Chuck Knoblauch

Edward Charles "Chuck" Knoblauch (/ˈnɒblɔːk/; born July 7, 1968) is a retired Major League Baseball player. He played all or part of twelve seasons in the majors, from 1991 until 2002, for the Minnesota Twins (1991–97), New York Yankees (1998–2001) and Kansas City Royals (2002). He played mostly as a second baseman before moving to left field for his last two seasons.

College years

Born in Houston, Texas, Knoblauch came from a baseball family, as his uncle Eddie Knoblauch and father Ray Knoblauch played and managed in the minor leagues between the late 1930s and mid-1950s. He was drafted in the 18th round of the 1986 amateur draft by the Philadelphia Phillies, but did not sign. Then, Knoblauch went on to play college baseball for Texas A&M University in College Station, where he was a second team All-American. He later played on the 1989 team that finished the season with 58 wins, which is the highest total in school history.

Major league career

Minnesota Twins

Knoblauch was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round of the 1989 MLB Draft. Knoblauch won the American League Rookie of the Year award and a World Series ring as a member of the 1991 Minnesota Twins. In Game 7 of the World Series, Knoblauch attempted to deceive Lonnie Smith by appearing to start a double play on a Terry Pendleton double (causing Smith to get only to 3rd base when he might have scored for the Atlanta Braves). Smith claimed that he lost track of the ball, and that Knoblauch's decoy with shortstop Greg Gagne had little to do with his base-running.

Major League

Major League may also refer to:

Sport

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league. A total of 30 teams now play in two divisions, the American League (AL) and National League (NL), with 15 teams in each. The AL and NL operated as separate legal entities from 1901 and 1876 respectively, until 2000, when they were merged into a single organization known as Major League Baseball. After cooperating but remaining legally separate entities since 1903, in 2000 the leagues merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball. The organization also oversees minor league baseball leagues, which comprise about 240 teams affiliated with the major-league clubs. With the World Baseball Softball Confederation, MLB manages the international World Baseball Classic tournament.

Baseball's first professional team was founded in Cincinnati in 1869. The first few decades of professional baseball were characterized by rivalries between leagues and by players who often jumped from one team or league to another. The period before 1920 in baseball was known as the dead-ball era; players rarely hit home runs during this time. Baseball survived a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, which came to be known as the Black Sox Scandal. The sport rose in popularity in the 1920s, and survived potential downturns during the Great Depression and World War II. Shortly after the war, baseball's color barrier was broken by Jackie Robinson.

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern United States and is the United States' 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border in the Atlantic Ocean with Rhode Island, east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the north and Ontario to the west and north. The state of New York, with an estimated 19.8 million residents in 2015, is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City, the state's most populous city and its economic hub.

With an estimated population of nearly 8.5 million in 2014, New York City is the most populous city in the United States and the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. The New York City Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City is a global city, exerting a significant impact upon commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment, its fast pace defining the term New York minute. The home of the United Nations Headquarters, New York City is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural and financial capital of the world, as well as the world's most economically powerful city. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State. Two-thirds of the state's population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% live on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th century Duke of York, future King James II of England. The next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany.

New York Yankees

The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Bronx, New York City, New York, that competes in Major League Baseball (MLB). The Yankees are a member of MLB's American League (AL) East division. The Yankees are one of two Major League clubs based in New York, the other being the New York Mets.

The club began play in the AL in the 1901 season as the Baltimore Orioles (not to be confused with the modern Baltimore Orioles.) Frank Farrell and Bill Devery purchased the franchise (which had ceased operations) and moved it to New York City, renaming the club as the New York Highlanders. The Highlanders were officially renamed as the "Yankees" in 1913.

The team is owned by Yankee Global Enterprises, an LLC controlled by the family of George Steinbrenner, who purchased the team in 1973. Former catcher Joe Girardi is the team's manager, and Brian Cashman is the team's general manager. The team's home games were played at Yankee Stadium from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. In 2009, they moved into a new ballpark of the same name after the previous venue closed. The team is perennially among the leaders in MLB attendance—in 2011, the Yankees had the second-highest attendance.