Geoffrey Edward Blum (born April 26, 1973) 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 ...

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

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 ...

who played for the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. They are one of two major league clubs based i ...

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. ...

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 ...

and

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

. He is currently the TV color analyst for the

Early life

He was born in Redwood City but grew up in Chino where he played baseball in Chino. Chino High retired his number - #11 - in a ceremony where he credited "...his father for instilling in him the love of the game and his mother for taking him to practices and games." Before becoming a professional baseball player, he majored in

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

and played for the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

baseball team. In 1993, 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

Brewster Whitecaps The Brewster Whitecaps are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Brewster, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Whitecaps play their home games at Stony Bro ...

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 ...

and was named a league all-star.

Professional career

Montreal Expos

He began his professional career when he was selected in the seventh round of the amateur draft by the

. During his time with the Expos, he spent the winter of 1995 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 s ...

with the Hunter Eagles.

Houston Astros

On March 12, 2002, after playing in Montreal for three years, he was traded to the

in exchange for Chris Truby.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays

He was then traded after the 2003 season to

in exchange for Brandon Backe. In 2004, he batted only .215 for the Devil Rays, with a .266 on-base percentage.

San Diego Padres

Blum signed with the

as a free agent on December 9, 2004. He hit .241 in 78 games for the Padres in 2005.

Chicago White Sox

He was traded to the

for a minor leaguer on July 31, 2005. On October 25, 2005, Blum hit a

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 ( ...

against the Astros at

Minute Maid Park Daikin Park (originally Enron Field and formerly Astros Field and Minute Maid Park) is a retractable roof stadium in Houston, Texas, United States. It opened in 2000 and is the home ballpark of the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). ...

in the top of the 14th inning that served as the go-ahead run in the eventual victory for the Sox in Game 3 of the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

. On April 11, 2008, a monument celebrating the 2005 World Series was unveiled at U.S. Cellular Field in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, featuring bronze statues of five players. Blum is one of them, commemorating his tie-breaking home run. The home run would forever cement his place in White Sox history.

San Diego Padres

He returned to the Padres as a free agent in 2006.

Houston Astros

On November 20, 2007, Blum signed a $1.1 million, one-year contract with the

. The deal also included a club option for 2009. Blum returned to the Astros in 2009 and played mostly 3B for Houston. He hit 10 home runs that season, drove in 49 runs and was known for playing excellent defense at all the infield positions. On October 30, 2009, Blum re-signed with the Astros. The contract was worth $1.5 million for the 2010 season and included a mutual option for 2011, which would be worth $1.65 million that was declined, making him a free agent. Blum suffered a season-ending injury to his elbow in July 2010 while putting on his shirt after a game. He had this to say: "There are probably 90 percent of us in the big leagues that have loose bodies floating around. It just so happens that after the game, it tightened up on me. The shirt had nothing to do with the damn injury."

Arizona Diamondbacks

On November 15, 2010, Blum signed a two-year contract worth $2.7 million with the

. In 2 years with the Diamondbacks, he appeared in a total of 40 games out of 326 possible games due to injury. He was released by the Diamondbacks on July 20, 2012.

Broadcasting career

On January 12, 2013, he was named a color analyst of the

for Comcast SportsNet Houston, where he worked with Bill Brown and Alan Ashby. In

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, he was teamed with a new play-by-play man in Todd Kalas. Blum and Kalas have served as broadcast partners for the Astros (under Space City Home Network) since 2017. He resides in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blum, Geoff 1973 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Arizona Diamondbacks players Arizona League Diamondbacks players Brewster Whitecaps players California Golden Bears baseball players Chicago White Sox players Corpus Christi Hooks players Gulf Coast Expos players Harrisburg Senators players Houston Astros announcers Houston Astros players Jupiter Hammerheads players Lake Elsinore Storm players Major League Baseball broadcasters Major League Baseball third basemen Mat-Su Miners players Montreal Expos players Ottawa Lynx players Baseball players from Redwood City, California Reno Aces players Round Rock Express players San Diego Padres players Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Vermont Expos players Visalia Rawhide players West Palm Beach Expos players American expatriate baseball players in Australia