Homer Giles Bush (born November 12, 1972) 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 ...

second baseman. He played for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

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 ...

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 ...

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), ...

from 1997 to 2002 and in 2004. He was a part of the Yankees'

1998 World Series The 1998 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1998 season. The 94th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion New York Yankees and the National Le ...

championship over 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 (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

High school football star

Bush attended East St. Louis High School in

East St. Louis, Illinois East St. Louis is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois. It is directly across the Mississippi River from Downtown St. Louis, Missouri and the Gateway Arch National Park. East St. Louis is in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois. Once a b ...

, and was a standout wide receiver. He is mentioned periodically in a book titled "The Right Kind Of Heroes" written by Kevin Horrigan. The book details Coach Bob Shannon and the remarkable success of the East St. Louis Flyers football program in 1989 and 1990. Throughout the book, Bush is referenced as the team's "go to" player, as well as a likeable person. Bush still holds the Illinois State High School football records for most touchdowns scored in a single season and most receiving yards in a single season. He was also named to the All-Century team for Illinois High School Football. Bush was recruited by the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

to play receiver following his high school football career, but opted to pursue baseball as a career.

Early baseball years

The

selected Bush in the 1991 Major League Baseball draft. His first year in the minor leagues he batted .323 with the Arizona Padres of the Rookie-level

Arizona League The Arizona Complex League (ACL) is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in and around Phoenix, Arizona, since 1988. Prior to 2021, it was known as the Arizona League (AZL). Along with the Florida Complex League (FCL), it ...

. After batting only .234 in 1992 for the

Charleston Rainbows Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

of the Class A

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

, he batted .322 with 39 stolen bases in 1993 for the Waterloo Diamonds of the Class A

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

winning Minor League Player of the Year for the Padres organization. In winter baseball, he played in Australia, hitting .364 and winning the batting title and being named the league MVP. In 1994, Bush split his time between the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

California League, where he hit .335, and the

Wichita Wranglers The Wichita Wranglers were a minor league baseball team based in Wichita, Kansas. The team, which played in the Texas League, was the Double-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres from 1987 to 1994 and the Kansas City Royals ...

of the

Class AA Double-A (officially Class AA) is the second-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946, below only Triple-A. There are currently 30 teams classified at the Double-A level, one for each team in Major League ...

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

, where he hit .298. He then spent that off-season in the

Australian Baseball League The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it ...

with the

Brisbane Bandits The Brisbane Bandits are a professional baseball team in Brisbane, Queensland that plays in the Australian Baseball League and is one of the six founding teams of the league. From the 2010/11 season till the 2012/13 season their home ballpark w ...

. In 1995, Bush hit .280 with 34 stolen bases for the Memphis Chicks of the Class AA Southern League, the Padres' new Class AA affiliate. Bush was promoted to the Las Vegas Stars of the

Class AAA Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL). ...

Pacific Coast League in 1996, hitting .362 before suffering a broken leg. In 1997, the Padres traded Bush along with

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 ...

Hideki Irabu was a Japanese professional baseball player of American and Japanese mixed ancestry. He played professionally in both Japan and the United States. Irabu played for the Lotte Orions / Chiba Lotte Marines and Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professiona ...

to the

for

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 ...

Rubén Rivera and

Rafael Medina. Bush split time between the Columbus Clippers of the Class AAA International League and the New York Yankees. Bush hit .364 in 11 at-bats with the big league club.

Major league years

Bush made the major league roster with the New York Yankees in 1998, and was part of the team's

championship. During the regular season, he batted .380 and stole six bases in only 45 games. After the 1998 season, Bush was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays, along with pitchers

Graeme Lloyd Graeme John Lloyd (born 9 April 1967) is an Australian-born former professional baseball pitcher, who appeared with the Milwaukee Brewers, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Montreal Expos, Florida Marlins, New York Mets, and Kansas City Roy ...

and David Wells, for pitcher

Roger Clemens William Roger Clemens (born August 4, 1962), nicknamed "Rocket", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Boston Red Sox. Clemens was one of the most dominant pi ...

. Bush played in Toronto from 1999 until 2002. His standout season was in 1999, when he batted .320 and stole 32 bases. Bush was limited by hip injuries in 2000 and batted only .215. He rebounded in 2001, hitting .306. Overall, Bush averaged .283 in his years in Toronto. After being released early in 2002 by the Blue Jays, he was signed by the Florida Marlins, where he finished the season. Bush did not play in 2003 because of hip injuries. In 2004, the New York Yankees signed a now-healthy Bush, but he saw limited playing time. The Yankees invited him to their spring training in 2005. Due to his recurring hip injuries, however, Bush voluntarily left spring training and retired.

Post-professional baseball career

After he retired, Bush became a financial analyst for Merrill Lynch. He left the field following the 2008 recession. In 2014, he became the hitting coach for the

Eugene Emeralds The Eugene Emeralds (nicknamed the Ems) are a Minor League Baseball team in the northwest United States, based in Eugene, Oregon. The Emeralds are members of the Northwest League and are affiliated with the San Francisco Giants. Eugene plays thei ...

. In 2016, the Texas Rangers hired Bush to be their director of youth baseball programs. In 2022, he was named as the manager of the

Mahoning Valley Scrappers The Mahoning Valley Scrappers are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in Niles, Ohio, a city in the valley of the Mahoning River, and play their home games at Eastwood Field. From 1999 to 2020, they were ...

of the

MLB Draft League The MLB Draft League is a collegiate summer baseball league that began play in 2021. Created by Major League Baseball (MLB) and ''Prep Baseball Report'', the league serves as a showcase for top draft-eligible prospects leading up to each summer' ...

. In 2023, he became the new manager for the Staten Island FerryHawks of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. Bush and his wife, Monica, have two children, Jailyn and Homer Jr., and live in

Southlake, Texas Southlake is a city located predominantly in Tarrant County with minor areas extending into Denton County in the U.S. state of Texas. Southlake is a suburb of Dallas/Fort Worth. As of th2019 census estimateit had a population of 32,376. Histo ...

Writings

Hitting Low in the Zone: A New Baseball Paradigm
TN, Paige1Publishing 2015

References

External links

Official WebsiteBook Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bush, Homer 1972 births Living people African-American baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Canada Arizona League Padres players Baseball players from Illinois Columbus Clippers players Charleston Rainbows players Dunedin Blue Jays players Florida Marlins players Las Vegas Stars (baseball) players Major League Baseball second basemen Memphis Chicks players New York Yankees players People from East St. Louis, Illinois Rancho Cucamonga Quakes players Syracuse SkyChiefs players Toronto Blue Jays players Waterloo Diamonds players Wichita Wranglers players American expatriate baseball players in Australia 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople