Charles Steven Cox (born October 31, 1974) 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 ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. He played in

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 ...

(MLB) for the

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 ...

and in

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB) for the

Yokohama BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its current ...

Career

Cox attended Monache High School in

Porterville, California Porterville is a city at the base of Southern Sierra Nevada mountains on the eastern side of San Joaquin Valley, in Tulare County, California, United States. It is part of the Visalia-Porterville metropolitan statistical area. Serving as the ...

, graduating in 1992. was chosen in the fifth round of the 1992 Major League Baseball Draft by 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 played in their organization for six seasons without appearing in the major leagues. He was selected by the Devil Rays with the 46th pick in the 1997 MLB Expansion Draft. Cox broke out in 1999, when he posted an impressive .341/.414/.588 batting line with 25 home runs and 107 runs scored for the

Durham Bulls The Durham Bulls are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Durham, North Carolina, and play their home games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which opened ...

, earning International League MVP honors. Cox was first called up to MLB on September 17, , along with Jim Morris. He made his Major League debut on September 19, 1999 as a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter (PH) is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, A ...

in the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers, in which he also earned his first major league hit, a double off of Jeff Fassero. For the 1999 season, Cox appeared in 6 games, batting .211 in 19

at-bats In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, b ...

. His story inspired the Brooks character in the Jim Morris biopic, The Rookie. Cox began the 2000 season on the major league roster, and spent the entire season with the Rays. In 116 games, Cox hit .283/.379/.453 with 11

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

and 35 RBIs. Cox received a single vote in AL Rookie of the Year voting, tying him for sixth place with Adam Kennedy, Mark Redman and

Barry Zito Barry William Zito (born May 13, 1978) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants. His pitching repertoire consisted of a curveball ...

. Cox spent the next two years as an near everyday player for the Rays, playing in 256 out of a possible 324 games. In 2001, he hit .257/.323/.427 with 12 home runs and 51 RBIs in 108 games. In 2002, he was a regular starter at

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

and as a

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

appearing in 148 games, hitting .254/.330/.396 with 30 doubles, 16 home runs and 72 RBIs. Cox played himself in the background of '' The Rookie'', the 2002 film about his Devil Rays teammate, Jim Morris. During the 2002 offseason, Cox who was coming off a career-best season, surprisingly, decided to leave the Rays and the MLB behind to play for the

of the NPB. In his lone season in Japan, he only appeared in 15 games, batting .200/.298/.280 with 1 home run and 7 RBIs. He returned briefly to the Devil Rays organization, playing 19 games for the

during the 2005 season, where he hit .210/.329/.436 with 3 home runs and 9 RBIs before retiring. In 2007, Cox became the head coach for Porterville College, and coached the Pirates for two seasons.

Personal life

Cox's wife, Sara, is the daughter of Buzz Stephen, who pitched for 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 ...

References

External links

1974 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Japan Arizona League Athletics players Durham Bulls players Edmonton Trappers players Huntsville Stars players Major League Baseball first basemen Modesto A's players Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen Orlando Rays players People from Delano, California Baseball players from Kern County, California Southern Oregon A's players Tampa Bay Devil Rays players West Michigan Whitecaps players Yokohama BayStars players {{US-baseball-first-baseman-stub