Gregory De Wayne "Boomer" Wells (born April 25, 1954) is an American 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 ...

player. Wells played

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

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 ...

in and 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 ...

in . Wells also played

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

(NPB) for the Hankyu Braves/Orix Braves/Orix BlueWave and

Fukuoka Daiei Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. The team was formerly known as the Nankai Hawks and was based in Osaka. ...

between and . He played 47 career Major League games in two seasons, batting .228, with 28 hits in 127 at-bats. In more than ten

NPB or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

seasons he compiled a .317 batting average and a .555 slugging percentage, with 277 home runs and 901 RBI. In 1984, while playing for the

Hankyu Braves The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefectur ...

, Wells won the NPB

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Trip ...

, with a

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 ...

of .355, 37

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, and 130

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 ...

, also winning the

Most Valuable Player award In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

in the process. He was the first non-Japanese winner of the Triple Crown. However, he requested a trade to the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in 1992 because when Orix rebranded the team as the BlueWave, he hated the new name, new colors, and the new stadium. He hated it so much that it had been said that Wells conspired with some clubbies to take the field in an Orix Braves jersey, however, no media of him doing that has yet to surface to prove he actually did it. When he was traded to the Hawks, he told the media in

Kansai The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshu, Honshū. The region includes the Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Nara Prefecture, Nara, Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto, Osaka Prefectur ...

that he still loved Braves fans who followed him in

Nishinomiya 270px, Nishinomiya City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Nishinomiya city center 270px, Hirota Shrine is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 484,368 in 218948 households and a population density of 48 ...

, and the fact that he requested the trade was the fault of Shozo Doi and

Orix , styled as ORIX, is a Japanese diversified financial services group headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, and Osaka, Japan. ORIX offers leasing, lending, rentals, life insurance, real estate financing and development, venture capital, investment an ...

References

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1954 births Living people African-American baseball players Albany State Golden Rams baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Japan Baseball players from Alabama Beeville Bees players Cardenales de Lara players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Dunedin Blue Jays players Fukuoka Daiei Hawks players Hankyu Braves players Kinston Eagles players Major League Baseball first basemen Minnesota Twins players Nippon Professional Baseball MVP Award winners Orix BlueWave players Orix Braves players People from Washington County, Alabama Syracuse Chiefs players Tigres de Aragua players Toledo Mud Hens players Toronto Blue Jays players Utica Blue Jays players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{US-baseball-first-baseman-stub