McKay Andrew Christensen (born August 14, 1975) 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 ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

. Christensen played for three different ballclubs during his career: the

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 ...

(1999–2001),

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

(2001), and

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

(2002). He made his Major League Baseball debut on April 6, 1999. Christensen last played in a Major League game on April 7, 2002, and is now retired and working as a real estate developer. Christensen is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

, and reportedly passed up a million-dollar signing bonus in order to serve a

mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

in Japan. Christensen was originally drafted by the California Angels and was traded to the White Sox while in Japan as a missionary.

Personal life

Christensen's parents are Stephen LaMar Christensen (b. 1949 in

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Utah County, Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front, and lies between the cities of Orem, Utah, Orem to the north and Springville, Utah, Springville to the south ...

) and Victoria Ann "Vicki" (née Swan) Christensen (b. 1948 in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...

). His uncle is Utah politician F.

LaVar Christensen Fred LaVar Christensen (born August 18, 1953), known as LaVar Christensen, is an American politician from Utah, who served as a Republican state representative from the state's 48th district. He served from January 1, 2003, through December 31, ...

, and his 3rd great-grandfather is Nathaniel H. Felt, a member of the first Utah State Legislature.

References

External links

1975 births 20th-century Mormon missionaries American Mormon missionaries in Japan Chicago White Sox players Living people Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball center fielders New York Mets players Baseball players from Upland, California Hickory Crawdads players Gulf Coast White Sox players Winston-Salem Warthogs players Birmingham Barons players Charlotte Knights players Las Vegas 51s players Louisville Bats players Latter Day Saints from California Norfolk Tides players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons players 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-outfielder-1970s-stub