Stephen Louis Sax (born January 29, 1960) is a retired American

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 ...

player and coach. He played as a

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

in Major League Baseball from 1981 to 1994, celebrated as a member of the

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 ...

with whom he won world championships in and . A five-time

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 ...

, Sax was named the National League Rookie of the Year in 1982 and won the Silver Slugger Award in 1986. He also played for the

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

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 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 ...

. Sax hosts for

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MLB Network Radio MLB Network Radio (formerly MLB Home Plate, Channel 89) is an American sports talk radio station on Sirius XM Radio that features Major League Baseball related talk shows, as well as archives and live reports about live game action, along with o ...

Career

Sax starred at James Marshall High School (now known as River City High School) in

West Sacramento, California West Sacramento (also known as West Sac) is a city in Yolo County, California, United States. The city is separated from Sacramento, California, Sacramento by the Sacramento River, which also separates Sacramento County, California, Sacramento a ...

, from 1975 to 1978. The

selected Sax in the ninth round of the 1978 MLB draft. Sax was a late season call up in 1981, playing 31 games. Sax broke into the majors as a regular in 1982, earning the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

Rookie of the Year award. Throughout his career, Sax was on the

team five times and had a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

over .300 in three seasons. He had great success on the basepaths, stealing over 40 bases in six different seasons, finishing with a career total of 444 stolen bases. His best year arguably came in 1986, when he finished second in the NL with a .332 batting average, 210 base hits, and 43 doubles, and won a

Silver Slugger Award The Silver Slugger Award has been awarded annually since 1980 to the best Batting (baseball), offensive player at each Baseball positions, position in both the American League (AL) and the National League (baseball), National League (NL), as determ ...

. Sax earned World Series rings with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981 and 1988. Following the end of the 1988 season, Sax signed with the New York Yankees as a free agent after feeling disrespected by the Dodgers during contract negotiations. In 1989, he made the All-Star team due to a strong start with the Yankees. He finished the season with a .315 batting average, 205 base hits, 88 runs, and 43 stolen bases. Sax made the All-Star team his last time in 1990, finishing the season with 43 stolen bases, though his batting average dropped to .260. In 1991, he had another strong year with the Yankees, finishing the season with a .304 batting average, 198 base hits, and 38 doubles. Sax was also a higher-up in the Players Association during his career.

Steve Sax syndrome

Though never regarded as one of the top fielding second basemen in the league, Steve Sax inexplicably became incapable of making routine throws to first base in 1983, committing 30 errors that season. This is referred to in baseball terminology as "Steve Sax syndrome", the fielder's variant of " Steve Blass disease", named after the Pirates pitcher who suffered a similar breakdown of basic mechanics (also known as "the yips"). As his accuracy suffered, fans sitting behind the first base dugout began wearing batting helmets as mock protection. Teammate Pedro Guerrero, an

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 ...

pressed into service at

third base 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 scoring system us ...

in 1983, once reportedly stated that his first thought whenever he was in the field was "I hope they don't hit it to me", while his second thought was "I hope they don't hit it to Sax." By 1989, however, Sax seemed to be completely "cured", leading the American League in both

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

and double plays.

Post-career

Sax piloted a new networking site called allsportsconnection.com. Sax has made television cameos, including the " Homer at the Bat" episode of ''

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'', as well as episodes of '' Square Pegs'', '' Who's the Boss'', ''

Hollywood Squares ''Hollywood Squares'' (originally ''The Hollywood Squares'', later stylized as ''H2: Hollywood Squares'') is an American game show in which two contestants compete in a game of tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The show originally aired as a ...

'', ''

Body Language Body language is a type of nonverbal communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use o ...

'' and ''

Sabrina The Teenage Witch ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' is a comic book series published by Archie Comics about the adventures of a fictional American teenager named Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appeared ...

''. He has also been on the Fox News show ''

Hannity ''Hannity'' is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative television political Talk show, talk program on Fox News hosted by Sean Hannity. Episodes air live at 9:00 p.m. from Monday through Thursday, while episodes that ai ...

''. Sax played a supporting character in the 1998 movie '' Ground Control''. He briefly ran for a seat in the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature (the upper house being the California State Senate). The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Califor ...

5th District as a Republican in 1996. Sax later dropped out of the race, when his divorce became publicized. A black belt, he was also a part-owner of a

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

studio in

Roseville, California Roseville is the most populous city in Placer County, California, located within the Sacramento metropolitan area. As of 2019, the United States Census Bureau, US Census Bureau estimated the city's population to be 141,500, making it the third-l ...

. He worked as a financial consultant for RBC Dain Rauscher,

LLC A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

, in their Roseville, California, office. He had approximately 25 to 30 clients, including several athletes. He was a partner in the Sax/Hinman Sports Professional Group at RBC Dain Rauscher providing professional wealth management for sports professionals at every level of all professional sports. In December 2012, Sax was named the first base coach for the

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 ...

. The Diamondbacks fired him on October 8, 2013. As of 2015, Sax returned to the

organization as an alumnus member of the Dodgers' Community Relations team. Sax currently hosts

. Sax also announces Saturday night

Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Prior to 2015, the River Cats were the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland ...

broadcasts on

KMAX-TV KMAX-TV (channel 31) is an independent television station in Sacramento, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside Stockton, California, Stockton-licensed KOVR (channel 13), the market's CBS owned-and- ...

in his hometown of West Sacramento. Starting in

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

, Sax became a studio analyst for the Athletics.

Personal life

Steve is the brother of former Major League Baseball player Dave Sax, who also played for the Dodgers. He is the father of Lauren Ashley (Sax) Boyd and son John Jeremy Sax. His nephew David Sax Jr. (son of Dave Sax) was seen on an episode of '' Intervention'' in 2015. His son John, a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

, was one of five Marines killed in a

V-22 Osprey The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-use, tiltrotor military transport aircraft, military transport and cargo aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities. It is designed ...

training accident near

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on June 8, 2022. A nephew, Nick Sogard, plays in

for the

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 ...

References

External links