Edward Nelson Sprague Jr. (born July 25, 1967) is an American 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 ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

. He played 11 seasons in the major leagues from 1991 to 2001, with six different teams. He later served as the head baseball coach of the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Pacific Tigers The Pacific Tigers represent the University of the Pacific (United States), University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, in intercollegiate athletics. The Tigers compete in NCAA Division I, and are currently in their second stint as members ...

for 12 seasons, from 2004 to 2015. He is now the Oakland Athletics Director of Player Development.Sprague is the only baseball player ever to win the College World Series, an Olympic championship, and the World Series. He is also the only baseball player to win the College World Series two consecutive seasons and the World Series two consecutive seasons.

College career and Olympics

In college Sprague played third base, helping

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

win

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 ...

championships in 1987 and 1988. In 1986, 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

Cotuit Kettleers The Cotuit Kettleers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in the village of Cotuit, Massachusetts, which is in the southwest corner of the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, Barnstable. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League ...

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 ...

. He collected an Olympic gold medal at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

on the men's baseball team. Because baseball was a demonstration sport that year, however, the medals were unofficial and did not count towards respective countries' medal counts. Sprague is a member of

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States–based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapt ...

International Fraternity. He was drafted in the first round of the 1988 Major League Baseball draft 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 ...

Major league career

Sprague made his debut in 1991 for the Toronto Blue Jays and was a part of the

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and

1993 World Series The 1993 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) season. The 90th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the defending World Series champion and American League (AL) cham ...

championships. He hit the game-winning home run in the ninth inning of Game 2 of the 1992 Series against 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 ...

. His best individual year came in 1996 when he hit .247 with 36

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and 101

runs batted in 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 ...

. Sprague was a regular with Toronto until 1998, when he was traded to the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

. He was granted free agency at the end of 1998, and then played for the

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

in 1999, for which he made his only

All-Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

game appearance. That year, he hit .267 with 22 homers, 81 RBI and a .352

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 ...

, the best of his career as a regular player. In 2000, Sprague played for 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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

and

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 ...

. After becoming a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

at the end of the year, he signed with the

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

for the 2001 season, playing in 45 regular season games. He signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers in early 2002, but did not return to the major leagues. Sprague twice led the league in getting

hit by pitch In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provide ...

es and finished with a career total of 91. Sprague is the only baseball player ever to win championships in the College World Series, the Olympics, and the World Series. Sprague's final career totals include 1203 games played, 506 runs, 1010 hits, 225 doubles, 12 triples, 152 home runs, 558 runs batted in, a .247 batting average, a .318 on-base average, and a .419 slugging average. According to a report in the '' Stockton Record'', Sprague said he used performance-enhancing substances later banned by Major League Baseball and admitted hitting a home run with a corked bat.

Coaching career

Sprague was the head coach of the

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

team from the 2004 season until he resigned following the 2015 season. In 2016, Sprague returned to Major League Baseball as a Special Assistant to the General Manager of the Oakland Athletics. He was named Director of Player Development following the 2019 season.

Personal life

Sprague's wife,

Kristen Babb-Sprague Kristen Elizabeth Babb, (born July 29, 1968) also known by her married name Kristen Elizabeth Babb-Sprague after February 1991, is an American former synchronized swimmer who competed for the Walnut Creek Aquanuts and was a 1992 Barcelona Olympi ...

, is an Olympic gold medalist in

synchronized swimming Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming), also known as artistic swimming, is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by World A ...

. Sprague's father, Ed Sr., pitched in the majors from 1968 through 1976.

Head coaching record

Below is a table of Sprague's yearly records as an NCAA head baseball coach.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sprague, Ed 1967 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players at the 1987 Pan American Games Baseball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Baseball players from Alameda County, California Boston Red Sox players Cardenales de Lara players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Cotuit Kettleers players Dunedin Blue Jays players Major League Baseball third basemen Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics National League All-Stars Oakland Athletics players Oklahoma RedHawks players Olympic gold medalists for the United States in baseball Pacific Tigers baseball coaches Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in baseball Pittsburgh Pirates players Rancho Cucamonga Quakes players San Diego Padres players Seattle Mariners players Sportspeople from Castro Valley, California Stanford Cardinal baseball players Syracuse Chiefs players Tacoma Rainiers players Toronto Blue Jays players Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games St. Mary's High School (Stockton, California) alumni 20th-century American sportsmen