Patrick James Meares (born September 6, 1968) 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 ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

. Meares was the 12th round draft pick of the 1990 amateur draft by the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

, from

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

. Meares made his major league debut on May 5, 1993 with the

. In 6 years with the Twins, he compiled a .265 batting average and 6.0

WAR War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

. He led the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

in errors by a shortstop with 18 in 1995 and played in a career high 152 games in 1996. He was granted free agency after the 1998 season. In February 1999 Meares signed a 1 year, $1.5 million dollar contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. During a spring training game that year he was hit by a pitch, causing an injury to his left hand. The injury was initially thought to be minor, and Meares attempted to play through it. After only six games with the Pirates, the team gave him a 4 year, $15 million dollar contract extension; this contract was signed before either side knew how serious the injury was. The Pirates initially thought it was a sprain but eventually Meares was found to have a broken bone, torn ligaments and shredded tendons in his hand which affected his ability to grip a bat. In 1999 he hit .308 but was limited to just 21 games and in 2000 he hit a career high 13 home runs, but the injury continued to worsen. As time went on the relationship between Meares and the Pirates became strained; the Pirates considered him to be injured and kept him on the disabled list, while Meares wanted to have either a chance to play or be released to look for an opportunity with another team. Many of his teammates supported Meares and set up a makeshift shrine in his locker. Eventually Meares would spend the final two years of his Pirates contract on the disabled list before retiring in 2003.

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1968 births Living people Minnesota Twins players Pittsburgh Pirates players Major League Baseball shortstops Baseball players from Kansas Nashville Sounds players Sportspeople from Salina, Kansas Wichita State Shockers baseball players Kenosha Twins players Orlando Sun Rays players Portland Beavers players Visalia Oaks players Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks players 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-shortstop-stub