This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

Herbert Jude Score (June 7, 1933 – November 11, 2008) was a Major League Baseball pitcher and announcer.

Early life[link]

Herb Score was born in Rosedale, N.Y. in 1934. As a teenager, he moved with his family to Lake Worth, Florida. He threw six no-hitters for the 1952 Lake Worth Community High School team, when the school won its only baseball state championship.^[1]

Major League Career[link]

Score came up to the Major Leagues as a rookie in 1955 with the Cleveland Indians at the age of 21. He quickly became one of the top power pitchers in the American League, no small feat on a team that still included Bob Feller, Bob Lemon and other top pitchers, going 16–10 with a 2.85 ERA in his first year. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine on May 30, 1955. A left-hander, Score struck out 245 batters in his rookie year, a rookie record that stood until 1984, when it was topped by Dwight Gooden (Score, Gooden, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Don Sutton, Gary Nolan, Kerry Wood, Mark Langston and Hideo Nomo were the only eight rookie pitchers to top 200 strikeouts in the 20th century). It was the first time in MLB history a regular starting pitcher averaged over one strikeout per inning.^[2] In 1956, Score improved on his rookie campaign, going 20–9 with a 2.53 ERA and 263 strikeouts, while reducing the number of walks from 154 to 129, and allowed only 5.85 hits/9 innings, which would stand as a franchise record until it was broken by Luis Tiant's 5.30 in 1968.

On May 7, 1957, against the New York Yankees at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Score was struck in the face by a line drive off the bat of Gil McDougald, breaking numerous bones in his face and leaving him bloodied. McDougald reportedly vowed to retire if Score was blinded as a result, but Score eventually recovered his 20/20 vision, though he missed the rest of the season. Score returned late in the 1958 season.

Though many believe he feared being hit by another batted ball, and thus changed his pitching motion, Score himself rejected that theory. He would tell Cleveland sportswriter Terry Pluto (for The Curse of Rocky Colavito) that, in 1958, after pitching and winning a few games and feeling better than he'd felt in a long time, he tore a tendon in his arm while pitching on a damp night against the Washington Senators. He sat out the rest of the season but, returning for 1959, he'd shifted his pitching motion in a bid to avoid another, similar injury. "The reason my motion changed," he told Pluto, "was because I hurt my elbow, and I overcompensated for it and ended up with some bad habits."

In the book "The Greatest Team Of All Time" (Bob Adams, Inc, publisher. 1994), Mickey Mantle picked Herb Score as the toughest American League left-handed pitcher he faced (before the injury). Yogi Berra picked Herb for his "Greatest Team Of All Time".

As a result of the changes Score made in his delivery, his velocity dropped and he incurred further injuries. Score pitched the full 1959 season, going 9–11 with a 4.71 ERA and 147 strikeouts. Score was traded to the Chicago White Sox after the season, and pitched parts of the following three seasons before retiring, finishing with a career record of 55–46 and a 3.36 ERA and 837 strikeouts over eight seasons, in 858 1/3 innings pitched.

In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. They explained what they called "the Smoky Joe Wood Syndrome," where a player of truly exceptional talent but a career curtailed by injury should still, in spite of not having had career statistics that would quantitatively rank him with the all-time greats, be included on their list of the 100 greatest players. In the book's introduction, they used this as their reason why Score, with 55 career wins, was on their list, while Early Wynn, who won 300 games, all in the post-1920 Live Ball Era, was not.

Broadcasting career[link]

After retiring, Score served as an announcer on the Indians television broadcast from 1964–1967, and joined the radio broadcast, serving from 1968–1997, the longest career for an Indians play-by-play announcer. Score was revered by fans for his announcing style, including a low voice and a low-key style, as well as a habit of occasionally mispronouncing the names of players on opposing teams. Score's final Major League Baseball game as play-by-play announcer was Game 7 of the 1997 World Series.

On October 8, 1998, while driving to Florida after being inducted into the Broadcasters Hall of Fame the night before, Score was severely injured in a traffic accident.^[3] Score pulled into the path of a westbound tractor-trailer truck in New Philadelphia, Ohio, and his car was struck in the passenger side.^[4] He suffered trauma to his brain, chest and lungs. The orbital bone around one of his eyes was fractured, as were three ribs and his sternum. He spent over a month in the intensive care unit, and was released from MetroHealth Hospital in mid-December.^[5][6] He was cited for failure to stop at a stop sign.^[7]

He fought through a difficult recovery and was healthy enough to throw out the first pitch at the Indians' Opening Day on April 12, 1999.^[8]

Death[link]

Herb Score died on November 11, 2008 at his home in Rocky River, Ohio, after a lengthy illness.^[9][10] The Indians wore a patch on their uniform during the 2009 season to honor him.

See also[link]

• List of Major League Baseball strikeout champions

References[link]

External links[link]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• Herb Score at Find a Grave
• Obituary in Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Herb Score – Sports Illustrated, May 30, 1955 (cover).

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2009)

Albert Jojuan "Joey" Belle (born August 25, 1966) is a former American Major League Baseball outfielder for the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, and Baltimore Orioles. Standing at 6'2 and weighing in at 225 lbs, Albert was one of the leading sluggers of his time, and in 1995 he became the first player to hit 50 doubles and 50 home runs in a single season.

Belle was also considered a model of consistency, compiling a .295 career batting average, averaging 37 home runs and 120 RBIs a season over the ten prime years of his major league career from 1991 to 2000. Belle is also one of only six players in major league history to have nine consecutive 100-RBI seasons. However, his combative personality combined with occasional angry outbursts created a reputation for surliness that often overshadowed his on-field hitting performance.

Early life[link]

Albert Belle, and his fraternal twin, Terry, were born on August 25, 1966, in Shreveport, Louisiana, the son of Albert Belle Sr., a high school baseball and football coach, and Carrie Belle, a former math teacher. A former Boy Scout, he attained the rank of Eagle Scout. Belle attended Huntington High School in Shreveport, where he was a star baseball and football player, a member of the National Honor Society and vice president of the local Future Business Leaders of America. He also played little league baseball with future PGA Tour player David Toms. He graduated sixth in his high school class and made the all-state baseball team twice. In 1984, he was selected to play for the USA in the Junior Olympics^{[disambiguation needed ]}, in which the U.S. won a silver medal. He played outfield and pitched, winning one game. After graduation, Belle was offered many football and baseball scholarships, including one to the University of Notre Dame; he was also offered an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy. However, Belle decided to stay close to home, and accepted a baseball scholarship to Louisiana State University.

College[link]

Belle played college baseball at LSU from 1985–1987 where he made 1st team All-SEC in 1986 and 1987 and played in 184 games, with 585 at bats, 194 hits, 30 doubles, 49 home runs, 172 runs batted in, 157 runs, a .670 slugging percentage, and a .332 batting average.

After college, he was drafted by the Cleveland Indians. While in the minor league system he was known as "Joey" (his childhood nickname) and was thought of as a top prospect, but high-risk due to his temper and excessive drinking. Belle underwent counseling and became known as "Albert." Umpire Durwood Merrill, who wrote a book called You're Out, and You're Ugly, Too, tweaked Belle by calling him "Joey" long past the time when Belle was known by that name publicly.

Major League career[link]

Belle was an intimidating presence at the plate; and well known for wearing an intense glare. He became the fourth player to have eight straight seasons of 30 home runs and 100 RBI, joining Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, and Lou Gehrig (a feat since matched by Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez). As a fielder, Belle had a powerful throwing arm, unsurprising given that he was a gifted pitcher in high school. His Range Factor by games played was consistently higher than the Major League Average Range Factor at that position.^[1] He was an accomplished base runner and base stealer, with a career high of 23 steals in 1993, and a surprising 17 steals in 1999 despite hip problems. Belle led the league three times in RBIs, three times in total bases, three times in extra-base hits, and twice in slugging. He was a five-time All-Star between 1993 and 1997.

Notably, Albert Belle's career highs in home runs, RBI, batting average, runs scored, and walks occurred in five separate seasons.

In 2006, the Hardball Times published a statistical comparison of Belle's career statistics with that of 60 of his current and former peers. The article ranked Belle in career "prime value," behind current Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner and presumed future inductee Frank Thomas.^[2]

In 1994, Belle lost the batting title to the New York Yankees' outfielder Paul O'Neill, .359 to .357. Belle's post-season record was limited to two heavy-hitting appearances, in which only his batting average suffered: he hit .230/.405/.557 (batting average, on base percentage and slugging percentage, respectively) with six home runs and 14 RBIs in 61 at-bats.

In 1995, Belle became the first player in the history of the major leagues to hit 50 homers and 50 doubles in the same season; before Belle, the last player to reach as many as 40 in both categories had been Willie Stargell in 1973. The achievement was especially impressive because Belle only played 143 games in 1995 due to a season shortened by the previous year's players strike. The 40-40 mark has been surpassed since, most recently by Alfonso Soriano in 2006, but Belle's 50-50 combo remains unique.

His reputation, and more specifically his disdain of the media, cost him votes for the 1995 MVP Award. Belle finished second in the media voting to the Boston Red Sox's Mo Vaughn. This result occurred despite Belle's having led the American League that season in runs scored, home runs, RBI, slugging percentage, and total bases, and despite his outpacing Vaughn head-to-head in every important offensive category except RBI (both men had 126); both players' teams reached the playoffs. This was in the middle of a three-year streak in which Albert Belle finished 3rd, 2nd, and 3rd for the American League MVP. Belle had two other top ten MVP finishes, in 1993 (7th) and 1998 (8th).

In the winter of 1996, Belle signed a 5-year, $55 million ($79,626,866 today) deal with the Chicago White Sox as a free agent. This contract made him the highest paid player in baseball for a brief period. Belle enjoyed two great seasons in Chicago, including a career-high 27-game hitting streak in May 1997. Belle came close to having another 50/50 season in 1998, with 49 home runs (a White Sox team record that still stands) and 48 doubles. He also drove in 152 runs to break Zeke Bonura's single-season franchise record of 138 in 1936 (to date, the RBI total also remains a White Sox single-season record). Additionally, when Cal Ripken, Jr. ended his record consecutive game streak in September 1998, it was Belle who took over as the major leagues' active leader in the category.

Belle's White Sox contract had an unusual clause allowing him to demand that he would remain one of the three highest paid players in baseball. In October 1998, Belle invoked the clause, and when the White Sox declined to give him a raise, Belle immediately became a free agent. Belle again became the game's highest paid player, signing a five-year, $65 million ($90,683,180 today) deal with the Baltimore Orioles. However, Belle ended his career just two seasons later, retiring at age 34 as a result of degenerative osteoarthritis in his hip. However, he was kept on Baltimore's active 40-man roster for the next three years, as a condition of the insurance policy which largely reimbursed the Orioles for the remainder of Belle's contract.

Albert Belle homered in the final at-bat of his major-league career at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on October 1, 2000.^[3]

Controversy[link]

Belle was involved in several controversial incidents during his baseball career. In 1986, he went after a heckler in the stands who was shouting racist insults at him; he was suspended while his team played in the College World Series. In 1991, he threw a baseball into the stands, where it struck a fan who had taunted him by yelling, "Keg party at my house, Joey," a reference both to Belle's prior nickname and his stints in alcohol rehabilitation. He was suspended in 1994 for using a corked bat and received further disdain for sending teammate Jason Grimsley through the building's ceiling panel to break into the locked umpire dressing room to retrieve his corked bat and substitute it with another teammate's bat. This resulted in a seven game suspension for Belle. He was fined in 1996 for knocking down Brewers infielder Fernando Viña, who had blocked his way on the basepaths. He also had unpleasant interactions with the public. He also chased down rowdy trick-or-treating vandals who were celebrating Halloween by throwing eggs at his home; Belle ended up hitting one of the vandals with his car.

Sports reporters resented Belle's refusal to grant interviews before a game. A profane outburst directed at a group of reporters in his team's dugout, including NBC Sports personality Hannah Storm, was widely reported during the 1995 World Series. Later, Belle was unrepentant: "The Indians wanted me to issue a statement of regret when the fine was announced, but I told them to take it out. I apologize for nothing."

Eventually, Belle routinely refused to speak with the media. "I don't get excited talking about myself", he explained. "Guys such as Sandy Koufax, Joe DiMaggio, and Steve Carlton did not interview, and it was no big deal. They were quiet. I am also quiet. I just want to concentrate on baseball. Why does everyone want to hear me talk, anyway?" Belle rarely even conducted interviews regarding his various charitable donations and scholarships that might have burnished his sour image.

But the media did not ignore Belle. ESPN's Buster Olney would write about Belle's outbursts while a Cleveland Indian:

It was a taken in baseball circles that Albert Belle was nuts... The Indians billed him $10,000 a year for the damage he caused in clubhouses on the road and at home, and tolerated his behavior only because he was an awesome slugger... He slurped coffee constantly and seemed to be on a perpetual caffeinated frenzy. Few escaped his wrath: on some days he would destroy the postgame buffet...launching plates into the shower... after one poor at-bat against Boston, he retreated to the visitor's clubhouse and took a bat to teammate Kenny Lofton's boombox. Belle preferred to have the clubhouse cold, below 60 degrees, and when one chilly teammate turned up the heat, Belle walked over, turned down the thermostat, and smashed it with his bat. His nickname, thereafter, was "Mr. Freeze."^[4]

In 2001, following Belle's retirement, the New York Daily News' columnist Bill Madden wrote:

"Sorry, there'll be no words of sympathy here for Albert Belle. He was a surly jerk before he got hurt and now he's a hurt surly jerk....He was no credit to the game. Belle's boorish behavior should be remembered by every member of the Baseball Writers' Association when it comes time to consider him for the Hall of Fame."

Responding to this, The New York Times sportswriter Robert Lipsyte observed:

"Madden is basically saying, 'He was not nice to me, so let's screw him.' Sportswriters anoint heroes in basically the same way you have crushes in junior high school... you've got someone like Albert Belle, who is somehow basically ungrateful for this enormous opportunity to play this game. If he's going to appear to us as a surly asshole, then we'll cover him that way. And then, of course, he's not gonna talk to us anymore—it's self-fulfilling."

When Belle did choose to communicate with fans, it was generally via unfiltered forums such as his website, or in columns for the Baltimore Sun and Baltimore Press.

In Belle's first year of Hall of Fame eligibility (2006), he garnered only 7.7% of the baseball writers' votes—missing election by an extremely wide margin.^[5] But Belle's vote total was high enough to keep his name on the ballot for the following year. In 2007, however, Belle only garnered 19 votes (3.5%) and dropped off the ballot.

In February 2006, Belle was arrested on suspicion of stalking a woman who was identified in court as a former licensed escort.^[6] He was again arrested in charges related to the same case on May 17, 2006.^[7] On July 27, 2006, Belle pleaded guilty to one count of stalking and he was sentenced on August 24 to 90 days in jail and five years supervised probation.^[8] Belle had attached a GPS tracking device onto her car and obtained her phone records. Belle issued an apology to the woman stating, "I have made mistakes in my life, but I have admitted my mistakes and learned from them to be a better person."^[9] In retirement Belle had his first interaction with the Cleveland Indians, since leaving the club in 1996, during their 2012 Spring Training in Goodyear Arizona. He was joined with former Indians Sandy Alomar, Carlos Baerga and Kenny Lofton.^[10]

Awards and accomplishments[link]

College (LSU):

• 1st team All-SEC (1986, 1987)
• South 1 Regional Tournament MVP (1986)
• 2nd team All-America (1986)
• 3rd team All-America (1987)

Major League Baseball (Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles):

• AL home run leader (1995)
• AL RBI leader (1993, 1995-tied with Mo Vaughn, 1996)
• AL doubles leader (1995-tied with Edgar Martínez)
• AL runs leader (1995-tie with Edgar Martínez)
• AL slugging percentage leader (1995, 1998)
• AL outfield assist leader (RF) (1999-tie)
• Named to Silver Slugger team (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998)
• All-Star (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997)
• First player to ever hit 50 HR and 50 Doubles (1995)
• The Sporting News Player of the Year (1995)
• Baseball Digest Player of the Year (1995)
• Led major leagues in the 1990s with 1,099 RBI
• Led major leagues in extra base hits in the 1990s with 711
• 4th player ever to have 8 straight seasons with 30 HR and 100 RBI
• Inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame (June 2005)

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	Baseball portal

• List of top 300 Major League Baseball home run hitters
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBIs
• 50 home run club
• List of Major League Baseball doubles records
• List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
• List of Major League Baseball home run champions
• List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
• List of Major League Baseball doubles champions

References[link]

External links[link]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Ultimate Albert Belle - comprehensive site about Albert Belle
• Baseball Evolution Hall of Fame - Player Profile
• In Defense of Albert Belle
• For Whom the Belle Tolls: Media Manipulation and the Legacy of Albert Belle
• Simply Baseball Notebook: Forgotten In Time

Kenny Lofton
Center fielder
Born: (1967-05-31) May 31, 1967 (age 45) East Chicago, Indiana
Batted: Left	Threw: Left
MLB debut
September 14, 1991 for the Houston Astros
Last MLB appearance
September 29, 2007 for the Cleveland Indians
Career statistics
Batting average	.299
Hits	2,428
Home runs	130
Stolen bases	622
Teams
Houston Astros (1991) Cleveland Indians (1992–1996) Atlanta Braves (1997) Cleveland Indians (1998–2001) Chicago White Sox (2002) San Francisco Giants (2002) Pittsburgh Pirates (2003) Chicago Cubs (2003) New York Yankees (2004) Philadelphia Phillies (2005) Los Angeles Dodgers (2006) Texas Rangers (2007) Cleveland Indians (2007)
Career highlights and awards
6× All-Star (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999) 4× Gold Glove Award winner (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996)

Kenneth "Kenny" Lofton (born May 31, 1967) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder who retired in 2008. Lofton was a six-time All-Star (1993–1999), four-time Gold Glove winner (1993–1996), and at retirement, was ranked fifteenth among all-time stolen base leaders with 622.^[1] During his career, he played for the Houston Astros, Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox, San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Texas Rangers. Lofton was also a three-time MLB Player of the Week.^[2] From 2001 to 2007, Lofton did not spend more than one season with a team.^[3]

College[link]

In college, Lofton was the backup point guard (to Craig McMillan and Steve Kerr) on an Arizona Wildcats team that made it to the Final Four of the 1988 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. He set season and career school records for steals and was the starting point guard the following year when Arizona made it to the Sweet Sixteen. Lofton is one of only two men to play in a college basketball Final Four (1988) and a Major League Baseball World Series. The other is fellow East Chicago Washington High School alumnus Tim Stoddard—who was a member of the N.C. State team that won the 1974 NCAA Basketball Championship. Stoddard later pitched for the Baltimore Orioles in the 1979 World Series.^[4]

Lofton decided to try out for the baseball team during his junior year. Although he did not see much playing time, his speed and potential were recognized by baseball scouts, and he was chosen by the Houston Astros in the 17th round of Major League Baseball's 1988 amateur draft. He played minor league baseball during the summer while completing his basketball eligibility at Arizona.

Minor league career[link]

Lofton struggled early in his professional baseball career in the Astros farm system. He hit .214 in 48 games for Auburn in the New York - Penn League and stole 26 bases in 30 attempts while playing outfield.^{[citation needed]} Lofton returned to Auburn in 1989, and hit .263 with 26 steals in 34 games. He then hit .329 with 14 steals in 22 games for Asheville in the South Atlantic League. As his college basketball career came to an end, Lofton was able to concentrate on baseball and he improved rapidly, finishing second in the league in hitting at .331 while adding 62 steals for Osceola in the Florida State League. He also drew 61 walks, demonstrating patience and intelligence as a hitter, while improving defensively.^{[citation needed]}

After spring training in 1991, he jumped directly to the Tucson Toros of the Pacific Coast League, skipping Double-A. He hit .308 with 30 steals and 52 walks for Tucson with 19 doubles and 17 triples. He led his team to the PCL championship and made the league's All-Star team. On September 14, 1991, the Astros promoted Lofton to the majors. In his major league debut, he had three hits and scored three runs against the Cincinnati Reds.^{[citation needed]}

Major League career[link]

Kenny Lofton in 2007

Stellar debut aside, Lofton struggled during his brief stint in Houston, batting only .203. With future all-star Steve Finley already entrenched as Houston's centerfielder, Lofton was traded during the off-season to the Cleveland Indians for catcher Eddie Taubensee and right-handed pitcher Willie Blair.^{[citation needed]}

The Indians proved to be a good fit for the young centerfielder. During his rookie season in Cleveland, in 1992, Lofton hit .285. His 66 stolen bases broke the all-time record for an American League rookie and was the most by a Major League rookie since Vince Coleman stole 110 in 1985. Lofton finished second (to Milwaukee's Pat Listach) in AL Rookie of the Year balloting. His career blossomed from that point on. He appeared in six consecutive All-Star Games (1994–1999) and won four straight Gold Gloves (1993–1996) for the Indians. Through the 2006 season, Lofton had tallied a .299 career batting average with 123 home runs, 110 triples (2nd among active players), and 1,442 runs (6th among active players) in 1,967 games.^[5]

He played with the Indians until 1997, when, as an impending free agent, he was traded near the end of spring training to the Atlanta Braves with Alan Embree for Marquis Grissom and slugger David Justice. After one season with the Braves, Lofton rejoined the Indians in 1998 when he signed as a free agent. His second stint in Cleveland lasted through 2001. From 2002 to 2007, Lofton played for eight teams and made it to the postseason for the San Francisco Giants, the Chicago Cubs, the New York Yankees,^[6] and the Los Angeles Dodgers. On July 27, 2007, Lofton was traded by the Texas Rangers, his Major League record eleventh team played on, back to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for minor league catcher Max Ramírez, and began his third stint with the Indians.^[7] The Jacobs Field crowd greeted Lofton with a standing ovation during his first at bat for this tour of duty with the Indians. Lofton noted, "I missed being in Cleveland... I enjoy Cleveland. It's the city that got me going."^[8] Lofton became a free agent at the end of the season. When no team offered him a contract, he retired from baseball. His 622 stolen bases rank him fifteenth all-time. He holds the Cleveland Indians record for stolen bases with 450.

On January 27, 2010, the Cleveland Indians announced that Lofton would become the newest member of the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame. He was inducted on August 7.^[9]

Postseason career[link]

Lofton played in 95 postseason games. In the playoffs during his career, he hit .247 with 7 home runs and 34 RBIs.^[10] In addition to his thrilling race from second to home on a passed ball in 1995, he hit the 2002 NLCS-winning single for the San Francisco Giants, driving in David Bell from second. In Game One of the 2003 NLDS at Turner Field in Atlanta, Kenny Lofton's single for Chicago put the Cubs ahead 4-1. Chicago went on to win, 4-2.

Back with the Indians, in Game One of the 2007 ALDS against New York, he went 3-4 with 4 RBIs and 1 stolen base, which tyed him with Ricky Henderson for Major League Baseball's all-time postseason stolen bases record (33). In game two, he went 2 for 3 with two walks and scored the winning run in the 11th inning. Then, in Game Three of the 2007 ALCS, he hit a two-run homer against the Boston Red Sox. Lofton earned his 34th career postseason stolen base in Game Four of the 2007 ALCS, setting a new MLB record for playoff steals.^[11][12]

In 1995, he played on an Indians team that lost the World Series to the Braves in six games despite finishing the regular season with a major league best 100-44 record in the strike-shortened year. The following season, the Indians again had the best record in baseball, but lost in the 1996 ALDS to the Baltimore Orioles in four games. Three years after that, the Indians held a two-games-to-none lead on the Boston Red Sox in the 1999 ALDS but then lost three in a row.

In 2002, he played on the Giants team that held a five-run lead in the seventh inning of Game Six of the World Series against the Angels. Eight outs away from a World Championship, the Angels rallied to win 6-5, then took Game Seven the following night to win the series.

The following season, he played on a Cubs team that held a three-run lead in the 8th inning of Game Six of the 2003 NLCS. The Florida Marlins rallied to win that game and took Game Seven the following night to eliminate the Cubs. After that, he played for the Yankees, who become the first Major League team to blow a 3-0 series lead in the 2004 ALCS against the Red Sox. In his final season, 2007, he returned to the ALCS with the Indians, who at one point had a 3-1 game lead over the Red Sox, but eventually lost the series.

Post-baseball life[link]

Lofton currently has his own television production company. In 2004 he appeared as a guest star on George Lopez. For the 2011 Spring Training, Lofton was hired by the Indians to coach baserunning.

Highlights[link]

• 6-time All-Star (1994–99)
• 4-time Gold Glove Award (1993–96)
• Top 5 MVP, (4th) in 1994
• 5-time league leader in stolen bases (1992–96)
• Led league in hits (1994)
• Led league in triples (1995)
• Led league in at-bats (1996)
• Led league center fielders in assists, (14) in 1992
• Holds the MLB record (tie) for runs scored in the first inning in a season, (18) in 2000
• Holds the American League record for stolen bases by a rookie, (66) in 1992
• Holds the MLB record for post-season stolen bases (34)
• Holds the MLB record for most different teams played on in the playoffs (6)
• Drove in the NLCS winning run in 2002
• Baseball Weekly Top 10 Outfielders of the 90's
• Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame (Heritage Park)
• Led University of Arizona to the 1988 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, setting school season record for steals
• Led Arizona to second consecutive NCAA Men's division I Basketball Tournament as starting point guard
• One of only two men to play in the Final Four and World Series

See also[link]

• List of major league players with 2,000 hits
• Major League Baseball titles streaks
• Major League Baseball titles leaders
• List of AL Gold Glove Winners at Outfield
• List of athletes on Wheaties boxes
• List of Major League Baseball players with 100 triples
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
• List of Major League Baseball stolen base champions
• List of Major League Baseball triples champions

References[link]

External links[link]

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Baseball Library - biography and accomplishments
• Minor league biography

For other uses, see Edward Murray (disambiguation).

Eddie Murray
Eddie Murray in 2007.
First baseman / Designated hitter
Born: (1956-02-24) February 24, 1956 (age 56) Los Angeles, California
Batted: Switch	Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 7, 1977 for the Baltimore Orioles
Last MLB appearance
September 20, 1997 for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Career statistics
Batting average	.287
Hits	3,255
Home runs	504
Runs batted in	1,917
Teams
Baltimore Orioles (1977–1988) Los Angeles Dodgers (1989–1991) New York Mets (1992–1993) Cleveland Indians (1994–1996) Baltimore Orioles (1996) Anaheim Angels (1997) Los Angeles Dodgers (1997)
Career highlights and awards
8× All-Star selection (1978, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1991) World Series champion (1983) 3× Gold Glove Award winner (1982, 1983, 1984) 3× Silver Slugger Award winner (1983, 1984, 1990) 1977 AL Rookie of the Year Baltimore Orioles #33 retired
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	2003
Vote	85.3% (first ballot)

Eddie Clarence Murray (born February 24, 1956), nicknamed "Steady Eddie", is a former Major League Baseball first baseman and designated hitter. He was known as one of the most reliable and productive hitters of his era. Murray is regarded as one of the best switch hitters ever to play the game. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.^[1]

Early career[link]

Murray was the eighth child of twelve and still has 5 sisters and 4 brothers, and has often quipped that as a child, he did not have to go far for a pick-up baseball game. The games were quite fierce and his older brothers never let him win.^[2] He carried that competitive edge to each of his next levels of baseball. At his Hall of Fame induction, Murray thanked his little league coach, Clifford Prelow, for teaching him not just the game of baseball but also love for the game as well.^[3] Prelow, an ex-Dodger minor leaguer, also worked his boys hard; making them run out every ground ball and threatening them with 100 yard wind sprints if they did not work. Prelow remembers that young Murray never earned that punishment.^[4] Later, Murray attended Locke High School in Los Angeles, California, where he batted .500 as a senior and was a teammate of Ozzie Smith.

Major League Baseball career[link]

Baltimore Orioles[link]

Murray was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 3rd round of the 1973 amateur draft and had several successful seasons in the minor leagues. He debuted at the major league level on April 7, 1977 and played in 160 games for the Orioles in his first season. He won the American League Rookie of the Year award by batting .283, hitting 27 home runs and contributing 88 RBI.

Murray did not suffer the sophomore jinx, instead building on his successes. With the Orioles from 1977 until 1988, Murray averaged 28 home runs and 99 RBI and was a perennial candidate for the MVP award, twice finishing second in the voting. His best season was 1983 with the Orioles when he hit .306/.393/.538 with 110 RBI and a career-high 33 home runs; though a spectacular season, he finished second in the MVP voting. The Orioles also appeared in the post-season twice, in 1979 and 1983, and won the World Series in 1983. Murray's close-knit friendship with fellow Oriole Cal Ripken Jr. was highly publicized in Baltimore at the time.

The first baseman electrified home-team fans with his remarkable clutch hitting. Chants of "EDDIE-EDDIE" often reached a deafening crescendo during climactic points in a game. As is true with other extraordinary batters, Murray's likelihood of getting a hit increased when runners were on second or third base and when he had fouled off several pitches during an at-bat.^[5]

Los Angeles Dodgers[link]

Murray was traded on December 4, 1988 to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Juan Bell, Brian Holton and Ken Howell and had three successful seasons with the Dodgers, knocking in 88, 95 and 96 runs. In 1990, Murray led the Major Leagues in hitting, but failed to win the National League batting crown; that went to Willie McGee, who already had enough plate appearances to qualify for it when he was traded from the National League Saint Louis Cardinals to the American League Oakland A's. McGee won the NL batting crown with a .335 average, but hit only .274 the rest of the season in Oakland, for a season average of .324, .006 lower than Murray's Major League leading .330 average.

New York Mets[link]

Prior to the 1992 season, Murray signed a two-year deal with the New York Mets. Murray was one of several acquisitions the Mets made (including Bobby Bonilla, Willie Randolph, and Bret Saberhagen) to try to regain their winning ways. However, in Murray's two years with the team they finished with 90 and 103 losses, respectively.

Murray hit his 400th career home run with the Mets early in the 1992 season and finished with 16 for the season, while driving in 93 runs and hitting .265. Despite the team's struggles in 1993 Murray had another solid season, hitting 27 home runs to finish behind Bonilla for the team lead. Murray was one of three Mets to hit twenty or more home runs that year, with Bonilla hitting 34 and Jeff Kent hitting 20. Murray also led the team in RBIs with 100, having done so in 1992. This was the last time in his career that Murray hit the 100 RBI mark.

Cleveland Indians[link]

Murray reached the 3,000-hit plateau as an Indian on June 30, 1995 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome with a single to right field off Minnesota Twins pitcher Mike Trombley. In the 1995 World Series between the Cleveland Indians and the Atlanta Braves, Murray won Game 3 with a single in the bottom of the eleventh inning off of Alejandro Pena to score Alvaro Espinoza. The hit made the series 2–1, in favor of Atlanta.

1996–1997[link]

From 1996 to 1997, Murray played for several teams, including the Cleveland Indians (1994–96), the Baltimore Orioles (1996), the Anaheim Angels (1997) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (1997). Although he no longer possessed the presence at the plate he had had in the 1980s, he was a valued and still consistent contributor for these teams. On September 6, 1996, he hit his 500th career home run—fittingly, the home run came as a member of the Orioles, and also came exactly one year to the day that Ripken had broken Lou Gehrig's streak of 2,130 consecutive games played. He retired after the 1997 season with 504 home runs; as of 2011, Mickey Mantle is the only switch-hitter who has hit more home runs (536). Murray hit a home run from both sides of the plate in 11 games; he retired tied with Chili Davis for first place in this category. This co-record has since been broken by Mark Teixeira.

Coaching career[link]

Murray served as the hitting coach for the Cleveland Indians from 2002 to 2005. He was with the Indians when inducted into the Hall of Fame.

On June 14, 2007, Murray was fired as hitting coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ironically, the Dodgers had just come off a 3-game sweep of the New York Mets and had produced 31 hits and 18 runs. Former Dodger player Bill Mueller was named as interim replacement.

Philanthropy[link]

In the late 1980s, Murray made a generous donation to the Baltimore City Parks and Recreation Department. This donation led to the establishment of the Carrie Murray Nature Center, named after Murray's late mother. In 2008, Murray released a charity wine called Eddie Murray 504 Cabernet, a nod to his 504 career home runs, with all of his proceeds donated to the Baltimore Community Foundation.

Career stats – regular season[link]

Hall of Fame induction[link]

On Sunday, July 27, 2003, Murray, along with Gary Carter, was inducted into major league baseball's Hall of Fame.^[2] More than 30,000 people heard Murray talk about how hard it was to get to the Hall of Fame. He said that he was never about one person, but about the team. He thanked the "sea of black and orange" in the crowd and then pointed to the kids furthest in the back; (more than 300 inner-city little leaguers had come from Baltimore's Northwood Baseball League) and told them that one day "they would be here too".^[6] His speech closed with the crowd chanting "Eddie, Eddie." In the parking lot out side the pavilion as the buses were leaving, Murray gave those Northwood kids 12 autographed bats, 24 autographed baseballs and 100 autographed Hall of Fame programs. He told the kids never to forget where they came from.

Accomplishments[link]

• Played in 3 World Series, 1979 vs Pittsburgh Pirates (loss), 1983 vs. Philadelphia Phillies (won), 1995 vs. Atlanta Braves (loss)
• 8-time All-Star (1978, 1981–86, 1991)

Eddie Murray's number 33 was retired by the Baltimore Orioles in 1998.

• American League Rookie of the Year (1977)
• American League Gold Glove Award winner (1982, 1983, 1984)
• Finished second in American League MVP voting (1982, 1983)
• Finished fourth in American League MVP voting (1984)
• Finished fifth in American League MVP voting (1981, 1985)
• Finished fifth in National League MVP voting (1990)
• Finished 6th in American League MVP voting (1980)
• Finished 8th in American League MVP voting (1978)
• 504 career home runs (25th all-time) and 1917 RBIs (8th all-time)
• 1917 RBIs rank him first among switch-hitters all-time
• Led the Major Leagues in hitting in 1990 (.330) despite not winning the NL title
• Holds the career record for most sacrifice flies (128)
• His season high for home runs, 33, is the lowest of any player with over 500 career home runs
• One of only four players to have both 3,000 career hits and 500 home runs (others are Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Rafael Palmeiro)
• Number (33) retired by the Orioles in 1998.
• Hit 19 grand slams (fourth all-time, behind Lou Gehrig's 23 and Manny Ramírez's 21, and Alex Rodriguez's 20).
• Career batting average in 238 at-bats with the bases loaded is .399 with 298 RBI and a .739 slugging percentage.
• In 1999, he ranked Number 77 on The Sporting News list of Baseball's Greatest Players, and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
• Named the fifth best first baseman in Major League history in the New Bill James Historical Abstract.
• Hit home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game 11 times, an all-time record(Since surpassed by Mark Texeira.)
• His 222 Intentional Walks ranks 6th all time.
• Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (2003)
• Donated the funds for the Carrie Murray Nature Center at Leakin Park in Baltimore. The center is named in honor of his mother.
• Ranks fourth in hits for the Baltimore Orioles.
• Ranks second in home runs for the Orioles.
• Ranks fourth in games played for Baltimore.

See also[link]

• List of Major League Baseball Home Run Records
• List of Major League Baseball doubles records
• 500 home run club
• List of top 300 Major League Baseball home run hitters
• 3000 hit club
• List of major league players with 2,000 hits
• List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
• List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
• List of Major League Baseball home run champions

References[link]

External links[link]

• Eddie Murray at the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Baltimore Sun Gallery and archive – Eddie Murray
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• 500 Home Run Club
• Video of Hall of Fame Speech
• BaseballLibrary