American baseball player (born 1967)
Baseball player
Reginald Laverne Sanders
(born December 1, 1967) is an American former
right fielder
in
Major League Baseball
. He batted and threw right-handed. He played professionally with the
Cincinnati Reds
,
St. Louis Cardinals
,
Pittsburgh Pirates
,
Atlanta Braves
,
San Francisco Giants
,
San Diego Padres
and
Kansas City Royals
, and was a member of the
Arizona Diamondbacks
'
2001 World Series
championship over the
New York Yankees
.
Early career
[
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]
Sanders was 23 years old when he made his major league debut on August 22,
1991
, after being selected in the seventh round of the
1987
amateur draft by the
Cincinnati Reds
. He attended
Spartanburg Methodist College
before beginning his pro career with the Rookie-level
Billings Mustangs
of the
Pioneer League
in
1988
.
Baseball career
[
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]
Sanders gained some notoriety during the 1994 season when
Pedro Martinez
hit him with a pitch to end his bid for a perfect game with one out in the eighth inning. Sanders responded by charging the mound and igniting a bench-clearing brawl. He was ridiculed by some in the press for believing that a pitcher would abandon an attempt at a perfect game to intentionally hit a batter.
[1]
On August 20, 2003, Sanders became the fortieth player in MLB history to hit two home runs in an inning, doing so for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the St. Louis Cardinals in the top of the 5th inning. He was only the third Pirates player to accomplish the feat. Sanders' first home run of the inning came as the third in a back-to-back-to-back string for the Pirates; the second was a
grand slam
.
[2]
With the Cardinals, Sanders had a breakout of sorts during the
2005 National League Division Series
against the
San Diego Padres
. In a three-game sweep of the Padres, Sanders had 10
runs batted in
, a new record for a division series. In Game 1 of the
2005 NLCS
, Sanders hit a two-run home run to give the Cardinals a two-run lead, making it his seventh career postseason home run. However, the Cardinals would lose the series in six games, giving the
Houston Astros
their first NL pennant and trip to the World Series.
On June 10,
2006
, as a member of the Royals, Sanders hit his 300th
home run
. This made him the fifth member of Major League Baseball's 300-300 club, as he had
stolen
the 300th base of his career on May 1. He became the first player in history to join the club at his home stadium.
Steve Finley
of the
San Francisco Giants
joined the 300-300 club as its sixth member on June 14, four days after Sanders achieved the feat. Sanders hit 20 or more home runs in one season for six different teams. He hit at least 10 home runs in a season for every major league team he played for (seven in all).
[3]
Sanders missed the majority of the 2007 season due to an injury and became a
free agent
after the season.
Career statistics
[
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]
In 64 postseason games, Sanders batted .195 (43-for-221) with 24 runs, 7 home runs, 25 RBI, 9 stolen bases and 26 walks.
See also
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]
References
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]
External links
[
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]