Christopher Desmond Stynes (born January 19, 1973) is a former

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) ...

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water polo. The ...

.Pete Palmer; Gary Gillette; Stuart Shea.
The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia
'. Sterling Publishing Company; 1 February 2006. . p. 680.

Early life

Christopher Desmond Stynes was born in Queens, New York, and attended

Boca Raton Community High School Boca Raton Community High School is a magnet high school that is part of the School District of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It has been rated an "A" school each consecutive year by the Florida Department of Education since 200 ...

in Florida. He attended

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, and Fort Pierce. FAU belongs to the 1 ...

. His grandfather Joe Stynes won the 1923 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship; his cousin

Jim Stynes James Stynes OAM (23 April 196620 March 2012) was an Irish-born footballer who converted from Gaelic football to Australian rules football. Playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), he went on to becom ...

was a legend for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League.

Career

Among the Minor League Baseball teams that he played for was the Knoxville Smokies (now the

Tennessee Smokies The Tennessee Smokies are a Minor League Baseball team based in Kodak, Tennessee, a suburb of Knoxville. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They play at Smokies Stadium, directly off I ...

). He played in the majors from 1995 to 2004 for the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expa ...

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

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) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fi ...

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. Founded as part o ...

, and

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles 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 American League's eight charter ...

. Noted for his base-running speed, he managed to steal 3 consecutive bases in a single inning (second, third and then home-plate) while a member of the Kansas City Royals on May 12, , during an 8–5 win against the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

. In the 1997 season, Stynes had 7 hits in his first 7 at bats, setting an MLB record for most consecutive hits to start a season. The record was broken in 2021 by Yermín Mercedes, who went 8-for-8 to start the 2021 season. Stynes missed nearly a month of play during the 2001 season after a pitch from Aaron Sele hit Stynes in the

cheek The cheeks ( la, buccae) constitute the area of the face below the eyes and between the nose and the left or right ear. "Buccal" means relating to the cheek. In humans, the region is innervated by the buccal nerve. The area between the insi ...

, breaking the

cheekbone In the human skull, the zygomatic bone (from grc, ζῠγόν, zugón, yoke), also called cheekbone or malar bone, is a paired irregular bone which articulates with the maxilla, the temporal bone, the sphenoid bone and the frontal bone. It ...

in two places.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stynes, Chris 1973 births Living people Colorado Rockies players Pittsburgh Pirates players Boston Red Sox players Chicago Cubs players Kansas City Royals players Cincinnati Reds players Major League Baseball third basemen Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball outfielders Dunedin Blue Jays players Gulf Coast Blue Jays players Knoxville Smokies players Myrtle Beach Hurricanes players Omaha Royals players Indianapolis Indians players Pawtucket Red Sox players People from Queens, New York Baseball players from New York City

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), N ...

Boca Raton Community High School alumni