Steven Russell Trout (born July 30, 1957) is an American former professional
baseball pitcher who played
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
(MLB) during the 1980s.
He is the son of former
MLB
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
pitcher
Dizzy Trout. He had the nickname "
Rainbow
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
".
Career
Chicago White Sox
After attending
Thornwood High School in
South Holland, Illinois
South Holland is a village and south suburb of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States, within Thornton Township. The population was 21,465 at the 2020 census. It is named after the Dutch province of South Holland.
History
The area ...
, Trout was drafted by 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) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...
in the first round of the
1976 MLB draft.
[Steve Trout](_blank)
Baseball-Reference.com, Retrieved on June 22, 2007 He played three years in the minor leagues before joining the White Sox and pitching in his first MLB game on July 1, 1978, against 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) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...
.
Chicago Cubs
Before the season, Trout was traded to the
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...
along with
Warren Brusstar for
Scott Fletcher,
Pat Tabler
Patrick Sean Tabler (born February 2, 1958) is an American former Major League Baseball player. After retiring from professional baseball, he became a color analyst for the Toronto Blue Jays on the Canadian sports television networks TSN and S ...
,
Randy Martz, and
Dick Tidrow.
Trout had 32 starts in his first season with the Cubs, going 10–14 with a 4.65
ERA
An era is a span of time.
Era or ERA may also refer to:
* Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time
* Calendar era
Education
* Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school
* ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia
* E ...
.
The following season in , he stayed in the Cubs rotation, pitching along with
Rick Sutcliffe
Richard Lee Sutcliffe (born June 21, 1956), nicknamed "the Red Baron", is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, and St. Louis Cardinals between 1976 and ...
,
Dennis Eckersley
Dennis Lee Eckersley (born October 3, 1954), nicknamed "Eck", is an American former professional baseball pitcher and color commentator. Between 1975 and 1998, he pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, ...
, and
Lee Smith. They led the Cubs to 96 victories and their first trip to the playoffs in 39 years. Steve pitched the Cubs home opener on April 13 against the
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...
, pitching a complete game and allowing just two hits in the 11–2 victory. On May 30, Trout took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against 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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...
that was broken up by
Albert Hall.
Trout finished the season with a 13–7 record in 31 starts, posting a 3.41 ERA. Steve pitched effectively in the
1984 National League Championship Series against the
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...
, going 8.1 innings for the victory in Game 2, which put the Cubs one victory away from their first
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...
since 1945. He pitched in relief in the series-deciding Game 5 in San Diego, which the Cubs lost.
["Steve Trout", Cubs Official 1985 Yearbook, Published by Woodford Associates]
Trout started strong in with a 6–1 record through June 8, until ulnar nerve problems caused him to miss time on the disabled list, as he was only able to make nine starts for the remainder of the season Trout was traded in to 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) Am ...
, for
Bob Tewksbury,
Rich Scheid, and
Dean Wilkins.
New York Yankees
Trout's acquisition by 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) Am ...
in a mid-season trade proved to be a disastrous trade for the Yankees. Though his last two starts with the Cubs were complete game shutouts, and his ERA was one of the best in the National League, with the Yankees he proved unable to locate the strike zone. He walked 37 batters and threw nine wild pitches in 46 innings and lasted an average of only four innings in his nine Yankee starts. The Yankees traded Trout to Seattle after the 1987 season, paying the Mariners over one million dollars to offset some of Trout's substantial salary.
Seattle Mariners
Trout was traded to the
Mariners before the season with
Henry Cotto in exchange for
Lee Guetterman,
Clay Parker, and
Wade Taylor. He pitched infrequently over the next season and a half before being released by the team.
Retirement
Trout runs a baseball clinic from his home in
Venice, Florida, from November through April. It is open to all ages.
In 2002, he authored a book about his and his father
Dizzy Trout's baseball lives called ''Home Plate: The Journey of the Most Flamboyant Father and Son Pitching Combination in Major League History''.
He served as pitching coach for the
Brockton Rox of the
Can-Am League and Chicago's
Windy City ThunderBolts of the
Frontier League
The Frontier League (FL; French: ''Ligue Frontière'', LF) is a professional baseball league in North America composed of 18 teams – 15 in the United States and 3 in Canada. The FL is one of the eight independent baseball leagues in North Ame ...
. On January 25, 2008, it was announced that Trout would be the manager of the
Texarkana Gunslingers for their inaugural season
Moloka'i High School in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
hired Trout in March 2010 to be its head coach. Trout answered an ad in the local newspaper.
He started the Chicago-based Trout Baseball Academy in 2015 and conducts baseball camps for children throughout the year.
Trout recently co-wrote a children's illustration book called ''Loosey-Goosey Baseball'' that is available for purchase on his website.
According to the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'' in 2015, Trout sued a North Side baseball camp claiming the camp unlawfully used his name in the source code of their website for monetary gains.
See also
*
List of second-generation Major League Baseball players
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trout, Steve
1957 births
Living people
American expatriate baseball players in Canada
Appleton Foxes players
20th-century American sportsmen
Calgary Cannons players
Chicago Cubs players
Chicago White Sox players
Gulf Coast White Sox players
Iowa Oaks players
Knoxville Sox players
Louisville Redbirds players
Major League Baseball pitchers
New York Yankees players
Peoria Chiefs players
Seattle Mariners players
Baseball players from Detroit