Adam James Stern (born February 12, 1980) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

former

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)

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 catch ...

who played for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

, and

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

from 2005 to 2010. Stern is the second

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

player from Canada in major league history (following

Goody Rosen Goodwin George Rosen (August 28, 1912 – April 6, 1994) was a Canadian professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) before and after World War II for the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants. He batted and threw lef ...

). He,

Kevin Youkilis Kevin Edmund Youkilis (; born March 15, 1979), nicknamed "Youk" , is an American former professional baseball first baseman and third baseman, who primarily played for the Boston Red Sox. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, he was drafted by the Red S ...

, and

Gabe Kapler Gabriel Stefan Kapler (born July 31, 1975), nicknamed "Kap", is an American former professional baseball outfielder and manager who serves as the assistant general manager of the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB). Kapler was a 57th- ...

set a record for most Jewish players on a team at once since the expansion era.

Early life and college career

Stern was born in

London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...

. He is Jewish on his father's side. In his youth, Stern participated in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

, and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

. Stern played for the London Badgers Baseball Club in London, Ontario from the age of 16 to the age of 18. Stern played three years on a baseball scholarship at the

University of Nebraska A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, from which he graduated with a Sociology degree. He hit .356 as a sophomore in 2000 to earn 2nd-Team All-

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

honors. After the 2000 season, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Harwich Mariners The Harwich Mariners are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Harwich, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Mariners play their home games at Whitehouse Fiel ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

and was named a league all-star. In 2001, he appeared in the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...

, and was named First-Team Academic All-Big 12, as well as an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention, after hitting .292 with 68 runs and 27

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...

s in 64 games. Stern was drafted twice: first, by 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) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

in the 22nd round (651st overall) of the 1998 MLB draft, and then by 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 ...

in the 3rd round (105th overall) of the

2001 MLB draft The 2001 Major League Baseball draft, was held on June 5 and 6. First round selections Supplemental First Round selections Compensation Picks Background On June 1, 2001, Rolando Viera, a Cuban baseball pitcher who had recently left Cub ...

, before moving to the Boston Red Sox in 2004 as a

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

pick.

Minor league career

In 2002, Stern stole 40 bases in 48 attempts for

Myrtle Beach Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the East Coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as the " Grand Strand” in the northeastern part of the state. It ...

in the

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

. In 2004, while playing for the Greenville Braves, Stern started in

left field In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering syst ...

for the Southern League's Eastern Division All-Star team, and was named an outfielder on the league's year-end All-Star club. He hit .322 with 64 runs, 26 doubles, and 27 stolen bases in 102 games. He ranked 3rd in the league in hitting, 8th with a .378

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

, and 9th with a .480

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

. His 27 steals were 3rd-most in the Braves system, and he had 41 multi-hit games in 99 starts. He was named Atlanta's Double-A Player of the Year. Stern missed 26 games to play for Team Canada at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, where he hit .250 (8-for-32) with 4

RBIs A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) 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 th ...

and 9 runs in 9 games. The Boston Red Sox made Stern a Rule 5 draft selection from the Braves in 2004. In 2005, he batted .321 (26-for-81) with 8 doubles, 14 RBIs, and 3 steals during a pair of rehab stints with Pawtucket, including a 21-game hitting streak. In 2009, while playing for the

Huntsville Stars The Huntsville Stars were a Minor League Baseball team that played in Huntsville, Alabama, from 1985 to 2014. They competed in the Southern League as the Double-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics from 1985 to 1998 and Milw ...

, as of July 9 Stern was second in the Southern League in steals (27), runs (58), and triples (6), and third in hits (95). Stern was selected to be a starting right fielder for the Southern League North Division All Star team, with the game to be played July 14 in Birmingham. Promoted to Nashville, he batted .31

In 2010, he batted .325/.399/.462 for Nashville, in 86 game

Major league career

Boston Red Sox (2005–06)

Stern made his major league debut with the Red Sox on July 7, 2005. His debut was delayed first by a fractured right thumb he sustained while sliding in

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

, then by a hamstring injury. On August 8, 2005, while playing for the Red Sox, Stern took the field in the 9th inning along with

and

, setting a "record" for the most Jewish players on the field at one time in

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

history and the most in Major League Baseball history since four Jews took the field for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

in a game in 1941. He played all three outfield positions in 2005, but was used primarily in

right field A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In t ...

. Due to injuries in 2005, Stern fell short of the time Rule 5 picks are required to be on a 25-man major league roster. After spending 18 days on the roster to start the 2006 season (during which he made a game-saving catch against the Devil Rays), as required to fulfill his Rule 5 obligations, Stern was optioned to Pawtucket on April 20. With the Red Sox, he again played all three outfield positions in 2006, but was used primarily in center field. Over the first two years of his major league career, he played errorless defense with better than average range at each position.

Baltimore Orioles (2007–08)

On October 3, 2006, Stern passed through waivers and was traded by the Red Sox to the

to complete a deal for catcher

Javy López Javier "Javy" López Torres (born November 5, 1970) is a Puerto Rican former catcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Atlanta Braves (1992–2003), Baltimore Orioles (2004–2006) and Boston Red Sox (2006). He batted and threw right- ...

and cash. In January 2007, Stern reached a one-year deal with the Orioles. Limited to 14 games in spring training, because of a strained right oblique muscle and a bout of

food poisoning Foodborne illness (also known as foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the contamination of food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites, as well as prions (the agents of mad cow disease), and toxins such ...

, Stern was 5–18 with 3 walks, 3

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s, and 3 stolen bases in 3 attempts. On March 28, the Orioles optioned Stern to the Triple-A

Norfolk Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's loc ...

. Norfolk vice president

Jim Duquette Jim Duquette is an American baseball executive. He was the general manager of the New York Mets from 2003–2004, before the team replaced him with Omar Minaya. Duquette subsequently stayed with the Mets in a front office job for a full sea ...

noted, "With Stern, we didn't feel like we had the opportunity to see an awful lot of him, and we feel like he needs more time down in the minor leagues. He was one of the guys we were talking about all spring." Stern was called up to the Orioles on April 17 to replace Corey Patterson, who was placed on the bereavement list. He appeared in two games, playing three innings in the outfield with no plate appearances. He was released by the Orioles on June 10, 2008.

Milwaukee Brewers (2009–10)

Stern signed a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers in January 2009. Stern had an excellent spring, batting .432 with 12 RBIs and 6 stolen bases in 42 at bats. He said: "You try to put together a good spring so they'll notice." "He had a good spring for us", said general manager

Doug Melvin Robert Douglas Melvin (born August 8, 1952) is a Canadian front-office executive in Major League Baseball (MLB) who previously served as the general manager of the Texas Rangers (1995–2001) and Milwaukee Brewers (2002–2015). He is currently ...

. "He was swinging the bat good (in Nashville). He can do a lot of things. He gets after it pretty good." He was called up to the active roster on May 11, 2010, from AAA Nashville where he was batting .349 in 12 games when

Carlos Gómez Carlos Argelis Gómez Peña, nicknamed Go-Go, (; born December 4, 1985) is a Dominican former professional baseball outfielder. He played for the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros, Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Ra ...

was placed on the disabled list. He said: "Any time you get to put a big league uniform on you look forward to it. I'm excited for the opportunity." He made his first appearance for the Brewers on May 14. It was his first appearance playing in the majors since the 2007 season, and his first at bat since the 2006 season. He said: "I'm just happy that they gave me an opportunity to get back to the big leagues. I know how tough it is to get back here, and that makes me appreciate it that much more." Stern filed for free agency following the conclusion of the 2010 season.

Team Canada

On March 8, 2006, Stern had a superb game for Team Canada against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the first

World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC), also referred to as the Classic, is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the sport's global governing body, and organized in World Baseball Clas ...

, just a double short of

hitting for the cycle In baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter who hit (baseball), hits a single (baseball), single, a double (baseball), double, a triple (baseball), triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that ...

, including an

inside-the-park home run In baseball, an inside-the-park home run is a rare play in which a Batter (baseball), batter rounds all four bases for a home run without the baseball leaving the baseball field, field of play. It is also known as an "inside-the-parker", "in-the-p ...

, and driving in 4 runs. He also made a couple of excellent catches in center field. Canada won the game 8–6, pulling off the biggest upset of the tournament. In the series, he batted 6 for 9. In January 2007, he was awarded the first

Stubby Clapp Richard Keith "Stubby" Clapp (born February 24, 1973) is a Canadian professional baseball coach and former second baseman and Triple-A manager who is the first base coach for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played fo ...

Award at the fifth annual

Baseball Canada Baseball Canada is the national governing body for baseball in Canada. They are members of the Canadian Olympic Committee and the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Incorporated in 1964 as the Canadian Federation of Amateur Baseball, it is ...

fund raiser. In March 2008, he played for Team Canada in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

as they competed in an 8-team tournament for a berth in the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. They won one of the three tickets to the Summer Games, joining Taiwan and South Korea. Stern played center field for Team Canada in all seven of their games at the Olympics, contributing four runs, four hits and three RBIs. In March 2009, Stern played for Team Canada in the

2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an International Baseball Federation, international baseball competition. It began on March 5 and finished March 23. Unlike in 2006 World Baseball Classic, 2006, when the Round-robin tournament, round- ...

Post-playing career

In 2013, Stern rejoined the Red Sox as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

, and is now scouting for the Kansas City Royals. He owns Centrefield Sports, a multi-purpose facility and is the Director of Player Development for the Great Lake Canadians.

References

External links

Baseball America statistics

"Minor League's Top Jewish Prospects." May 10, 2006.

Baseball @ Centrefield Sports

Baseball Canada 2013 Junior National Team Fall Instructional League Roster/Coaches & Staff
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Adam 1980 births Living people Baltimore Orioles players Baseball people from Ontario Baseball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Boston Red Sox players Boston Red Sox scouts Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States Greenville Braves players Gulf Coast Braves players Harwich Mariners players Jamestown Jammers players Jewish Canadian sportspeople Jewish baseball players Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball players from Canada 21st-century Canadian sportsmen Milwaukee Brewers players Nashville Sounds players Nebraska Cornhuskers baseball players Myrtle Beach Pelicans players Norfolk Tides players Olympic baseball players for Canada Pawtucket Red Sox players Baseball players from London, Ontario World Baseball Classic players of Canada 2006 World Baseball Classic players 2009 World Baseball Classic players Mesa Solar Sox players

Early life and college career

Minor league career

Major league career

Boston Red Sox (2005–06)

Baltimore Orioles (2007–08)

Milwaukee Brewers (2009–10)

Team Canada

Post-playing career

See also

References

External links