1.
Yankee Stadium (1923)
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Yankee Stadium was a stadium located in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees, one of the citys Major League Baseball franchises, from 1923 to 1973, the stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the home of the New York Giants football team from 1956 through the first part of the 1973–74 football season. It has also known as The Big Ballpark in The Bronx, The Stadium. The stadium was built from 1922 to 1923 for $2.4 million, Yankee Stadium opened for the 1923 MLB season and at the time, it was hailed as a one-of-a-kind facility in the country for its size. Over the course of its history, it one of the most famous venues in the United States, having hosted a variety of events. The stadium went through many alterations and playing surface configurations over the years, the condition of the facility worsened in the 1960s and 1970s, prompting its closing for renovation from 1974 to 1975. The renovation significantly altered the appearance of the venue and reduced the distance of the outfield fences, in 2006, the Yankees began building a new $2.3 billion stadium in public parkland adjacent to the stadium. The price included $1.2 billion in public subsidies, the design includes a replica of the frieze along the roof that was in Yankee Stadium. Monument Park, a Hall of Fame for prominent former Yankees, was relocated to the new stadium, Yankee Stadium closed following the 2008 baseball season and the new stadium opened in 2009, adopting the Yankee Stadium moniker. The original Yankee Stadium was demolished in 2010, two years after it closed, and the 8-acre site was converted into a park called Heritage Field, the new Yankee stadium opened in 2009 and is currently used by the NY Yankees. The Yankees had played at the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan since 1913, however, relations between the two teams were rocky, with the Giants harboring resentment towards the Yankees. For the 1920 season, the Yankees acquired star slugger Babe Ruth and in his first year with his new team, by the middle of 1920, the Giants had issued an eviction notice to the Yankees, which was soon rescinded. In 1921, the Yankees won their first American League pennant and this exacerbated Giants owner Charles Stonehams resentment of the Yankees and reinforced his insistence that the Yankees find another place to play their home games. The Giants derisively suggested that the Yankees relocate to Queens or some other out-of-the-way place, tillinghast LHommedieu Huston and Jacob Ruppert, the Yankees owners since January 1915, decided to build their own stadium. They did so at considerable financial risk and speculation, Baseball teams typically played in 30, 000-seat facilities, but Huston and Ruppert invoked Ruths name when asked how the Yankees could justify a ballpark with 60,000 seats. The total bill for construction of the stadium was $2.5 million, Huston and Ruppert explored many areas for Yankee Stadium. Of the other sites being considered, the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, consideration was also given to building atop railroad tracks on the West Side of Manhattan and to Long Island City, in Queens
2.
Joe Torre
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Joseph Paul Joe Torre is an American professional baseball executive, serving in the capacity of Major League Baseballs chief baseball officer since 2011. A former player, manager and television commentator, Torre ranks fifth all-time in MLB history with 2,326 wins as a manager. With 2,342 hits during his career, Torre is the only major leaguer to achieve both 2,000 hits and 2,000 wins as a manager. From 1996 to 2007, he was the manager of the New York Yankees, Torres lengthy and distinguished career in MLB began as a player in 1960 with the Milwaukee Braves, as a catcher, first baseman and third baseman. He also played for the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets until becoming a manager in 1977 and his managerial career covered 29 seasons, including tenures with the same three clubs for which he played, and the Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, until 2010. From 1984 to 1989, he served as a color commentator for the California Angels. After retiring as a manager, he accepted a role assisting the Commissioner of Baseball as the vice president of baseball operations. A nine-time All-Star, Torre won the 1971 National League Most Valuable Player Award after leading the leagues in batting average, hits. After qualifying for the playoffs just once while managing the Mets, Braves and his clubs compiled a.605 regular season winning percentage and made the playoffs every year, winning four World Series titles, six American League pennants, and ten AL East division titles. In 1996 and 1998, he was the AL Manager of the Year and he also won two NL West division titles with the Dodgers for a total of 13 division titles. In 2014, Torre was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Joseph Torre was born July 18,1940, in Brooklyn, New York and his siblings include two older brothers, Frank Torre, and Rocco, and an older sister, Marguerite. Torre followed in his brother Frank Torres footsteps when he was signed by the Milwaukee Braves as a free agent in 1960. In his first season in the leagues with the Class A Eau Claire Bears. Torre made his league debut late in the season on September 25,1960. He was assigned to the Triple A Louisville Colonels for the 1961 season where, however, those plans were changed when Crandall injured his throwing arm in May 1961, forcing the Braves to promote Torre to the major leagues with just over a year of minor league experience. Torre rose to the occasion, hitting for a.278 batting average with 21 doubles and 10 home runs and he finished the season ranked second to Billy Williams in the 1961 National League Rookie of the Year voting. Crandall resumed his role as the number one catcher in 1962 while Torre stayed on as the back-up catcher, by the 1963 season, the Braves had begun to play Crandall at first base as Torre had taken over the starting catchers role
3.
Paul O'Neill (baseball)
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Paul Andrew ONeill is a retired right fielder and Major League Baseball player who won five World Series while playing for the Cincinnati Reds and New York Yankees. In a 17-year career, ONeill compiled 281 home runs,1,269 runs batted in,2,107 hits, and a lifetime batting average of.288. ONeill won the American League batting title in 1994 with a.359 average and was a five-time All-Star in 1991,1994,1995,1997 and 1998, ONeill is the only player to have played on the winning team in three perfect games. He was in right field for the Reds for Tom Brownings perfect game in 1988. He caught the final out in the Yankees David Wells perfect game in 1998, a native of Columbus, Ohio, ONeill attended Brookhaven High School. ONeill and his family were fans of the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball, on a visit to the Reds Crosley Field shortly before it closed, six-year-old Paul had his picture taken wearing a Reds batting helmet and holding a toy bat. Over his shoulder could be seen Roberto Clemente of the opposing Pittsburgh Pirates, like Clemente, ONeill would become a right fielder and wear uniform number 21. His older sister is Molly ONeill, a chef and cookbook author who was a food writer for The New York Times in 2000. He was also a high school basketball player earning all-state honors in his senior year 1981. ONeill was drafted by the Reds in the round of the 1981 Major League Baseball draft. ONeill made his debut on September 3,1985 and singled in his first at-bat. For the rest of the 1985 season, ONeill played in five games with four hits and he spent most of the 1986 season in the minors. He played only in three games with the Major League team during 1986 and did not get a hit in the majors that year, ONeill split his time between the minors and the Major League team in 1987. He appeared in 84 games for the Reds that year, batting.256 with seven runs and 28 RBI. In 1988, his first full season with the Reds, ONeill played 145 games, jeltz would score anyway on a passed ball, but the incident is remembered as one of the all-time baseball bloopers. A broadcaster quipped, The Cincinnati Bengals are on the phone, ONeill played 117 games in 1989 batting.276 with 15 home runs and 74 RBI. In 1990, ONeill played in 145 games batting.270 with 16 home runs and 78 RBI, ONeill batted.277 during the 1990 postseason with a home run and 5 RBI as the Reds won the World Series over the Oakland Athletics. ONeill clashed with Reds manager Lou Piniella, who wanted ONeill to change his swing to hit home runs
4.
Joe Girardi
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Joseph Elliott Girardi is an American professional baseball manager for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball. Formerly a catcher, Girardi played for the Chicago Cubs, the Colorado Rockies, the Yankees, in 2006, he managed the Florida Marlins and was named the National League Manager of the Year. Girardi, the son of Jerry, a former blue collar worker and United States Air Force veteran. He attended East Peorias Neil Armstrong grade school, and Peorias Sacred Heart/Father Sweeney and he then attended Academy of Our Lady/Spalding Institute in Peoria, Illinois, where he played quarterback for the football team and catcher for the baseball team. He went on to play baseball at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and he was the first freshman to be elected president of a fraternity at Northwestern. The Chicago Cubs drafted Girardi in the round of the 1986 Major League Baseball draft. He spent four seasons in the Cubs minor leagues system before making his league debut. In 1986, Girardi batted.309 in 68 games with the Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League, in 1989, he also played for the Águilas del Zulia in the Venezuelan Winter League. Girardi made his Major League debut for the Cubs on April 4,1989, during his rookie year with the Cubs, Girardi batted.248 with a home run and 14 RBI in 59 games played. In 1990, he played in 133 games, batting.270 with a run and 38 RBI. In 1991, he played in only 21 games, batting.191 with 6 RBI, in 1992, he played in 91 games, batting.270 with a home run and 12 RBI. The Cubs left Girardi unprotected in the 1992 expansion draft and the Colorado Rockies chose him, during his first year with the Rockies in 1993, he played in 86 games batting.290 with five triples, three home runs, and 31 RBI. In 1994, he played in 93 games batting.276 with four triples, four home runs, in 1995, he played in 125 games batting.262 with a career-high 8 home runs and 55 RBI. Girardi was traded in 1995 to the New York Yankees for pitcher Mike DeJean, on May 14,1996, Girardi caught Dwight Goodens no-hitter. Girardi played in 124 games during the 1996 season, batting.294 with 2 home runs and 45 RBI. In Game 6 of the 1996 World Series, Girardi hit an RBI triple off of Greg Maddux that eventually led the Yankees winning the World Series for the first time since 1978, when the Yankees made 25-year-old prospect Jorge Posada his backup, Girardi became his mentor. The two catchers split time for the Yankees through 1999, in 1997, Girardi played in 112 games batting.264 with a home run and 50 RBI. During the World Series-winning 1998 season, he played in 78 games batting.276 with 3 home runs and 31 RBI, on July 18,1999, Girardi caught David Cones perfect game
5.
New York Yankees
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The Essendon Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League, the sports premier competition. Formed in 1871 as a club and playing as a senior club since 1878. It is historically associated with Essendon, a suburb in the north-west of Melbourne, dyson Heppell is the current team captain. A founding member club of both the Victorian Football Association, in 1877, and the Victorian Football League, in 1896, the club claims to have over at least one million supporters Australia wide. Essendon has won 16 VFL/AFL premierships which, along with Carlton, is the most of any club in the competition, the club was founded by members of the Royal Agricultural Society, the Melbourne Hunt Club and the Victorian Woolbrokers. The Essendon Football Club is thought to have formed in 1872 at a meeting it the home of a well-known brewery family, the McCrackens, whose Ascot Vale property hosted a team of local junior players. Robert McCracken, the owner of several city hotels, was the founder and first president of the Essendon club and his son, Alex, Alex would later become president of the newly formed VFL. Alexs cousin, Collier, who had played with Melbourne, was the teams first captain. The club played its first recorded match against the Carlton second twenty on 7 June 1873, Essendon played 13 matches in its first season, winning seven, with four draws and losing two. The club was one of the junior members of the Victorian Football Association in 1877. During its early years in the Association, Essendon played its matches at Flemington Hill. In 1878, Essendon played in the first match on what would be considered by modern standards to be a field at Flemington Hill. In 1879 Essendon played Melbourne in one of the earliest night matches recorded when the ball was painted white, in 1883 the team played four matches in Adelaide. In 1891 Essendon won their first VFA premiership, which they repeated in 1892,1893 and 1894, one of the clubs greatest players, Albert Thurgood played for the club during this period. Essendon was undefeated in the 1893 season, at the end of the 1896 season Essendon along with seven other clubs formed the Victorian Football League. Essendons first VFL game was in 1897 was against Geelong at Corio Oval in Geelong, Essendon won its first VFL premiership by winning the 1897 VFL finals series. Essendon again won the premiership in 1901, defeating Collingwood in the Grand Final, the club won successive premierships in 1911 and 1912 over Collingwood and South Melbourne respectively. The nickname first appeared in print in the local North Melbourne Advertiser in 1889 and it was known firstly as Essendon Town and, after 1905, as Essendon
6.
Tampa Bay Rays
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The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball as a member of the American League East division, since its inception, the teams home venue has been Tropicana Field. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays began play in the 1998 Major League Baseball season and their first decade of play, however, was marked by futility, they finished in last place in the American League East in all but the 2004 season, when they finished second-to-last. Since then, the Rays have been consistent contenders, gaining postseason berths in 2010,2011, the Tampa Bay Rays chief rivals are the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Regarding the former, there have been several notable on-field incidents, the Rays also have an intrastate rivalry with the National Leagues Miami Marlins, whom they play in the Citrus Series. Unlike in the case of Green Bay, Wisconsin, there is no municipality known as Tampa Bay, the Tampa Bay in the names of local professional sports franchises denotes that they represent the entire region, not just Tampa or St. Petersburg. Former civic leader and St. Petersburg Times publisher, Jack Lake, the notable influences Lake held in the sport are what led to the serious discussions that changed St. Petersburg from a spring training location to a major league city. He spoke to anyone who would listen about his desire to see the city of St. Petersburg have a Major league baseball team and his colorful direction dominated the mindset in both sports and business circles dating back to 1966. He was said to have the foresight and prominence to make it happen, local leaders made many unsuccessful attempts to acquire a major league baseball team in the 1980s and 1990s. The Florida Suncoast Dome was built in St. Petersburg in 1990 with the purpose of luring a major league team and that same year two separate groups, one in Tampa and another in Sarasota, were seeking to get an expansion team. When MLB announced that it would add two teams for the 1993 season, it was widely assumed that one of the teams would be placed in the Dome. However, in addition to the application from St. Petersburg, the two National League teams were awarded to Denver and Miami instead. In 1992, San Francisco Giants owner Bob Lurie agreed in principle to sell his team to a Tampa Bay-based group of investors led by Vince Naimoli, who would then move the team to St. Petersburg. However, at the 11th hour, MLB owners nixed the move under pressure from San Francisco officials, finally, on March 9,1995, new expansion franchises were awarded to Naimolis Tampa Bay group and a group from Phoenix. The new franchises were scheduled to play in 1998. The Tampa Bay area finally had a team, but the stadium in St. Petersburg was already in need of an upgrade. In 1993, the stadium was renamed the Thunderdome and became the home of the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team, after the birth of the Rays, the naming rights were sold to Tropicana Products and $70 million was spent on renovations. The records of the Rays last five seasons in Major League Baseball and these statistics are current through the 2016 MLB season
7.
Boston Red Sox
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The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League East division. The Red Sox have won eight World Series championships and have played in 13, founded in 1901 as one of the American Leagues eight charter franchises, the Red Sox home ballpark has been Fenway Park since 1912. The Red Sox name was chosen by the owner, John I. Taylor, around 1908, following the lead of previous teams that had known as the Boston Red Stockings. Boston was a dominant team in the new league, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series in 1903 and winning four more championships by 1918. Following their victory in the 2013 World Series, they became the first team to win three World Series trophies in the 21st century, including championships in 2004 and 2007. Red Sox history has also marked by the teams intense rivalry with the Yankees. The Boston Red Sox are owned by Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Liverpool F. C. of the Premier League in England. The Red Sox are consistently one of the top MLB teams in road attendance. From May 15,2003 to April 10,2013, the Red Sox sold out every home game—a total of 820 games for a professional sports record. Neil Diamonds Sweet Caroline has become an anthem for the Red Sox, the name Red Sox, chosen by owner John I. Taylor after the 1907 season, refers to the red hose in the team uniform beginning 1908. Sox had been adopted for the Chicago White Sox by newspapers needing a headline-friendly form of Stockings. The team name Red Sox had previously used as early as 1888 by a colored team from Norfolk. The Spanish language media sometimes refers to the team as Medias Rojas, the official Spanish site uses the variant Los Red Sox. The Red Stockings nickname was first used by a team by the Cincinnati Red Stockings. Managed by Harry Wright, Cincinnati adopted a uniform with white knickers and red stockings and earned the famous nickname, the Boston Red Stockings won four championships in the five seasons of the new National Association, the first professional league. Other names were used before Boston officially adopted the nickname Braves in 1912
8.
Major League Baseball
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Major League Baseball is a professional baseball organization, the oldest of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. A total of 30 teams now play in the National League and American League, the NL and AL operated as separate legal entities from 1876 and 1901 respectively. After cooperating but remaining legally separate entities since 1903, the merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball in 2000. The organization also oversees Minor League Baseball, which comprises about 240 teams affiliated with the Major League clubs, with the World Baseball Softball Confederation, MLB manages the international World Baseball Classic tournament. Baseballs first professional team was founded in Cincinnati in 1869,30 years after Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the game of baseball, the first few decades of professional baseball were characterized by rivalries between leagues and by players who often jumped from one team or league to another. The period before 1920 in baseball was known as the dead-ball era, Baseball survived a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, which came to be known as the Black Sox Scandal. The sport rose in popularity in the 1920s, and survived potential downturns during the Great Depression, shortly after the war, baseballs color barrier was broken by Jackie Robinson. The 1950s and 1960s were a time of expansion for the AL and NL, then new stadiums, Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s, and media reports began to discuss the use of anabolic steroids among Major League players in the mid-2000s. In 2006, an investigation produced the Mitchell Report, which implicated many players in the use of performance-enhancing substances, today, MLB is composed of thirty teams, twenty-nine in the United States and one in Canada. Baseball broadcasts are aired on television, radio, and the Internet throughout North America, MLB has the highest season attendance of any sports league in the world with more than 73 million spectators in 2015. MLB is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution and this document has undergone several incarnations since 1875, with the most recent revisions being made in 2012. Under the direction of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB hires and maintains the sports umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, MLB maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of Minor League Baseball. This ruling has been weakened only slightly in subsequent years, the weakened ruling granted more stability to the owners of teams and has resulted in values increasing at double-digit rates. There were several challenges to MLBs primacy in the sport between the 1870s and the Federal League in 1916, the last attempt at a new league was the aborted Continental League in 1960. The chief executive of MLB is the commissioner, Rob Manfred, the chief operating officer is Tony Petitti. There are five other executives, president, chief officer, chief legal officer, chief financial officer. The multimedia branch of MLB, which is based in Manhattan, is MLB Advanced Media and this branch oversees MLB. com and each of the 30 teams websites. Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the league, MLB Productions is a similarly structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media
9.
Alex Rodriguez
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Alexander Emmanuel A-Rod Rodriguez is a Dominican-American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman. He played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Rodriguez was one of the sports most highly touted prospects and is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. During his 22-year career, Rodriguez has amassed a.297 batting average,696 home runs, over 2,000 runs batted in, over 2,000 runs scored, and over 3,000 hits. He is a 14-time All-Star and has won three American League Most Valuable Player Awards, ten Silver Slugger Awards, and two Gold Glove Awards, Rodríguez is the career record holder for grand slams with 25. The Mariners selected Rodriguez first overall in the 1993 MLB draft, in 1996, he became the Mariners starting shortstop and finished second in voting for the AL MVP Award. Rodriguezs combination of power, speed, and defense made him a cornerstone of the franchise, the 10-year, $252 million contract he signed was the richest in baseball history. He played at a level in his three years with Texas, highlighted by his first AL MVP Award win in 2003. Prior to the 2004 season, Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees, in his first four seasons with New York, he was twice more named AL MVP. After opting out of his following the 2007 season, Rodriguez signed a new 10-year, $275 million deal with the Yankees. He became the youngest player ever to hit 500 home runs and he won his first World Series in 2009, which was the first year of the new Yankee Stadium. The following year, he became the leader in home runs by a player of Hispanic descent. In recent years, Rodriguez has been hampered by hip and knee injuries and he played his final game as a Yankee on August 12,2016. In August 2013, MLB suspended him 211 games for his involvement in the scandal, had the original suspension been upheld, it would have been the longest non-lifetime suspension in Major League Baseball history. After an arbitration hearing, the suspension was reduced to 162 games, Rodriguez was born in the Washington Heights section of New York City, to a Dominican family. When he was four, Rodriguez and his parents moved to the Dominican Republic, then to Miami, Rodriguezs favorite baseball players growing up were Keith Hernandez, Dale Murphy, and Cal Ripken Jr. and his favorite team was the New York Mets. In 100 games he batted.419 with 90 steals, westminster went on to win the high school national championship in his junior year. He was first team prep All-American as a senior, hitting.505 with nine runs,36 runs batted in. He was selected as the USA Baseball Junior Player of the Year, in 1993, Rodriguez became the first high school player to ever try out for the United States national baseball team
10.
Texas Rangers (baseball)
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The Texas Rangers are an American professional baseball team based in Arlington, Texas, located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Rangers franchise is currently a member of the West division of the American League in Major League Baseball, since 1994, the Rangers have played in Globe Life Park in Arlington in Arlington, Texas. The teams name is borrowed from the law enforcement agency of the same name. After the 1971 season, the new Senators moved to Arlington, Texas, in 2010, the Rangers advanced past the Division Series for the first time, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays. Texas then brought home their first American League pennant after beating the New York Yankees in six games, in the 2010 World Series, the franchises first, the Rangers fell to the San Francisco Giants in five games. They repeated as American League champions the year, then lost the 2011 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. At the winter meetings that year, it awarded a new team to Los Angeles as well as a new team in the nations capital and this new team adopted the old Senators name, but was considered an expansion team since the Twins retained the old Senators records and history. The Senators and Angels began to fill their rosters with American League players in an expansion draft, the team played the 1961 season at old Griffith Stadium before moving to District of Columbia Stadium. For most of their existence, the new Senators were the definition of futility, the teams struggles led to a twist on a joke about the old Senators--Washington, first in war, first in peace and still last in the American League. Frank Howard, known for his home runs, was the teams most accomplished player. Ownership changed hands several times during the stay in Washington and was often plagued by poor decision-making and planning. Owner Elwood Richard Quesada once wondered why he should have to pay his players because he believed they didnt belong in the majors and he later agreed to a 10-year lease at D. C. Stadium — a move that would back to haunt the Senators. In 1963, Quesada sold his stake in the club and resigned, Washington stockbrokers James Johnston and James Lemon owned the team briefly, suffering massive financial losses. Johnson died in 1967 and Lemon sold the team a year later to hotel and trucking executive Bob Short, Short named himself general manager and hired Hall of Famer Ted Williams as manager. Although Williams had never coached or managed at any level of baseball, Williams kept them in contention for most of the season, their 86–76 record would be their only winning season in Washington. The success though was brief, as Short borrowed most of the $9.4 million he had used to pay for the team, as the Senators general manager, Short was forced to make many questionable trades to lower the debt and acquire amounts of the much-needed revenue. As a result, the team fell back into the American Leagues cellar position
11.
Alfonso Soriano
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Alfonso Guilleard Soriano is a Dominican former professional baseball left fielder and second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, and Washington Nationals, and in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Soriano began his career with Hiroshima in 1996, but signed with the Yankees as a free agent in 1998 and was assigned to play in minor league baseball. The next year, he was the Most Valuable Player in the All-Star Futures Game, the Yankees traded Soriano to the Rangers after the 2003 season, and the Rangers traded Soriano to the Nationals after the 2005 season. He signed a contract as an agent with the Cubs before the 2007 season. The Cubs traded Soriano to the Yankees in 2013, and the Yankees released him in 2014, Soriano was a seven-time MLB All-Star, and won the All-Star Game MVP Award in 2004. He won the Silver Slugger Award four times and he played primarily as a second baseman for the Yankees and Rangers before being converted to an outfielder with the Nationals. Soriano is one of only 54 major league players to hit 400 or more home runs. Soriano began his baseball career in Japan with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Soriano spent 1996 playing in Japan in the minor Western League, in 1997, he was promoted to the varsity team, and, wearing uniform number 74, he appeared in nine games, batting.118 with two walks. Soriano disliked the intense Japanese practice schedule, and the Carp denied him an increase from $45,000 to $180,000 per year. Like Hideo Nomo and Hideki Irabu, who had previously left Japan to play in the United States and this prompted Carp executives to file an injunction against Soriano, and to send letters to MLB teams demanding that they cease all negotiations with him. After the Nomo case, NPB officials had amended the Working Agreement without consulting any MLB officials in an attempt to prevent the situation from recurring. Since MLB had not agreed to any changes to the agreement, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig declared that MLB would recognize Soriano as an agent on July 13,1998. Soriano signed as an agent with the New York Yankees in 1998, starting his career as an infielder, first as a third baseman. Soriano was named to the All-Star Futures Game in 1999 and he won the games most valuable player award after hitting two home runs in the contest. He played in New York for five seasons and his first hit in MLB came in 1999 when he hit a game-winning home run against Norm Charlton of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He finished in place for Rookie of the Year honors in 2001
