Damian Donald Miller (born October 13, 1969) is a former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

. He won the

2001 World Series The 2001 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2001 season. The 97th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion Arizona Diamondbacks and the three-t ...

with the Arizona Diamondbacks, beating the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

High school years

Miller attended West Salem High School in West Salem, Wisconsin and was a student and a letterman in football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and baseball. Miller graduated from West Salem High School in 1987.

College and professional years

Miller attended Viterbo University in

La Crosse, Wisconsin La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population as of the 2020 census w ...

, and as a junior was named the NAIA District 14 Player of the Year and helped lead his team to the NAIA semifinals. Miller is not a member of the Major League Baseball Players Association, as he was a replacement player during the

1994 Major League Baseball strike File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. These players are barred from joining the players' union. His name also does not appear on any official commemorative merchandise from the Arizona Diamondbacks' 2001 World Series win. Through his career, Miller has also played 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 ...

, Arizona Diamondbacks (winning 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 ...

and

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

. In May 2000, he hit the first walk-off grand slam in the history of both Chase Field and the Diamondbacks, doing so in the bottom of the 12th inning against Orel Hershiser of the Los Angeles Dodgers. In Game 7 of the 2001 World Series he played a pivotal role in the 9th inning comeback against closer

Mariano Rivera Mariano Rivera (born November 29, 1969) is a Panamanian-American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, from 1995 to 2013. Nicknamed "Mo" and "Sandman", he spent most ...

. With no outs and pinch runner

David Dellucci David Michael Dellucci (born October 31, 1973) is an American former professional baseball outfielder, who played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for seven teams. High school Dellucci graduated from Catholic High in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

on first base, he bunted an 0-1 pitch right back to Rivera who then attempted to throw to

Derek Jeter Derek Sanderson Jeter ( ; born June 26, 1974) is an American former professional baseball shortstop, businessman, and baseball executive. As a player, Jeter spent his entire 20-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees ...

at second base only for Jeter to get tangled up in the legs of Dellucci who slid to break up the double play.

Midre Cummings Midre Almeric Cummings (born October 14, 1971) is an American former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates (-), Philadelphia Phillies (1997), Boston Red Sox ( and ), Minnesota Twins ...

would then pinch run for Miller after Jay Bell’s failed sacrifice bunt turned fielders choice. Cummings would score the tying run in the bottom of the ninth before Arizona ultimately won the World Series. The following year, Miller was named to the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

All-Star team. On June 27, 2007, in a home game against the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

, Miller hit his second career walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to win the game for the Brewers. It was his first home run of the 2007 season. The walk-off came on

La Crosse La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County, Wisconsin, La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's populat ...

Day at

Miller Park American Family Field is a retractable roof stadium used primarily for baseball. It is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just southwest of the intersection of Interstate 94 and Brewers Boulevard. It is the home of Major League Baseball's Milwauk ...

. In his next game, he recorded a franchise-tying seven

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

, which included a grand slam and a two-run

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 ...

. After becoming a free agent after the 2007 season, Miller attracted interest from a couple of teams, but declined, saying the Brewers were the only team he wanted to play for."Some familiar faces still looking for work"
May 28, 2008, ''Espn.com''. Retrieved on May 28, 2008.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Damian 1969 births Living people Major League Baseball catchers Milwaukee Brewers players Arizona Diamondbacks players Minnesota Twins players Chicago Cubs players Oakland Athletics players National League All-Stars Baseball players from Wisconsin Major League Baseball replacement players Tucson Sidewinders players Nashville Xpress players Sportspeople from La Crosse, Wisconsin Viterbo Hawks baseball players Elizabethton Twins players Fort Myers Miracle players Kenosha Twins players Salt Lake Buzz players