Cordel Leonard "Corey" Koskie (born June 28, 1973) is a Canadian former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

, who played in

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), ...

for the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

, and

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 t ...

. On February 4, 2015, Koskie was elected to the

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (french: Temple de la renommée du baseball canadien) is a museum located in St. Marys, Ontario, Canada. The museum commemorates great players, teams, and accomplishments of baseball in Canada. His ...

Early life

Koskie was born in

Anola, Manitoba Anola is an unincorporated community in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It is located east of Winnipeg and north of Steinbach in the Rural Municipality of Springfield. The community has a population of approximately 200 people. History Th ...

. He was the first

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

-born-and-raised player to ever reach the Major Leagues, and the first Manitoba-born player in MLB since Bud Sketchley in 1942. Koskie grew up on a farm in Anola and practiced baseball by hitting rocks with a

wiffle ball Wiffle ball, a team sport developed in 1953 in Fairfield, Connecticut, is a scaled back variation of baseball designed for playing in a confined space. The sport is played using a perforated light-weight plastic ball and a long hollow plastic b ...

bat. He took lessons in

Ukrainian dance ''Ukrainian dance'' ( uk, Український тaнeць, translit. ''Ukrainian 'tanets' '') mostly refers to the traditional folk dances of the Ukrainians as an ethnic group, but may also refer dance of the other ethnic groups within Ukrain ...

as a child. Koskie's primary sports in his youth were

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

. He played

junior hockey Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

for the

Selkirk Steelers The Selkirk Steelers are a Junior "A" ice hockey team from Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada. They are members of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, a part of the Canadian Junior Hockey League and Hockey Canada. History Junior "A" hockey in Selkirk ...

and was recruited to play

college hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the g ...

at Minnesota-Duluth but chose instead to play volleyball for Garth Pischke at the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba. Koskie left the Manitoba Bisons as a sophomore to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

Des Moines Area Community College Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) is a public community college in central Iowa. The college served 35,488 credit students and 29,021 noncredit students in 200 programs in 2019. History Des Moines Area Community College was created on M ...

Boone, Iowa Boone ( ) is a city in Des Moines Township, Boone County, Iowa, Des Moines Township, and county seat of Boone County, Iowa, Boone County, Iowa, United States. It is the principal city of the Boone, Iowa Micropolitan Statistical Area, which encom ...

. He subsequently began playing at the National Baseball Institute in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Baseball career

Koskie was drafted by the

in the 26th round of the

1994 Major League Baseball draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1994 Major League Baseball draft. Compensation picks Compensation Picks Other notable players *Troy Glaus, 2nd round, 37th overall by the San Diego Padres, but did not ...

, and subsequently made his MLB debut on September 9, 1998. He established himself in 1999 as the Twins'

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

man of the future by hitting .310 and knocking in 58 runs. In 2000, he batted .300 with a .400

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

and in 2001 he had his most productive offensive season when he hit 26

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, had 103 RBI, and scored 100 runs. Koskie signed a three-year, $17-million contract with the

on December 14, 2004. An injury-plagued season cut his productivity and playing time, as he struggled with a .249 average, with 11 home runs, 36 RBI, and 4

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

in 97 games. Despite his frequent injuries, Koskie was regarded as one of the more athletic third basemen in the game. On January 6, 2006, he was traded by the Blue Jays to the

for pitcher Brian Wolfe. The deal was widely viewed as a salary dump for the Blue Jays after the team traded for

Troy Glaus Troy Edward Glaus (; born August 3, 1976) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and third baseman. Glaus played in Major League Baseball with the Anaheim Angels (–), Arizona Diamondbacks (), Toronto Blue Jays (–), St. Lou ...

. With several players on the roster capable of playing third base (Koskie, Glaus,

Eric Hinske Eric Scott Hinske (born August 5, 1977) is an American professional baseball coach and retired outfielder and first baseman who is currently the assistant hitting coach for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). Hinske played in the ...

Shea Hillenbrand Shea Matthew Hillenbrand (born July 27, 1975) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and first baseman, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks, Toronto Blue Jays, San Francisco Gia ...

, and Aaron Hill) and no assurances of regular playing time from Blue Jays

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

J.P. Ricciardi John Paul Ricciardi (born September 26, 1959) is a Major League Baseball executive currently serving as a special advisor to the president of baseball operations with the San Francisco Giants. He previously served as the general manager of the Tor ...

, Koskie was traded just a year after being the Blue Jays' 2004 offseason marquee

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

signing. While the Brewers acquired a veteran infielder with a solid glove and bat to anchor their very young infield, Koskie's later seasons were marred by injuries, including missing most of the 2006 season with

post-concussion syndrome Post-concussion syndrome (PCS) is a set of symptoms that may continue for weeks, months, or a year or more after a concussion – medically classified as a so-called mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). About 34 to 35% of people with concussi ...

from an injury he received on July 5, 2006. "If I can't play, I at least want my life back", he said. "I'm hoping to do something to help the team this year. I want to play baseball again. If I can play baseball, I know I'm fine." The injury caused him to miss the entire 2007 season. In , Koskie worked out at the Minnesota Twins spring training camp and played for

Team Canada Canadian National Team or Team Canada may refer to: Canada at multi-sport events * Canada at the Olympics * Canada at the Paralympics * Canada at the Commonwealth Games * Canada at the Pan American Games Canada's national sport teams * Canada me ...

in the

World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an international baseball tournament sanctioned from 2006 to 2013 by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and after 2013 by World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) in partnership with Major Leagu ...

. Koskie signed a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training with the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

on February 28. On March 21, 2009, Koskie retired. While confident in his abilities, he did not want to risk his health. His fear of injury led to a diagnosis of

post traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...

Post-retirement

Koskie was a

Planet Fitness Planet Fitness (PFIP LLC) is an American franchisor and operator of fitness centers based in Hampton, New Hampshire. The company reports that it has 2,039 clubs, making it one of the largest fitness club franchises by number of members and loca ...

franchisee Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busine ...

in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area from 2010 to 2016. He recounted his experiences in a January 29, 2016 article for ''

The Players' Tribune ''The Players' Tribune'' is a new media platform that produces daily sports conversation and publishes first-person stories from professional athletes. The platform was founded by former professional Major League Baseball player Derek Jeter in ...

''. As of 2016, Koskie lived in

Plymouth, Minnesota Plymouth is a city in Hennepin County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. A suburb in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the city is about west of downtown Minneapolis.The population was 81,026 at the 2020 census, making it Minnesota's ...

with his wife and their four sons. Koskie was inducted into the

Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame The Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is a Canadian museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, dedicated to honoring the history and achievements of sports in Manitoba. The organization began in 1980, and then opened a museum in The Forks in 1993. Afte ...

in 2013.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koskie, Corey 1973 births Living people Baseball people from Manitoba Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States Elizabethton Twins players Fort Myers Miracle players Fort Wayne Wizards players Major League Baseball players from Canada Major League Baseball third basemen Milwaukee Brewers players Minnesota Twins players New Britain Rock Cats players People from Eastman Region, Manitoba Salt Lake Buzz players Selkirk Steelers players Syracuse SkyChiefs players Toronto Blue Jays players World Baseball Classic players of Canada 2006 World Baseball Classic players 2009 World Baseball Classic players