Todd Anthony "Moose" Linden (born June 30, 1980) 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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

. 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

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

and

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fran ...

; 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

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles The , often shortened as the , are a baseball team based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It has played in Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League since the team's formation in November 2004. The team is owned by the Internet shopping ...

Early life

Before being drafted by the

, he attended

Central Kitsap High School Central Kitsap High School is a secondary school located in Silverdale, Washington, United States. It is one of seven secondary schools in the Central Kitsap School District. CKHS teaches grades 09-12. CKHS was for the first time ranked in the ...

Silverdale, Washington Silverdale is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kitsap County, Washington, in the United States. The population was 19,204 at the 2010 census. Despite many attempts at incorporation, Silverdale remains an unincorporated community. Silverdale ...

and played collegiate baseball at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

. After a tumultuous two years at Washington, Linden transferred to

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

, where he played center field. At LSU, Linden distinguished himself as a switch hitter by setting a Southeastern Conference record for games in a season with home runs hit from both sides of the plate.Linden likes blue-collar team
/ref> After the 2000 season, he played collegiate summer baseball with the

Chatham A's The Chatham Anglers, more commonly referred to as the Chatham A's and formerly the Chatham Athletics, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Chatham, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in t ...

of the Cape Cod Baseball League and was named a league all-star. Nicknamed "Moose" by his

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (often abbreviated to SWB RailRiders) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They are located in Moosic, Pennsylvania, in the ...

teammates after a horrible offensive showing in Charlotte, where he was visibly frustrated by a Charlotte Knights fan in the front row who berated him with moose references.

Professional career

San Francisco Giants

His first major league

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 ...

came on September 22, , off

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Kazuhisa Ishii. Linden, in only his 24th major league at-bat, became just the 12th player to hit a home run into the second deck at

Dodger Stadium Dodger Stadium is a baseball stadium in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home stadium of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers. Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a cost of ...

, which opened in . On May 10, , he was designated for assignment.

Florida Marlins

He was claimed off waivers by the

on May 18, 2007. The Marlins released him following the 2007 season.

Oakland Athletics

On November 21, 2007, he was signed by the Oakland Athletics to a minor league contract (

Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Prior to 2015, the River Cats were the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics for 15 ...

) with an invitation to spring training, but did not make the A's roster. On May 20, 2008, Linden was released by the Oakland A's.

Cleveland Indians

On May 27, 2008, Linden signed a minor league contract (

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen ...

) with the Cleveland Indians and was assigned to their Triple-A affiliate, the

. He became a free agent at the end of the season.

New York Yankees

In January Linden signed a minor league contract (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees) with an invitation to spring training with the New York Yankees.

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles

On June 12, 2009, the Yankees sold Linden's contract to the

of the Japanese Pacific League.http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/jun/14/lindens-career-takes-a-new-direction/

San Francisco Giants

Linden attended minor league camp with the Giants in 2012.

Coaching

Linden is currently a coach in the

minor league system. He also coaches for city baseball year round.

References

External links

, o
RetrosheetPelota Binaria (Venezuelan League)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Linden, Todd 1980 births Living people Albuquerque Isotopes players American expatriate baseball players in Japan Baseball coaches from Washington (state) Baseball players from Washington (state) Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Chatham Anglers players Edmonton Capitals players Estrellas Orientales players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Florida Marlins players Fresno Grizzlies players Grand Canyon Rafters players LSU Tigers baseball players Major League Baseball outfielders Minor league baseball coaches Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders People from Edmonds, Washington Sacramento River Cats players San Francisco Giants players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees players Shreveport Swamp Dragons players Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles players Venados de Mazatlán players American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Washington Huskies baseball players