Look up post or post- in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Post or POST may refer to:

Mail[link]

• Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries
• Hotel post, a service offered by remote Swiss hotels for the carriage of mail to the nearest official post office
• Local post, a mail service that operates only within a limited geographical area, typically a city or a single transportation route
• Parcel post, a service for sending parcels through the post
• Prague pneumatic post, the world's last preserved municipal pneumatic post system
• Wine post, also known as New Zealand Wine Post, is a privately owned postal service in New Zealand
• Post, an entry in a blog or internet forum – see posting style
• Anonymous post, an entry in a blog or internet forum without a screen name or more commonly by using a non-identifiable pseudonym
• Sponsored post, a post to any community-driven notification-oriented website which is explicitly sponsored as an advertisement

Newspapers and magazines[link]

• New York Post, USA
• The Washington Post, USA
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, USA
• The Christian Post, USA
• The Jerusalem Post, Israel
• The Sunday Post, Scotland
• National Post, Canada
• The Sunday Business Post, Ireland
• Australasian Post, Australia
• Post Magazine, British magazine first published in 1840
• Post Newspapers, Australia
• South China Morning Post, Hong Kong
• The Kathmandu Post, Nepal

Music[link]

• Post (Björk album), the third studio album by Icelandic singer-songwriter and musician Björk, released in June 1995
• Post (Paul Kelly album), the first solo album by Australian singer-songwriter rock musician, Paul Kelly
• Post Records, record label

Organisations and companies[link]

• Post Foods, brand name
• Post University, a university in Connecticut USA
• Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, UK

Places[link]

• Post, Texas, the county seat of Garza County, US
• Post, Oregon, a community at the geographic center of the state of Oregon, US
• Post Lake, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community, US

Sports[link]

• Posting system, transfer system for baseball players moving from a Japanese baseball team to a Major League Baseball team
• Post (route), route run by a receiver in American Football

Technology[link]

• Structural post: Column (architecture)
• Power-on self-test, start-up routines on electronic devices, typically on computers
• POST (HTTP), an HTTP request method
• Pillar (car), structural element of a car body
• .post the internet top-level domain

Other[link]

• Post, a way of riding a horse trot
• Military base, an assigned station or a guard post
• Post (surname)
• Part-of-speech tagging, the process of marking up a word in a text (corpus) as corresponding to a particular part of speech, based on both its definition, as well as its context—i.e. relationship with adjacent and related words in a phrase, sentence, or paragraph
• POST Certification (Peace Officer Standards and Training), a program nationwide for Law enforcement officers

See also[link]

• Pole (disambiguation)
• Posting (laundering process), or postadh, a traditional Scottish method of washing clothes
• Hitching post (disambiguation)
• All pages beginning with "Post"
• All pages with titles containing "Post"

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Munenori Kawasaki
Seattle Mariners — No. 61
Shortstop
Born: (1981-06-03) June 3, 1981 (age 31) Aira, Kagoshima, Japan
Bats: Left	Throws: Right
Professional debut
NPB: October 3, 2001 for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
MLB: April 7, 2012 for the Seattle Mariners
NPB statistics
Batting average	.294
Home runs	27
Runs batted in	369
Hits	1,343
Stolen bases	267
MLB statistics (through May 25, 2012)
Batting average	.162
Home runs	0
Runs batted in	2
Teams
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (2000–2011)[A] (NPB) Seattle Mariners (2012–present)
Career highlights and awards
8× NPB All-Star (2004 - 2011) 2× Best Nine Award winner (2004, 2006) 2× Golden Glove Award winner (2004, 2006) 2004 PL Stolen Base Champion

Medal record
Competitor for  Japan
Men’s Baseball
World Baseball Classic
Gold	2006 San Diego	Team
Gold	2009 Los Angeles	Team

Munenori Kawasaki (川﨑 宗則, Kawasaki Munenori^?, born June 3, 1981 in Aira, Kagoshima, Japan) is a Japanese shortstop for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball. Previously, he played for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball.^[1] He played for the Japanese national team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as the 2006^[2] and 2009 World Baseball Classics.

Early life and high school career[link]

Kawasaki was born in Aira, a town in central Kagoshima Prefecture in the south of Japan. He began playing baseball after his older brother got him into the sport. Though he was a pitcher throughout his early years, Kawasaki switched to shortstop after enrolling in Kagoshima Prefectural Technical High School.

Kawasaki remained largely an unknown on the national level during his high school career, partly due to his team's failing to make any national tournaments in those three years. Still, he made a name for himself locally, earning the nickname Satsurō, a portmanteau derived from Satsuma (the name given to a former province of Japan in present-day western Kagoshima) and current Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki's first name for the similarities in their playing styles. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 1999 NPB amateur draft by the then-Fukuoka Daiei Hawks.

Professional career[link]

Early years: 2000 to 2002[link]

Kawasaki earned the starting shortstop job for the Hawks' nigun team (Japanese for "minor league" or "farm team") in his rookie season (2000), hitting .300 and finishing fifth in the Western League in batting average that year. In 2001, his second season in the pros, he came second (to only then-Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles outfielder Akihito Moritani) with 29 stolen bases. He made his debut at the ichigun (major league) level on October 3 against the Orix BlueWave as the starting shortstop and No. 2 hitter, but went hitless in four at-bats that year.

Kawasaki hit .367 in the Western League the following year (2002), winning the batting title despite falling short of the required number of plate appearances because of league regulations. He got the first hit of his career on June 15 against right-hander Jeremy Powell, then of the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes, and his first stolen base on June 19 against the Seibu Lions. He was called up to the ichigun team again in September to fill in for Tadahito Iguchi as the team's regular second baseman while Iguchi missed time due to injury and also played in the 15th IBAF International Cup as a member of the Japanese national team.

2003 to 2005[link]

In 2003, Kawasaki started in the Hawks' season opener for the first time in his career because of injuries to veteran Yusuke Torigoe, starting at shortstop as the team's No. 2 hitter. After Torigoe returned to the lineup, Kawasaki moved over to third base,^[3] wreaking havoc on the basepaths along with leadoff hitter Arihito Muramatsu and Iguchi (who sat in the 3-hole). He hit his first career home run on July 28 off Buffaloes right-hander Ken Kadokura, and while he finished the season just short of .300, he played his first full season at the ichigun level and hit .294 with two homers, 51 RBI and 30 steals,^[4] playing a key role in the Hawks' league title and eventual Japan Series championship.^[5]

Kawasaki became the Hawks' starting shortstop for the 2004 season, playing in all 133 regular season games and hitting over .300 for the first time in his career. He led the league in both hits (174, tied with teammate and cleanup hitter Nobuhiko Matsunaka) and steals (42) and was chosen to both the Best Nine^[6] and Golden Glove awards. Kawasaki declined the team's offer to change his uniform number from 52 to 8 during the off-season. (The number is an homage to Ichiro Suzuki, who wears the number 51; Kawasaki idolized Suzuki from a young age and picked the number because he wanted to "follow" in Suzuki's footsteps.^[7])

Kawasaki had a somewhat disappointing season in 2005, seeing his batting average drop off from .303 in 2004 to .271 and his on-base percentage from .359 to just .326, knocking in just 36 runs and stealing only 21 bases. Despite this, he was named to the Japanese national team to play in the inaugural World Baseball Classic during the off-season.

2006 to 2008[link]

Coming off a championship in the inaugural World Baseball Classic, Kawasaki bounced back in 2006, hitting a career-high .312 and winning the Pacific League Best Nine and Golden Glove awards at shortstop (each for the second time). He was also received the most fan votes at shortstop for the MLB Japan All-Star Series held in November, but withdrew from the tournament after injuring the ring finger on his right hand during Fall Training.

Kawasaki suffered various injuries in the 2007 season,^[8] twice spending time in the minors to rehab and playing just 95 games (though he hit .329^[9] and slugged .428, both career highs).

Kawasaki's woes continued into 2008 as he attempted to play through an injury to his left foot. He hit a team-high .366 in interleague games and collected 37 hits (leading the NPB), leading the Hawks to their first interleague title and winning the interleague Most Valuable Player (marking the first time a position player had been named to the award).^[10] However, though he was chosen to play in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a member of the national team, he was diagnosed with periostitis during the tournament. On August 25, Kawasaki was found to have a stress fracture in his second metatarsal bone upon returning to Japan after the Olympics. He made an earlier-than-expected return, coming off the bench in the last game of the regular season (and then-manager Sadaharu Oh's last at the helm) on October 7 against the Eagles, but finished 0-for-2 with an intentional walk (the Hawks lost the game in extra innings).

2012[link]

Kawasaki signed a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training with the Seattle Mariners prior to the 2012 Major League Baseball season.^[11]

In his professional American debut, on March 2, 2012, Kawasaki went 0-3 against the Oakland Athletics, with 2 strikeouts, starting at shortstop. He was replaced in the 6th inning by Carlos Triunfel.^[12]

International career[link]

Kawasaki playing for Japan in the 2006 World Baseball Classic.

2006 World Baseball Classic[link]

Kawasaki started at shortstop, mostly as the team's No. 9 hitter, in the inaugural World Baseball Classic^[13] and played a key role in Japan's championship run. Hitting out of the leadoff spot for the first time in the tournament finals against Cuba, Kawasaki attempted to score on a base hit by Ichiro Suzuki in the top of the ninth inning, managing to brush home plate with his right hand while contorting his body and deftly avoiding the catcher's tag to score the tying run for Japan.

While the Japanese media deemed the play sensational and dubbed it The Right Hand of God (à la former Argentine football player Diego Maradona's famous "Hand of God" goal), Kawasaki was later found to have injured his right elbow on the play and did not play in the regular season until mid-April.

2008 Beijing Olympics[link]

In 2008, Kawasaki was chosen to play in the Olympics for the first time as a member of the national team, but ended up playing in just three games (though he went 4-for-7 and scored two runs) due to a nagging left foot injury. Japan came up short in their medal run, finishing fourth behind South Korea, Cuba and the United States.

2009 World Baseball Classic[link]

Kawasaki played in the World Baseball Classic as a member of the national team for the second time in 2009.^[14][15] While he played in just five games and saw only seven at-bats^[16] (mostly as a pinch hitter) due to manager Tatsunori Hara's decision to use Saitama Seibu Lions second baseman Yasuyuki Kataoka over Kawasaki against left-handed starting pitchers, Kawasaki was instrumental in Japan's win over the United States in the tournament semi-finals, starting at third base as Japan's No. 9 hitter and going 2-for-4 with a steal and an RBI.^[17][18]

Playing style[link]

Hitting[link]

Listed at 178 cm (70 in) and 73 kg (160 lb), Kawasaki is best described as a slap hitter, utilizing his exceptional bat control and blazing speed to get on base (often bunting safely to do so). However, he is somewhat lacking in power, even for a middle infielder, having never hit more than four home runs (2004, 2005, 2007) or recorded more than 31 extra-base hits (2004, 2006) for a season.

While Kawasaki is considered by many to be a great base stealer, having led the league in steals in 2004 with 42, his career stolen base percentage is just 70.0 percent (as of 13 May 2009). Modern sabermetric theory suggests that a player needs to be successful 70 to 75 percent of the time in stealing bases to have any kind of positive effect on the team's run production at all.^[19][20]

Fielding[link]

A two-time Golden Glove award winner, Kawasaki has excellent range and instincts at shortstop and has improved on his throwing tremendously since coming into the league. He is also a versatile fielder, having logged time at all four infield positions (including first base) in the pros (though he has played solely at shortstop since 2005).

Notes[link]

References[link]

This article incorporates information from this version of the equivalent article on the Japanese Wikipedia.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Munenori Kawasaki

	Biography portal
	Baseball portal
	Japan portal

• Nippon Professional Baseball career statistics from Japanesebaseball.com
• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Munenori Kawasaki Official Site (Japanese)
• Munenori Kawasaki, JapaneseBallPlayers.com

Dana White
Born	(1969-07-28) July 28, 1969 (age 42) Manchester, CT, U.S.
Residence	Las Vegas, Nevada
Nationality	American
Occupation	President
Known for	Managing The Ultimate Fighting Championship
Style	Boxercise [1]
Net worth	US$150 million (2010)[2]
Height	5 ft 11 in
Spouse	Anne
Children	3

Dana White (born July 28, 1969) is the current President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts organization based in the United States.

Biography[link]

Born in Manchester, Connecticut on July 28, 1969, White grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, Ware, Massachusetts and Levant, Maine. White is a passionate Boston Red Sox fan. During his youth, he bounced back and forth between Boston and Maine. He attended the University of Massachusetts Boston but did not finish; however, while there he did launch a boxing program for inner-city youth.^[3]

White has a background as an aerobics instructor. In 1992, White established Dana White Enterprises in Las Vegas. He conducted aerobics classes at three gyms^[4] in the Las Vegas area and began managing MMA fighters Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell.

While working as a manager, White learned that Semaphore Entertainment Group, the parent company of the UFC, was looking for a buyer for the UFC. White contacted childhood friend Lorenzo Fertitta, an executive at Station Casinos, and a former commissioner of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Within a month, Lorenzo and his older brother Frank bought the UFC, with White installed as its president.^[5] White currently owns about 9% of Zuffa, LLC, the entity the Fertitta brothers created to own and manage the UFC.^[3]

White failed to comment on a potential network broadcast deal at the UFC 136 press conference. The next day it was confirmed that the UFC and Fox broadcast networks had made a multiple year deal.^[6]

Controversy[link]

Loretta Hunt[link]

On April 1, 2009, White was videotaped in a verbal tirade against Loretta Hunt, a sportswriter for Sherdog, in response to an article she wrote. In the video posted on his YouTube account, White used derogatory language in an obscenity-laced rant. The video was pulled from his official UFC YouTube page but has been widely republished across the internet and come under fire, including by GLAAD for his use of anti-gay slurs.^[7][8][9] White would later apologize for his slurs. He specifically did not include Hunt in the apology.^[10] Hunt responded by saying "I stand by the story. It's accurate."^{[citation needed]}

Miguel Torres[link]

In December of 2011, White cut fighter Miguel Torres from the UFC after Torres tweeted "If a rape van was called a surprise van, more women wouldn’t mind going for rides in them. Everyone likes surprises." In an interview with Sports Illustrated confirming Torres' firing over the controversial remarks, White claimed "Now there's no explanation for that. There's absolutely nothing I could say to make any sense of that. And the fact that he even thinks that's funny or that's a joke, it disturbs me. It bothers me." The firing of Torres immediately sparked controversy after it was revealed that White did not similarly punish two fighters of greater marquee value – Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans, both of whom have fought in the main event of multiple Pay-Per-View cards and the latter slated to fight in the main event of a fight card scheduled to air on the FOX network on January 28, 2012 – for making similarly offensive remarks:^[11] Griffin commenting that "Rape is the new missionary"^[12] and Evans evoking the recent child abuse scandal involving Penn State University while promoting a fight.^[13] Torres has since re-signed with the UFC after having a talk with Dana.

Charity[link]

In December 2010 White donated $50,000 to the Fransisco Espinoza foundation. White donated approximately $8,000 to help pay for the brain tumor treatment of two-year-old British girl, Ruby Owen. The young girl's family had described themselves as being "shocked and over the moon". Ruby Owen's uncle, being a UFC fan had contacted White via email and asked if he could help by donating to the Ruby Owen fund raising website. White and Owen have never officially met.^[14] In an act of compassion towards a fan, he gave $300 to one man without hesitation who said that he "just received a speeding ticket while racing across town to meet him".^[15] Shortly after being named 2009 Nevada Sportsman of The Year, White added $100,000 from his pocket to the $250,000 total raised for the fund raising marathon sponsored by ESPN Radio 1100 for Las Vegas.^[16]

Feud with M-1 Global[link]

After signing negotiations with M-1 Global Russian Heavyweight MMA fighter Fedor Emelianenko fell through in 2009,^[17] White and the UFC became the subject of debate and criticism from fans and experts alike. On several occasions, White referred to Emelianenko as "a fake, a phony and a farce.^[18][19]

On June 26th, 2010 following Emelianenko's first legitimate defeat of his career to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace Fabricio Werdum, White shared a simple ":)" via Twitter.^[20] The same symbol was expressed by White following Emelianenko's 2nd round doctor stoppage loss to Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva in the opening round of the 2011 Strikeforce GP.^[21] White followed this with an insult to Fedor's manager and M-1 Global President Vadim Finkelstein.^[22] This began a war of words on the social networking site. M-1 Global’s director of operations, Evgeni Kogan, stood up for Finkelstein and invited White to repeat his words to Finkelstein in person. When fans attempted to reason with White, they were met with similar contempt and insults.^[23]

There is controversy over whether Fedor Emelianenko and White have actually met.^[24] White has claimed to have met Emelianenko on a "crazy island in the middle of nowhere".^[25] In 2011, Emelianenko denied that this encounter ever took place.^[26]

Personal life[link]

White and his wife have two sons and a daughter.^[27] He is an atheist, and has stated that he is "fascinated" by religion.^[28]

Accomplishments[link]

• Nevada Sportsman of the Year (2009)^[29]
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards
  • Promoter of the Year (2005–2011/present)^[30][31]
• World MMA Awards
  • Leading Man of the Year 2011
  • Leading Man of the Year 2010
• Armed Forces Foundation
  • Patriot Award^[32]

References[link]

External links[link]

• UFC homepage
• June/July Men's Fitness cover story
• Dana White at the Internet Movie Database
• Dana White on Twitter
• Dana White Signs Fox

Matt Kemp
Kemp with the Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers – No. 27
Center fielder
Born: (1984-09-23) September 23, 1984 (age 27) Midwest City, Oklahoma
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
May 28, 2006 for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Career statistics (through May 21, 2012)
Batting average	.296
Hits	882
Home runs	140
Runs batted in	485
Stolen bases	146
Teams
Los Angeles Dodgers (2006–present)
Career highlights and awards
NL All-Star (2011) NL RBI Champion (2011) NL Home Run Champion (2011) 2x Gold Glove Award (2009, 2011) 2x Silver Slugger Award (2009, 2011) Hank Aaron Award (2011) Baseball America Player of the Year (2011) 30–30 club (2011)

Matthew Ryan "Matt" Kemp (born September 23, 1984, in Midwest City, Oklahoma)^[1] is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers.^[2]

Kemp was drafted by the Dodgers in the 6th round of the 2003 draft and made his major league debut in 2006. In 2011, Kemp led the National League in runs scored (115), total bases (353), OPS+ (171), WAR (10.0), home runs (39), and runs batted in (115). Additionally, he became the first player to finish in the top two in both home runs and steals since Hank Aaron in 1963.

High school[link]

Kemp attended Midwest City High School, where he was a standout in basketball and baseball.^[2] He was teammates with Shelden Williams on the varsity basketball team that won the state title their junior year.

Kemp, along with Williams and three other teammates, was accused of raping a 19-year-old woman at the time of a high school all-star basketball tournament on January 20, 2002, at the Columbus, Ohio Hyatt hotel.^[3][4][5] The players were suspended from the team during the investigation.^[6] The woman did not press charges, and the district attorney opted to not pursue the matter due to a lack of evidence.^[7]

Kemp was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 6th round of the 2003 draft, and signed with the team on June 5, 2003.

Minor leagues[link]

He started his professional career for the Gulf Coast Dodgers in 2003 and followed that up with stints with the Columbus Catfish in 2004 and the Vero Beach Dodgers in 2004–05. He was selected to the Florida State League All-Star team in 2005, and set Vero Beach franchise records for home runs (27) and slugging percentage (.569).

Major leagues[link]

Los Angeles Dodgers (2006–present)[link]

2006[link]

He began 2006 with the AA Jacksonville Suns, where he hit .327 with 7 homers, 34 RBIs and 11 steals, prompting a promotion to the major league squad. His promotion was spurred by an effort to provide regular rest for center fielder Kenny Lofton and oft injured right field All-Star J.D. Drew.

Kemp made his major league debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 5, 2006, against the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[8] He hit his first Major League homer on June 1 in his second Dodger Stadium at-bat off the Philadelphia Phillies' Gavin Floyd. He homered in three straight games from June 1–3 against the Phillies and homered twice on June 11 off Colorado Rockies starter Aaron Cook. He also became the first Dodger and 5th major league player to hit four homers in his first 10 days with the team.^[2]

In mid-July, he was re-assigned to the AAA Las Vegas 51s but was recalled to the Dodgers on September 1.

2007[link]

Kemp at the plate in 2008

Kemp started the 2007 season on the major league roster but lost his place after suffering an injury while running into the outfield fence at Dodger Stadium. Upon his return from the injury, he was optioned back to Las Vegas and didn't return to the Dodgers until mid-June. Once recalled, he enjoyed an outstanding sophomore campaign with the bat batting .342, clubbing 10 home runs, and driving in 42 runs while splitting time with Andre Ethier. However, he made the fourth most outs in the base paths in the National League in 2007.

2008[link]

Going into the season, Kemp was expected to battle for one of the corner outfield positions, though his spot in right field was essentially guaranteed. After driving in 11 runs and stealing 6 bases. he was named "NL Player of the Week" for the week of April 28 – May 4.^[9]

After a knee injury to Andruw Jones, Kemp became the Dodgers' regular center fielder. He finished the season with a .297 average, 18 homers and 76 RBI. He was also second on the team in stolen bases with 35.^[10] In addition, he set a Dodgers record with 153 strikeouts in a season.

2009[link]

Kemp had his first career walk-off hit on June 16 against the Oakland A's.^[11] On September 24, he became the first player in Dodger history to hit at least .295, with 25 home runs, 100 RBIs, and 30 steals in one season. He finished the year with .297, 26 home runs, 101 RBI, and 34 steals (3rd in the NL).

He hit his first career post-season home run on October 7 in his first at-bat of the NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals. After the season, Kemp was selected as a recipient of both the Gold Glove Award and the Silver Slugger Award. He also tied for second with three others in the majors with 3 grand slams.

2010[link]

Kemp returns to the dugout after hitting a home run on May 22, 2010

Kemp began the 2010 season in excellent fashion, hitting 7 home runs in the month of April, including 4 in four days from April 13–16. However, he slumped badly in the second half of the season and finished with a .249 batting average, 28 home runs, 89 RBIs, and 19 steals while playing in all 162 games for the first time in his career. He also broke his own single-season Dodger record for strikeouts, with 170.

Kemp was the subject of some criticism in 2010 from General Manager Ned Colletti who called him out publicly early in the season for poor baserunning.^[12] Kemp had several embarrassing gaffes on the base paths during the season and was caught stealing 15 times.^[13]

He hit home runs in five straight games to end the season, the first major league player to ever accomplish that feat and the first Dodger since Shawn Green in 2001 to hit homers in five consecutive games.

2011[link]

After his much publicized problems on the base paths the previous season, Kemp arrived at spring training early to work with new Dodger coach Davey Lopes on his base running. Kemp announced his intention to steal 40 bases this season and Lopes hoped they would be high percentage steals.^[14] At the end of the season, Kemp had the 40 steals and was only caught 11 times, a significant improvement in percentage from the previous year, and his work with Lopes was credited for much of the improvement.^[15]

After being one of the league leaders in home runs, stolen bases, RBIs, and batting average during the first half of the season, Kemp was voted as a starter for the National League squad in the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Arizona. He also accepted an invitation to participate in the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game.^[16]

The day before the All-Star Game, Giants' manager and 2011 NL All-Star Manager, Bruce Bochy, announced his decision to bat Kemp 3rd in the line up. Explaining his decision, Bochy said about Kemp, "He's a guy with speed, power, a guy that can beat you with a base hit or a long ball. He's what you call a complete player – tremendous defender, but more so in the 3-hole, he can do so many things for you. He's so dangerous."^[17] Kemp, with a single and a walk, became the first Dodger to reach base twice in an All-Star Game since Mike Piazza in 1996.

Kemp hit his 30th home run of the season on August 26, and in the process became the second Dodger player of all time to hit at least 30 homers and steal at least 30 bases in the same season (30–30 club). The only other one was Raúl Mondesí in 1997 and 1999. He picked up his 40th stolen base on September 17, becoming the 18th Major Leaguer and first Dodger in history to hit at least 30 homers and steal at least 40 bases. Kemp also scored his 100th run of the season, making him just the 10th L.A. Dodger to score 100 runs and have 100 RBIs in a season, and the first since Jeff Kent in 2005. He hit his 35th home run on September 21, making him the 14th Major Leaguer (and first since Alfonso Soriano in 2006) to hit at least 35 home runs and steal at least 35 bases in a season.

On September 20, the Dodgers announced Kemp was selected by his teammates as the recipient of the 2011 Roy Campanella Award, which is given annually to the Dodger player who best exemplifies the spirit and leadership of the late Roy Campanella.^[18] He also won the NL Player of the Week Award for the week of September 19–25, 2011 after he hit .423 (11 for 26) with 9 runs scored and 3 home runs during that week.^[19]

Kemp wound up hitting 39 home runs in 2011 with 126 RBIs, leading the league in both categories, the first Dodger to do so since Dolph Camilli in 1941. He also led the league in runs scored (115), total bases (353), OPS+ (171), and WAR (10.0). He finished second in slugging percentage (.586), OPS (.986), extra base hits (76), and stolen bases (40, tied), and third in batting average (.324) and outfield assists (11).^[20] Kemp also extended his games played streak to 364 games, as he played in every game of the season. He was the first player to finish in the top two in both home runs and steals since Hank Aaron in 1963.

Kemp was selected for a number of post-season awards, including the Baseball America Major League Player of the Year,^[21] the Hank Aaron Award for the top hitter in the National League (the first Dodger player to ever win the award)^[22] the Golden Glove Award and the Silver Slugger Award. On October 27, he was named to the 2011 Sporting News National League All-Star team.^[23] On November 22, he came in second to Ryan Braun in the voting for the National League Most Valuable Player Award.^[24]

After the season, Kemp signed a franchise record 8-year, $160 million contract extension.^[25]

2012[link]

Kemp started the 2012 season off by winning the National League Player of the Week award for the opening weekend. He hit two home runs and drove in eight RBI during the opening series against the San Diego Padres. He was also the first Dodger to record three consecutive multi-hit games to start the season since Adrian Beltre did it in 2000. This was the third time he had won the award, and second consecutive as he had won it the final week of 2011 as well. ^[26] On April 10, Kemp became the first LA Dodger to have an RBI in the first five games of the season since J. D. Drew in 2006 and, counting the end of the previous season, he had nine straight games with an RBI, tying Roy Campanella (1955) and Augie Galan (1944) for the Dodgers franchise record.^[27] Kemp also won the Player of the Week award for the second week of the season, which, combined with winning the award in the last week of 2011, makes him the first and only player to ever win three consecutive awards. He is also only the second player to win the award twice to begin the season, the other being Tony Armas in 1981. Kemp hit 12-22 with 4 HR and a 1.182 slugging percentage, leading the club to its best 10-game start since 1981.^[28] Kemp hit his 10th home run of the season on April 25, tying Gary Sheffield's club record for homers in April set in 2000.^[29] He broke Sheffield's record with a walk-off homer against the Washington Nationals on April 28.^[30] Kemp was also named National League player of the month for April.^[31] Kemp was placed on the disabled list on May 14 because of a hamstring injury, ending his streak of 399 consecutive games played, which was the longest in the majors at the time.^[32] After his DL stint, he promptly re-injured his hamstring two days later while running the bases and returned to the DL.^[33]

Nickname[link]

Kemp's nickname is "The Bison."^[34] During the second major league game of Kemp's career, on May 29, 2006, he stole second base in the fourth inning, after which Atlanta Braves television announcer Don Sutton said he looked "like a big buffalo running around the bases." The observation was appropriate due to Kemp's imposing size – the Dodgers' roster lists him at 6' 3" tall and 225 pounds – and surprisingly fast foot-speed. The word "buffalo" was modified to "bison," by the commenter D4P^[35] on Jon Weisman's popular Dodgers blog, Dodger Thoughts,^[36] as it is a more proper term for the North American mammal to which the moniker refers. It wasn't until the next day when the starting lineup did not include Kemp that baseball writer Eric Enders, also commenting in Dodger Thoughts added the capitalized article in front of the animal, completing the nickname, writing "So much for looking forward to watching The Bison tonight."^[37]

The nickname is also a play on Kemp's Oklahoma roots. A bison is the state of Oklahoma's official animal.

Personal life[link]

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Kemp resides in Los Angeles during the off season and is a Los Angeles Lakers fan. Kemp is also a San Francisco 49ers fan.^[38][39]

Kemp dated pop singer Rihanna from December 2009 to November 2010.^[40][41][42]

Kemp is actively involved in charities for children, even creating a community initiative called Kemp's Kids in 2008 and 2009 that hosted children from the Los Angeles area during several games at Dodger Stadium. Some of these children were from the Challenger Boys & Girls Club.^[43]

He is friends with Shelden Williams and Dexter Fowler.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Matt Kemp

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)