Carl Everett

Did You Know?

• Everett attended Hillsborough High School in Tampa, Florida, and lettered in football, baseball, and track.
• As a high school senior, he gained 948 rushing yards in football.
• He ran the 100 meters in 10.5 seconds.

Playing career

The New York Yankees selected Everett with the 10th overall pick in the 1990 MLB draft. Following the 1997 season, the Houston Astros acquired him for John Hudek; that year he batted .325 with 27 stolen bases, and his .571 slugging percentage ranked in the top 10 in the league. On December 14, 1999, he was traded to the Boston Red Sox for minor leaguers Adam Everett and Greg Miller, and in 2000 he hit a career-high 34 home runs. In July 2000, Everett was suspended for 10 days for bumping into umpire Ron Kulpa; the following August he was fined for grabbing his crotch while yelling at Seattle Mariners pitcher Jamie Moyer after hitting a home run.

A shoulder injury hampered his performance in 2001, and ongoing controversy with the Boston media served as a distraction. On September 2, 2001, he broke up a potential perfect game by Mike Mussina of the New York Yankees, hitting a soft single to left field as a pinch hitter after Mussina had retired the first 26 batters. Everett was suspended later that September for arriving late to a team workout. On December 12, 2001, he was traded to the Texas Rangers for Darren Oliver.

His nine home runs in April 2003 matched a team record shared with Iván Rodríguez, Alex Rodriguez, Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton, and Joey Gallo. During the 2003 season, the Chicago White Sox acquired him for Frank Francisco, Josh Rupe, and Anthony Webster. He signed as a free agent with the Montreal Expos for 2004, but was traded back to the White Sox on July 18, 2004, for Gary Majewski and Jon Rauch. In October 2005, Everett won his only World Series championship with the White Sox, serving as the starting designated hitter for most of that season after an early-season injury to Frank Thomas.

Personal life

Carl Everett was known during his baseball career for making provocative statements that often sparked debate. He famously claimed dinosaurs never existed, arguing that the Bible does not mention them and that fossilized bones are human-made forgeries. Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy nicknamed him "Jurassic Carl," to which Everett responded by calling Shaughnessy the "curly-haired boyfriend" of fellow Globe writer Gordon Edes. Everett also cast doubt on the authenticity of the Apollo Moon landings in a conversation with Shaughnessy.

His most significant disciplinary action came in 2000 when he was suspended for ten games and fined $5,000 after head-butting umpire Ron Kulpa during an argument over the legality of his batting stance. In 2006, he had a heated postgame exchange with Seattle Mariners manager Mike Hargrove following a loss to the Los Angeles Angels. Everett made contentious comments about homosexuality, saying he would consider retiring or would "set him straight" if he had an openly gay teammate.

In a 2005 interview with Maxim, he stated he had accepted gay teammates but believed homosexuality was wrong and opposed gay marriage, arguing that two people of the same sex cannot produce a child. In 1997, Everett and his wife temporarily lost custody of two of their children after a Shea Stadium employee noticed bruises on their five-year-old daughter. A family court judge found evidence of child neglect, noting that Everett's wife had used excessive corporal punishment and that Everett did not intervene. The couple did not admit wrongdoing but agreed to therapy and parenting classes to regain custody.