Geoff Blum

Geoff Blum’s baseball life has featured many highlights, but he will always be best remembered for one dramatic at-bat. In Game Three of the 2005 World Series between Blum’s Chicago White Sox and the Houston Astros, he belted a home run in the top of the 14th inning to break a 5-5 tie and propel the White Sox to a three-games-to-none lead. Chicago closed out the Series with a 1-0 win the next night. The Game Three homer proved to be the final plate appearance of Blum’s 87-day (regular and postseason) White Sox career – but it made him an immortal hero to South Side fans. A monument outside Guaranteed Rate Field celebrating the 2005 World Series championship includes an image of Blum in his home-run swing.

Born on April 26, 1973, in Redwood City, California, about 25 miles south of San Francisco, Geoffrey Edward Blum moved with his family to Chino in Southern California’s San Bernardino County when he was three years old. His father, Bill, held a number of jobs during his working career; his mother, Connie (née Johnson), worked as an office manager, first for a construction company and then at junior high schools in the Inland Valley near their home. Bill and Connie’s other child, Greg, was born in 1978, and both Blum brothers were star athletes at Chino High. A catcher and first baseman, Greg Blum played ball at the University of Arkansas and then spent four seasons (2000-03) in the Montreal Expos and Minnesota Twins’ farm systems, never advancing past the Class-A level.

Geoff Blum played both baseball and basketball at Chino High before attending the University of California in Berkeley. Cal’s longtime baseball coach, Bob Milano, was a major influence on both Blum’s career and life. One of Milano’s key moves was to turn Blum, who previously had batted exclusively from the right side, into a switch-hitter. “I owe everything to that man when it comes to baseball, switch-hitting and becoming a better human being,” said Blum.1 With Blum at shortstop in 1992, his freshman year, the Golden Bears reached the College World Series in Omaha, but were eliminated in the first round. Blum also played amateur ball for the Mat-Su Miners in the Alaska Baseball League and the Brewster Whitecaps in the Cape Cod League.2

After his junior year at Cal, Blum was selected by the Montreal Expos in the seventh round of the 1994 amateur draft. Assigned to Vermont of the Class-A New York-Penn League, he made an impressive debut, batting .344, the second-highest average in the league, in 63 games. Baseball America chose him as shortstop on the league’s all-star team. Blum steadily advanced up the Montreal farm system over the next five years, including parts of three seasons (1997-99) with the Expos’ top farm team, the Ottawa Lynx of the Triple-A International League. When Expos shortstop Orlando Cabrera sprained his ankle in August of 1999, Blum was summoned to Montreal. Blum was surprised by the call-up. “(Director of player development) Don Reynolds called me at 11 (Sunday) night,” he told the Montreal Gazette. “I wanted to know who was crank calling.”3

He made his major-league debut against the San Diego Padres at Stade Olympique on August 9, 1999, batting eighth as the starting shortstop against right-hander Matt Clement. “I was nervous as hell and excited as hell,” Blum recalled about that first plate appearance. “Everything was moving pretty fast. He struck me out on a curveball and I went back to the dugout with a smile on my face.” He fared better against Clement the next time up, doubling to right-center to drive in two runs; he also singled in the sixth inning against Carlos Almánzar as the Expos went on to an 8-0 victory. Four days later, at Denver’s Coors Field, Blum hit the first of his 99 regular-season major-league home runs, a fly ball down the right-field line against Colorado Rockies right-hander Mike DeJean. He hit two more homers at Coors Field the next night. Blum finished his rookie season for the Expos with 8 home runs in 45 games, and his .504 slugging percentage that year was his highest for a single season.

Blum was the starting shortstop for 40 of the Expos’ 54 games after joining the club in 1999, but with Cabrera healthy again in 2000, he became more of a utility player, starting games at all four infield positions. He also pinch-hit in 26 games. This would become a familiar role for Blum. Over the course of his career, he qualified for the league batting title only once (in 2001), and more than 20 percent of his games (297 of 1,389) came in a pinch-hitting role. He appeared in the starting lineup at seven different positions (including designated hitter) during his career, but never started more than 94 games at a single position in any season. His versatility and ability to contribute after coming off the bench helped him last in the majors until he was 39 years old. Though Blum was never a big-time slugger, his power was also an asset, as he posted five seasons with 10 or more home runs. Blum described himself as a “line-drive, gap-to-gap hitter. A lot of my at-bats were late in games against closers, so I just tried to make do with what I have. I knew I was going to be an asset the more contact I made, so I focused more on line drives with occasional power.”

Blum batted .283 in 124 games for the Expos in 2000, his first full major-league season, then played in a career-high 148 games the next year while starting games at third base, second base, first base, and left field. However, his batting average dropped to .236, and in March of 2002 he was traded to the Houston Astros for third baseman Chris Truby. “I’m obviously shocked,” Blum said after learning of the trade. “I was born and raised a Montreal Expo.”4 It was the first of two stints (2002-03, 2008-10) in Houston for Blum, which would prove to be his favorite major-league stop. “The fan base embraced me when I played here,” Blum said of Houston, “and I just saw the ball good at Minute Maid Park. It was also kind of cool getting to play with the likes of Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Billy Wagner, and a group of veteran, All-Star type players who had a history of winning. I gleaned a lot of information from those guys that helped me throughout my career.” Blum hit 10 home runs with 52 RBIs for Houston in both 2002 and 2003. He matched his career high with a .283 batting average in ’02, followed by a .262 mark the next year.

Although Blum had played well in his two seasons with Houston, the Astros were looking to reduce payroll, and they also wanted give more playing time to Morgan Ensberg, who had shared third base with Blum in 2003. In December of 2003, the team traded Blum to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for pitcher Brandon Backe. The trade saved the Astros more than $1 million in salary.5 Blum spent one year in Tampa Bay, batting .215. Handed his release by the Devil Rays after the 2004 season, he signed a free-agent contract with the San Diego Padres.6 The signing marked a homecoming for the California native, whose house in San Clemente was about 60 miles north of Petco Park, the Padres’ home park. At the time Geoff’s wife, Kory, was pregnant, and in May of 2005, she gave birth to triplets: daughters Audrey, Ava, and Kayla. The Blums also have a daughter, Mia, who is 16 months older than her three sisters.

Blum got into 78 games for the Padres in 2005 before being dealt to the White Sox at the July 31 trade deadline for minor-league pitcher Ryan Meaux.7 “I met the team on the road in Baltimore,” Blum recalled. “And having been traded a couple of times, I knew that some of these environments could be tough. There could be guys that say, why is this guy here, we don’t want him. And there’d be other guys that would just ignore you because you weren’t there to start the season. But it was unique in Chicago because, to a man, they all came up to me and shook my hand and said welcome to the ballclub. I really appreciated how they all took me in, from Paul Konerko to Pablo Ozuna. That made it really easy.”

At the time of the trade, the White Sox were leading the Cleveland Indians by 14½ games in the American League Central Division race, and the versatile Blum’s primary role was to fill in for the regular infielders, along with occasional pinch-hitting assignments. Blum got into 31 games over the final two months of the season (95 at-bats), hitting .200 with one home run. He was a member of the team’s postseason roster, but prior to Game Three of the World Series, he’d had only one postseason at-bat. “I had faced Bronson Arroyo in a Division Series blowout [Game One] against the Boston Red Sox,” Blum recalled. “That was my only at-bat until 21 days later, when the World Series moved to Houston for Game Three. The four of us who were on the bench – myself, Chris Widger, Pablo Ozuna, and Willie Harris – had hardly played up to then. But with the Series now in a National League park, pitchers would have to bat. We were going to be ready, because we knew there would be some opportunities for us now.”

Blum entered Game Three with the score tied 5-5 in the bottom of the 13th inning, taking over for Tadahito Iguchi at second base as part of a double switch. When the Astros failed to score and the game moved to the 14th, Blum was scheduled to bat third in the inning against Astros right-hander Ezequiel Astacio. “Jermaine Dye got on base with a hit,” Blum recalled, “and I’m sitting on deck thinking that if Paul Konerko gets on as well, I’m gonna have to bump Jermaine and Paul over in my only World Series at-bat. I felt a little bit of trepidation because I couldn’t remember the last time I’d bunted [Blum’s last successful sacrifice bunt had come in August of 2004]. Konerko hits the ball, third baseman Morgan Ensberg makes a great backhand stop, [second baseman] José Vizcaíno makes a crazy good turn and they turn the double play. And there was almost a sense of relief because I was like, I don’t have to bunt.”

Freed from worrying about having to lay down a bunt, Blum relaxed. “I had a good relationship with Jerry Layne, the home-plate umpire, and the Astros catcher, Brad Ausmus, was a former teammate and a great friend,” he recalled. “Digging in and talking to him kind of settled me down.” When Astacio missed with his first two pitches, Blum thought, “I’m just gonna try to hit a line drive to left field, maybe shoot the gap in left-center and get to second base. But, as luck would have it, Astacio missed his spot by a good foot and a half down and in. I squared it up.”8 Blum’s fly ball cleared the right-field fence for a home run that put the White Sox ahead, 6-5. They scored another run before the half-inning ended, then set down the Astros in the bottom of the 14th to finish off the win. Less than 24 hours later, the White Sox were World Series champions for the first time in 88 years.

The team’s victory parade in downtown Chicago on October 28, Blum said, “was absolutely incredible. I drank in every possible moment. I remember standing up there with Joe Crede and Aaron Rowand; Ed Farmer, the White Sox radio announcer, was next to me. We kept looking at each other going, ‘This is unbelievable.’ It was remarkable to see the turnout and how grateful everybody was to have us be World Series champions. That’s something I’ll never forget.”

Three days after the parade, Blum became a free agent, and on November 16 he rejoined the San Diego Padres for a two-year stint.9 “I loved my time in San Diego,” said Blum. “It was another ballclub that was established. They were winning. There was a good mix of older and young talent. Guys like Trevor Hoffman, who’d been around for more than a decade, and Adrián González, who was just breaking in. The environment there was very good, and of course the weather was beautiful.” With Blum getting into 109 games – 60 as a starter – and batting .254 in his usual handyman role, the Padres won the National League West title in 2006; however, they lost the Division Series to the St. Louis Cardinals, three games to one. Blum was the Padres’ starting shortstop in all four games, going 1-for-8 but drawing four walks and posting a .385 on-base average. Blum had a similar season in 2007, hitting .252 in 122 games while playing five different defensive positions, as the Padres dropped to third place.

A free agent after the 2007 season, Blum rejoined the Astros.10 In 2008 he had his major-league highs in home runs (14) and RBIs (53), despite playing in only 114 games. “It helped to come back from Petco Park, which is a graveyard for hitters, to a more hitter-friendly ballpark in Minute Maid Park,” said Blum. “I also liked being in the NL Central.” He followed up with 10 homers and 49 RBIs in 120 games – most of them at third base – in 2009. His playing time dropped to 93 games, only 42 of them as a starter, in 2010, the year in which he turned 37. Blum spent his final two seasons (2011-12) with the Arizona Diamondbacks;11 hampered by a knee injury that required surgery in April of 2011, he appeared in only 23 games in 2011 and 17 in 2012. He was a member of the Diamondbacks’ postseason roster in 2011, when the team won the National League West title under Kirk Gibson, and was hitless in two pinch-hitting appearances in the team’s Division Series loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. Blum played his final major-league game on July 17, 2012, singling as a pinch-hitter against José Arredondo of the Cincinnati Reds. He was released by the Diamondbacks three days later.

Although Blum’s career numbers – 99 regular-season homers, a .250 career batting average, career OPS+ of 81 in 1,389 games over 14 seasons – were not those of a major star, his ability to handle a number of roles helped make him a player whose skills were always in demand. “He’s a valuable commodity,” said one of Blum’s managers, Bruce Bochy. “Everything he does, he does well, which is a bigger plus for someone who can play shortstop. And a switch-hitter in that utility role, he’s the perfect double-switch candidate and pinch-hitter.”12 Blum was also regarded as a positive influence on a club. “It’s tough to say goodbye to a guy like Geoff,” Astros general manager Gerry Hunsinger said after Houston traded Blum to Tampa Bay in 2003. “Geoff is a terrific person and a good player who was well-liked by his teammates.”13

“I never went into a season where I didn’t feel like I belonged in the starting lineup,” Blum said about his major-league career. “As much as it can create some disappointment, I think that attitude helped me be a good role player. I had a good work ethic and a good mentality, and I was always prepared when the manager called on me, whether to come off the bench or to start that day.” The list of managers whom Blum played for includes such successful skippers as Bochy, Felipe Alou, Lou Piniella, Jimy Williams, Bud Black, Kirk Gibson, and Ozzie Guillén. Asked to name his favorite manager, Blum selected Alou, who gave him his first major-league job, but he also has fond memories of playing for Guillén with the White Sox in 2005. “I had played against Ozzie after coming to the big leagues, and then he was my third-base coach in Montreal, so I knew who he was,” said Blum. “There was a brutal honesty about Ozzie both as a player and as a manager. On your best day, he was gonna say you were an All-Star; on your worst day he was gonna say you didn’t belong on the team, but I didn’t mind that that mentality in a manager. I thought he did a great job with the group he had in ’05.”

Blum said he’s thought at times about taking on the responsibility of managing a team. “I think you get to the point, maybe a little bit later in your career, where you wonder if you could have an impact and be able to lead a team,” he said. “It would be a pretty daunting task, but I think it’s something that I wouldn’t shy away from if the opportunity came about.” In the meantime, Blum settled into a successful post-playing career as a member of the Houston Astros’ broadcast crew. After retiring as a player in 2012, he said, “I wanted to stay inside the game, and I told my agent that if he knew of any openings in coaching, scouting, media, or whatever, I would love an opportunity.” The 2012 season happened to be the final season for longtime Astros broadcaster Milo Hamilton; another veteran member of the team’s broadcast crew, Bill Brown, was interested in reducing his schedule to home games only. Blum landed a spot as a television color analyst for Astros road games beginning with the 2013 season, and became the team’s full-time TV color analyst four years later. He has been awarded two Lone Star Emmy awards for his work.

As a player, Geoff Blum played in more games (580), recorded more hits (440), and hit more home runs (46) for the Houston Astros than for any of the other six major-league teams he played for. He has continued to represent the Astros as a broadcaster for more than a decade since his retirement as a player in 2012. By contrast, Blum’s entire White Sox career consisted of those 87 days in 2005. Yet Blum will always be remembered for the World Series home run he hit against the Astros – as a member of the White Sox. Two decades after his dramatic homer, Blum said that White Sox fans still stop and thank him at games, card shows and offseason events for his vital contribution to the team’s only World Series championship in the last 100-plus years. “You know, maybe the only reason I was on that team was for that swing in Game Three,” he said. “If you’re going to write a script where you’re only in town for three months, and you’re able to have an impact like I did, I don’t think you could write a better script.”

Last revised: March 1, 2025

Sources

Statistics and play-by-play are from Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.com.

Notes

1 Unless otherwise indicated, all quoted material is from the author’s interview with Geoff Blum, February 5, 2024.

2 Geoff Blum Howe Sportsdata questionnaire, National Baseball Hall of Fame Geoff Blum file.

3 “Expos Story,” Montreal Gazette, August 10, 1999: 10.

4 Stephanie Miles, “Minaya Makes His First Trade,” Montreal Gazette, March 13, 2002: 11.

5 Jose De Jesus Ortiz, “Astros Deal Blum to Rays,” Houston Chronicle, December 15, 2003: 48.

6 Bernie Wilson, “Williams Headed Back to San Diego, Palm Springs (California) Desert Sun, December 9, 2004: 29.

7 Mark Gonzales, “All-Purpose Blum Will Come in Handy,” Chicago Tribune, August 1, 2005: 3-3.

8 www.mlb.com/news/geoff-blum-world-series-home-run; accessed August 28, 2024.

9 Mark Gonzales, “Sox Series Hero Blum Goes Home to Padres,” Chicago Tribune, November 17, 2005: 4-3.

10 “Astros Bring Back Geoff Blum,” Victoria (Texas) Advocate, November 21, 2007: 17.

11 Nick Percoro, “D-Backs Finalize 2-Year Deal with Infielder Blum,” Arizona Republic (Phoenix), November 16, 2010: 17.

12 Bill Canter, “A Super Sub,” San Diego Union-Tribune, April 29, 2005: 13.

13 Ortiz, “Astros Deal Blum to Rays.”