Robert Michael File (born January 28, 1977) is an American former professional

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 ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

. File spent three-plus seasons as a

reliever In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

for 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 ...

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) from to . He signed with the

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

in 2005, retiring shortly after spring training with a back injury. File was drafted as a third baseman out of

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

, then converted to pitcher while in the Jays' farm system. File is a former pitching coach at

La Salle University La Salle University () is a private university, private, Catholic university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The university was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and named for St. Jean-Bapt ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. La Salle University competes at the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

level in the

Atlantic 10 The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located mostly on the East Coast and Midwest of the ...

baseball conference.

Pitching style and biography

File threw a

four-seam fastball A four-seam fastball, also called a rising fastball, a four-seamer, or a cross-seam fastball, is a pitch (baseball), pitch in baseball. It is a member of the fastball family of pitches and is usually the fastest ball thrown by a pitcher. It is s ...

, a sinker, a slider, and an

sweeper Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) ray-finned fish of the family (biology), family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 80 species in two genus, genera. One ...

. File is one of seven pitchers in major-league history to win a game in his first appearance while throwing five pitches or fewer. File was a standout infielder at Father Judge High School in Philadelphia before becoming a pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. File was one of the top players in the history of

Philadelphia University Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. The university is ...

's (now Thomas Jefferson University) baseball program. * Earned ABCA/Rawlings first-team All-American honors as a senior in 1998. * Earned ECAC (East Coast Athletic Conference) Player of the Year honors as a senior in 1998. * Three-time NYCAC (New York Collegiate Athletic Conference) All-Conference selection, earning Player of the Year honors in 1998. * Set several school hitting records as a senior in 1998, including a .542 batting average. * .542 batting average in 1998 was No. 1 in the country, leading all NCAA baseball. * Also set single-season records with 90 hits, 63 runs, 68 RBI, 19 home runs, and 167 total bases in 1998. * Is the university's all-time leader in nearly every career hitting category including runs (181), hits (296), triples (17) and home runs (37).

References

External links

1977 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from Philadelphia Dunedin Blue Jays players Major League Baseball pitchers Medicine Hat Blue Jays players Jefferson Rams baseball players Syracuse SkyChiefs players Tennessee Smokies players Toronto Blue Jays players La Salle Explorers baseball coaches 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-pitcher-1970s-stub