Charles Steven Cox (born October 31, 1974) 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 ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. He 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), ...

(MLB) for the

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home venu ...

and in

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

Yokohama BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japan, Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its c ...

Career

Cox attended

Monache High School Monache High School is one of the three high schools located in Porterville, California, United States and is part of the Porterville Unified School District (PUSD). It's the city's second high school and as of 2021 serves approximately 2,583 st ...

Porterville, California Porterville is a city in the San Joaquin Valley, in Tulare County, California, Tulare County, California, United States. It is part of the Visalia Metropolitan Area, Visalia-Porterville metropolitan statistical area. Since its incorporation in 1 ...

, graduating in 1992. was chosen in the fifth round of the

1992 Major League Baseball Draft The 1992 Major League Baseball draft took place on June 1, 1992, through a conference call involving all 28 MLB teams of the time. Phil Nevin of Cal State Fullerton was the first overall selection, chosen by the Houston Astros. Derek Jeter, select ...

by the

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 ...

. He played in their organization for six seasons without appearing in the major leagues. He was selected by the Devil Rays with the 46th pick in the

1997 MLB Expansion Draft On November 18, 1997, Major League Baseball (MLB) held an expansion draft to allow two expansion teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, to build their rosters prior to debuting in the National League West and American League ...

. Cox broke out in 1999, when he posted an impressive .341/.414/.588 batting line with 25 home runs and 107 runs scored for the

Durham Bulls The Durham Bulls are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Durham, North Carolina, and play their home games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which opened in ...

, earning

International League MVP The International League Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is an annual award given to the best player in Minor League Baseball's International League based on their regular-season performance as voted on by league managers. Broadcasters, Minor Le ...

honors. Cox was first called up to MLB on September 17, , along with

Jim Morris James Samuel Morris Jr. (born January 19, 1964) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for two seasons with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Although brief, Morris' career is noted for making his M ...

. He made his Major League debut on September 19, 1999 as a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute Batting (baseball), batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the dead ball (baseball), ball is dead (not in active play); the manager (baseball), manager may use any player who has not yet ...

in the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers, in which he also earned his first major league hit, a double off of

Jeff Fassero Jeffrey Joseph Fassero (born January 5, 1963) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. Professional career Montreal Expos Fassero was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 22nd round of the amateur draft, but he bounced around in the min ...

. For the 1999 season, Cox appeared in 6 games, batting .211 in 19

at-bats In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

. Cox began the 2000 season on the major league roster, and spent the entire season with the Rays. In 116 games, Cox hit .283/.379/.453 with 11

home runs 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 ...

and 35

RBIs 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 ...

. Cox received a single vote in

AL Rookie of the Year In Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year Award is given annually to two outstanding rookie players, one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL), as voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). The aw ...

voting, tying him for sixth place with

Adam Kennedy Adam Thomas Kennedy (born January 10, 1976) is an American former professional baseball second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Washington Nationals ...

Mark Redman Mark Allen Redman (born January 5, 1974) is an American former professional baseball left-handed starting pitcher. Early career A 1992 graduate of Escondido High School in California, he played baseball and football before attending The Master's ...

and

Barry Zito Barry William Zito (born May 13, 1978) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants. His pitching repertoire consisted of a curveball ...

. Cox spent the next two years as an near everyday player for the Rays, playing in 256 out of a possible 324 games. In 2001, he hit .257/.323/.427 with 12 home runs and 51 RBIs in 108 games. In 2002, he was a regular starter at

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

and as a

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by th ...

appearing in 148 games, hitting .254/.330/.396 with 30 doubles, 16 home runs and 72 RBIs. During the 2002 offseason, Cox who was coming off a career-best season, surprisingly, decided to leave the Rays and the MLB behind to play for the

of the

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 ...

. In his lone season in Japan, he only appeared in 15 games, batting .200/.298/.280 with 1 home run and 7 RBIs. He returned briefly to the Devil Rays organization, playing 19 games for the

during the 2005 season, where he hit .210/.329/.436 with 3 home runs and 9 RBIs before retiring. In 2007, Cox became the head coach for

Porterville College Porterville College is a public community college in Porterville, California. It was established in 1927. Notable alumni and faculty * Wayne Hardin Irving Wayne Hardin (March 23, 1926 – April 12, 2017) was an American football player and co ...

, and coached the Pirates for two seasons.

References

External links

1974 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Japan Arizona League Athletics players Durham Bulls players Edmonton Trappers players Huntsville Stars players Major League Baseball first basemen Modesto A's players Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen Orlando Rays players People from Delano, California Baseball players from Kern County, California Southern Oregon A's players Tampa Bay Devil Rays players West Michigan Whitecaps players Yokohama BayStars players {{US-baseball-first-baseman-stub