Michael Brantley
Michael Charles Brantley Jr. (born May 15, 1987) is an American professional baseball left fielder for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Cleveland Indians. The son of former MLB player and hitting coach Mickey Brantley, he is a left-handed batter and thrower. After starring for Fort Pierce Central High School in Fort Pierce, Florida, the Milwaukee Brewers selected Brantley in the seventh round of the 2005 MLB draft. During the 2008 season, the Brewers traded him to the Indians along with other prospects for pitcher CC Sabathia. Brantley made his MLB debut with the Indians in 2009. During the 2014 campaign, Brantley won both an MLB All-Star nomination and a Silver Slugger Award for the first time. That year, he achieved career highs in numerous offensive categories and garnered a third-place finish in the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award voting. He was subsequently named to four consecutive All-S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Left Fielder
In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the left fielder is assigned the number 7. Position description Left fielders must cover large distances - speed, instincts, and quickness in reacting to the ball are key. They must be able to catch fly balls above their heads and on the run. They must be able to throw the ball accurately over a long distance to be effective; they must also learn to judge whether to attempt a difficult catch and risk letting the ball get past them, or to instead allow the ball to fall in order to guarantee a swift play and prevent the advance of runners. Left fielders must also familiarize themselves with the varying configurations of different ballparks' foul territory, and prevent balls hit down the foul lines from gett ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. The NL and AL were formed in 1876 and 1901, respectively. Beginning in 1903, the two leagues signed the National Agreement and cooperated but remained legally separate entities until 2000, when they merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball. MLB is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. It is also included as one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. Baseball's first all-professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was founded in 1869. Before that, some teams had secretly paid certain players. The first few decades of professional baseball were characterized by rivalries between leagues and by players who often jumped from one te ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team in 1977 Major League Baseball expansion, 1977 playing their home games in the Kingdome. Since July , the Mariners' home Baseball park, ballpark has been T-Mobile Park, located in the SoDo, Seattle, SoDo neighborhood of Seattle. The "Mariners" name originates from the prominence of seamanship, marine culture in the city of Seattle. They are List of baseball nicknames, nicknamed the M's, a title featured in their primary logo from 1987 to 1992. They adopted their current team colors – navy blue, northwest green (teal), and Silver (color), silver – prior to the 1993 season, after having been royal blue and Gold (color), gold since the team's inception. Their List of Major League Baseball mascots, mascot is the Mariner ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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World Series Ring
A World Series ring is an award given to Major League Baseball players who win the World Series. Since only one Commissioner's Trophy is awarded to the team, a World Series ring is an individual award that players and staff of each World Series champion team get to keep for themselves to symbolize the victory. World Series rings are uniquely commissioned by the winning team each year and presented to deserving players and staff early in the next season. The rings have been made by companies that include Jostens, Tiffany & Co., Dieges & Clust, and L.G. Balfour Company. The first World Series rings were given to members of the New York Giants after winning the 1922 World Series. By the mid-1920s, each winning team gave their players a ring. Though the ring started off simple, usually containing only one diamond, rings over time have become more elaborate and ornate, with the 2003 World Series ring containing over 200 diamonds. In addition to their inherent value, World Series ri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff, and the winning team is awarded the Commissioner's Trophy. Prior to the AL and NL being split into divisions in 1969, the team with the best regular-season win–loss record in each league automatically clinched its league's pennant and advanced to the World Series, barring the rare tie necessitating a pennant playoff. Since then each league has conducted a League Championship Series ( ALCS and NLCS) preceding the World Series to determine which teams will advance, while those series have been preceded in turn by Division Series ( ALDS and NLDS) since 1995, and Wild Card games or series in each league since 2012. Until 2002, home-field advantage in the World Series ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Batting Average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is the total number of runs they have scored divided by the number of times they have been out. Since the number of runs a player scores and how often they get out are primarily measures of their own playing ability, and largely independent of their teammates, batting average is a good metric for an individual player's skill as a batter. Most players have career batting averages in the range of 20 to 40. Among players with a minimum of 20 innings played or completed, the highest Test batting average belongs to Australia's Sir Donald Bradman, with 99.94. Baseball In baseball, the batting average (BA) is defined by the number of hits divided by at bats. It is usually reported to three decimal places and read without the decimal: A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Contact Hitter
In baseball, a contact hitter is a hitter who does not strike out often. Thus, they are usually able to use their bats to make contact with the ball (hence the name ''contact'' hitter) to put it in play, and then run fast to reach base. As a result of their focus on putting the ball in play, they usually have fewer home runs than power hitters. Tony Gwynn is a leading example of a modern contact hitter. With just 135 career home runs, Gwynn described himself as a contact hitter who could hit to all fields. He rarely struck out (just 434 times, once every 21 at-bats) and his goal was to put the ball in play and move baserunners over. Gwynn's success as a contact hitter landed him in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. History One of the earliest known uses of the phrase "contact hitter" was in a 1966 ''Bradenton Herald'' report about Manatee Junior College players Whitey Whiten and Mark Sprunger. United Press International possibly was the first news agency to record the term in r ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award
The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is an annual Major League Baseball (MLB) award given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). Until 2020, the winners received the Kenesaw Mountain Landis Memorial Baseball Award, which became the official name of the award in 1944, in honor of the first MLB commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who served from 1920 until his death on November 25, 1944. Starting in 2020, Landis’ name no longer appeared on the MVP trophy after the BBWAA received complaints from several former MVP winners about the late Commissioner’s role against integration of MLB. MVP voting takes place before the postseason, but the results are not announced until after the World Series. The BBWAA began by polling three writers in each league city in 1938, reducing that number to two per league city in 1961.Gillette & Palmer, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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CC Sabathia
Carsten Charles Sabathia Jr. (born July 21, 1980) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the New York Yankees. He also played for the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers. Sabathia batted and threw left-handed. Sabathia made his major league debut with the Indians in 2001 and placed second in the 2001 AL Rookie of the Year voting behind 2001 AL MVP Ichiro Suzuki. Sabathia played the first seven and a half seasons of his career with the Indians, with whom he won the 2007 Cy Young Award. He led the Indians to the 2007 AL Central Division title and their first postseason berth since his rookie year. Following a trade, Sabathia played the second half of the 2008 MLB season with the Milwaukee Brewers, helping them make the playoffs for the first time in 26 years. In the 2008 offseason, Sabathia signed with the New York Yankees for seven years and $161 million; at the time, this was the largest cont ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Prospect (sports)
In sports, a prospect is any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to surpass a threshold where they achieve rookie status (as defined by their respective league), or is not established with the team yet. Prospects can sometimes be assigned to farm teams, or loaned to lower ranked teams. They may also decide to go back to college to play. Major-league professional sports teams also trade prospects, by themselves, with draft picks, or with current major-leaguers, in order to acquire another prospect or an established major league player. Teams that trade away several of their star players for other teams' prospects are sometimes said to be having a fire sale. Ice hockey North America A North American ice hockey prospect is typically a player who was drafted and/or signed by a National Hockey League team, and is assigned to a development farm team. These development leagues are the American Hockey League and the ECHL. Besides these minor leagues, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2005 Major League Baseball Draft
The 2005 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, was held on June 7 and 8. It was conducted via conference call with representatives from each of the league's 30 teams. It is widely considered to be one of the best drafts in recent memory. ''SourceMajor League Baseball 2005 Official Draft Site' First round selections Supplemental first round selections Did not sign with team Compensation picks Other notable players *Travis Wood, 2nd round, 60th overall by the Cincinnati Reds *Nolan Reimold, 2nd round, 61st overall by the Baltimore Orioles *Chase Headley, 2nd round, 66th overall by the San Diego Padres * Kevin Slowey, 2nd round, 73rd overall by the Minnesota Twins *Yunel Escobar, 2nd round, 75th overall by the Atlanta Braves *Nick Hundley, 2nd round, 76th overall by the San Diego Padres * Micah Owings, 3rd round, 83rd overall by the Arizona Diamondbacks *Brian Duensing, 3rd round, 84th overall by the Minnesota Twins * Jordan Schafer, 3rd ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for the city's association with the brewing industry. Since 2001, they have played their home games at American Family Field, which was named Miller Park through the 2020 season and has a seating capacity of 41,900 people. The team was founded in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots, an expansion team of the American League (AL), in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. The Pilots played their home games at Sick's Stadium. After only one season, the team relocation of professional sports teams, relocated to Milwaukee, becoming known as the Brewers and playing their home games at Milwaukee County Stadium. In 1998, the Brewers joined the National League. They are the only franchise to play in four different divisions since the advent of divisional play ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |