ 8-5 victory in Game Seven kept Clemens from putting the ultimate jewel in the crown of his 1986 season, a campaign during which he went 24-4 with a league-leading 2.48 ERA and became the first player to win the Cy Young Award, American League MVP Award, and All-Star Game MVP Award in the same season.

In addition to all of his on-field success, Roger and Debbie Clemens welcomed their first son, Koby, into the world on December 4, 1986. In what became a theme, Clemens gave all four of his sons names that begin with the letter “K” – Kory, Kacy, and Kody followed Koby – since it is the baseball scoring abbreviation for a strikeout.

The relationship between Clemens and the Red Sox took a downturn when Clemens walked out in the middle of spring training over a contract dispute. Commissioner Peter Ueberroth eventually negotiated an agreement between the team and its star, but the incident did not bode well for the future. The Red Sox had a miserable 1987 season, finishing at 78-84, though Clemens won his second consecutive Cy Young Award with a 20-9 record, 2.97 ERA, and seven shutouts.

In 1988 Clemens created a minor stir by deciding to pitch against the Angels in Anaheim rather than return to Houston for the birth of his second son, Kory. He earned a complete-game victory in that May 30 game on his way to an 18-12, 2.93, eight-shutout season. The Red Sox rebounded to win the AL East in 1988 but were swept in the ALCS by the Oakland Athletics, though Clemens pitched adequately in his Game Two start.

The biggest firestorm Clemens ignited that year came on December 5 when he gave an interview to a Boston television station in which he attacked anyone and everyone associated with the Red Sox, from management to teammates to fans. His complaint, “Travel, road trips and carrying your own luggage around isn’t all that fun and glory,”16 propagated the stereotype of the spoiled, pampered athlete and cast him in a negative light to fans.

Clemens did play for the Red Sox through the 1996 season, winning his third Cy Young in 1991 and leading the AL in ERA from 1990 to 1992, but he continued to be antagonistic with the media and, in turn, both the media and fans emphasized his shortcomings – real and perceived – more than his accomplishments.

One highly scrutinized event was a tantrum in Game Four of the 1990 ALCS in which the Athletics again swept the Red Sox. Clemens had pitched six shutout innings in Game One, but Boston had lost, and things were not going well at the outset of Game Four. With Oakland leading 1-0 and two outs in the second inning, Clemens began cursing from the mound at home-plate umpire Terry Cooney over balls and strikes and was ejected from the game. When Clemens realized that he had been tossed, he charged Cooney and pushed right-field umpire Jim Evans aside, an offense for which he was fined $10,000 and suspended for the first five games of the 1991 season.

Rather than lie low after such an ignominious end to the season, Clemens gained additional notoriety off the field when he and older brother Randy were arrested at a Houston nightclub on January 18, 1991. Randy had become involved in an altercation, and Roger was arrested for hindering the security guard – an off-duty police officer – who was attempting to arrest his brother. He was found “not guilty” of the charge, but his fame was now increasing for the wrong reasons.

In 1992 Clemens further strained his relationship with the Red Sox when he reported eight days late for spring training; however, he still registered another stellar campaign on the mound, finishing 18-11. After he posted his first losing record in 1993 – 11-14 with a 4.46 ERA – speculation renewed about how much longer Clemens would last. He pitched well in strike-shortened 1994, but in 1995 he had a bloated 4.18 ERA and again came up short in the postseason, though he received no decision in the Red Sox’ ALDS Game One extra-inning loss to the Cleveland Indians.

While Clemens was in an up-and-down phase of his career on the mound and was in the process of alienating Boston fans and management, he was still popular enough with fans nationwide that he made several guest appearances as himself on different television shows. Clemens even showed a sense of humor by taking a role in the animated The Simpsons episode titled “Homer at the Bat.” In the course of the story, Clemens – as himself – is hypnotized into thinking that he is a chicken and spends much of the episode squawking and clucking. His acting exploits also included the big screen, for which his most notable role was as an unnamed flamethrower who pitches to Ty Cobb in the 1994 film Cobb, based on Al Stump’s biography of the Georgia Peach.

In 1996 Clemens posted his second losing record, 10-13, but had a more respectable 3.63 ERA and led the AL with 257 strikeouts. He momentarily turned back the clock 10 years by registering his second career 20-strikeout game, against Detroit at Tiger Stadium on September 18; it was also his 192nd victory, which tied him with Cy Young atop the Red Sox’ all-time list. Nonetheless, Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette considered his 40-39 record for the team from 1993 through 1996 and questioned whether Clemens might be in the “twilight” of his career; he apparently did not see him as a player around whom to rebuild the team into a perennial contender. Clemens spurned Boston’s contract offer and signed for three years and $24.75 million with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Toronto was far removed from its consecutive World Series victories of 1992-1993 and was not a contender during Clemens’ stint with the team, but “Rocket” was not finished yet after all. Quite the contrary, the brief Blue Jays era of 1997-1998 was Clemens at his dominant best as he went a combined 41-13 with a 2.33 ERA and 563 strikeouts, winning the pitching Triple Crown – wins, ERA, strikeouts – in both years as well as his fourth and fifth Cy Young Awards. He also exacted revenge against the Red Sox in his first start as a Blue Jay at Fenway Park on July 12, 1997, when he pitched eight innings of one-run ball and struck out 16 batters.

In time, a cloud of suspicion gathered over this mid-30s pitching renaissance for two reasons: 1) The prevalence of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in baseball by this time, and 2) the hiring of Brian McNamee as Toronto’s strength and conditioning coach after the 1997 season. Baseball was in the midst of its PED era and – as was the case with most players – no public accusations were made against Clemens at the time; however, McNamee later claimed that he injected Clemens with the steroid Winstrol in 1998.

Clemens longed to pitch for a contender again and his trade request was granted on February 18, 1999, when Toronto traded him to the New York Yankees – an old adversary with whom he had engaged in numerous beanball wars – for starter David Wells, reliever Graeme Lloyd, and second baseman Homer Bush. As a Yankee, Clemens was back in the center of the baseball universe, but that was a mixed blessing as he turned in an inconsistent 14-10, 4.60 campaign.

The 1999 postseason began promisingly as Clemens pitched seven scoreless innings in the ALDS-clinching Game Three against the Texas Rangers, but the ALCS was another matter altogether as Clemens fizzled in his return to Fenway in a Game Three marquee matchup against Boston’s new ace, Pedro Martinez. While Martinez pitched seven shutout innings and struck out 12, Clemens suffered the Yankees’ only loss of the series and was battered for five runs in only two innings. As he left the mound in the bottom of the third, Boston fans taunted him by chanting “Where is Rog-er?” That game became a distant memory for Clemens after he won World Series Game Four against the Atlanta Braves with a 7⅔-inning, one-run performance that capped a Yankees sweep. The one prize, a World Series ring, that had eluded Clemens for his entire career was now his: “Tonight, I know what it’s like to be a Yankee. I am blessed,” he exulted.17

Prior to Game Two of the World Series at Atlanta’s Turner Field, Clemens had been named – along with 29 other players – as a member of the All-Century Team. The 100 nominees for the team had been chosen by a panel of experts and had been presented at that year’s All-Star Game, but it was the fans who had voted for the players. Clemens was the only active pitcher – and one of only four active players – voted onto the team, joining Cal Ripken Jr., Ken Griffey Jr., and Mark McGwire. This accolade and his first World Series championship appeared to validate Clemens’ tunnel-vision tenacity in pursuit of his goals.

On the heels of reaching the pinnacle of professional success, Clemens experienced one of the lowest points in his personal life. In May 2000 his ex-sister-in-law Kathy, who had been married to his brother Randy and had been like a mother to him when he had first moved to Texas, was murdered in a home-invasion robbery in Houston. Kathy’s son Marcus had adopted his father Randy’s drug habit, and the robbery was tied to money and drugs. Roger blamed Randy’s substance-abuse addiction for the couple’s divorce, his nephew’s drug addiction, and Kathy’s murder, and he became alienated from the brother who had exerted such tremendous influence on his life, his outlook on the world, and his early career.

On the mound in 2000, Clemens posted a pedestrian 13-8 record and lost his two starts against Oakland in the ALDS, but he experienced a reversal of fortune from the previous year’s ALCS in Boston in his Game Four start against the Seattle Mariners. In a game as dominant as any he had ever pitched, he set an ALCS record by striking out 15 batters in a one-hit shutout. It was an amazing performance for a 38-year old power pitcher that also served as an endorsement for Clemens’ now-legendary workout regimen – one that players half his age were unwilling to attempt – which again fell under the auspices of Brian McNamee, who had joined the Yankees as an assistant strength coach in 2000.

Clemens turned in another eight shutout innings in World Series Game Two against the crosstown Mets, a Series the Yankees won in five games. The focus of the game, though, was a bizarre incident that occurred in the top of the first inning. Mets catcher Mike Piazza, whom Clemens had hit in the head with a pitch in a regular-season game on July 8, shattered his bat hitting a soft liner that squibbed foul into the Yankees dugout. Clemens picked up the barrel piece of the bat and threw it in Piazza’s direction as he ran up the baseline. The shard almost hit Piazza, who was angered and exchanged words with Clemens as both benches emptied. Clemens was not ejected for his action and dominated the Mets with eight innings of shutout ball in which he allowed only two hits and no walks and struck out nine. After the game, Clemens offered the implausible excuse that he had thought he had the ball, rather than the barrel of Piazza’s bat, which still did not explain why he threw it toward Piazza rather than first baseman Tino Martinez. Nobody believed Clemens, and he was fined $50,000 for the incident.

In 2001, a season in which McNamee has claimed he injected Clemens with the steroids Sustanon 250 and Deca-Durabolin, Clemens raced out to a 12-1 record that garnered him his second career All-Star Game start. He took his record to 19-1 before his first attempt at win number 20 was placed on hold by the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. After America regrouped, and MLB resumed play on September 17 at the behest of President George W. Bush, Clemens finished the season 20-3 with a 3.51 ERA and earned his sixth Cy Young Award. The Yankees again made it to the World Series, and Clemens registered a 1.35 ERA over 13⅓ innings in two starts against the Arizona Diamondbacks. In Game Three, he scattered three hits in seven innings in a 2-1 win. He engaged in a Game Seven duel against Curt Schilling that the Yankees lost when Luis Gonzalez looped an RBI single off Mariano Rivera to win the game in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Clemens was solid, though no longer spectacular, with the Yankees in 2002-03. He did reach both the 300-win and 4,000-strikeout milestones in a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Yankee Stadium on June 13, 2003, becoming the first pitcher to hit both landmarks in the same game. He had said repeatedly that he was retiring after the 2003 season, so when he walked off the mound of Miami’s Pro Player Stadium after pitching seven innings of three-run ball in World Series Game Four on October 22, 2003, everyone assumed it was his swan song. There was no fairytale ending to his story, though, as the Yankees fell to the Florida Marlins in six games.

Clemens’ retirement lasted little more than 2½ months. Shortly after Yankees free agent, friend, and fellow Houstonian Andy Pettitte signed to play for the Houston Astros, Clemens joined him and the pair set Houston abuzz with the hope that they could help franchise icons Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio reach the promised land of the World Series before they too reached retirement age.

Although 2004 was his first year in the National League, Clemens registered the same results he had through most of his career: He posted an 18-4 record, 2.98 ERA, and 218 strikeouts for which he won his record-extending seventh Cy Young Award, joining Gaylord Perry, Randy Johnson, and Pedro Martinez as the only pitchers to win the award in both leagues. He also started his third All-Star Game – this time for the NL – in his adopted hometown of Houston, where he had started his first All-Star Game for the AL 18 years earlier.

The Astros were the NL wild-card team in 2004, and Clemens started the franchise toward its first-ever postseason-series victory in 43 seasons of existence by winning NLDS Game One against the Atlanta Braves. Against the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS, he won Game Three but lost the decisive Game Seven; however, he received none of the criticism he had often endured in Boston and New York when he had fallen short in the postseason. He could do no wrong in his hometown and was becoming a Texas legend on a par with his boyhood idol Nolan Ryan.

Clemens returned to the Astros in 2005 and added to his increasingly larger-than-life exploits. At the age of 43, he led the majors with a 1.87 ERA and might have won an eighth Cy Young Award had he received more run support to improve his 13-8 record. On September 14, in a decision reminiscent of his choice to pitch on the day of his son Kory’s birth, Clemens defeated the Florida Marlins after his mother, Bess, died that morning. In response to those who questioned his decision, Clemens replied that his mother had made him promise to pitch and that the game was important to the Astros’ playoff hopes. It was clear that he was still as driven to win as he had always been.

The Astros were the NL wild-card entry again in 2005 and faced the Atlanta Braves once more. Clemens lost Game Two, but for Houston fans his status grew to mythological proportions three days later in Game Four. On October 9, after the Astros had exhausted their bullpen by the 15th inning of their marathon contest against the Braves, Clemens came to the rescue and pitched three scoreless innings. He earned the win when Chris Burke ended the game with a solo homer in the bottom of the 18th, and the Astros advanced to the NLCS. As if pitching on short rest were not enough, Clemens had also demonstrated a bit of batting acumen when he laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the 15th.

In the NLCS, the Astros met another familiar opponent – the Cardinals – whom they defeated in six games to reach their first World Series, with Clemens contributing a victory in Game Three. The magic ran out in the World Series, though, as he exited Game One with a sore hamstring after allowing three runs in only two innings. The Chicago White Sox swept the Astros, and Clemens seemed likely to retire permanently.

Alas, he could not stay away from the game, and he lost much of the goodwill he had engendered in 2005 by appearing willing to sell himself to the highest bidder as he engaged in talks with numerous teams. The so-called “family-friendly” clause that had allowed Clemens to remain home for road trips during which he was not scheduled to pitch – and which he insisted upon to the end of his career – now had some people questioning whether his true motive was team success or money. In the end, he signed with the Astros on May 31 and still posted a 2.30 ERA in 113⅓ innings over 19 starts, but the team failed to make the playoffs.

Clemens played the same “Will he or won’t he pitch?” game at the start of the 2007 season before announcing his return to the New York Yankees from owner George Steinbrenner’s luxury box during the seventh-inning stretch of a Yankees-Mariners game on May 6. He posted a mediocre 6-6, 4.18 line over 99 innings before limping off the Yankee Stadium mound with yet another hamstring injury in the Yankees’ October 7 ALDS game against Cleveland.

Once his career was finally over, the countdown to Clemens’ Hall of Fame induction began. Whether media members and fans liked him or not – and there were plenty of people in both camps – his statistics pointed to him being one of the best pitchers ever to play the game. Even so, the voters who cast ballots for players to gain entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame are told to take a player’s character into account, and all sorts of skeletons fell out of Clemens’ closet upon the release of the Mitchell Report.

First, there were Brian McNamee’s allegations of steroid use. Clemens vehemently denied McNamee’s accusations and, under the advice and guidance of his lawyer Rusty Hardin, went on the offensive. On January 6, 2008, Clemens filed a defamation suit against McNamee. Though Clemens eventually dropped his suit, McNamee filed his own defamation suit against Clemens in 2008, which dragged on for almost seven years before McNamee received an out-of-court settlement to be paid by Clemens’ insurer – not Clemens himself – in March 2015.

The same day that Clemens filed his lawsuit in Houston, CBS-TV’s investigative news show 60 Minutes aired a Mike Wallace interview of Clemens. In the interview Clemens claimed that McNamee had only injected him with vitamin B12 and the painkiller Lidocaine, an assertion that was dubious to many viewers and which made him the butt of countless pain-in-the-butt jokes.

The next day Clemens and Hardin held a press conference in Houston and played a recording of a recent phone conversation between Clemens and McNamee that was to prove Clemens’ innocence. The tape proved nothing as McNamee sounded both too desperate and too cautious to say anything that might incriminate him. Clemens fielded questions from the media, but grew increasingly aggravated and angry as the conference continued. When asked if he thought McNamee’s allegations would affect his chances at being elected to the Hall of Fame, his retort, “I don’t give a rat’s ass about the Hall of Fame,”18 was another statement no one believed, and he soon stormed out of his own press conference.

On February 13, 2008, Clemens was called to testify before a congressional committee in Washington, where he continued to profess his innocence. Some of his testimony contradicted a sworn statement made by Andy Pettitte, who claimed Clemens had told him that McNamee injected him with human growth hormone (HGH). Clemens responded that Pettitte had “misremembered” [sic] their conversation and that he had told Pettitte it was his wife, Debbie, whom McNamee had injected with HGH. There were enough inconsistencies in Clemens’ testimony that a drawn-out legal process resulted in an August 19, 2010, grand-jury indictment for making false statements to Congress. His first trial, in July 2011, quickly resulted in a mistrial, while his second trial ended with his acquittal on June 18, 2012.

Along with the steroid allegations and their attendant legal troubles, Clemens was also accused of having extramarital affairs with numerous women. The two most notable names were those of the late country singer Mindy McCready and pro golfer John Daly’s ex-wife Paulette. Clemens denied these accusations as well, but McCready and Paulette Daly neither confirmed nor denied them, which gave them implicit affirmation in many people’s minds.

All of this dirty laundry was aired in the media in the immediate aftermath of the Mitchell Report, but two books contributed further to the decline of Clemens’ reputation: Jeff Pearlman’s unauthorized biography The Rocket That Fell to Earth, and New York Daily News’ Sports Investigative Team’s American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime. Pearlman’s book portrays Clemens in such a consistently negative light that it is easy to dismiss it as one-sided, but the Daily News team’s research into McNamee’s claims casts serious doubt on Clemens’ assertion of innocence. The facts remain, however, that Roger Clemens never tested positive for PEDs and that he was acquitted of all charges of lying to Congress.

Nonetheless, the repercussions of the allegations have resulted in a lack of support for Clemens’ Hall of Fame candidacy. If he is ultimately enshrined, it is entirely possible that a Veterans Committee will have determined his fate after his initial 10-year period of eligibility has passed. His new road to baseball immortality involves rehabilitation of his former reputation as a hard-working star, which will be an arduous process since everything he does now is greeted with suspicion and cynicism, a circumstance that was in evidence when he pitched two games with the independent Atlantic League’s Sugar Land Skeeters in 2012.

Sugar Land, where Clemens lived when he first moved to Texas, received a national publicity boost during the Skeeters’ inaugural season when Clemens pitched in two games in August and September 2012. His motive for doing so was suspect, however, as he had just been acquitted of lying to Congress in June and needed positive publicity during his first time on the Hall of Fame ballot. Some media members believed that Clemens was attempting a late-season MLB comeback to push back his Hall of Fame eligibility by five years in the hope his legal troubles would blow over and that he would be a first-ballot selectee. Clemens denied such claims, but his comment – “I probably overextended myself a little bit. I wanted to see where I was at”19 – after his August 25 start for the Skeeters was interpreted to mean that he was gauging his comeback status.

By his second start, on September 7, the Skeeters had signed Clemens’ oldest son, Koby, a catcher, and father and son formed the battery against the Long Island Ducks. This time, the 50-year-old Clemens clearly left open the possibility of a major-league comeback attempt when he said, “I would have to get ready. It would be fun. There’s no reason why I couldn’t do it next year.”20 Though he had pitched well in both games – and no doubt enjoyed being the center of attention for his pitching rather than his court appearances – this was unaffiliated minor-league ball and his fastball had topped out at 88 MPH, which was hardly the dominant stuff he had once had in his prime.

In the end, Clemens chose to go out as a hometown hero and a winner after his appearances for the Skeeters rather than to risk going out as a failure in one last major-league stint. As of 2015, he and Debbie reside in Houston, where they work to benefit children through the Roger Clemens Foundation and where he also serves as a special assistant to the Astros’ general manager.

Clemens’ work with the Astros and his induction into the Red Sox Hall of Fame at Fenway Park on August 14, 2014, prior to Boston’s game against the Astros, show that there is still a place for him in baseball. The March 2015 settlement in the McNamee case may eventually allow Clemens to move past constant discussion of the steroid allegations against him, though the court of public opinion is unlikely to change its judgment. Clemens did not attend the McNamee settlement, saying, “I was not present, nor would have I participated in paying one dime. Everyone knows my stance on the subject.”21 The fact that he had been named on only 37.5 percent of the Hall of Fame ballots in January 2015 demonstrated that the Hall of Fame voters have not changed their stance in regard to Clemens either.

Last revised: November 16, 2015

A version of this biography is included in “Nuclear Powered Baseball: Articles Inspired by The Simpsons Episode Homer At the Bat” (SABR, 2016), edited by Emily Hawks and Bill Nowlin. For more information, click here.

Sources

Baseballhall.org

Baseball-Reference.com

Boston Globe

CBC Sports

Chicago Tribune

Clemens, Roger, with Peter Gammons. Rocket Man (Lexington, Massachusetts: The Stephen Greene Press, 1987).

ESPN.com

Hartford Courant

Houston.astros.mlb.com

Houston Chronicle

Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader

New York Daily News

New York Times

Pearlman, Jeff. The Rocket That Fell to Earth (New York: Harper, 2009).

Riceowls.com

The Sporting News

Sports Illustrated

Sugarlandskeeters.com

Texassports.com

Thompson, Teri, et al. American Icon (New York: Knopf, 2009).

Yankeeography: Pinstripe Legends, “Roger Clemens,” (2011, A&E Home Video), DVD.

Notes

Carlos Juan Delgado Jr. was born on June 25, 1972, in El Prado section of Aguadilla,1 Puerto Rico, to Carlos “Cao” Delgado and Carmen Digna Hérnandez.2 Both his father, “Don Cao,” and his grandfather, Asdrúbal “Pingolo” Delgado, were well-known figures in the town. Carlos’s father was a drug and alcohol counselor while his mother worked as a medical laboratory assistant. Like many young boys growing up in Puerto Rico at that time, Carlos’s boyhood hero was Roberto Clemente. Having both parents employed in social- and-human service jobs and a hero like Clemente undoubtedly had an impact on Carlos’s development as a social activist and his deep commitment to social justice and charitable work in his adult years.

Carlos attended Agustín Stahl Middle School and José de Diego High School in Aguadilla.3 After his junior year of high school, the Texas Rangers, New York Mets, Montreal Expos, Cincinnati Reds, and Toronto Blue Jays all expressed an interest in signing Delgado. Ultimately, the 16-year old catcher signed with the Blue Jays primarily because he felt the organization, which had become a perennial contender, had an established track record of developing young talent from the Caribbean, including Blue Jays greats George Bell and Tony Fernandez, both of whom hailed from the Dominican Republic.

While Carlos’s parents recognized their son’s athletic ability when he was still young, the Delgados placed a high value on education. His parents fully supported their son’s desire to pursue his dream to play professional baseball, but only if he had a backup plan in the event he failed. Delgado’s deal with the Blue Jays included a $90,000 signing bonus and a promise that the team would pay for his college education if he ever decided to pursue one. That was all his parents needed to hear.

After completing his senior year of high school, Delgado — just two weeks shy of his 17th birthday — was sent to St. Catharines, Ontario, to join the Blue Jays’ New York-Pennsylvania League affiliate. In 31 games, he hit just .180 with no home runs and 11 RBIs. Delgado, however, was full of youthful exuberance and was never one to hang his head. John Cerutti remembered Delgado from spring training that year: “He always had a smile on his face. Whenever anybody wanted to do extra work and throw on the side, Carlos would jump up and say, ‘I’ll catch you.’”4

Delgado returned to St. Catharines for a second year of seasoning with the short-season Class-A Blue Jays and made great strides at the plate while he began showing some of the promise that Blue Jays general manager Pat Gillick envisioned. In 67 games he hit .281 with 6 home runs and a team-leading 39 RBIs and .471 slugging percentage. For his efforts he earned a spot in the NYPL all-star game and was named the R. Howard Webster Award Winner for the St. Catharines club.5

Following his success at St. Catharines, Delgado began the 1991 season with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Class-A South Atlantic League. In 132 games he hit .286 with 18 home runs and 70 RBIs. While the Blue Jays were impressed enough with his bat to promote him to the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs as a late season call-up, his defensive skills were not progressing as quickly. He committed 19 errors behind the plate for the Pelicans.

Delgado continued to advance through the system and spent the 1992 season with the Dunedin Blue Jays of the Class-A Florida State League. There he had a breakout year that cemented his status as a top prospect. The left-handed-hitting catcher had grown to 6-feet-3, is listed as weighing 215 pounds, and topped the circuit in nearly every offensive category including hits, doubles, home runs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, and runs batted in. He finished the year with a .324 average, 30 home runs, and 100 RBIs.

After his outstanding year at Dunedin, Baseball America pegged Delgado its number-4 overall prospect entering the 1993 season and the Puerto Rican backstop was promoted to the Knoxville Smokies of the Double-A Southern League. He was the Smokies’ primary catcher and hit .303 with a Southern League-leading 25 home runs and 102 RBIs. At this point the Blue Jays continued to see Delgado as the eventual successor to catcher Pat Borders and called him up to Toronto when the rosters expanded in September.

On October 1, 1993, at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Delgado made his major-league debut when he entered the game as a defensive replacement for catcher Randy Knorr in the bottom of the sixth inning. In the top of the eighth he made his first major-league plate appearance and drew a one-out walk off Orioles right-hander Todd Frohwirth. Two days later, in the final game of the season, Delgado made his only other appearance of the year when he pinch-hit for future Hall of Famer Paul Molitor in the top of the eighth inning. Delgado ended the inning with a pop fly to shortstop.

Delgado earned a roster spot with the Blue Jays in the spring of 1994, and in an effort to get his bat into the lineup, manager Cito Gaston inserted him in left field. His success was immediate and the power he demonstrated turned lots of heads in Toronto. In his first 13 games Delgado belted eight home runs and drove in 18 runs. Among his home runs were a pair of majestic shots, the second of which banged off the window of the Hard Rock Café in right-center field. The homer, estimated to have traveled 445 feet, was one of the longest ever hit at the Sky Dome.6 Delgado’s early success was short-lived and he managed to hit only .183 with one home run and six RBIs in his next 30 games before being optioned to Syracuse.

Delgado later commented on his struggles at the plate during this stage of his career. “I learned the hard way. When I started hitting home runs, I thought, I can hit these pitches. Then I started thinking, if I can do this, I can hit the pitch four inches outside or four inches up. I expanded the zone and got myself out. Pitchers are smart. If they find out they don’t have to throw strikes, they won’t.”7

Delgado split the 1995 season between Toronto and Syracuse. He started the season in the Blue Jays lineup but was mired in a slump that left his batting average at .154 after 14 games and he was once again optioned to Syracuse. He continued to demonstrate that he could handle Triple-A pitching. In 91 games with Chiefs he hit .318 with 22 home runs and 74 RBIs. It was during this time that Delgado’s transition to first base began in earnest. He returned to the Blue Jays in September and played in 23 games during the final month of the season. Despite hitting only .169 during this stretch, he continued to get valuable experience in the field. His days as a catcher were behind him.

After a 56-88 fifth-place finish in 1995 (AL East), the Blue Jays World Series championships of 1992 and 1993 were fading in the distance of the rear-view mirror.  Delgado, who earned a spot as the Jays’ primary designated hitter during spring training, was among a cast of younger players that included Shawn Green, Alex Gonzalez, and Tomas Perez whom the Jays attempted to blend with an aging nucleus to bring the club back into contention. During his first full season in the majors, he established himself as an integral part of the Jays’ future plans. He finished the 1996 season with a .270 average, 25 home runs, and 92 RBIs.

Delgado always had raw, natural power and a knack for hitting long home runs. Just as he had done in April of 1994, he displayed his immense power in a July 6, 1996, tilt against Detroit at venerable Tiger Stadium. In the top of the third, Delgado cleared the right-field roof and deposited a 2-and-1 offering from Omar Olivares onto Trumbull Avenue — the 29th player to clear the grandstand at Tiger Stadium.8 He later added a three-run blast to deep left field to lead the Jays’ 15-0 rout of the Tigers.

Blue Jays broadcaster Buck Martinez, who covered and managed Delgado in Toronto, witnessed these early displays of unrestricted power. “He had power that you don’t see very often,” Martinez said. “The first time we saw him we went, ‘Oh my God, this is Carlos Delgado.’ We had heard about him.”9

While Delgado was a professional’s professional on the field, baseball did not define who he was as a person. According to teammate and close friend Shawn Green, “What separates him from other superstars is that he doesn’t have a big ego.”10 This was evident when Delgado volunteered to surrender his number-21 jersey in deference to then three-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, who had signed with the Blue Jays in December of 1996.11 The change in uniform number did little to slow Delgado’s development as a rising star. While his batting average dipped slightly to .262 in 1997, he had 20 more extra-base hits than in the previous season and by the end of the year was the Blue Jays’ everyday first baseman, filling the void created when John Olerud was traded to the New York Mets during the previous offseason. The 1997 season was the first of 10 consecutive seasons in which Delgado hit 30 or more home runs — a feat that as of 2017 put him in a select group with only five other players.

The 1998 season marked the beginning of six consecutive seasons in which Delgado drove in 100 or more runs and solidified his spot as a bona-fide superstar. During this six-year stretch, he compiled a .295 average, hit 237 home runs, and drove in 741 runs, with a .585 slugging percentage and .998 OPS. In 1999 he hit a career-best 44 home runs. His two finest seasons came in 2000 and 2003, the years he made his two All-Star Game appearances.

Delgado entered the 2000 All-Star break with a .363 batting average, 28 home runs, and 80 RBIs. He was a legitimate Triple Crown candidate when he made his All-Star Game debut at Turner Field in Atlanta. He entered the game as a defensive replacement at first base in the bottom of the fourth inning and later doubled off Astros’ All-Star right-hander Darryl Kile in the top of the sixth inning. After the All-Star break he hit only 13 home runs the rest of the season. He finished the year with a .344 average, a league-leading 57 doubles, 41 home runs, 137 RBIs, .664 slugging average, and 1.134 OPS — one of the greatest offensive seasons in Blue Jays history. He finished fourth in AL MVP balloting behind Jason Giambi, Frank Thomas, and Alex Rodriguez.

The 2003 season was another All-Star- and MVP-type year for Delgado. Unlike his initial All-Star Game appearance, he started the 2003 midsummer classic, held at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago. In his first at-bat he flied out to left field to end the bottom of the first. In the bottom of the third he lined a single to left off Philadelphia southpaw Randy Wolf to drive in Ichiro Suzuki with the game’s first run. In his final at-bat, he struck out swinging to end the fifth inning. While Delgado continued to pile up All-Star-caliber numbers, he never again played in another All-Star Game.

On September 25, 2003, Delgado became the 16th major-league player to hit four home runs in a single game.12 He hit a three-run home run in the first inning off Jorge Sosa, the 300th of his major-league career, and then touched Sosa again to lead off the fourth inning. Delgado hit his third home run off Joe Kennedy while leading off the sixth. His fourth was the most impressive, a towering blast off Lance Carter that landed above the Sky Dome’s restaurant in right center. Delgado’s effort was distinguished from the previous four-home-run games by the fact that he was the only player to hit four home runs with only four plate appearances in the game.13 He finished the 2003 season with a .302 average, 42 home runs, and a major-league-leading 145 RBIs. The effort earned Delgado a second-place finish to Alex Rodriguez in the AL MVP Award voting.

At this point a veteran of 11 major-league seasons, Delgado was one of the most respected players in baseball. When the United States invaded Iraq in March of 2013, he decided he was unable to publicly support the US military action. Delgado stood for ”God Bless America” through the 2003 season but as the 2004 season opened, he vowed not to do so.14 In an act of a simple protest against the war, Delgado chose to remain in the dugout while ”God Bless America” was being sung. This was not the first time Delgado had expressed his political views. A year earlier he publicly opposed the US Navy’s use of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques as a weapons-testing ground.15 On the field Delgado had an injury plagued “off year” in which he finished with a .269 average, 32 home runs, and 99 RBIs.

After the 2004 season, the Blue Jays were facing some payroll constraints and were not interested in re-signing their first baseman at the price he would command on the open market. As a free agent, Delgado was seriously courted by the Baltimore Orioles, Florida Marlins, New York Mets, and Texas Rangers.16 On January 26, 2005, he signed a four-year, $52 million contract with the Florida Marlins. The Marlins were in the process of building support for a new ballpark in Miami and drafted a contract that called for Delgado to receive only $4 million in the first year and included a club option for year five.17

Miami seemed like the perfect fit for Delgado. He liked the idea of playing in a city with a large Spanish-speaking fan base and for a team that had a strong young pitching rotation. With Juan Pierre and Luis Castillo hitting in front of him and Miguel Cabrera offering protection behind him, it seemed as though the Marlins were poised to make a run at a third World Series title. The 2005 season did not unfold as the Marlins planned and they finished tied for third, seven games behind the NL East champion Atlanta Braves.

Delgado was a $4 million bargain for the 2005 season. He hit .301 with a team-leading 33 home runs (tied with Cabrera) and 115 RBIs. The Marlins were acutely aware that Delgado’s salary was set to quadruple over the next three years and frustrated that they were unable to put together a deal to finance a new ballpark. On November 24, 2005, the Marlins sent Delgado and the remaining $48 million of his contract to the New York Mets for first baseman Mike Jacobs, pitching prospect Yusmeiro Petit, minor-league utilityman Grant Psomas, and $7 million.18 In acquiring Delgado, the Mets were filling a dire need at first base and bringing in a veteran clubhouse presence. From his perspective, he was happy to be joining fellow Puerto Rican Carlos Beltran on a team that had the ability to contend.

The Mets’ new first baseman enjoyed another solid season in 2006, his first year in New York. On August 22 he eclipsed the 30-home run plateau for the 10th consecutive season and hit his 400th career home run when he slugged two homers off the Cardinals’ Jeff Weaver. The second, Delgado’s 400th, was a fifth-inning grand slam. Delgado batted .265 with 38 home runs and 114 RBIs during the season and along with Beltran and David Wright (who both drove in 116 runs) led the charge that ended the Atlanta Braves’ 14-of-15-year stranglehold on the NL East. After 1,711 major-league games, Delgado was finally headed to the playoffs. 

The Mets easily dispatched of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Division Series. Delgado led the way in Game One, going 4-for-5 with two RBIs, including a solo home run off Derek Lowe in the fourth inning and a run-scoring single off Brad Penny in seventh. The Mets held on to win the game, 6-5, and went on to sweep the Dodgers in three. Delgado hit .429 in the series.

The Championship Series against the Cardinals was an epic seven-game encounter. Delgado had a feast-or-famine series. He batted .304 with three home runs and nine RBIs over the course of the series, but all three home runs and nine RBIs came in just two games. He hit a pair of home runs off Cardinals right-hander Chris Carpenter as he drove in four runs in Game Two, and added his third home run and five RBIs in Game Four. Ultimately, the Cardinals won the NLCS and went on to sweep the favored Tigers in the 2006 World Series.

In 2006 Delgado was recognized for his humanitarian and charitable efforts when he was given the Roberto Clemente Award. Over the years Delgado has been true to his hero’s legacy. He has assisted Puerto Rico’s youth through his nonprofit organization Extra Bases, participated in initiatives to improve the islands’ public-education system, visited hospitalized children, and donated video-conferencing equipment to the local hospital in Aguadilla.

Delgado got off to a slow start in the 2007 season. He ended the month of April with a .188 average and was still sitting at .227 with 12 home runs and 44 RBIs as June ended. He did find his stroke during the second half of the season but his power numbers were down. From July 1 on Delgado batted .297 and finished the season at .258 with 24 home runs and 87 RBIs. Perhaps the sole highlight of the first half of his season came on May 9 when he took the Giants’ Matt Morris deep and hit a home run into San Francisco’s McCovey Cove. 

The 2008 season was a bounce-back year for Delgado. He played in 159 games, his most since 2003. His power returned as he belted 38 home runs and drove in 115 runs. All indications suggested that the first baseman was healthy and had returned to form. As expected, the Mets exercised their $12 million option for the 2009 season.

Unlike previous springs, Delgado started the 2009 season hitting well. In his first 26 games he hit .298 with 4 home runs and 23 RBIs before his season was cut short by a hip injury. On May 18 the Mets announced that Delgado required surgery to remove a bone spur and a torn labrum in his hip.19 The prognosis was that he would be out for approximately 10 weeks and the Mets expected him to return in July to resume his quest to join the exclusive 500-home-run club. However, Delgado was unable to return during the 2009 season and he filed for free agency in November.

Delgado experienced a setback while playing winter ball in Puerto Rico and had a second hip operation in February 2010. In August of 2010 he signed a minor-league contract with the Boston Red Sox. He played five games with the Pawtucket Red Sox before aggravating his hip once again. A short 16 months earlier, it seemed certain that Delgado was destined to hit 500 home runs. Now his career was over.

Despite his gaudy offensive numbers, which compare favorably to many who have been enshrined in Cooperstown — he ranks 32nd on the list for career home runs and 55th on the list for RBIs — and four top-10 finishes in league MVP voting, Delgado’s Hall of Fame candidacy ended before it ever get started. Appearing on the ballot for the first time in 2015, he received only 21 votes (3.8 percent) and was removed from future consideration by the Baseball Writers Association of America. ESPN’s Jayson Stark reacted by stating, “Carlos Delgado is the best player in history to get booted off the Hall of Fame ballot after his first year.”20

Reflecting on his exclusion from the Hall of Fame, Delgado diplomatically stated, “I’m a little disappointed, to say the least. I was hoping to be able to get enough votes to stay on the ballot for the following year, because I knew coming in this was going to be a strong group of players. Sometimes there’s things in life you can’t control. This is one of them. I’m not going to let it overshadow what I’ve done in my career.”21

As of 2017 Delgado resided in his hometown of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, with his wife and two children. He enjoyed keeping a low profile, spending time on the computer, listening to music, watching movies, and enjoying his cigars.

Last revised: June 13, 2018

Acknowledgments

This biography appeared in Puerto Rico and Baseball: 60 Biographies (SABR, 2017), edited by Bill Nowlin and Edwin Fernández.

Photo credit: Carlos Delgado, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.

Notes

1 Aguadilla was first made famous by Christopher Columbus, who landed there on November 19, 1493, on his second voyage to the New World. Delgado’s hometown is located on the island’s northwest coast, about two hours from the capital city of San Juan.

2 “Carlos Delgado,” http://jockbio.com/Bios/Delgado/Delgado_bio.html.

3 “Carlos Delgado,” http://aclu.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/humanrights/Carlos_Delgado.pdf.

4 “Carlos Delgado, What They Say,” http://jockbio.com/Bios/Delgado/Delgado_quotes.html.

5 Each year, the Toronto Blue Jays organization, with consultation from their minor-league coaches, bestow the R. Howard Webster Awards to the MVPs of each minor-league affiliate.

6 “Jays Rookie Hits Restaurant Again,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 6, 1994: D-4.

7 “Carlos Delgado: My Say,” http://jockbio.com/Bios/Delgado/Delgado_mysay.html.

8 “Blue Jays 15, Tigers 0,” apnewsarchive.com.

9 Ian Harrison, “How Carlos Delgado fell short of Cooperstown,” June 12, 2015, http://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/how-carlos-delgado-fell-short-of-cooperstown.

10 “Carlos Delgado: What They Say.”

11 Roger Clemens went on to win the Cy Young Award an unprecedented seven times.

12 Bobby Lowe of the Boston Beaneaters (May 30, 1894) and Ed Delahanty of the Philadelphia Phillies (July 13, 1896) both hit four home runs in a single game in the nineteenth century.

13 Shane Tourtellotte, “Holland and Granderson,” April 20, 2012, hardballtimes.com.

14 William Rhoden, “Sports of the Times; Delgado Makes a Stand by Taking a Seat,” New York Times, July 21, 2004. Retrieved from nytimes.com.

15 Ibid.

16 “Carlos Delgado Weighs Options; Former Tiger Clark Picks Diamondbacks,” Argus-Press (Owosso, Michigan), January 25, 2005: 10.

17 “Delgado Inks Deal with Marlins, Seattle Times, January 25, 2005.

18 Associated Press, “Marlins Seal Deal, Trade Delgado to Mets,” November 25. 2005. Retrieved from espn.com.

19 Anthony DiComo, “Delgado Has Surgery; 10 Weeks to Recover,” May 19, 2009, http://m.mets.mlb.com/news/article/4814480.

20 Jayson Stark, “Delgado Deserved Better in HOF Voting,” January 8, 2015, espn.com.

21 Brendan Kennedy, “Carlos Delgado Shut Out of the Baseball Hall of Fame,” Toronto Star, January 6, 2015.

“It’s not arrogant; it’s confident,” Kent once said. “Some people might interpret it that way, but that’s OK. If I put up the numbers, bring home my paycheck to my wife to support my family, and help the team win, then that’s fine. There are a lot of guys I hate in the big leagues, but I respect them. And that’s what is important.”1

What was first important to Jeffrey Franklin Kent growing up was not baseball, but motocross. Born March 7, 1968 in Bellflower, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, he grew up in Huntington Beach. Although his father, Alan, took Jeff and his two younger brothers, Eric and Adam, to Dodger games, “I never watched baseball on TV,” he said. “It’s slow and boring. I’m not a fan. Never was.”2 Kent followed in the tire tracks of his father, a motorcycle cop, in motocross competitions across California. As Kent has recounted, his father was a demanding parent who had no time for foolishness and small talk.

“Being a perfectionist is an attribute,” said Alan Kent. “I don’t mind being labeled a perfectionist, and that’s what I taught Jeff – do the job right the first time around.”3

So the seeds of perfectionism were sown with Kent at a young age, whether motocross racing, surfing, or participating in Little League. By the time Kent graduated from Huntington Beach’s Edison High School in 1986, that constant striving for perfection had established him as a powerful hitter as well as a dominating pitcher. But he was asked to leave the team during his senior season for what coach Ron LaRuffa called an “attitude problem.” “It was a bad case of senioritis,” said LaRuffa. “We just couldn’t come to an agreement on what was expected of him and what he expected.”4 With no opportunity for a baseball scholarship, Kent was accepted on academics by the University of California at Berkeley.

By the spring of Kent’s freshman year, Cal’s baseball coach, Bob Milano, offered him a spot on the team as a walk-on. Kent quickly picked up where he left off in high school, ending the season with a school-record 25 doubles. He earned a partial scholarship and helped Cal qualify for the College World Series in 1988, but the 1989 season was a disappointment and once again clashes with his coach caused tension in the clubhouse. Eligible for the major-league draft, Kent left the team and Cal when he was drafted in the 20th round, the 523rd overall pick, by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Kent began his professional career as a third baseman with the St. Catharines Blue Jays of the short season Class-A New York-Pennsylvania League. In 73 games, Kent batted .224 with a league-leading 13 home runs and a team-leading 37 RBIs.

For the Class-A Dunedin Blue Jays in 1990, Kent shone on both offense and defense. In 132 games at second base, he batted .277 with 124 hits, 60 RBIs, 16 home runs, and 17 stolen bases, and led the Florida State League in assists (404) and putouts (261).

Moving up to the Double-A Knoxville Blue Jays in 1991, Kent hit .256 in 139 games and led the team in runs (68), hits (114), RBIs (61), stolen bases (25), and walks (80). He also led both the team and the Southern League in doubles with 34.

Invited to Blue Jays’ spring training in 1992, Kent impressed the club with his desire to learn from the veterans, his ability to play all four infield positions, and his big-swinging bat. He started the season with Toronto and in his major-league debut, on April 12, 1992, his first big-league at-bat was a double to left-center in SkyDome. By August he was starting almost every day at third base. Then, on August 27, Kent and Ryan Thompson were traded to the New York Mets for popular pitcher David Cone. Toronto, of course, won the Fall Classic later that season. “Cone helped them win the World Series,” Kent has said. “I got a World Series ring, but I wasn’t there for it.”5

Kent did little to endear himself to the notoriously tough New York fans. On the field, he batted .239 for the last five weeks of the season. In the clubhouse, his teammates decided to haze the rookie by replacing his clothes with those of Mets broadcaster Lindsey Nelson. The Mets learned that day that the rookie didn’t see the need to be hazed again, having already endured it in Toronto, and they were introduced to his no-nonsense approach to baseball and to life. They were eventually forced to return Kent’s clothes to him when he refused to play along.

In 1993, no longer a rookie, Kent won the starting job at second base coming out of spring training. But he was soon benched after he (and most of the team) got off to a slow start. When manager Jeff Torborg was fired after only 38 games, new manager Dallas Green returned Kent to the starting lineup. He proceeded to bat .270 and set team records for home runs (21) and RBIs (80) by a second baseman. However, he also committed 18 errors, more than any other second baseman that year.

In 1994 Kent saved his job at second base by turning up the heat with his bat. He started the season hitting .315 with 8 home runs and 26 RBIs in April, and finished the strike-shortened season at .292/14/68 but still made 14 errors in 107 games.

When the players reported back to work in 1995, Kent’s batting average for that year improved to .278 and his home runs to 20, while his error count decreased to 10 over 122 games – all for naught as the Mets suffered yet another sub-.500 season.

But Kent’s time in New York was coming to an end. Shifted to third base for the 1996 season, he was batting a respectable .290 but had only 9 home runs and 39 RBIs at the end of July when he and Jose Vizcaino were traded to the Cleveland Indians for Carlos Baerga. Hitting poorly and replaced at second base by Vizcaino, Kent played only 39 games in Cleveland but did get to experience postseason play, when the Indians lost to the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Divisional Series.6

In November Kent, Vizcaino, Joe Roa, and Julian Tavarez were traded to the San Francisco Giants for yet another fan favorite, this time Matt Williams. But with five years’ experience in “The Show,” Kent was now a proven veteran, and Giants manager Dusty Baker treated him as such, ensuring that he was the team’s starting second baseman and giving him the prime lineup spot after Barry Bonds.

Kent took advantage of his batting position to start the 1997 season. He notched 15 RBIs in the first two weeks of April and, despite leaving a Sunday doubleheader on a stretcher after spraining his neck on a “horrific” headfirst slide into third base, came to the plate the next day to hit a two-run, game-winning homer. More importantly to Kent, the Giants were in first place in the NL West for the first time in two years.

The Giants ended up winning the division, but they were swept in the NLDS by the eventual champion Florida Marlins. In 155 games, the most in his career to date, Kent produced career numbers in home runs (29), RBIs (121), runs (90), hits (145), and doubles (38), while batting .250. He also committed 16 errors, but now no one was talking about his defense.

By May of 1998 the Giants were talking about a three-year contract extension. Kent proved his worth through early June, batting .301 with 49 RBIs and leading the team to a 41-24 record. He returned from the disabled list to be voted NL Player of the Month for August, and the team was good enough to contend for the wild card, only to lose to the Chicago Cubs in a one-game playoff. Kent finished the year batting .297 with 31 home runs and 128 RBIs, while establishing new personal highs in hits (156), runs (94), on-base percentage (.359), and slugging (.555).

The Giants didn’t make the postseason, but Kent made a difference by creating – in conjunction with the University of California at Berkeley athletics department – Women Driven, a program promoting the benefits of athletics and academics and providing scholarships for female athletes at Cal. Instrumental in establishing Women Driven were Kent’s wife, Dana, an elementary-school teacher, and Lauren, their 2-year-old daughter. “You could say she was a major influence in our decision to focus in this area because I want her to have all the benefits of anyone else,” Kent said.7 For every run Kent drove in that season, he donated $500 to Women Driven. Including the contributions of corporate sponsors, he raised almost $114,000 in 1998.

Kent tried to make a difference for the Giants in the 1999 season, as well. In May he became the first San Francisco player in eight years to hit for the cycle, going 5-for-5 with four RBIs. In July Kent was San Francisco’s lone representative in the All-Star Game in Boston, his first appearance in the midsummer classic. But the Giants finished a distant second in the NL West to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Kent batted .290 for the 1999 season with 23 home runs and 101 RBIs, joining Barry Bonds, Willie McCovey, and Willie Mays as the only San Francisco players to get more than 100 RBIs for three years in a row. Though his numbers didn’t quite reach 1998 levels, his performance in 1999 merely hinted at what he would accomplish in 2000.

The Giants began the season in the new Pacific Bell Park, eager to leave the swirling winds of Candlestick Park behind. Kent also left behind any doubts about his place on the team. At midseason he was voted as a starter in the All-Star Game, and by August had surpassed 100 RBIs, adding his name to the list of Giants – Bonds, Mays, Mel Ott, Bill Terry, Irish Meusel, and George “High Pockets” Kelly – to do so in four straight seasons.

San Francisco won the NL West crown, only to lose to the wild-card Mets in the NLDS. Kent had batted .375 in the playoffs and capped the season with career-high numbers. He batted .334, hit 33 homers, and batted in 125 runs, for a total of 475 RBIs over four years. This surpassed Rogers Hornsby’s 75-year-old record for second basemen, and Kent was the only second baseman in 51 years to drive in 120 or more runs in one season, let alone three. He also reduced his error count that season to just 10.

Across the NL, Kent was fourth in RBIs (125), fifth in batting average (.334) and hits (196), sixth in on-base average (.424) and extra base hits (81), seventh in total bases (350) and triples (7), eighth in doubles (41) and runs (114), and 10th in slugging percentage (.596). Kent won the Silver Slugger Award and was voted the NL Most Valuable Player for 2000, receiving 22 of 32 first-place votes and a total of 392 points. He was the first second baseman to be named MVP since Ryne Sandberg in 1984, and just the eighth second baseman in either league to win, a list that includes Joe Morgan, Jackie Robinson, and Nellie Fox.

In the 2001 season, even though the reigning MVP again made the All-Star team, hit a career-high 49 doubles, and drove in more than 100 runs for the fifth straight season with 106 RBIs, he couldn’t compete with the aftermath of 9/11 and, closer to home, Bonds’ breaking of the single-season home-run record with 73. Kent’s season average dipped to .298 and his home-run total to 22, though he did win his second consecutive Silver Slugger Award. The Giants finished two games out of first place in the NL West and watched the Arizona Diamondbacks go on to win the first World Series to be played in November.

The Giants began the 2002 season hoping to be the next ones representing the National League in the World Series, and were immediately faced with the “Wheeliegate” controversy. During spring training in Scottsdale, Kent reported to the facility in early March claiming to have broken his wrist by falling off his truck while washing it. Yet mounting eyewitness evidence indicated that the former motocross racer fell off a motorcycle while popping wheelies, a clear contract violation. Kent never admitted the true cause of the injury and the Giants did not enact any penalties against him, but he did start the season on the 15-day disabled list.

By June Kent was back in the starting lineup, now batting ahead of Bonds. In the dugout in San Diego, Bonds was seen shoving Kent in the chest. Despite any team tension, the Giants maintained their race for the NL West, and by August Kent was leading the NL in hits and ranked in the Top 10 in batting, home runs, RBIs, and runs. The Giants finished the season on a 25-8 run to win the wild card, then beat Atlanta in the NLDS and St. Louis in the NLCS. At last, Kent and the Giants would appear in the World Series, against the AL wild-card winner Anaheim Angels.

The Edison High School grad began his first World Series on Edison Field in Anaheim. Though Kent had had another outstanding individual year, batting .313 with 37 home runs and 108 RBIs (his sixth straight season of 100-plus runs batted in) and winning his third straight Silver Slugger Award, the Giants lost the World Series to the Angels in seven games.

The loss was tough on Kent. “I’d love to be a champion,” he later said. “Any athlete wants to be the best. The only way you can do that is having your team pulling on the same side and win.” Kent dealt with the loss by “just letting it go and moving on.”8

And move on he did. Two days after the Series ended, Kent was granted free agency, and by the end of the year he would no longer be a Giant. With Craig Biggio agreeing to move from second base to the outfield, Kent joined the Killer B’s and signed a two-year, $18.2 million deal with the Houston Astros. “I had my best years [as a Giant],” said Kent. But when manager Dusty Baker’s contract was not renewed after the Giants lost the World Series, “it just wasn’t the same,” he said. “It probably was the biggest determining factor why I didn’t come back.”9

Kent’s time in Houston began well; he batted .300 in April with 4 homers and 16 RBIs, though by June he was out for three weeks with a wrist injury. In early August, he was suspended for two games after a vigorous dispute of a check-swing call resulted in his being ejected.

By September the Astros weren’t able to maintain their momentum in the NL Central and the Cubs won the division in the infamous Bartman year. The wild card was also out of reach and was captured by the eventual champion Florida Marlins.

Kent’s numbers were solid but a decline from the year before; he finished 2003 with a .297 batting average, 22 home runs, and 93 RBIs, breaking his streak of consecutive 100-plus-RBI seasons. He hoped to start a new streak in 2004, and all signs pointed in that direction when the Astros signed free-agent pitcher Andy Pettitte, who persuaded Roger Clemens to sign as well.

Kent heated up in May, hitting .346 with 5 homers and 28 RBIs, and in July he joined teammates Lance Berkman and Clemens to represent the NL in the All-Star Game at home in Minute Maid Park. A few days later, Houston manager Jimy Williams was fired and was replaced by Phil Garner. Soon after, Kent was again suspended for three games for arguing a strike call with the umpire.

Upon his return, Kent was part of a triple play on August 19 against Philadelphia – Houston’s first triple play in 13 years. On October 2 he hit his 288th home run, surpassing Ryne Sandberg as the career home-run leader for second basemen. Kent and the Astros finished the 2004 regular season as the NL wild-card winners.

Houston beat Atlanta three games to two in the NLDS, moving on to face the Cardinals in the NLCS in St. Louis. In Game Five, with the series tied 2-2 and the game tied 0-0 in the bottom of the ninth with two men on base, Kent came up to bat in a situation kids have been imagining for generations. And he delivered, hitting a three-run homer over the left-field fence at Minute Maid Park to bring the Astros within one win of the World Series. But back home in St. Louis, the Cardinals tied the series with a 12-inning win in Game Six, and in Game Seven the Cardinals rallied to win both the game and a place in the World Series.

Kent finished 2004 with a .289 batting average, 27 homers, and a team-leading 107 RBIs. But his veteran salary didn’t make sense in Houston, and in December he signed with the Giants’ archrivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers. The last ones to know were Kent’s parents, whom he invited to the press conference but kept the reason why a surprise. “My mom and dad didn’t know about this. … That’s why I’m emotional,” Kent said as he occasionally teared up. “More so, probably because … this might be my last turn … and I’m happy to be part of the organization. I grew up here, my dad taking me to Dodger games. … It’s special for me.”10

Kent began the season batting .407, and as the season progressed, a variety of team injuries required him to play some games at first base as well as second. August saw an escalation of a season-long feud between Kent and teammate Milton Bradley. When Kent accused Bradley of not hustling around the bases, voices were raised and Bradley knocked over a chair in the clubhouse. Chimed in former Giants manager Dusty Baker, “If that’s what you need, it’s what you need. … A real leader doesn’t really need to let everybody know he’s the leader. He needs to do it when he thinks it’s right, and that’s how Jeff is.”11

But Kent wasn’t able to lead the Dodgers to the playoffs that season, though individually he notched another All-Star Game appearance and his fourth Silver Slugger Award and became the first second baseman to hit 300 home runs. He batted .289 with 29 homers and 105 RBIs.

The 2006 team hoped to be better positioned to win, bringing in Ned Colletti from San Francisco as general manager and replacing manager Jim Tracy with Grady Little. Kent was on and off the DL with a sore back and strained abdominal muscles that year. But by October the Dodgers had won their final seven games and nine of their last 10, tying the Padres at the top of the NL West. Given their record against San Diego, they won the wild card, only to get swept by the Mets in the NLDS. Kent batted a strong .292, but had only 14 home runs and 68 RBIs for the year. He was 38, and many questioned whether he would return for the 2007 season.

That question was answered when Kent showed up to spring training, having spent much of the offseason strengthening the oblique muscle that gave him trouble in 2006. The 39-year-old Kent batted .447 in July and reached base safely in 38 straight games, both league bests. He came back from a strained hamstring that sidelined him for a few games in August to try to lead the young team back to the playoffs, but they finished fourth in the NL West and manager Little resigned. Kent batted over .300 for the first time since 2002 (.302) with a team-best 20 home runs and 79 RBIs. He returned for the 2008 season as a 40-year-old with a new manager, Joe Torre.

As the season progressed, the Dodgers would continue to win, but it would have to be without Kent. Hampered by a bad back all season and then forced to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery, he was on the disabled list most of September and then was activated briefly as a pinch-hitter as the Dodgers won the NL West, only to be benched by Torre for the postseason. The Dodgers finished the season losing the NLCS to the Phillies, and Kent finished the year batting .280 with 12 home runs and 59 RBIs.

His official retirement announcement came on January 22, 2009, when his tightly bottled emotions finally came to the surface. With regard to the fans, he said, “I’ve learned to love and appreciate the fans, and I’ve learned to love and appreciate the Jeff Kent haters out there, too. I’m thankful for those people even more than the fans who gave me a hug every day, because those people motivate you.”12

One motivation for his retirement was his desire to remain home in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Dana, and their children, Lauren, Hunter, Colton, and Kaeden, and pursue his interests in cattle ranching and motorsports. As of 2022, he was the proprietor of the Diamond K Ranch, south of San Antonio, three motorcycle dealerships along the Interstate 35 corridor in south central Texas, and Hill Country Indoor, a 150,000-square-foot family sports complex in the Austin area.

He established the Jeff Kent Women Driven Scholarship Endowment for the University of California at Berkeley, his alma mater, an extension of his Women Driven initiative. Women Driven eventually raised more than $600,000 for scholarships for female walk-on athletes at Cal. Kent’s donation of $531,000, plus $100,000 in matching funds, created a fully endowed scholarship for one female student-athlete each year. He also donated $100,000 to help reinstate the Golden Bear baseball program, after it was threatened with discontinuation due to financial constraints. “Having the opportunity to get an education at Cal can make a profound difference in life. I know how much I benefited,” Kent said. “Everybody should have a shot, and this is my chance to ensure others have their shot.”13

With retirement and a look back on his most successful years in San Francisco also came a renewed focus on the issue of steroid usage in baseball, considering that he played with one of the game’s most renowned users, Barry Bonds, and with the publication of the Mitchell Report, the book Game of Shadows, and the BALCO controversy. “I leave this game proud that I have treated it with the utmost respect,” Kent said. “I have tried to carry on a legacy of winning wherever I have gone. Any integrity that I have had in this game is something that I’m very, very proud of. I believe I played this game right, and I believe I’m leaving this game right.”14

After he left the game, in 2011, Kent joined the Giants for two weeks as spring-training batting instructor. He also spent some time in 2012 competing on the television reality show Survivor. “Going into the game, I didn’t think I was going to be that great at the social skills, but I wanted to challenge myself,” Kent said. “It was a great opportunity.”15

Kent’s career numbers include a .290 batting average, 377 home runs, and 1,518 RBIs. In addition to his MVP season and five All-Star Game appearances, Kent is one of just four second basemen to hit 30 or more homers three times, and the only second baseman to drive in 100 runs in eight seasons. Compared with other second basemen previously inducted into the Hall of Fame, Kent has more home runs, more RBIs, a higher batting average, and a higher slugging percentage than Joe Morgan, Ryne Sandberg, Bill Mazeroski, and Nellie Fox.

In December 2025, Kent was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving 14 of 16 votes from the Contemporary Era Committee. He will be inducted with the Class of 2026 in Cooperstown, New York.

Last revised: December 7, 2025

Sources

Besides the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted the player file for Jeff Kent from the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Baseball-Reference.com, and numerous other sources.

Photo credit: Jeff Kent, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Jennifer Frey, “Offense Is the Best Defense for Mets’ Kent,” New York Times, March 2, 1994: B15.

2 Franz Lidz, “Cleaning Up,” Sports Illustrated, February 15, 1999: 58.

3 Jennifer Frey, “Kent Accepts Nothing but Perfection,” New York Times, April 22, 1994: B9.

4 “Jeff Kent Is Dropped From Edison Team,” Los Angeles Times, April 15, 1986: OC-B8.

5 Jeff Call, “Jeff Kent’s son Colton ‘finding his own path’ at BYU,” Deseret News, June 16, 2018. https://www.deseret.com/2018/6/16/20647181/jeff-kent-s-son-colton-finding-his-own-path-at-byu

6 He had a double in Game One of the ALDS.

7 Claire Smith, “By Driving in Runs, Kent Raises Money for Female Athletes,” New York Times, May 14, 1998: C3,

8 Murray Chass, “He Left His Loathing in San Francisco,” New York Times, March 10, 2003: D3.

9 Andrew Baggarly, “Giants to Put Kent on Wall of Fame,” Monterey County Herald August 25, 2009. https://www.montereyherald.com/2009/08/25/giants-to-put-kent-on-wall-of-fame/

10 John Shea, “Kent Signs Two-Year Deal With Dodgers,” San Francisco Chronicle, December 10, 2004: C1.

11 Steve Henson, “Bicker Isn’t Better,” Los Angeles Times, August 24, 2005: D1.

12 Henson.

13 Bay Area News Group, “Jeff Kent Provides Women’s Scholarship Endowment to Cal Athletics,” San Jose Mercury News, September 22, 2014.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/09/22/jeff-kent-provides-womens-scholarship-endowment-to-cal-athletics/

14 John Shea, “Kent Goes Out Swinging Against Steroids,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 23, 2009: D3.

15 Radio interview, “Toucher and Rich,” 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, September 20, 2012. https://sportsradiointerviews.com/2012/09/20/jeff-kent-barry-bonds-performance-enhancing-drugs-mlb-survivor/

Still, in Mattingly’s 15 years on the baseball writers’ ballot, he was never favored by more than 28.2 percent of the voters; his percentage on the ballots for the 2014 and 2015 inductions was in the single digits, and he was removed from the baseball writers’ ballot. His hopes for election were entrusted to the Hall of Fame’s Contemporary Era Committee. The debate over Mattingly’s merits will continue.

The subject of the debate, Donald Arthur Mattingly, was born on April 20, 1961, in Evansville, Indiana, the youngest of five children of Bill and Mary Mattingly. Bill was a mailman, with a work ethic that would one day rub off on his youngest son. Mary raised the five children: Jerry, the oldest son, who died in a construction accident at 23 years old; Randy, Michael, Judy, and Donnie. Because he was the youngest in the family, his brothers let him tag along to their neighborhood games. Randy Mattingly recalled that even though Don was three or four years younger than most of the guys in the games, he could hold his own in any game with a ball because he was a fierce competitor who was always trying to get better.

Mattingly’s introduction to baseball included backyard Wiffle ball. Years later, he recalled those games, saying, “I can’t imagine what my parents must have been thinking, with that Wiffle ball banging against the metal door every two minutes.”1

Wiffle ball helped Don developed his ability to drive the ball the other way. On the backyard field a thickly-leaved tree hung over the field on the first-base side. If you hit the tree, you were out. In left field, however, Mattingly recalled, there was the family garage. A fly ball onto the garage was counted as a home run. Mattingly learned pretty quickly to hit the ball the other way. It was a skill that served him well for many years to come.

Of his childhood, Mattingly described a supportive family that instructed and encouraged their children to work hard and succeed. “I grew up in a family that didn’t criticize a lot,” he said. “We were told when we did something wrong, but we got a lot of praise. I remember once at a wedding reception, when I was 8 years old, and my father told me he was proud of the way I handled myself. I wasn’t sure what I did, but I tried to do it again because of what he said.”2

At Reitz Memorial High School, Don stood out in three sports. He was the football team’s starting quarterback and the basketball squad’s star point guard. But it was one American Legion baseball game that convinced Don that he was a baseball player. In a 1976 game against the neighboring town of Owensboro, Kentucky, he faced a pitcher who was the Cincinnati Reds’ top draft pick that year. Don, a freshman, hit two doubles off the star. He soon had developed a name for himself. Scouts were occasionally seen at his games, and he began receiving letters offering college scholarships to play baseball. At one point Mattingly helped Reitz Memorial to a 59-game winning streak, with one of those wins coming in the Indiana state championship game in his junior season.

Along with his father, Mattingly said that his biggest influence with respect to his work ethic was his high-school baseball coach, Quentin Merkel, who was always pushing Mattingly to get better.

“Coach would say to me, if you are the best player in the region, you should try to become the best in the state,” Mattingly said. “If you are best in the state, then you start thinking about being the best in the country. That ethic, to always get better, helped me in the minor leagues when I was fighting for jobs.”3

By 1979 Mattingly had become a hot prospect, even earning a brief write-up in Sports Illustrated for his exploits. Most teams avoided drafting the high-school star, however, because many expected that he would attend college. Taking a chance, the New York Yankees selected him in the 19th round of the 1979 amateur draft and subsequently signed him to a minor-league deal.

Mattingly enjoyed almost instant success in the minor leagues, hitting .349 with the Oneonta Yankees of the Class-A (short season) New York-Penn League in 53 games in 1979. The next year, he moved up to Greensboro (North Carolina) of the Class-A South Atlantic League, where he led the league with a .358 batting average. After a strong year for Double-A Nashville (Southern League) in 1981 (.315, 98 RBIs), Mattingly was promoted to Triple-A Columbus for 1982. He had another fine season, hitting .315 with 10 home runs and 75 RBIs, and winning accolades for his defensive play.

When major-league clubs expanded their rosters to 40 players in September, the Yankees called up Mattingly Years later, he fondly recalled his first trip to the House That Ruth Built. “I think the time that I really think about the most is just being called up and walking into Yankee Stadium for the first time, walking into the dugout and just seeing the left-field corner and the stands in that corner like the horseshoe there,” he said. “And at that point, just realizing the dream to get to the big leagues. So that is a moment that is always one of the freshest and just a great memory for me.”4

Mattingly made his major-league debut on September 8, 1982, against the Baltimore Orioles in Yankee Stadium, as a ninth-inning defensive replacement for Dave Winfield in left field. Three days later Mattingly had his first major-league at-bat, against reliever Jim Slaton of the Milwaukee Brewers, and popped out to third base on the first pitch. It wasn’t until almost three weeks later that he managed his first major-league hit, an 11th-inning single off Boston’s Steve Crawford on October 1 in Yankee Stadium. In 12 major-league at-bats in 1982, he had two singles and one RBI.

Mattingly won a roster spot during spring training in 1983, but when the season began, he was used sparingly. Almost two weeks into the season, he had just seven at-bats and two hits, and on April 14, he was sent back down to Columbus. It was his last trip to the minor leagues.

In 43 games with Columbus, Mattingly hit better than .340 with 8 home runs and 37 RBIs. And when the Yankees’ Bobby Murcer announced his retirement on June 12, a roster spot and a reserve outfield position opened up in the Bronx, and Mattingly was called up to fill it. He spent the balance of the season as a spot starter, pinch-hitter, and defensive replacement in right field, left field, and first base. Mattingly also helped make some baseball history on August 18, 1983, when he played second base (as a left-handed thrower) in the finish of the George Brett “Pine Tar Game,” a contest that had begun almost a month earlier.

On July 24, 1983, the day the game began, Brett hit what seemed to be a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning off Rich Gossage, putting Kansas City ahead by a run. New York manager Billy Martin protested the home run, claiming that Brett’s bat had more than 18 inches of pine tar running up its handle. Home-plate umpire Tim McClelland agreed, called Brett out, and signaled the game over.

But American League President Lee MacPhail later reversed the ruling, and Brett was given credit for the home run. When the game was resumed almost a month later, Martin put left-hander Mattingly at second base. He played only one-third of an inning.

For the 1983 season, the 22-year-old Mattingly showed that he was a capable major-league hitter and a very skilled defender, batting .283 with 4 home runs and 32 RBIs in 279 at-bats.

As spring training opened in 1984, new manager Yogi Berra announced that although the team planned to keep Mattingly with the Yankees all season, he would not begin the season as a starter. With Dave Winfield in right field, Steve Kemp in left, and Roy Smalley being groomed for the full-time first-base job, Berra said, Mattingly would best be used as a reserve player and a pinch-hitter because “he has the kind of stroke that enables him to sit for three weeks and still hit.”5

Mattingly was relieved to have his role defined so early. He was grateful, he said, that “this time, there’s no worry about not making the team. Last year, I didn’t know and I didn’t think I had much chance. I didn’t know until the last day of camp, and when I made the team I didn’t know how long I’d stay.”6

But he was less thrilled about being given a reserve role so early in camp, especially since he was batting .474 at the time. “This is kind of hard to swallow without getting any kind of chance at all,” Mattingly told the New York Times in mid-March, “and there’s no way I can accept that. There’s no way I can say, OK, sit back, relax and do that. I feel I can change their mind or at least make it a very tough decision to sit me down.”7

It took only a few weeks of spring training to change Berra’s mind. After a March in which Mattingly hit well and continued to show off his slick glove at first base, Berra announced that Mattingly would start the season as the regular first baseman.

Mattingly got off to a hot start in ’84, a fact he attributed to having played winter ball in Puerto Rico. By midseason, he was hitting so well that some were beginning to compare him to the other young hitting star in New York City at the time, the Mets’ Darryl Strawberry. Among Mattingly’s biggest early supporters was Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who told reporters as early as June 1984 that “Mattingly is the best young talent in baseball. You can talk all you want about Strawberry. I’ll take Mattingly.”8 Steinbrenner had plenty of evidence to support his argument; at the time, Mattingly was outhitting Strawberry in every major offensive category.

The biggest surprise in Mattingly’s 1984 offensive game was his newly found power stroke. Although he had never hit more than 10 home runs in a season in the minor leagues, he had already hit 12 before the end of June that year. Lou Piniella, then the Yankees’ hitting coach, described that summer how he’d worked with Mattingly on his swing all year, urging the young hitter to keep his weight back and hold his body in balance throughout the entire swing. The slight shift in body weight that Piniella recommended led to more power.

In July Mattingly was named to his first All-Star Game, picked as a reserve by American League manager Joe Altobelli, who couldn’t ignore the Yankees first baseman’s .339 average and impressive power numbers. Mattingly got into the game with one out in the ninth inning as a pinch-hitter with the American League trailing 3-1. Batting against his former teammate, San Diego Padres closer Rich “Goose” Gossage, Mattingly flied out to left field.

As the second half of the 1984 season rolled on, teammates Mattingly and Winfield got into a heated race for the American League batting crown. Winfield hit like a demon during the first half of the season, and his average climbed to .377 in early July. In August, however, Winfield slipped a little, and Mattingly caught up to him. By the first of September, he was batting .352 to Winfield’s .351.

As the month wore on and the Yankees fell out of the divisional race, the competition for the batting title became the best running baseball story in New York City. The back pages of the city’s two tabloids, the Daily News and the Post, wrote about the race or ran full-page pictures of the contestants, almost every day. In a town that was always hungry for baseball success, the batting race took on the role of a surrogate pennant race for Yankees fans. The team’s owners loved the competition, because it kept fans coming to Yankee Stadium in droves, despite the fact that the Yankees were 15 games behind the Detroit Tigers. During the last two weeks of the season, the stadium scoreboard constantly displayed each player’s batting average, to the ninth digit, right up to the last at-bat. The excitement was justified; after all, no Yankee had won a batting crown since Mickey Mantle in 1956. And no two Yankees had ever finished 1-2 in hitting.

Going into the season’s final weekend, Mattingly led Winfield .342 to .341. When asked who he thought would prevail, Piniella predicted that Mattingly would win, but gave him the advantage only because the team was facing three right-handers in a row to close out the season, which favored the left-handed hitter. But Mattingly went just 1-for-7 on Friday and Saturday, and entered the last day of the season trailing Winfield .339 to .342. In the last game of the year, however, he managed four hits in five at-bats, while Winfield was just 1-for-4. After Mattingly got his last hit, Winfield hit a sharp grounder to the shortstop, who forced a sliding Mattingly out at second base. As the new batting champ walked toward the dugout, the fans roared in salute, and after a few moments in the dugout, he re-emerged and walked to first base. Mattingly and Winfield shook hands, and walked off the field together as the crowd cheered. Mattingly had won the race, .343 to .340.

“It was good that we could come off together,” Mattingly said. “Dave has been a great person through this whole thing. He handled himself like a gentleman. I have great respect for him. It’s good that we’re going to be teammates the next few years, at least.”9

To go along with his batting title, Mattingly topped the American League in hits, with 207, and doubles, with 44. He also finished in the top five in RBIs, total bases, slugging percentage, and extra-base hits, and in November, he finished fifth in voting for the American League Most Valuable Player award. Despite Mattingly’s great season, the Yankees finished in third place in the AL East, 17 games behind the eventual World Series champions, the Detroit Tigers.

In the offseason, George Steinbrenner acquired Rickey Henderson from the Oakland A’s in exchange for five players and cash. Henderson brought to the Yankees an entirely new level of speed and ability to reach base. He’d stolen at least 100 bases in three of the prior five seasons, and his career on-base percentage was well over .400 at the time. On the Yankees, he’d be a run waiting to score, and one of the top beneficiaries of Henderson’s addition would be Don Mattingly. Willie Randolph had been solid as a leadoff hitter in 1984, but his talents were much better suited to the second spot in the order. Randolph was a good contact hitter who walked a lot and rarely struck out, a guy who knew how to lay down a bunt. Those talents made him a solid bridge between Henderson, the table-setter, and Mattingly, who was about to become the game’s best RBI machine.

The Mattingly-Henderson combination worked just as Steinbrenner had hoped. By the All-Star break, Henderson was batting a league-leading .357, and his on-base percentage stood at .441. He’d stolen 41 bases, which meant that he was on base almost half the time, and when he was on, he usually managed to place himself in scoring position. All told, in 1985 Henderson scored 146 runs, leading the American League by 30 over Cal Ripken’s 116.

Mattingly took advantage of Henderson’s table-setting skills, picking up a major-league-leading 69 RBIs in his first 83 games. After the break, he was even better, batting .340 with 26 home runs and 76 RBIs in his final 76 games. He finished the season batting .324, third best in the American League, hit 35 home runs, and knocked in 145 runs, the most by a left-handed hitter since Ted Williams drove in 159 in 1949. Mattingly led the major leagues in doubles with 48. He won his first Gold Glove award and in November he easily won the American League MVP award with 23 of 28 first-place votes.

The team, however, had a very disappointing finish to what was an otherwise promising season. The Yankees entered the final weekend of the year three games behind the Toronto Blue Jays, who were heading into Exhibition Stadium for a season-ending three-game series needing a sweep. And then they’d have to beat Toronto in a Monday afternoon playoff game if they expected to go any further. They won the Friday night game, 4-3 and closed the gap to two games with two to play.

But on Saturday afternoon, the Blue Jays finished the Yankees off with a 5-1 win behind a complete-game gem from Doyle Alexander. It was a tough pill to swallow. At one point during the season, the Yankees won 30 out of 36 games, and seemed ready to overtake Toronto, but every time they climbed to within two or three games, they’d fall back again, until the final lost weekend of the season. They finished with 97 wins, two fewer than Toronto.

Despite the fate of the Yankees that season, Mattingly began to draw rave reviews from players, coaches and baseball writers. Lou Piniella called him the perfect blend of Wade Boggs and George Brett. Hall of Famer Stan Musial said, “He reminds me of myself.”10 Musial wasn’t the only one to draw the comparison at the time, though he was surely the most credible.

In some respects, Mattingly’s 1986 season was even more dominant than his MVP campaign the year before. He hit .352, with 238 hits, 53 doubles, 31 home runs, and 113 RBIs. He finished second to Roger Clemens that year in MVP voting. But once again, the Yankees stumbled. On August 15 they were within three games of the first-place Red Sox, and the Bronx seemed poised for an old-style Yankees-Red Sox pennant race. But the Yankees dropped 13 of their next 20 games, fell behind by 10 games and never made another serious run for the division crown. They did win a respectable 90 games, but when the playoffs began, the Yankees were once again on the outside looking in.

A conspicuous side note from the 1986 season was the Yankees’ trip to Seattle in August of that year. Third baseman Mike Pagliarulo was injured before the first game of a doubleheader on August 30, and the Yankees needed an emergency fill-in. Mattingly volunteered, and manager Lou Piniella gave him the go-ahead, making him the first left-handed-throwing third baseman to play in the majors since Wee Willie Keeler in the early 1900s. In the bottom of the first inning, leadoff batter John Moses hit a grounder to third base, which Mattingly fielded cleanly before making a wide throw to first base that allowed Moses to reach on an error. But he quickly redeemed himself on the next play when he stabbed a sharp grounder from Mickey Brantley and started a 5-4-3 double play. In all, Mattingly played three games at third base, had one putout, 11 assists, one error, and was involved in two double plays.

Mattingly began the 1987 season in a slump. While he had a tendency to start slow, this was worse than usual. After the first 33 games, he was hitting .240 with just three home runs. Then he hit his groove. Between May 14 and June 4, he raised his batting average to .311, and during that 20-game stretch knocked in 15 runs. Just as he was returning to form, however, Mattingly injured his lower back on June 4. The cause of the injury was disputed at the time, with some newspapers saying that it happened while Mattingly and pitcher Bob Shirley were playfully wrestling around in the clubhouse. Mattingly denied the horseplay story and said that it happened while he was fielding groundballs before the game that day.

Although the injury was not devastating, it did require Mattingly to spend five days in traction at NYU hospital. Doctors at the time described the injury as two protruding disks that wouldn’t require surgery, but would need a few weeks of rest. While Mattingly was on the shelf, he was replaced by a young up-and-coming left-handed slugger named Dan Pasqua. But Mattingly wouldn’t play the role of Wally Pipp to Pasqua’s Lou Gehrig, because when he returned three weeks later, he caught fire. In his first 13 games back, Mattingly hit .370 (20-for-54) and knocked home 12 runs. It was a nice prelude for what was to follow.

The streak began on July 8, 1987, in the bottom of the first inning at Yankee Stadium versus the Minnesota Twins, when Mattingly drove a Mike Smithson fastball over the right-field wall for a three-run homer. It continued the next night in a loss to the White Sox that was highlighted only by Mattingly’s homer in the sixth inning. The next night Mattingly hit a grand slam in the bottom of the Yankees’ seven-run second inning. It was his third bases-loaded round tripper of the season, a notable achievement considering that before 1987 he hadn’t hit a single slam in his career. Mattingly hit solo homers in the next two games against the White Sox, extending his streak to five straight games with home runs, one short of the American League record.

Mattingly didn’t shrink from the spotlight. At Texas, in the top of the second inning, he cracked his fourth grand slam of the season off knuckleballer Charlie Hough. The streak was now at six games. Mattingly was tied for the American League record held by six players and just two games from the major-league record of eight, set by Dale Long of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1956.

Between the sixth and seventh games, Mattingly told reporters that he wasn’t trying to hit home runs. Rather, he was just trying to hit line drives, and pick up every potential RBI that was out on the bases.

“After sitting out three weeks and missing chances to drive in runs,” he said, “I told myself I’m not going to leave anybody on base out there. When we reached the 81-game mark, I told myself I’d like to drive in a run every day for the rest of the year. I don’t think that’s impossible. I can do it. If someone’s on, drive in a run. Or hit a home run. I said that before I got in this streak. I don’t know what happened with the home runs. I just got in a groove – bing, bing, bing.”11

The next night, Mattingly set out to break the American League mark in a swirling Arlington Stadium wind that was keeping the ball from carrying. In the first inning, he hit a bullet to center field that appeared to be headed out, but the wind slowed it up, and the ball slammed against the top of the fence for a double. In the sixth inning, though, he hit one on the screws against lefty reliever Paul Kilgus. The ball ended up in the right-field seats; Mattingly had broken the American League record.

Talking to reporters, Mattingly said “it would be selfish” to try for the major-league record at the expense of the Yankees’ ambition to finish in first place. His explanation of his sudden power: “I’ve found a swing that gets the ball in the air. All of a sudden, without even trying, something has clicked.”12

The next night against Texas, Mattingly hit a Jose Guzman sinker in the fourth inning that cleared the 11-foot-high fence in left-center field. The ball traveled just beyond the leap of Pete Incaviglia, the left fielder, to tie the major-league mark.

“I didn’t think it was going to carry out,” Mattingly said after the game, “but the ball carried well to left here. I didn’t see the ball go out. I thought he caught it.”13 The capacity crowd of 41,871 at Arlington Stadium, which filled the normally vacant center-field bleachers moments before Mattingly’s historic at-bat, stood and cheered until Mattingly reluctantly climbed to the top step of the dugout – after being coaxed by Dave Winfield – and lifted his batting helmet.

“I know I talk about not caring about it,” Mattingly said, “but it does feel better after I hit one. I guess it goes on. It’s not like I’m worrying about it one way or the other, or I’m going to be disappointed if I don’t hit one, or anything like that. It just keeps going on. It’s surprising to me.”14

But it didn’t keep going. The next evening he went 2-for-4, with a double and a run scored, but no home runs. The remarkable streak had ended at eight.

Mattingly’s offensive statistics during the streak were astounding. In eight games, he hit 10 home runs, two of which were grand slams. He drove in 21 runs and picked up 17 hits in 37 at-bats for a .459 average. He had two doubles and scored 11 runs. He struck out just twice. With 49 total bases in his 37 times at bat, he had a 1.324 slugging average.

Before the 1987 season ended, Mattingly would set another record. On September 29, against Red Sox starter Bruce Hurst, he ripped a grand slam into the right-field upper deck. It was his sixth of the season, surpassing the previous high of five held by Jim Gentile and Ernie Banks.

Mattingly’s final numbers for the year were impressive, especially considering that he missed 21 games because of the back injury: a .327 batting average, 30 home runs, 115 RBIs, and a .559 slugging percentage. He finished seventh in MVP voting, but the Yankees dropped to 89-73 and finished fourth in the division. Mattingly was now five full seasons into a splendid Yankees career, but he still hadn’t tasted postseason play.

Mattingly continued his All-Star-level play over the next two years. Even though he drove home only 88 runs in 1988, his two-year average for 1988-89 was a .307 average, 21 home runs, and 101 RBIs. Although Mattingly may have slowed down slightly since the mid-’80s, had he been able to maintain even this more modest pace, he looked like a future Hall of Famer. At least that is what a lot of knowledgeable baseball men said about Mattingly during the end of the 1980s.

Sparky Anderson, the first man to manage a World Series champion from each league, said of Mattingly in 1988, “I think he’s the greatest single player in our game.” George Brett, the Kansas City star and future Hall of Famer who hit .390 in 1980, remarked of Mattingly in the same year, “If he isn’t the best, I’d like to know who is.”15 Fireballer Dwight Gooden of the Mets said: “I’m glad I don’t have to face that guy every day. Mattingly has that look that few hitters have. I don’t know if it’s his stance, his eyes or what, but you can tell he means business.”16

But it wasn’t just managers and players who foresaw a plaque in Cooperstown for Mattingly. It was the very writers who held the keys to the Hall that were preparing his table as early as 1989. In a piece headlined “Every Pitcher’s Nightmare,” New York Times writer Murray Chass compared Mattingly favorably to some of the all-time greats after their first five or six seasons. Chass interviewed Piniella for analysis on the first baseman’s mechanics:

” ‘Mattingly’s swing is mechanically unique,’ Lou Piniella explains, because of what he calls ‘a small take-away.’ Every hitter gathers momentum for his swing with an instinctive backward movement of the bat before he brings it forward. Mattingly’s backward motion is minuscule. ‘We’re talking three, four, five inches,’ Piniella says. ‘When you have a small take-away and when you’re as quick as he is, you can look away and handle the ball in. He can still stand on top of the plate and pull.’ “17

Pitchers at the time felt that the only way to approach Mattingly was with a variety of pitches. “I usually throw my whole repertoire at him,”18 said Frank Viola, the Minnesota Twins’ left-hander, who was the Most Valuable Player in the World Series the previous year. Viola had good success against Mattingly, holding him to nine hits in 50 at-bats over the course of their careers. “You’ve got to mix it up and hope he’s not looking for that certain pitch.”19

Pitchers especially knew that they couldn’t count on striking out Mattingly. Jack Morris, the Detroit Tigers pitcher who won more games than any other pitcher in the 1980s, said that during the course of an at-bat, “if you fool him one time, you’re doing a good job. Three times? Forget it.”20

In the face of all this praise, Mattingly was humble, always preaching the workaday ethic. He described his approach to hitting as more of a mental struggle than a physical feat.

“Each time I go up, I want to get a good pitch to hit and hit it hard,” he said. “A lot of guys give away at-bats. They make a mental mistake here, a mental mistake there.”21

Mattingly felt that lapses in concentration could cost a player a significant number of his 650 or so at-bats per season. He reasoned that if a player could cut down on the number of times he defeated himself by maintaining a high level of concentration, “take 100 of those away, or 50, where you swing at a bad pitch, you’d be so much better off,” he said. “It’s a challenge, over the course of a season, to stay tuned in. There are times that you’re not; it’s impossible to be tuned in for 162 games, but you really have to be ready.”22

During his first six full seasons, Mattingly’s career batting average stood at .327, and he averaged 203 hits, 43 doubles, 27 home runs, 114 RBIs, and 97 runs scored. He also won five straight Gold Gloves and made six consecutive All-Star teams. Mattingly made it known that he wanted a new contract, or an extension of his existing deal that concluded at the end of the 1990 season. The Yankees responded by making him the highest-paid player in baseball history at the time.

On April 10, 1990, the first baseman signed a five-year contract that would pay him a total of $19.3 million, an average of $3.86 million per season. The deal was the largest in terms of average dollars, beating out the $3.75 million per year contract signed by Will Clark earlier that year, and well outstripping the $16 million, five-year contract that Mark Langston already had in place.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner defended the deal by saying: “A superstar is a superstar, so I can justify that salary. A Don Mattingly will attract people to see my club play.”23

“Don Mattingly is now the best-paid player in baseball,” Steinbrenner said. “He will be with the Yankees for five years after this year and hopefully will complete his career here.”24

Mattingly discussed the deal in his usual understated style. “I’m not going to look at the papers for a few days,” he said, “because I don’t want to read about it. I’d rather let my playing do all the talking.”25

The thought of openly discussing his contract was not appealing to Mattingly. He conceded that as a child he had never dreamed about such riches. “It’s pretty hard to dream about something you never imagined,” he said. “I dreamed about playing baseball more than anything.”26

But Mattingly’s bat didn’t do the talking, at least not during the first few months of the 1990 season. Although he typically started the season slowly, it soon became clear that Mattingly’s troubles at the plate were not merely the usual April ramp-up to midseason success. By June 1 he was hitting a respectable .278, but his power was simply nonexistent. He had just five homers and 24 RBIs in 45 games. Then things got worse. In 28 games and 116 at-bats in June, Mattingly hit just .216 without a home run. By the middle of July, his average had dropped to .248, and his homerless streak extended beyond 200 at-bats. Something was wrong.

It turned out to be his old nemesis, those two bum disks in his back. On July 2 he told manager Stump Merrill that he’d been suffering from back stiffness and spasms for at least a week, and asked to be taken out of the lineup after making 231 consecutive starts. At the time, a somber Mattingly told reporters that he hoped he would miss only one game. It went on much longer than that.

Although he came back for a pain-filled 10-day stint from July 14 through July 24, the Yankees put Mattingly on the disabled list on July 26. Merrill said the first baseman could be out for the remainder of the season. Although the Yankees reinstated Mattingly from the DL on September 12, it was clear that the chronic back injury, which doctors had described as a congenital disk deformity, severely limited and altered his swing. In the waning days of the 1990 season, Mattingly played sparingly and finished the year with the worst statistics of his career: a .256 average, 5 home runs, and 42 RBIs in almost 400 at-bats.

During the offseason, Mattingly underwent a rigorous physical therapy regimen on his back. He rose at 6:00 A.M. four days a week at his home in Evansville to perform stretches and lifts that he’d learned the summer before while he was on the disabled list. By the time spring training rolled around, the first baseman sounded optimistic that he could regain his old form.

“I have to prove I can stay healthy,” Mattingly said. “From there, we’ll see what I can do. In the spring, I did the things I wanted to do. Now, I want to get used to doing less hitting and all the extra stuff I did in the past. I wanted to feel comfortable at the plate, and I did.”27

On March 1, 1991, Mattingly was given even more motivation to get back on top, when he was named the captain of the Yankees. “Once it had a chance to sink in,” he said, “it’s one of the biggest thrills and biggest honors for me in baseball. I take it seriously.”28

His teammates were very supportive of the measure. Outfielder Jesse Barfield said, “It’s a good move. The guys respect him and the organization respects him.” Infielder Randy Velarde put it a little more directly: “Who else could you name captain? When you think of the Yankees, who do you think of? Don Mattingly. It’s ideal that Stump did it.”29

Mattingly said he intended to lead by example, to let his play on the field do the talking. But when the season began, it was clear that he was doing more than just that. During the first few months of the season, he set upon his professional goals with a new fury, writing pep slogans on clubhouse blackboards, setting won-lost quotas for the team on television and, at times, declaring to reporters that an administrative shakeup might be just the ticket.

While he adjusted to the role of captain, Mattingly still struggled at the plate. By midseason he was batting .303, but his power numbers were way down. He managed just 6 home runs, 13 doubles, and 34 RBIs through the team’s first 81 games. As Mattingly tried to rediscover his power through the pain, he experimented with different batting stances, grips, and swings. Later in his career, he admitted that this constant jostling of his plate approach may have held him back that year.

He was also growing frustrated with ownership and the direction in which they were guiding the Yankees. The team was 41-40, tied for third place and 8½ games behind the division-leading Toronto Blue Jays. By mid-August, the Yankees had dropped 11 games below .500 and were a dozen games out of first place. Tension in the clubhouse was palpable, and perhaps for the first time in his career, Mattingly became the target of New York tabloid controversy.

No biography about a New York Yankee who played during the Steinbrenner years would be complete without at least one story of a head-to-head faceoff between the player and the Boss. Mattingly had a number of head-butting sessions with Yankees management over the years, and at times he exchanged barbs with Steinbrenner in the New York tabloids. But the most memorable feud began early in the summer of 1991. Frustrated with the team’s direction, Mattingly asked to be traded. The Yankees said no, so the slugger kept his mouth shut, and continued struggling to find his perfect swing. Then, on August 15, general manager Gene Michael told the first baseman that he needed to get a haircut. Yes, a haircut. And although Michael and manager Stump Merrill delivered the news, everyone knew whom the request had originated from. George Steinbrenner, who at the time was serving what would turn out to be a three-year suspension for consorting with a gambler, Howie Spira, was watching everything from behind the scenes.

Mattingly refused, even though he knew that he had agreed to the team’s well-known “haircut rule” as part of his contract, which required short, trimmed, nicely groomed hair. At the time, Mattingly was in clear violation of the rule, as his hair hung below his shirt collar, his mustache had grown out and, for a short time, and he looked like a member of the “mustache gang” of the early 1970s Oakland A’s.

Although he wasn’t drawn and quartered for his refusal to submit to the barber’s shears, Mattingly was benched for a game. Nobody was happy. Merrill saw matters in black and white: “If someone from management tells you need a haircut, you get a haircut.”30

But Mattingly had a different take, seeing the events as proof that he had become expendable and perhaps needed a new place to work. “Maybe I don’t belong in the organization anymore,” he said. “I talked to Gene Michael about moving me earlier in the year. He said we’ll talk at the end of the year. Maybe this is their way of saying, ‘We don’t need you anymore.”31

The haircut brouhaha eventually died down; Mattingly succumbed to the barber two days later. But the trouble over his disclosure that he was thinking about leaving the Yankees did not subside. As the season drew to a close, things got worse. The Yankees sputtered to a 25-41 record over the last 2½ months of the season and finished in fifth place with a 71-91 record. The team that looked so promising just a few years earlier had dropped to the bottom of the division. Their owner was serving a suspension that was still open-ended. They had gone through four managers in three seasons, and looked poised to hire a fifth for the 1992 season. Their captain, who had been the game’s best player just two years earlier, finished what could only be described as a disappointing season, batting a respectable .288 but hitting just nine home runs and collecting only 68 RBIs. Things were looking pretty dire in Yankeeland.

Despite the public-relations problems he’d been forced to endure, and the chronic pain in his back limiting his game on the field, Mattingly entered the 1992 season with a refreshed attitude. His power at the plate might have diminished, but his influence on the players around him only increased. He could no longer spend three hours a day in the batting cage, as he had sometimes done in the ’80s, and this gave him more time to talk to younger teammates about handling life on and off the field.

Many credit Mattingly with making the adjustment to major-league life a little bit easier. One story has it that when Bernie Williams first came to the Yankees in 1991, teammate Mel Hall called him “Bambi” because, he said, Bernie’s big round eyeglasses made him look like a deer caught in the headlights. What started as fine, good-natured rookie ribbing soon went over the line, with Hall taking advantage of his veteran status to haze Williams mercilessly. For some reason, it was personal for Hall, who may have seen the talented young outfielder as a threat to his own job, and as young and vulnerable as Williams was at the time, it really got to him. Until Mattingly intervened. He was friendly with Hall and told him to cool it. Then he took Williams under his wing for a while.

“He was real quiet and shy,” Mattingly recalled. “I thought he lacked a little confidence. You could see he had the talent, but you could see the insecurities, too. I think confidence was the big key for Bernie. You have to believe you can play here. You can’t keep hearing about potential. I think Bernie had to prove that to himself. Once you get that, you can do some things.”32 Williams developed into a five-time All-Star and a four-time World Series champion.

After two years in complete disarray, the Yankees seemed to bond as a team during the 1992 season. They won 76 games, a slight improvement over the prior year, and Mattingly had a resurgence of sorts. He finished with the same .288 batting average he had in ’91, but his power came back – not fully, but enough to make a difference. After averaging just 7 homers, 25 doubles, and 55 RBIs during the two previous seasons, he broke through with 14 homers, 40 doubles, and 86 RBIs. He also won his seventh Gold Glove.

In 1993 Mattingly had his best season since the ’80s. He hit .291 with 17 home runs and 86 RBIs. He won his eighth Gold Glove and finished 19th in MVP Voting. But more exciting to Mattingly was the development of the team around him. New arrival Paul O’Neill made a big impact, batting .311 with 20 homers and 75 RBIs. Bernie Williams showed promise, and third baseman Wade Boggs, another big offseason signing, hit .302, proving that the rumors of his demise in Boston were premature. Jimmy Key, the crafty left-hander who had helped the Blue Jays win the World Series in 1992, came to the Yankees via free agency and pitched very well, going 18-6 and finishing fourth in the Cy Young Award voting. The Yankees won 86 games and finished in second place for the first time since 1986.

Entering the 1994 season, Mattingly may have begun to feel a sense of urgency. He was now almost 33 years old and entering his 11th full season in the major leagues, and he still had not tasted postseason baseball. At the time he had just over 6,100 at-bats, the most among active major leaguers who had never made it to the playoffs. That weighed on him. But he also must have understood that this year, more than any season in nearly a decade, provided the Yankees with a real shot to win. They were entering their third straight season with Buck Showalter as manager, the longest tenure of any manager to date during the Mattingly era.

The Yankees captured first place in the AL East on May 9, 1994, and they never surrendered their lead. But a dark cloud hung over the season. As the Yankees continued to win, and to extend their lead over the second-place Orioles, news from the labor front was pretty dire. The collective-bargaining agreement between the Players Association and MLB was set to expire at midnight on August 11, 1994, and the parties were making no progress in their negotiations for a new deal. The Yankees knew that the great season they were having might be all for nothing. They would soon be proved right.

On the morning of August 12, 1994, the Players Association went on strike. The Yankees were 70-43 and 6½ games ahead of the second-place Orioles. On the day he left Yankee Stadium for Evansville, Mattingly expressed his disappointment with the strike and even pondered retirement.

“It’s kind of weird,” Mattingly said as players packed their belongings in the clubhouse. “It could be the last day of the year. It could be the last day of baseball. Who knows what’s going to happen? I may never play again. Who knows what’s going to happen during the winter?”33

Despite some early signs that the owners and players could reach a deal, it soon became clear that the season would be lost when both sides agreed to cancel the remainder of the season and the postseason on September 15, 1994.

It was the first time a World Series had been canceled in 90 years, and the fallout was mostly disgust. Many fans, who were paying a good deal of money to enable players and owners to make millions, felt the players were no longer worth it. Neither the owners, who were handing out money like candy, nor the players, whose average salary was almost $2 million per year, were getting much sympathy.

But because he was such a high-profile and well-liked player, Mattingly drew sympathy from many players, fans and writers, who knew well that his best chance at a postseason, and maybe even a World Series, had been taken away.

Over the winter negotiations were rare and not very promising, and New York columnists continued to discuss Mattingly, and whether he would ever take the field again. A breakthrough in the talks finally occurred in late March of 1995, and on April 3 the strike was settled. The season would open on April 26, and the schedules would be shortened to 144 games. But it was still a season, and now Mattingly had another opportunity to pursue his postseason dream, if he decided to return.

When the Yankees arrived at spring training, Mattingly was there, and told reporters that he had decided to look at the positives from the 1994 experience: “I don’t really look at it as our only chance and only golden opportunity,” he said. “It happened for us and, with the club we have this year, we have the chance to possibly do it again. If not this year, next year.”34

In essence, if the Yankees were the elite of the American League in 1994, why couldn’t they do it again in 1995? After all, the team did appear to have improved during the tumultuous offseason, trading for 1993 Cy Young Award winner Jack McDowell, to add to a staff that included the 1994 Cy Young runner-up, Jimmy Key. Also new to the Yankees starting rotation was 23-year-old rookie left-hander Andy Pettitte. The Yankees rounded out the rotation by trading for Montreal Expos stopper John Wetteland, who had been one of the top closers in baseball the three previous years.

But Key went down with a torn rotator cuff early on, and the Yankees were without a pitcher who had gone 35-10 over the past two seasons. However, they acquired David Cone, and he proved to be a godsend, posting a 9-2 record for the Yankees down the stretch. Pettitte also proved to be a tough customer, and with McDowell formed a formidable trio in the rotation.

Although they struggled with the injuries and roster shakeups, the Yankees began to jell as August arrived. By the end of the month they were a team on fire, prevailing in 25 out of their final 31 contests to win the wild card by just one game over the Angels on the final day of the season. Down the stretch, Mattingly hit .321 with 8 doubles, 12 RBIs, and 12 runs scored.

After the game in the Yankees clubhouse, the team seemed to be happier for Mattingly than for themselves. Buck Showalter spoke of how much the other players wanted to reach the playoffs for Mattingly. “There is a silent torch that we have all carried for Donnie,” he said.35

“That kind of guy should be playing in the playoffs and should have the chance to win it all,” said Jack McDowell.36 Said Pat Kelly, whose game-winning homer in the third-to-last game of the season put the Yankees that much closer to a playoff berth: “We might not be telling everybody what’s going on. But there is an underlying meaning there.” Asked what he meant, Kelly said: “Like, hey, this is big for Donnie. Let’s do it.”37

Even Steinbrenner said, “It’s more important for Mattingly than for me, because I’ve been there. I think the guys rallied for him. I really do.”38

On the day after the regular season finale, the New York Times sports page exclaimed: “Finally! Mattingly Can Become Mr. October!”39

In the American League Division Series the Yankees would be facing the Seattle Mariners, who had some of the best hitters in baseball. The Mariners featured Ken Griffey Jr., the superstar center fielder who had missed 90 games with a broken hand, but who was getting hotter as the season rushed to a close. They also had Edgar Martinez, the 1995 American League batting champion; former Yankee Jay Buhner, who had 40 home runs and 121 RBIs that year; and Mattingly’s eventual replacement at first base, Tino Martinez, who’d hit 31 homers and knocked in 111 RBIs. They were a force to be reckoned with.

Yankee fans were elated to see their team back in the postseason for the first time in 14 years. The first two games of the new best-of-five ALDS were played at Yankee Stadium.

Talking about that first playoff game, Mattingly later said, “I guess the biggest thrill for me was coming out of the dugout in the first game of the playoffs, in New York, against Seattle. Being pumped about being in the game, in the stadium was a great feeling, and a memory that will never go away. The memory is so fresh, and it was such a cool moment.”40

In his first playoff game, Mattingly went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI in the Yankees’ 9-6 victory. Game Two pitted the Mariners’ Andy Benes against rookie Andy Pettitte, who had had an impressive debut year in New York with a 12-9 record. Seattle took a 2-1 lead after five innings. But in the bottom of the sixth inning, Ruben Sierra tied the game with a solo blast off the upper-deck façade in right field. With the crowd still up in arms after that shot, Mattingly stepped into the box against Benes, and, amid the frenzy of 56,000 screaming New Yorkers, drilled the second pitch of the at-bat over the “385” sign in right-center field. The Stadium exploded. Fans sitting in the upper tiers littered the field with caps, helmets, full cups of beer, Frisbees, and even one grapefruit. An angry Lou Piniella, who was now managing Seattle, pulled the Mariners off the field for five minutes, refusing to send his troops back out on the field until the madness died down.

But the chants of “Don-nie Base-ball, Don-nie Base-ball” continued until the captain finally emerged from the dugout and tipped his cap to the crowd. The game continued in seesaw fashion for more than five hours in the cold rainy October night, and didn’t end until reserve catcher Jim Leyritz muscled a two-run home run just a few feet over the wall in dead right field in the bottom of the 15th inning.

The shot gave the Yankees a 7-5 win and a commanding 2-0 lead in the series. As the fans stayed in their places and sang along to the PA system blaring Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York,” optimistic chants of “Sweep! Sweep!” could be heard throughout the stands.

But a sweep was not in the cards. The Mariners won Game Three behind a brilliant pitching performance from Randy Johnson. In Game Four the Yankees blew an early five-run lead, and eventually succumbed, losing a slugfest, 11-8. It was on to Game Five.

Depending on which team you were rooting for, Game Five may have been a more exciting show than Game Two. With the score tied, 2-2, Mattingly came to the plate in the top of the sixth inning with the bases loaded and one out. He hit a rope, a line drive that skipped over the wall for a ground-rule double to put the Yankees ahead, 4-2. Things stayed that way until Ken Griffey hit a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth. It was Griffey’s fifth home run of the ALDS, and it brought Seattle to within one run. A few batters later, reserve player Doug Strange worked a bases-loaded walk off David Cone to tie the contest, 4-4. The game moved into extra innings, and in the top of the 11th, Randy Velarde singled home Pat Kelly to put the Yankees ahead, 5-4.

The lead was fleeting, however. In the bottom of the inning, Jack McDowell gave up back-to-back singles to Joey Cora and Griffey, and up to the plate came the series’ most feared hitter, Edgar Martinez. It didn’t take long for him to put a nail in the hearts of the Yankees faithful. Martinez drove the third pitch into the left-field corner, scoring Cora easily from third. As left fielder Gerald Williams got a handle on the ball, Griffey kept running, flying around third base and headed for home with Williams’ throw trailing him by not more than a foot or two. As he neared home plate, Griffey slid toward the third base side of the plate, and the throw was just a little to the other side. Jim Leyritz caught the ball cleanly and lunged for Griffey, but it was too late. He’d already touched home and ended the game and the series. Don Mattingly’s first postseason series was over.

After the game, Mattingly couldn’t help but feel a little sullen as he discussed the wonderful plays, wonderful games, and wonderful memories of the prior week. “Everything about it was great, except that we lost. We battled hard for the last 35 or 40 days knowing that we couldn’t lose,” Mattingly said. “Now, the finality of it is so sudden. Nobody expected to have to go home. We all thought we were going to Cleveland [to face the Indians in the American League Championship Series]. We didn’t think we’d be going back to New York yet.”41

Mattingly made no mention of the fact that in his first-ever October series, he’d gotten 10 hits in 24 at-bats for a .417 batting average, or that he also had four doubles, a home run, and six RBIs. Although he didn’t talk about himself, many in baseball noticed Mattingly’s performance. Ernie Banks, the legendary Mr. Cub, who himself had never made it to the postseason, had words of encouragement for Mattingly after the loss. Banks told the New York Times how much he admired and appreciated Mattingly’s style of play, and also knew the pain of never having played in a World Series. “The character of Don Mattingly is just unbelievable,” Banks said.42

Mattingly announced in the offseason that he wanted to sit out 1996, but did not formally retire, suggesting that he might like to play another year with a team closer to his home in Indiana. His children were growing up, his body needed a rest and the Yankees also had a new first baseman in Tino Martinez. Ironically, the 1996 Yankees won the World Series. It was the team’s first championship in 18 years and it marked the beginning of a dynasty that would win five pennants and four World Series crowns between 1996 and 2001.

On January 22, 1997, after his one-year self-imposed rest, Mattingly announced his retirement during a press conference at Yankee Stadium. Seven months later, on August 31, 1997, the team held Don Mattingly Day at Yankee Stadium. During the ceremony, the Yankees retired his number 23 and dedicated a plaque in Monument Park that called Mattingly “a humble man of grace and dignity, a captain who led by example, proud of the Pinstripe tradition and dedicated to the pursuit of excellence, a Yankee forever.”43

During the ceremony, Mattingly thanked the fans for their years of support, and added: “I wanted the fans to know over the years everything I did was designed to keep everything strictly baseball for me. I tried to stay away from doing too much stuff around town, so when they thought of me, they thought of baseball, not a commercial or something that was going on with you because you became a celebrity.”44

After the event, Mattingly talked of the pain his back had caused him throughout his career, an issue that he had rarely discussed while he was playing. “I was born with a congenital defect. If I hit too much, I got a pounding soreness. It was like a dead ache in my back. I still get it today when I go out and hit too many golf balls. … I tried to make the best of it. I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t want any sympathy from people. I didn’t want to hear people say, ‘How’s your back?’ Or, ‘He’s struggling because of his back.’ So what? I was able to play for 12 or 13 years, some of those years feeling pretty good, some of those years not feeling so good. I was still able to play in the major leagues, and I was very thankful for that. I didn’t feel it was an area that I really wanted any sympathy for.”45

For the next seven years, Mattingly lived and worked at his horse farm in Evansville. Although he served in various part-time roles as a spring-training instructor and roving minor-league hitting coach over the years, he resisted any attempts to bring him back to full-time baseball. Whenever asked if he would return to the Yankees as a coach, his usual response was, “I’m just a horse farmer from Indiana.”46

But by 2003, when his oldest son graduated from high school and his two other boys were getting old enough to handle life without having their father home all the time, Mattingly agreed to come back to New York.

On November 4, 2003, the Yankees announced that they had hired Mattingly as the hitting coach. “I’ve told everyone that, in my mind, if I really wanted to get a job back in baseball, I’d really want to start out as a hitting coach and be able to sit there and watch a great manager work and learn and learn. And then, at some point, be able to manage. So that would be something I would like to do.”47

The 2004 team tied the White Sox for the major-league lead in home runs, with 242, and finished second in runs with 892. Mattingly earned good reviews from both the players and the pundits. Perhaps his biggest accomplishment was his work with Jason Giambi. The embattled slugger, whose 2004 season had been ruined by revelations of his steroid use and a benign tumor on his pituitary gland, was on the verge of being sent down to the minor leagues in May 2005 because he was hitting just .195. Manager Joe Torre and general manager Brian Cashman met with Giambi and asked that he accept the demotion. The former MVP refused the request and said that he would be more comfortable working through his prolonged hitting problems with Mattingly rather than with a minor-league coach.

Mattingly tutored Giambi every day for a month. Soon Giambi began to hit again. In June he showed some progress, batting .310 with one home run and nine RBIs. Then, he exploded. In July, Giambi hit .355 with 14 homers and 24 RBIs. He stayed on course through the rest of the season, finishing with a .271 batting average, 32 home runs, and 87 RBIs. In November he won the American League Comeback Player of the Year award and gave credit to Mattingly’s mentoring in helping him find his way back.

Mattingly continued as hitting coach through the end of 2006, and was promoted to bench coach in 2007. In each of his four years as a coach, Mattingly reached the postseason, a big change from his days as a player. At the end of the 2007 season, the Yankees and manager Joe Torre parted ways, opening a spot for the team’s first new manager in 12 years. Initially, Mattingly was considered by the media as the frontrunner for the job, but he lost out to Joe Girardi. A few days after losing the managerial race, Torre was introduced as the new manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and his first order of business was to announce that Mattingly would be his hitting coach. A few weeks later, however, Mattingly took a leave of absence from the club because he was going through a difficult divorce. He returned to the club after the All-Star break.

Mattingly continued as the Dodgers’ batting coach through the 2010 season. He then succeeded Joe Torre as Dodgers manager. Although his clubs posted winning records during Mattingly’s first two years at the helm, the Dodgers did not make the National League playoffs until 2013, when it finished in first place in the NL West. But the Dodgers lost the NLCS in six games to St. Louis. The 2014 season was a virtual repeat. The Dodgers were again the division champs, but lost to St. Louis in the NLDS, 3-1. And the 2015 season nearly mirrored the two prior years. The team won the National League West but lost to the New York Mets in the NLDS in a hard-fought five-game series. A few days after the loss to the Mets, the Dodgers and Mattingly mutually parted ways.48

On October 29, 2015, the Miami Marlins hired Mattingly as manager, signing him to a four-year contract. He led the Marlins to a surprising postseason berth in the shortened 2020 season, but after sweeping the Chicago Cubs in the Wild Card Series, their season ended with a 3-0 NL Division Series sweep against the Atlanta Braves. Mattingly suffered through two more losing seasons before he was let go in 2022. He joined the Toronto Blue Jays coaching staff in 2023.  

Mattingly’s place in baseball history is an unusual one. For six years he was the game’s best player, averaging .327, 203 hits, 43 doubles, 27 home runs, 114 RBIs, and 97 runs scored. But the second half of his career was hampered by his congenitally bad back. Although he won four more Gold Gloves in the 1990s, his batting average dropped. His power numbers also declined to an average of just 10 home runs and 64 RBIs. But if one looks a little deeper into those numbers, it’s clear that Mattingly really only had one bad season, 1990. And while 1991 and 1992 were both mediocre, his 162-game averages over the last five years of his career were a .291 batting average, 13 home runs and 83 RBIs.

In his 2001 Historical Baseball Abstract, statistical guru Bill James ranked Don Mattingly as the 12th-greatest first baseman of all-time. In his comment to the ranking, James described him as “100 percent ballplayer, zero percent bullshit.”49

In time perhaps Mattingly may find his way into the Hall of Fame. Perhaps not. Either way, Don Mattingly will likely be remembered by baseball fans just as he once wished when he said, “When you think of me, think of me on the baseball field.”

And that is where most people will think of Don Mattingly: on the baseball field, his uniform dirty, wearing the eye black, ready to play. Always ready to play. Donnie Baseball.

Last revised: January 7, 2025

Acknowledgments

A version of this biography is included in “Nuclear Powered Baseball: Articles Inspired by The Simpsons Episode Homer At the Bat” (SABR, 2016), edited by Emily Hawks and Bill Nowlin. For more information, click here.

Photo credits: Don Mattingly, SABR-Rucker Archive.

Notes

Although the Braves had some outstanding ballplayers, they just didn’t have enough of them to remain competitive within their division. The face of the Atlanta Braves was Dale Murphy. He was described as a boy scout. He didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, didn’t curse and didn’t carouse. Murphy was a professional athlete whom children could emulate. He won back-to-back Most Valuable Player Awards in 1982 and 1983, and remains the only two-time recipient in the Braves franchise.

Dale Bryan Murphy was born on March 12, 1956, to Charles and Betty Murphy in Portland, Oregon. Charles Murphy was a sales executive for Westinghouse and the family relocated to Moraga, California, for a very brief time.

Murphy was a catcher at Woodrow Wilson High School, capping his career with a .465 batting average in his senior season. Murphy’s coach in American Legion ball and high school was Jack Dunn, a family friend. “I always knew he was something special,” said Dunn. “I know it’s just a coincidence, but did you know that the man who discovered Babe Ruth was also named Jack Dunn?”1 

Arizona State University came calling, luring the young backstop to Tempe. But the Atlanta Braves selected Murphy with their first pick (fifth pick overall) in the June draft in 1974. “I’m a little bit excited, it’s quite an honor,” said Murphy. “I’ll just listen to what the Braves offer and then try to make a decision. I’ve already signed a letter of intent with Arizona State, and no matter what happens I’d like to get an education. Right now, I just don’t know what I’ll do for sure.”2

Murphy opted to take the route to a pro baseball career instead of one of a collegiate athlete. After he signed with the Braves, Murphy reported to the Kingsport Braves, Atlanta’s Rookie League club in the Appalachian League.    

Like many players who could hit with little problem at the high school level, Murphy had to adjust to the higher level of pitching he was facing. But Murphy faced another change, this one occurring off the diamond. In 1975, Murphy was with Greenwood (South Carolina) when he struck up a friendship with teammate Barry Bonnell. Murphy was curious about Bonnell, who was a member of the Mormon religion. Murphy, who was raised a Presbyterian, liked what he heard from his new friend. Eventually, Murphy converted to the Church of Latter-Day Saints. Bonnell baptized Murphy the day after the 1975 season.3

Murphy’s conversion to the Mormons was indeed a life-changing moment. The Mormon religion was a solid foundation for Murphy for the rest of his life. He wanted to serve a two-year mission with the Mormons, putting his career on hold. Braves owner Ted Turner tried to talk him out of it, to no avail. An official with the church convinced Murphy that he could continue his professional baseball career, while also serving the church.

Murphy began the 1976 season with Savannah of the AA Southern League. The tall (6’4”) right-handed batter hit .267 with 12 homers and 55 RBIs. In 1977 he was promoted to Richmond of the AAA International League. In 18 games he hit .260 and earned a late-season call up to Atlanta. Murphy made his major league debut on September 13 at Dodger Stadium, going 2 for 4 with two RBIs in a 4-3 loss. In 17 starts as a catcher, he threw out nine of 21 would-be base stealers.

He returned to Richmond for the 1977 season because he had developed a throwing problem form his catcher’s position. Some of his throws would bounce in front of the pitching mound; some would go in all directions around the infield, or sail into the outfield. Rarely did he hit the spot he was trying to throw to. “It’ll come around,” said Murphy. “It’s got to be in my head and not physical. It’s been discouraging but something I’ve got to forget.”4 Offensively it was a breakout year. Murphy batted .305 to go with 22 home runs and a league-leading 90 RBIs. Once again, the Braves called Murphy up in September.

On September 15, Murphy had a two-home run game, knocking in four runs in the Braves 8-7 win over San Diego. His second round-tripper came off Rollie Fingers in the top of the 10th inning and proved to be the game-winner. 

When Atlanta departed its spring training home in West Palm Beach and headed north, Dale Murphy was in tow. But the team moved him to first base. Biff Pocoroba was to remain as the Braves starting catcher. Another rookie in camp was manager Bobby Cox. “Give Murphy 500 at-bats this season and he’ll hit 25 homers minimum in the National League,” said Cox.5

Cox was close in his prediction, as Murphy posted 530 at-bats and homered 23 times, sharing the team lead with Bob Horner and Jeff Burroughs. But Murphy was the league leader in strikeouts, whiffing 145 times. On the defensive side, the Braves found that their prized prospect had a hard time throwing from the first base position as well. He led the league with 20 errors. Horner was named the National League’s Rookie of the Year.

That fall Murphy enrolled at Brigham Young University, where he met his future wife Nancy, a cheerleader at BYU. In May of 1979, Murphy was dealing with a sore left knee. Although he wasn’t experiencing a lot of pain, it felt more awkward. At first the knee was drained because there was excess fluid. But when the knee didn’t respond, it was discovered there was cartilage damage. He underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove the cartilage. Murphy did not return to full-time duty until July 19.

While he was on the shelf for a few weeks, and Nancy boarded a plane from Provo, Utah, to Atlanta to cheer him up. Two months later they were engaged. They married in October that year at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Their marriage has been blessed with eight children.    

The Braves (69-93) finished in last place in the NL West, 26 games behind first place Los Angeles. But the Braves had a good nucleus of young players. Horner, who manned the hot corner, was the prototypical power hitter, and Glenn Hubbard was a solid infielder. Gary Matthews provided more power and hit for average and patrolled right field.

The Braves addressed two positions in their lineup with one trade. On December 5, 1979, they acquired first baseman Chris Chambliss and shortstop Luis Gomez from Toronto for pitcher Joey McLaughlin, shortstop Pat Rockett and Bonnell. 

Chambliss, a starter at first base with two World Series champion Yankee teams, replaced Murphy. The Braves, realizing they needed Murphy’s bat in the lineup, moved him to center field and Gomez was inserted as the starting shortstop.

The new lineup provided results. Atlanta finished 81-80 and in fourth place in the NL West. It was the first time the Braves had finished out of the cellar since 1975 and their best record since 1974. The foursome of Murphy, Matthews, Horner and Chambliss combined for 105 home runs and 325 RBIs. Almost as important, Murphy found the outfield to his liking (324 putouts, 11 assists, five errors). He was selected to the NL All-Star team for the first of seven times.

The 1981 season was a washout for many teams, as the MLB players’ strike on June 12, 1981, lasted until July 31. A total of 713 games was canceled. The season was divided into two halves, with the winners of each half squaring off and creating another level of playoffs. The Braves slipped back into fifth.

Turner fired Cox after the 1981 season. Joe Torre, who managed the New York Mets the previous five seasons, had little success (286-420 record). However, when Sports Illustrated came out with its MLB Preview issue on April 12, 1982, the Braves were optimistic about their chances. “It’s about time we did something,” said Murphy.6 “We can win the division. We’ve got as much talent as the Dodgers,” said Chambliss.7   

And they did just that, edging Los Angeles by one game to capture the NL West for the first time since 1969, when MLB had instituted the two-division format in each league. The Dodgers, who took seven of 11 games from Atlanta in the regular season, led the Braves by 3½ games on September 17. But the Dodgers hit the skids and lost nine of their next 10.

The season ended with a thud when St. Louis swept them in the LCS.

But the real story was Murphy. He smacked 36 home runs to go with a league-leading 109 RBIs and batted .281. He was durable, playing in all 162 games. He was selected as the NL Most Valuable Player for 1982. “Most Valuable Player … well, I haven’t felt that way,” said Murphy. “I don’t really know how to describe it; the only word I can think of is overwhelming.

“There are so many people responsible for what happened this year with the Braves. I keep thinking about Jerry Royster who carried us for the last month, and Terry Harper, who carried us for the last week. It’s hard to pick an MVP on a winning team.”8 

As if the MVP award was not enough, Murphy was selected as the recipient of a Gold Glove Award. It was the first of five straight years he would be honored for defensive excellence. Bobby Cox, who was now leading the Blue Jays, had to have a wide grin on his face as the move of Murphy to the outfield looked like an act of genius. 

The Braves, buoyed by their successful 1982 season, were in command with a 5½ game lead over Los Angeles in the NL West as the curtain came down on the month of July 1983. But their season soured when the Braves turned in a 23-32 record in August and September. Conversely, the Dodgers went 34-24 and passed Atlanta, winning the division by three games.

The Braves made a trade late in the season to shore up their pitching staff, but the move backfired. On August 28, Atlanta acquired pitcher Lenny Barker from Cleveland. Barker was an oft-injured right hander who had bone spurs in his right elbow. And it showed as Barker went 1-3 and needed surgery. The Braves sent outfielder Brett Butler and third baseman Brook Jacoby to Cleveland. Both started in Cleveland for a few years, and it stifled the influx of young talent making their way to Atlanta.

Murphy was again awarded the MVP award, becoming the youngest player in history to win the award in consecutive seasons. He belted 36 home runs, drove in 121 runs and batted .301. Murphy led the league in RBIs and slugging percentage (.540). “It doesn’t really sink in … It hasn’t really hit home,” said Murphy. “I just still feel like one of the guys on the team. I don’t feel any different, and I don’t feel I should. I don’t want to feel this award — two or how many — puts me at higher level than anybody else.”9

The Braves finished in second place in 1984 to San Diego, in its first pennant-winning season. Torre was fired after the season and was replaced by Eddie Haas. But Haas, who had no managerial experience, was soon let go and replaced with Bobby Wine, who was also shown the door at season’s end.

Under new manager Chuck Tanner, the Braves landed in the cellar in 1986. It was a position that unfortunately they would know all too well in four of the next five seasons.

In 1986, Murphy’s consecutive game streak of 740 games ended when he sat out a game on July 9 at Philadelphia.

By the time the 1987 season rolled around, Horner signed a free-agent deal with St. Louis. Besides Ozzie Virgil, Atlanta’s catcher who belted 27 homers in 1987, there was not much surrounding Murphy in the Braves lineup. Despite that, Murphy set a career high with 44 home runs and batted in 105. He was still shown respect from opponents as he led the league in intentional walks with 29. He also totaled 14 assists from his new position, right field.

The Braves had some greybeards on their club, including Ken Griffey, Graig Nettles, Ted Simmons, and Gary Roenicke. But the tide was starting to turn. Tom Glavine, Ron Gant, Jeff Blauser, and Pete Smith all made their debuts in 1987. All four would have a role in the Braves’ success in the 1990s.

Murphy slumped the next two seasons, batting .226 in ’88 and leading the league in double plays with 24. He still led the club in homers (24) and RBIs (77). By 1989 (20 HR, 80 RBIs and .228 batting average), Murphy’s best days were in the rearview mirror.

Naturally, Murphy’s name was coming up in trade talks. He had the right to give his consent to any proposed deal. “I would imagine that the Braves have gotten into a situation where we didn’t win too many games and they’re looking for a change,” said Murphy. “Just like teams look around and see who possibly might be available or could use some young players, the Braves come up. We really didn’t play that well, and probably because of the way I played. I really didn’t do that well. Sometimes that enters in as well.”10

“He had his chance to get out of there in his last contract,” said former teammate Glenn Hubbard. “Last winter, he felt a commitment to that team. He took that road. And now they’re talking about trading him? That shows you how much. … They shouldn’t even mention his name in trade talks.”11

The anticipated trade did not happen. At least, not right away. Murphy played 97 games for the Braves in 1990. He swatted 17 home runs and knocked in 55 runs. His batting average continued to be mediocre at .232. On August 3, Murphy was part of a five-player deal that sent him to the Phillies. The key player going to Atlanta was pitcher Jeff Parrett. “We think he (Murphy) has a lot of years left,” said Philadelphia general manager Lee Thomas. “Dale’s always liked to hit here. Those long fly balls he hits will hit the seats here.”12   

The good news for Murphy was that he missed the third straight season that the Braves finished in the cellar. The bad news was that Atlanta then won back-to-back pennants in 1991 and 1992. As if Murphy’s luck could not get any worse, he was waived by the Phillies two days before the start of the 1993 season. Philadelphia went on to knock off the Braves in the LCS in 1993 and claim their first pennant since 1983.

In spite of missing out on the trappings that come with playing with a winning club, Dale Murphy is best known as a complete player who was one of the best in the senior circuit. He stands on his career numbers and his achievements. And he stands tall over most of his contemporaries.     

“I’ve learned a lot from him,” said Pete Smith. “It’s a big change. He’s the best I’ve ever been associated with. There’s only one Murph. There will never be anyone like him to come along for his franchise. That’s because he was the franchise.”13 

Philadelphia was hoping that Murphy would be a piece of the championship club they were trying to put together. With a lineup of talented players that already included Darren Daulton, Von Hayes, John Kruk, and Lenny Dykstra, they were counting on the acquisition of Murphy to fit right in. 

But as often happens, the opposite was true. The Phillies tied for fourth place, sharing an identical 77-85 record with Chicago, 18 games behind first-place Pittsburgh. The 1991 season was a carbon copy of the prior one. The Phillies tied again with the Cubs, but this time both clubs ended in third place. However, even though they rose in the standings, the Pirates finished 20 games ahead of both the Cubs and Phillies.

The 1991 season was the only one in which Murphy played a full season with the Phillies. His 18 homers and 81 RBIs finished second on the team to Kruk (21/92). A chronic left knee injury in 1992 kept Murphy on the shelf after May 18. 

Murphy was released and signed on with the expansion Colorado Rockies in 1993. He had hit 398 career home runs and was hoping to get to 400. But after 26 games, 42 at-bats, and no home runs, Murphy called it quits. The Rockies had been hinting that he might be released, and he beat them to the punch. “I have no problem with that,” Murphy said of his probable release. “They have to do what they have to do. I haven’t really been doing the job, which was fairly obvious.”

Regarding his goal to hit 400 home runs, Murphy said, “I should have done it. I had plenty of pitches and plenty of opportunities to do it. I didn’t do it. I’m thankful to be able to be around and hit those that I did.”14

Murphy retired after 18 seasons and 2,180 games. Along with his 398 career homers, he drove in 1,266 runs and batted .265. He totaled 2,111 hits and 350 doubles.

On June 20, 1994, the Braves retired Murphy’s jersey number at Fulton-County Stadium. With his family in tow, he watched as the sign “Dale Murphy 3” was unveiled for the Murphy family, and the 46,681 in attendance. “This was saying goodbye,” said Murphy. “When I retired, I never had the chance to tell people here. This is kind of final.”15  “I almost lost it when they unveiled the number and when I talked about Nancy and the kids,” he added.16  Only Warren Spahn, Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron, and Phil Niekro had been previously honored with having their number retired by the team.

Murphy’s baseball career opened the door for many opportunities after he hung up his cleats. From 1997 to 2000, the Murphy clan lived in Boston. He supervised nearly 200 Mormons who were working two-year stints as missionaries in Massachusetts. “I’m like the supervisor,” said Murphy. “I help, I train, I educate, I see how they’re doing. We help find them apartments and provide them cars.”17  

In 2005, Murphy started the foundation, I Don’t Cheat. The foundation promotes honesty to young athletes and the dangers of taking performance-enhancing drugs. Murphy has been outspoken on the topic of steroids. He has taken former players to task over taking steroids, Roger Clemens among them. “If you’re asking me if I think Clemens took steroids or something — yes I think he took them,” said Murphy. “I don’t have any proof. I’m just giving you my opinion, and that’s my opinion. I’m like everybody else. This isn’t a court of law. I don’t see all the evidence.18   

Murphy was also active raising money for the charity, Operation Smile, a nonprofit organization that performed surgery on children born with a cleft palate.    

In 2017, Murphy opened a restaurant in Atlanta, aptly called “Murphs.”

The Murphy family resides in Alpine Valley, Utah. 

Last revised: October 22, 2019

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Andrew Sharp and Norman Macht and fact-checked by Kevin Larkin.

Photo credits: Dale Murphy, SABR-Rucker Archive.

Notes

1 Steve Wulf, “Murphy’s Law is Nice Guys Finish First”, Sports Illustrated, July 3, 1983: 26.

2 Charlie Roberts, “Delemma For Catchers”, Atlanta Constitution, June 6, 1974: 6-D.

3 Vic Fulp, “Throwing Flaws Block Path Back to Majors for Murphy”, The Sporting News, May 7, 1977: 29.

4 Fulp

5 Furman Bisher, “Dale Murphy and Murphy’s Law”, The Sporting News, March 25, 1978: 2.

6 “Atlanta”, Sports Illustrated, April 12, 1982: 70.

7 Ibid.

8 Tim Tucker, “MVP: Overwhelming choice Murph overwhelmed”, Atlanta Constitution, November 18, 1982: 8-D. 

9 Tim Tucker, “Murphy named MVP—again”, Atlanta Constitution, November 9, 1983: 1-C.  

10 Thomas Stinson, “Caught in the Eye Of the Storm”, Atlanta Constitution, November 6, 1989: 25-C.

11 Stinson.

12 Sam Carchidi, “Phils get Murphy in trade for Parrett”, Philadelphia Inquirer, August 4, 1990: 1-C.

13 Joe Straus, “Ex-teammates agree: ‘He was the franchise’”, Atlanta Constitution, August 5, 1990: F10.

14 “Murphy decides it’s time to retire”, New York Post, May 28, 1993.

15 Joe Strauss, “Murphy: ‘This was saying goodbye’”, Atlanta Constitution, June 24, 1994: E1.

16 Joe Strauss, “An Atlanta hero comes full circle”, Atlanta Constitution, June 24, 1994: C1.

17 Bob Duffy, “A new calling draws Murphy”, Boston Globe, Player’s Hall of Fame File.  

18 Jeff Schultz, “Murphy Takes His Cuts at Clemens”, Atlanta Constitution, January 14, 2008: 1D.

Andy was born on June 15, 1972 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Tommy and Joanne (Martello) Pettitte. Tommy Pettitte was a police officer, working his way up to sergeant before leaving that line of work, and the state of Louisiana. He changed careers rather drastically in 1981, landing in a chemical plant that produced additives for motor oil in a small town near Houston, Texas.1 The family moved with him, including 8-year-old Andy and his sister Robin.2 At their new home in pigskin-mad Texas, Andy played some football but loved baseball from a young age. His father was encouraging to the budding southpaw, even building an AstroTurf mound in the yard for Andy to throw off of. Fellow Texan pitchers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens were among his heroes as he grew into a fine pitcher himself.3

Andy loved sports, but didn’t feel quite the same about school. He had to force himself to study hard just to get through. He was a quiet kid, one that was not always comfortable around others. As a teenager he met a fellow shy teenager at church, the pastor’s daughter Laura Dunn.4 Laura and Andy began dating, though Andy joked that they were both so shy that they dated for a year before either got up the nerve to speak to one another.5 It is fitting that they met in church, as their religious faith was one of the things that bonded them. Andy followed his sister’s lead, becoming a fervent and devoted Christian. Laura’s parents did not approve of her dating so young, but the couple lasted and would eventually marry.

Moving up from the backyard mound to the one at Deer Park High School was the next step. Andy was a good high school pitcher and top prospect. In 1990, after his senior year, he was a 22 nd round draft pick by the New York Yankees. A study of the best late round picks of all time has Pettitte near the top. His career WAR of 60.2 for the 594th pick in the draft is quite remarkable. The highest WAR achieved by any other pick in that round of that year is zero. 6 Coincidentally, there was a pretty good catcher taken in the 24th round, who become an important part of Andy’s professional career. That catcher’s name is Jorge Posada.

Part of the reason Pettitte was available so low in the draft might have been that it was perceived he would attend college. Another reason might have had to do with the “eye test.” Pettitte neither lit up the radar gun nor was the refined physical specimen some other young players were. “I was a late bloomer who still had some baby fat” Pettitte admitted; other reports used words like “chunky,” “lumpy,” and “pudgy.” 7

He may have been heavy, but he had a great arm and a fabulous pick-off move. “He could pick the mayor off in his office,” is a colorful way one scout described it.8 His high school numbers were great and he was a lefty with talent, even if he wasn’t reaching up in the 90s on the radar gun.9 The Yankees had a “draft and follow” arrangement, meaning they had a full year to come to terms while both sides considered options. Pettitte ended up going to junior college, which would allow him to go pro later that year if he so chose, whereas playing for a Division I team like LSU wouldn’t. He pitched well at hometown Jacinto Junior College and worked hard, lost weight and gained strength.10 He credits renowned San Jacinto coach Wayne Graham as helping refine his delivery and helping him focus.11

At the end of the year, he had to decide if he was going to stay in the collegiate ranks, re-enter the draft, or officially join the Yankees. There was a dispute about money, but scout Joe Robison was convincing — and more than a little prophetic. “Andy, when you reach 40 years old,” Robison reportedly told Pettitte at the time, “you’re not going to have to do another lick of work in your life. You’ll have enough money to do nothing except watch your kids grow up and go fishing.”12

They agreed on a number ($80,000) and he signed right there at his grandmother’s kitchen table. Reflecting back on his draft day in a 2016 interview, Pettitte said “for me it was a horrible day.” He recalled trying to negotiate as an 18 year-old without representation and without knowledge of the system. He felt he should have been signed for more.13

After that rocky start, he rose relatively quickly through the minor leagues. His career at one point could have taken a much different path. As a very young pitcher one of his weapons was a great knuckleball. In the Gulf Coast League his pitching coach was Hoyt Wilhelm, whose legendary knuckler helped him break records in a long major league career spanning 1952-1972. Pettitte had a knack for the pitch and Wilhelm took him under his wing. It was Andy’s teammate in the GCL and future Yankees batterymate, Posada, who talked him out of it. Like many catchers, Posada did not relish trying to corral the unpredictable pitch. Pettitte hit him in the foot with a dancing knuckler one too many times and Posada said, “Dude, if you’re going to keep throwing that I’m not going to catch you anymore.”14 Pettitte developed a straight change instead.

The change-up served him well, as did his ever-stronger fastball and good breaking stuff. Andy progressed through the minor leagues, stopping to get married to Laura while in A ball, and got called up to the majors in 1995. He did not fare well in his first appearance with the big club, giving up two runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning in relief against the Royals on April 29, 1995. He got another chance the next day and this time gave up an unearned run in an inning of relief. He was sent down to the minors after these two quick appearances, but was called back up just over a week later. His next few outings were also in relief; he got his first chance to start on May 27, against the A’s. He gave up just one earned run, but shaky defense from the Yankees and a shutout from the opposing starter, Steve Ontiveros, meant he got the loss.

Pettitte would make 25 more starts for the year, ending with a record of 12-9 and an ERA of 4.17. The 12 wins was the most by a Yankees rookie in 27 years, since Stan Bahnsen’s 17-win Rookie of the Year season in 1968. Pettitte’s best start of the year was a complete game against the Angels where he gave up just one run and struck out eight. He went 5-1 down the stretch, setting a precedent of finishing strong to ensure he would end the season with a winning record.

It was just about everything you could hope for in a rookie campaign by a young pitcher. Pettitte placed third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting. Left fielder Marty Cordova of the Twins had a 20/20 campaign to earn the award. The Yankees won the wildcard (the first of its kind) in a strike-shortened season and though they lost the ALDS to the Mariners, Pettitte got his first taste of the playoffs and solidified his status as a starter for his sophomore season.

In 1996 the Yankees wouldn’t settle for the wildcard, though it was far from a smooth ride to the championship. Number one starter and team leader David Cone suffered a mysterious injury that ended up being an aneurysm requiring serious surgery.15 Several other pitchers also got hurt, owner George Steinbrenner caused havoc with roster changes, and the team squabbled. But Pettitte was steady. His first half landed him a spot on the All-Star team. He became the ace on a championship team in his first full season. He developed his cutter and that nasty move that led the majors with 10 pick-offs. The Yankees won the Series for the first time since 1978. In Game Five of the 1996 Series, Pettitte outdueled the great John Smoltz in one of the best games of his career. He finished the year 21-8 with an ERA of 3.87 and finished second in Cy Young voting to Pat Hentgen.

In 1997 Pettitte had in many respects an even better year: 18-7 with an ERA of 2.88. He led the league in fewest home runs allowed at just 0.3 per nine innings. He logged 240.1 innings in 35 starts. The Yankees made the playoffs again but lost to the Indians. The next season was another good one for Pettitte (though his ERA did climb to 4.24) and a great one for the Yankees. Some consider it the best team in baseball history. It ended with Pettitte getting the win in the final game of the 1998 World Series, pitching 7.1 scoreless innings. After the game Jeter was quoted as saying “Andy is a big game pitcher. That’s the bottom line. Every time you think his back is against the wall, he comes out and he does a performance like this.”16 His reputation was growing as one of the top left-handed pitchers in the game.

The Yankees followed up their world-beating 1998 with another championship season. The off-season was good news for Pettitte as well — the Yankees signed his old hero Roger Clemens. “It was great,” Pettitte said of the first time they met. “It fired me up. It was meeting somebody you looked up to, watched since high school. It was awesome.”17

Pettitte didn’t pitch well at all to start 1999; he gave up six or more runs in five of his first-half starts. At the end of June he was 5-6 with an ERA of 5.53. His July wasn’t much better. After giving up eight hits and two walks in three and a third against a mediocre White Sox team, Steinbrenner made his displeasure known publicly. He was very aware of the big bump in pay Pettitte was due the following year. “How can he look at that [pay raise] after the type of year he’s having now?” Steinbrenner asked a New York Times reporter. 18 Trade rumors swirled and Pettitte was very nearly sent to the Phillies. The deal fell through and Pettitte had an excellent final two months with the Yankees. He was 7-3 down the stretch, with five wins in August. He picked up two wins in the playoffs and although he didn’t pitch well in the Series, the Yankees swept the Braves for another championship.

The stretch of success for the Yankees continued: with the “Core Four” in place they won the World Series in 2000, made it again (but lost) in 2001, made it to the ALDS in 2002, and made it to the Series again in 2003. Throughout this stretch Pettitte was reliable and successful. Though he never won a Cy Young Award, he came in fourth in the AL voting in 2000 and sixth in 2003. His ERA is more impressive when adjusted to ERA+, which factors in park and league variables.19 By the end of this stretch (1995-2003) he had 13 postseason wins; the Yankees won 11 of his postseason starts in a row. He’d finish his career with a record 19 postseason wins and an ERA of 3.81. He threw 276⅔ innings in the postseason, far more than any player in history. Part of this was of course due to his team’s excellence and the expanded playoff system, but his individual effort played a big part too.

Pettitte wasn’t flashy — he’s been called “more plow horse than show horse.”20 He preferred to stay quiet off the field. He wasn’t part of the New York social scene and was known for his Christian faith and devotion to his family. He was intensely competitive, though, often quoted as saying “Whatever I do, I love to win. I don’t care if it’s tennis or ping-pong, I’ll kill myself to win it.”21

After the 2003 season, it was “rather baffling” how little interest the Yankees expressed in re-signing Pettitte, according to manager Joe Torre.22 The Yankees waited until the last day of their 15-day exclusivity period to even contact him. Steinbrenner, according to Torre, had a habit of not coveting what he already had. The Red Sox expressed keen interest but Pettitte wanted to return home to Texas.23 Other than being reunited with his old friend Clemens, who also signed with the Astros that offseason, Pettitte’s homecoming was not a sweet one, as he tore a tendon in his forearm while batting in his debut. He was on and off the disabled list all year before finally ending his season in August to undergo surgery with Dr. James Andrews.24

Pettitte would turn 33 during the 2005 season, was coming off surgery, and had an awful start. However, he turned his season around in the middle of June and didn’t slow down. He won six decisions in a row in one stretch then seven starts in a row. He’d finish the year 17-9 with an ERA of 2.39, good enough to place fifth in the Cy Young voting and to garner a few votes for MVP. The Astros made it to the World Series, where they were swept by the White Sox.

In 2006 Pettitte had a slow start again. He gave up seven earned runs in 4⅔ innings in his first game of the year and had six starts in the first half where he gave up six or more earned runs. Again, his second half was strong and he finished with a 14-13 record and a respectable 4.20 ERA. It was his last year in Houston. The 34 year-old Pettitte made a decision to return to the Yankees in the offseason following the 2006 season. “It’s been a brutal several days trying to come to this decision,” Pettitte said. “It’s been extremely difficult.”25 It was a one-year contract for sixteen million dollars, coupled with the opportunity to again play with Jeter, Posada, and Rivera. The team would surprise most observers by winning the wildcard before losing in the ALDS.

Following the 2007 season, the baseball world was rocked by The Mitchell Report. Dozens of players were listed as users of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. Pettitte’s name was there among those who used Human Growth Hormone. Unlike others who vehemently denied the charges — Clemens among them — Pettitte came clean. He admitted to being injected with the substance, but noted that it wasn’t banned at the time and that he was of the belief that he was taking it not to gain an unfair advantage but rather to recover more quickly from an elbow injury in 2002.

“I felt an obligation to get back to my team as soon as possible,” Pettitte said. “For this reason, and only this reason, for two days I tried Human Growth Hormone.”26

He relied on his faith during this difficult time and found many fans willing to forgive him.27 Not everyone believed him, given factors such as a late-career increase in velocity as well as the damning fact that he changed his story about Clemens under oath. Clemens was outed as a steroid user and the close nature of their relationship cast doubt onto Pettitte as well.28 Some observers praised Pettitte for being honest while others focused on the fact that even if not specifically banned by baseball, HGH was illegal and Pettitte had to know using it was wrong. He had always been known as a stand-up guy and an honest man.

Clemens did not return for 2008, but Pettitte did. He started 33 games, winning 14 with an ERA of 4.54, his highest since 1999. The Yankees did not have a great year and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1993. In 2009 Pettitte had 14 wins again, got the ERA down to 4.16 and again pitched well in the playoffs. The Yankees won the Series again; Pettitte had four wins in the postseason and even had an RBI single off Cole Hamels to tie the game in the fifth inning of Game Three of the World Series.

Pettitte got off to an uncharacteristic great start in 2010 but a groin injury cost him much of the season. He decided to retire. After less than a year out of the game, however, he changed his mind and signed a minor league contract with the Yankees.29 Some observers found it odd and called him “over the hill.”30 Yet General Manager Brian Cashman was confident in the move. He had been working on getting Pettitte to change his mind for months. Everyone around the organization was thrilled at Andy’s return to pinstripes, even the young starters he’d be challenging for a job.31

It took Pettitte some time to get back in shape, and he started only 12 games in 2012 but did record an impressive ERA of 2.87. The Yankees won the AL East before being swept in the ALCS. Pettitte returned to New York again for 2013 and was good for 30 starts, 11 wins, and a 3.74 ERA. His final start was the last of his career–there would be no coming out of retirement this time. The five-hitter against his old team, the Astros, ranks highly on lists of great pitchers’ final starts.32 He walked two, struck out five, and went the distance for his first complete game in seven years. It was his 438th start in a Yankees uniform, ending with the same exact number as Whitey Ford for the most all-time in pinstripes. He had passed Ford earlier in the year for the number one spot for strikeouts by a Yankee pitcher.

Andy Pettitte Day was held at Yankee Stadium on August 23, 2015, in a ceremony where his number 46 was retired and his plaque hung in Monument Park. He joined Jeter, Posada, and Rivera on the field. Posada even got behind the plate to catch the ceremonial first pitch. If there was anyone on first, Andy probably would have picked him off.

The plaque reads: A five-time world champion and three-time all-star, Pettitte was a model of consistency in the Yankees rotation for 15 seasons, going 219-127 (.633) and tying the franchise record of 438 starts… The lefthander retired with the third highest win total in franchise history and he is the club’s all-time strikeout leader with 2,020. Twice a 20-game winner, Pettitte finished his career as the first player to pitch more than 15 seasons in the majors without ever having a losing record.

Pettitte’s post-baseball life isn’t really post-baseball at all. He remains involved in the game both as coach and as baseball dad. In 2018 he became a pitching coach for the high school team whose head coach is former Astros teammate Lance Berkman.33 Houston Second Baptist is a small private school, far from the bright lights of New York, but you can bet the competition is still fierce. Sons Jared and Josh are both pitchers too: Jared for the University of Houston and Josh at Rice University.

Last revised: October 1, 2019

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Darrell Jarvis and fact-checked by Mark Sternman.

Notes

1 Harvey Araton, “Sports of The Times; Pettitte’s Father Shows His Resolve.” New York Times, March 5, 2000, https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/05/sports/sports-of-the-times-pettitte-s-father-shows-his-resolve.html.

2 Thompson, Teri, et al. American Icon: the Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in Americas Pastime. (Alfred A. Knopf, 2009).

3 YES Network. “Andy Pettitte Talks about His Early Life Background – Video.” Yesnetwork.com, Yes Network, July 28, 2010, https://web.yesnetwork.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=10342591.

4 Michael O’Keeffe, et al. “How HGH Triangle Ensnared Andy Pettitte, Dad and Trainer.” Nydailynews.com, February 17, 2008, https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/hgh-triangle-ensnared-andy-pettitte-dad-trainer-article-1.312039.

5 “Andy Pettitte Talks about His Early Life Background – Video.”

6 Kerry Miller, “MLB Draft Steals: The Best Late-Round Picks of All Time.” Bleacher Report, May 8, 2018, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2774289-mlb-draft-steals-the-best-late-round-picks-of-all-time.

7 John Harper, “Modern Yankee Heroes: Andy Pettitte Carves out Legacy as One of the Yankees’ Best Big-Game Pitchers.” New York Daily News, March 20, 2010, https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/modern-yankee-heroes-andy-pettitte-carves-legacy-yankees-best-big-game-pitchers-article-1.163022.

8 Wayne Coffey, “Yankees Lefthander Andy Pettitte Goes from a Pudgy Prospect to Pennant Winner in Pinstripes – NY Daily News.” Nydailynews.com, New York Daily News, April 9, 2018, https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/yankees-lefthander-andy-pettitte-pudgy-prospect-pennant-winner-pinstripes-article-1.186176.

9 Ibid.

10 Joel Sherman and David Cone. Birth of a Dynasty: behind the Pinstripes with the 1996 Yankees. (Rodale, 2006).

11 Buster Olney, “The Coach Who Groomed Two Yankees.” The New York Times, The New York Times, August 21, 2001, https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/21/sports/baseball-the-coach-who-groomed-two-yankees.html.

12 Ian O’Connor, “Andy Pettitte Turned His Fire into Ice.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, February 4, 2011, https://www.espn.com/new-york/mlb/columns/story?columnist=oconnor_ian&id=6088090.

13 YES Network. “Andy Pettitte’s MLB Draft Day Story.” YouTube, YouTube, June 9, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OMWiUSGTrM. Interview for the YES Network

14 Lou DiPietro, “Andy Pettitte Laments the One That Got Away: His Knuckleball.” Yesnetwork.com, https://web.yesnetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20150823&content_id=144902402&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb.

15 Joe Torre and Tom Verducci. The Yankee Years. (Anchor Books, 2010).

16 Baseball-almanac.com. Andy Pettitte Quotes. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/andy_pettitte_quotes.shtml. Accessed December 19, 2018.

17 Del Quentin Wilber, “Roger Clemens Trial: Andy Pettitte Describes Friendship with Embattled Pitcher.” Washington Post, May 1, 2012, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/crime-scene/post/roger-clemens-trial-andy-pettitte-describes-friendship-with-embattled-pitcher/2012/05/01.

18 Buster Olney, “Baseball: Pettitte’s Head, It Appears, Is on the Trading Block.” New York Times, July 30, 1999, https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/30/sports/baseball-pettitte-s-head-it-appears-is-on-the-trading-block.html.

19 Jay Jaffe, “JAWS and the 2019 Hall of Fame Ballot: Andy Pettitte.” FanGraphs, December 17, 2018, https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jaws-and-the-2019-hall-of-fame-ballot-andy-pettitte.

20 Jaffe, “JAWS and the 2019 Hall of Fame Ballot: Andy Pettitte.”

21 Widely attributed.

22 Joe Torre and Tom Verducci. The Yankee Years. (Anchor Books, 2010).

23 Tyler Kepner, “Yankees Lose Part of Their Core As Pettitte Signs With Houston”. New York Times, December 12, 2003. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/12/sports/baseball-yankees-lose-part-of-their-core-as-pettitte-signs-with-houston.html. Retrieved October 14, 2009.

24 Associated Press, “Pettitte Has Torn Flexor Tendon.” ESPN, August 19, 2004, https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=1862341.

25 Ronald Blum, “Pettitte Returns to Yankees in $16M Deal.” Fox News, December 9, 2006, www.foxnews.com/wires/2006Dec09/0,4670,BBOBaseballRdp,00.html.

26 Mike Vaccaro, “Andy’s Pitch Right Down the Middle…” New York Post, December 16, 2007, https://nypost.com/2007/12/16/andys-pitch-right-down-the-middle/.

27 Adam Nichols and Adam Lisberg. “Andy Pettitte Finds Haven at His Texas Church, Worshipers Forgive HGH Rap – NY Daily News.” New York Daily News, April 9, 2018, https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/andy-pettitte-finds-haven-texas-church-worshipers-forgive-hgh-rap-article-1.277278.

28 Jon Heyman, “Pettitte’s under-Oath about-Face Costs Him One Hall of Fame Vote–This One.” CBSSports.com, April 6, 2017, https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/pettittes-under-oath-about-face-costs-him-one-hall-of-fame-vote-this-one/.

29 Ryan Chiavetta, “Report: Andy Pettitte Comes Out of Retirement, Signs Minor League Contract With Yankees.” NESN.com, March 16, 2012, https://nesn.com/2012/03/andy-pettitte-comes-out-of-retirement-signs-minor-league-contract-with-new-york-yankees/.

30 Tony Manfred, “The Yankees Just Lured Over-The-Hill Legend Andy Pettitte Out Of Retirement For $2.5 Million.” Business Insider, March 16, 2012, www.businessinsider.com/yankees-sign-andy-pettitte-2012-3.

31 George A. King, “Yankees Bring Pettitte out of Retirement.” New York Post, March 17, 2012, https://nypost.com/2012/03/17/yankees-bring-pettitte-out-of-retirement/.

32 Andrew Mearns, “Was Andy’s 5-Hitter the Greatest Final Start Ever?” Pinstripe Alley, October 7, 2013, https://www.pinstripealley.com/new-york-yankees-history/2013/10/7/4812182/andy-pettitte-retirement-complete-game-five-hitter-best-finales.

33 Richard Obert, “Lance Berkman and Andy Pettitte Leading the Way for Houston Baseball Team.” MSN.com, March 14, 2018, https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/lance-berkman-and-andy-pettitte-leading-the-way-for-houston-baseball-team/ar-BBKdTPF.