Chuck Knoblauch

Template:Mlbretired Edward Charles Knoblauch (born July 7 1968 in Houston, Texas) is a former second baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Minnesota Twins (1991-97), New York Yankees (1998-2001) and Kansas City Royals (2002). He played college baseball for Texas A&M University in College Station where he was selected as a second team All-American and was an important part of their championship program.

Major league career

Knoblauch was selected by the Twins in the first round (25th pick) of the 1989 amateur draft, and made his major league debut on April 9, 1991. That year he played in 151 games, batting .281, and was named the American League's Rookie of the Year. He helped the Twins win their second World Series in five years, hitting .350 in the AL Championship Series and .308 in the Series against the Atlanta Braves. In the eighth inning of Game 7, Knoblauch made a famous defensive decoy play by pretending to field a ball that had actually been hit to the outfield by Terry Pendleton. This action fooled the Braves' Lonnie Smith, delaying his advance to third base and perhaps from scoring the game winning run; despite video evidence to the contrary, Smith denies he was fooled.

From 1994-96 Knoblauch batted .312, .333, and .341, won the AL Gold Glove Award at second base in 1997, and became renowned for his speed--stealing over 40 bases in three consecutive seasons. After the 1997 season, Knoblauch was traded to the Yankees in exchange for four players (including two future All-Stars, Eric Milton and Cristian Guzman) and $3 million. Once a popular player in Minnesota, his very outspoken request to be traded away from the Twins ensured he would be roundly jeered on every successive trip to the Metrodome. This jeering included the throwing of hot dogs, beer bottles and golf balls at Knoblauch during a visit to the Metrodome in 2001.

Knoblauch's arrival in New York was greeted with wide anticipation, with one New York Times writer openly predicting that he and Derek Jeter would form the greatest double play combination in history. Though he struggled early on with the team, he hit a career-high 17 home runs as the Yankees won a then-American League record 114 games. In the postseason against the Cleveland Indians, Knoblauch committed a serious blunder, arguing with an umpire as play continued. Instead of chasing down the ball that was in play, Knoblauch argued with the umpire as Enrique Wilson scored from first base, giving Cleveland a 2-1 lead in the 12th inning. The Indians would go on to win the game 4-1. A New York newspaper called him "Blauch-head." However, Knoblauch recovered and was an important factor in the World Series victory over the San Diego Padres. The Yankees won the American League pennant every year he was with the team, winning three World Series championships.

Knoblauch was found to be involved with steroid use during the 2001 season according to George Mitchell's investigation, released December 13, 2007.

Throwing troubles

Once considered one of the game's best fielders (in fact, ESPN personalities nicknamed him "Fundamentally Sound" Chuck Knoblauch), Knoblauch's play deteriorated shortly into his Yankee career. In 1999 he began to have difficulty making accurate throws to first base, a condition sometimes referred to in baseball as "the yips" or "Steve Blass Disease". Knoblauch inexplicably could no longer throw the ball to first base. By 2000, the problem had grown serious enough that he began seeing more playing time as a designated hitter. Knoblauch tried various solutions to his problem, but his throwing would not improve. He made an unprecedented number of throwing errors, routinely sailing the ball twenty or thirty feet over the first baseman's head. During one game, an errant throw sailed into the crowd and hit sportscaster Keith Olbermann's mother in the face. [1]. Stumping commentators, fans, and himself, Knoblauch never fully recovered his throwing accuracy. He was reassigned to left field by manager Joe Torre, never to return to his old position.

End of career

Towards the end of his career, Knoblauch's performance at the plate also grew worse, with many observers believing he was preoccupied by his fielding troubles and trying too hard to hit home runs. Knoblauch was benched in the final game of the 2001 World Series (he hit just .056), and left for Kansas City as a free agent in the offseason. Knoblauch played in just 80 games in left field for the Royals, batting a meager .210, and the team declined to offer him a new contract the following year. In 2003, having failed to gain a job with a major league team, Knoblauch announced his retirement.

A four-time All-Star, in his career Knoblauch batted .289 with 98 home runs and 615 runs batted in. He stole 25 or more bases in 10 of his 12 seasons, finishing with 407 in his career – including 276 with the Twins, the most for the team since its move from Washington in 1961.

Mitchell Report

Chuck Knoblauch was named in the Mitchell Report for reportedly taking steroids during his tenure with the Yankees. He was named with other prominent Yankees like Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.

See also

• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
• List of Major League Baseball players with 400 stolen bases
• List of Major League Baseball doubles champions
• List of Major League Baseball players named in the Mitchell Report

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference
• BaseballLibrary