Troy Edward Glaus (; born August 3, 1976) is an American former professional baseball

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 ...

and

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 u ...

. Glaus 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 (A ...

with the

Anaheim Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...

(–),

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. 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 ...

(–),

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

(–), and the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in ...

(). Glaus lettered in baseball while attending

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

. He won a bronze medal in

baseball at the 1996 Summer Olympics Baseball had its second appearance as an official medal sport at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States, with games played at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium. Eight nations competed, with the preliminary phase consisting of each team p ...

as a member of the U.S. national baseball team. Glaus was a four-time All-Star and won World Series MVP honors in .

Professional career

In thirteen seasons Glaus hit .254 with 320

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 950 RBI in 1537 games. In 19 postseason games, he hit .347 with nine home runs and 16 RBI. Glaus has been selected to four All-Star Games, three with the Angels and one with the Blue Jays.

Anaheim Angels

Glaus began his career with the Angels in and was installed as the team's starting third baseman in . Glaus had a breakout season in , becoming the all-time single season home run leader in Angels history with 47 while leading third baseman in adjusted range factor (2.95) in 2000. Glaus participated in the

2001 MLB All-Star Game The 2001 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 72nd playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 10 ...

and posted his second consecutive 40 home run season with 41 on the year. In , Glaus failed to reach the 40 home run club for the first time since the 1999 season, but he managed to hit thirty home runs in helping the Angels make the playoffs for the first time in 16 years. The Angels beat 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 Yo ...

in 7 games in the

2002 World Series The 2002 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB)'s 2002 season. The 98th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Anaheim Angels and the National Lea ...

to win their first world championship title in team history. Glaus was awarded the World Series MVP award as he hit .385 with three home runs and eight RBIs and hit a go-ahead double in Game 6 to finish a five-run comeback for the Angels. Glaus followed that up with another All-Star year in . Glaus missed much of the season with a shoulder injury. 2004 was the last year of his contract with the Angels. As an established veteran, he was in demand on the

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 i ...

market and able to field lucrative offers for long term contracts. Although Glaus had spent his entire career an Angel, and was a fan favorite, the team decided not to pursue Glaus' return. Amid concerns about Glaus' future health after his injury, the team decided to go with the much lower-priced alternative of turning the third base position over to young prospect Dallas McPherson, whom they felt had a good chance to soon become as productive as Glaus had been.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Glaus ultimately signed with the

for US$45 million over four years. He worked through his back problems in the season with the Diamondbacks, hitting 37 home runs with 97 RBIs. He also led the league in adjusted range factor (2.92), but his 24

error An error (from the Latin ''error'', meaning "wandering") is an action which is inaccurate or incorrect. In some usages, an error is synonymous with a mistake. The etymology derives from the Latin term 'errare', meaning 'to stray'. In statistics ...

s tied him with

David Wright David Allen Wright (born December 20, 1982) is an American former professional baseball third baseman who played his entire 14-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career for the New York Mets. He was drafted by the Mets in 2001 MLB draft and made h ...

for the most errors by a third baseman in the Major Leagues, and he had a Major League-low .946 fielding percentage at third.

Toronto Blue Jays

After the 2005 season, Glaus was traded to the

in the off-season along with minor league shortstop Sergio Santos. The trade sent pitcher

Miguel Batista Miguel Descartes Batista Jerez (born February 19, 1971) is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Florida Marlins, Chicago Cubs, Montreal Expos, Kansas City Royals, Ar ...

and second baseman Orlando Hudson to the Diamondbacks. The Jays badly needed a power bat a year after letting go of Carlos Delgado, however the emergence of Hudson at second base gave the statistical advantage of this trade to the Diamondbacks. Although Glaus was converted from

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

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 ...

in the minors (and played 10 games at shortstop for the Angels), he started at

for the Toronto Blue Jays against the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

on May 26, due to the demotion of shortstop

Russ Adams Russ is a masculine given name, often a short form of Russell, and also a surname. People Given name or nickname * Russ Abbot (born 1947), British musician, comedian and actor * Russ Adams (born 1980), American retired baseball player * Russ B ...

. Glaus was not expected to do much fielding due to the fact the pitcher that day was known to induce many fly balls, instead of ground balls. This defensive alignment didn't affect his hitting, collecting 2 hits with a home run. Since then, Glaus made several starts at shortstop, usually when Toronto was facing

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 ...

opponents at their home ballpark, where there is no DH. After hitting 38 home runs and 104 RBI in the 2006 season, Glaus earned a single 10th place vote for the 2006

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league b ...

MVP 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 2006, Glaus had the lowest zone rating of any Major League third baseman (.741). In Glaus's production was hampered all year by foot injuries and his production fell. On December 13, 2007, he was cited in the Mitchell Report.

St. Louis Cardinals

Glaus was traded to the

in exchange for fellow third baseman Scott Rolen on January 14, 2008. This worked out well for the Cardinals, as Glaus did about as well as, or better than, his career rates in most offensive categories. Furthermore, Glaus committed only 7 errors in 146 games and led the league with a .982 fielding percentage at 3B. On September 3, 2008, he hit his 300th career home run off Doug Davis of the

in the third inning. He underwent

arthroscopic Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic or keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage is performed using an arthroscope, an endoscope that is inserted into the j ...

right shoulder surgery on January 21, . The Cardinals initially expected him to be ready around the start of 2009 season, but after a setback in his rehabilitation he was placed on the 15-day DL; after another reassessment the Cardinals announced that they did not expect him to return until June 2009. On July 11, 2009 he was assigned to the Palm Beach Cardinals of the Florida State League on a rehabilitation assignment. He returned September 2, against the Brewers in the bottom of the 6th inning.

Atlanta Braves

Following an injury-shortened 2009 season with the

, Glaus signed a one-year $1.75 million contract with the Atlanta Braves, a deal that allowed him to earn an additional $2.25 million in performance and roster bonuses. He became the starting first baseman in 2010. After a rough April in which he hit below the Mendoza Line, Glaus rebounded to become Player of the Month in May, hitting .330 with 6 home runs and 28 RBI. As of August 9, Glaus was hitting .242 with 14 home runs and 63 RBI. Glaus's production faltered in July and August. After Atlanta acquired

Derrek Lee Derrek Leon Lee (born September 6, 1975), nicknamed "D-Lee", is an American former professional baseball first baseman. Lee played with the San Diego Padres, Florida Marlins, Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates ...

on August 18 to play first base, Glaus was placed on the DL with knee fatigue. Glaus had a few setbacks, but returned to Atlanta in a back-up role behind Derrek Lee and rookie

Freddie Freeman Frederick Charles Freeman (born September 12, 1989) is an American-Canadian professional baseball first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Previously, Freeman played for the Atlanta Braves for 12 seasons. He mad ...

. Glaus made only one appearance at third base during the regular season, but was used at third in game 2 of the

NLDS In Major League Baseball, the National League Division Series (NLDS) determines which two teams from the National League will advance to the National League Championship Series. The Division Series consists of two best-of-five series, featuring e ...

against the

starting a key double play. Glaus then started game four of the series at third.

Post-playing career

Glaus became a candidate for induction into the

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball ...

for the first time on November 9, 2015. He received no votes.

Personal life

Glaus relocated to San Diego in 2020, with his wife, Ann. He also has one son, Ty.