Brad Eldred
Bradley Ross Eldred (born July 12, 1980) is an American former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Colorado Rockies, and Detroit Tigers and in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. His nickname is "Big Country". Playing career Amateur Eldred attended Florida International University, and in 2000 he played collegiate summer baseball with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League. Pittsburgh Pirates Eldred was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 6th round of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft. In 2004, the Pirates named him their minor-league player of the year after he hit .301 with 38 home runs and 137 RBIs for the Single-A Lynchburg Hillcats and the Double-A Altoona Curve. He was promoted to the Pirates' major league roster on July 21, 2005, after he hit .297 with 28 home runs and 75 RBIs for the Curve and the Indianapolis Indians. With the Pirates, he hit .221 with 12 home ru ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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 majority of plays made at that base. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the first baseman is assigned the number 3. Also called first sacker or cornerman, the first baseman is ideally a tall player who throws left-handed and possesses good flexibility and quick reflexes. Flexibility is needed because the first baseman receives throws from the other infielders, the catcher and the pitcher after they have fielded ground balls. In order for the runner to be called out, the first baseman must be able to ''stretch'' towards the throw and catch it before the runner reaches first base. First base is often referred to as "the other hot corner"—the "hot corner" being third baseman, third base—and therefore, like the third baseman ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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 operate from early June to early August. In contrast to college baseball, which allow aluminum or other composite baseball bats, players in these leagues use only wooden bats, hence the common nickname of these leagues as "wood-bat leagues". Collegiate summer leagues allow college baseball players the ability to compete using professional rules and equipment, giving them experience and allowing professional scouts the opportunity to observe players under such conditions. To find a collegiate summer team, players work with their college coaches and prospective teams' general managers. They report to summer leagues after completing their spring collegiate season with their NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA, CCCAA, and NWAC teams. Some players arrive late due ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brandon Inge
Charles Brandon Inge ( ; born May 19, 1977) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and catcher and currently a volunteer assistant coach for the Michigan Wolverines baseball team. He played 12 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, one with the Oakland Athletics and one with the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). He bats and throws right-handed. Sportswriter Jayson Stark described Inge as a "super-utility dervish." In 2006, his diving stop and subsequent throw from his knees to put out Gary Bennett in an interleague game, on June 25 against the St. Louis Cardinals earned him the ESPN defensive play of the year for a third baseman. Early life Inge played baseball at Brookville High School in Lynchburg, Virginia, also playing American Legion Baseball. He was named Legion Baseball's 2010 Graduate of the Year. Brookville retired Inge's uniform number (7). He then attended Virginia Commonwealth University, where he played on the baseball team as a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Founded in 1883 as the New York Gothams, the team was renamed the New York Giants (baseball), New York Giants three years later, eventually relocation of professional sports teams, relocating from New York City to San Francisco in 1958. The Giants play their home games at Oracle Park in San Francisco. The franchise is one of the oldest and most successful in professional baseball, with more wins than any other team in the history of Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada, major American sports. The team was the first major-league organization based in New York City, most memorably playing home games at several iterations of the Polo Grounds. The Giants have played in the World Series 20 times. In 2014, the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Todd Helton
Todd Lynn Helton (born August 20, 1973) is an American former professional baseball first baseman who played his entire 17-year career for the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball (MLB). A five-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger, and three-time Gold Glove Award winner, Helton holds the Rockies' club records for hits (2,519), home runs (369), doubles (592), walks (1,335), runs scored (1,401), runs batted in (RBIs, with 1,406), games played (2,247), and total bases (4,292), among others. Each season from 1999 to 2004, Helton met or exceeded all of the following totals: .320 batting average, 39 doubles, 30 home runs, 107 runs scored, 96 RBI, .577 slugging percentage and .981 on-base plus slugging. In 2000, he won the batting title with a .372 average, and also led MLB with a .698 slugging percentage, 59 doubles, and 147 RBI and the National League with 216 hits. Helton collected his 2,000th career hit against the Atlanta Braves on May 19, 2009, and his 2,500th against ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Nationals Park, located on South Capitol Street in the Navy Yard neighborhood of the Southeast quadrant of D.C. along the Anacostia River. The Nationals are the eighth major league franchise to be based in Washington, D.C., and the first since 1971. The current franchise was founded in 1969 as the Montreal Expos as part of a four-team expansion. After a failed contraction plan, MLB bought the Expos, seeking to move the team to a new city. MLB owners chose Washington, D.C., in 2004 and established the Nationals the next year, in the first MLB franchise move since 1971 when the third Washington Senators moved to Arlington, Texas, to become the Texas Rangers. No other MLB team would move until the 2025 season, when the Oakland Athleti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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 home games at Rate Field, which is located on Chicago's South Side, Chicago, South Side. They are one of two MLB teams based in Chicago, alongside the National League (baseball), National League (NL)'s Chicago Cubs. The White Sox originated in the Western League (1885–1900), Western League, founded as the Sioux City Cornhuskers in 1894, moving to Saint Paul, Minnesota, as the St. Paul Saints, and ultimately relocating to Chicago in 1900. The Chicago White Stockings were one of the American League's eight charter Major North American professional sports teams, franchises when the AL asserted major league status in 1901. The team, which shortened its name to the White Sox in 1904, originally played their home games at South Side Park befo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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. Spring training allows new players to try out for the roster and position spots, and it gives established players practice time prior to competitive play. Spring training has always attracted fan attention, drawing crowds who travel to the warm climates (MLB goes to Arizona and Florida while the KBO, NPB, and CPBL go to Okinawa, Kyushu, Australia, and Taiwan) to enjoy the weather and watch their favorite teams play. In modern MLB training, teams that train in Florida will play other Florida-training teams in their exhibition games, regardless of regular-season league affiliations. Likewise, Arizona-training teams will play other Arizona teams. This arrangement commenced long before either state received MLB franchises of their own, and th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arizona Fall League
The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season baseball league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are filled by many of the top prospects in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) who are assigned by their parent clubs. Structure The six teams of the AFL are organized in two three-team divisions. Each AFL team is affiliated with five teams in Major League Baseball (MLB), and each MLB team provides seven players from their Minor League Baseball affiliates, yielding 35-man rosters. Specific players are invited (not assigned) to play in the AFL by their parent club. The league provides an environment for top prospects to advance their development, in a setting that MLB governs and monitors, as opposed to other offseason leagues (such as the Puerto Rican Winter League) located outside of the contiguous United States. Player eligibility has changed over ti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Indianapolis Indians
The Indianapolis Indians are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and play their home games at Victory Field, which opened in 1996. The Indians previously played at Bush Stadium, Owen J. Bush Stadium from 1931 to 1996 and at two versions of Washington Park (Indianapolis), Washington Park from 1902 to 1931. Indianapolis is the second-oldest minor league franchise in American professional baseball (after the Rochester Red Wings). The team originated in 1902 as members of the American Association (1902–1997), American Association (AA), which was an Independent baseball league, independent league at the time but was granted Class A (baseball), Class A status in 1903. Since then, the Indians have played at the highest level of Minor League Baseball, though the terminology has changed. Indianapolis remained in the AA until the league disbanded ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Altoona Curve
The Altoona Curve are a Minor League Baseball team based in Altoona, Pennsylvania, named after nearby Horseshoe Curve (but also alluding to the curveball, a type of pitch). The team plays in the Eastern League and is the Double-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Curve play in Peoples Natural Gas Field, located in Altoona; it was opened in 1999 and seats 7,210 people. History The Altoona Curve franchise began when Arizona and Tampa Bay were both awarded Major League Baseball franchises beginning in the 1998 season. The addition of these two teams had a domino effect through baseball with the expansion of not only the major leagues, but throughout Minor League Baseball as well. With this expansion, AA baseball received two new teams to begin play in the 1999 season. The Erie SeaWolves were already an established minor-league team with outstanding short-season attendance, and were quickly awarded one of the new franchises. The second spot in the new, larger Eastern Le ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lynchburg Hillcats
The Lynchburg Hillcats are a Minor League Baseball team in Lynchburg, Virginia that plays in the Carolina League and is the Single-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They were a farm team of the Atlanta Braves from 2011 to 2014, the Cincinnati Reds in 2010, and the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1995 to 2009. The Hillcats play home games at Bank of the James Stadium; refurbished and renamed in 2004, the stadium seats 4,291 fans. In May 2016, the franchise announced that they would rebrand after the season. When put to a fan vote for a new moniker with "Derechos", "Doves", "Lamb Chops", "Love Apples", and "River Runners" as options, a majority of fans voted to retain the Hillcats name. They did, however, unveil new logos and a different color scheme, consisting of seven hills green, Blue Ridge blue, and midnight blue, for the 2017 season. In conjunction with Major League Baseball's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Hillcats were organized into the Low-A East at t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |