Shawn Green
American former MLB right fielder and record-setting slugger.
Shawn David Green (born November 10, 1972) is an American former professional baseball right fielder who played for multiple Major League Baseball teams. A first-round draft pick and two-time All-Star, he set the MLB record for most total bases in a single game with 19 on May 23, 2002, and held the Dodgers then single-season home run record. He also drove in 100 runs four times, scored 100 runs four times, and hit 40 or more home runs three times.
Quick Facts
- Position
- Right fielder
- Bats
- Left
- Born
- 10 November 1972
- Birthplace
- Des Plaines, Illinois, U.S.
- Debut league
- MLB
- Debut date
- September 28
- Debut year
- 1993
- Debut team
- Toronto Blue Jays
Facts from the source article.
Early and personal life
Green was born in Des Plaines, Illinois, and is Jewish. His family moved to New Jersey when he was one, then to San Jose, California, and finally to Tustin, California, when he was 12. Green was one of the best-known Jewish major league ballplayers, and the most prominent one with the New York Mets since Art Shamsky. Only Hank Greenberg, with 331 home runs and 1,276 RBIs, has more major league home runs and RBIs among Jewish players. Green missed games on Yom Kippur even during a playoff race. His grandfather shortened the family name from Greenberg to Green for business reasons. He married Lindsay Bear in 2002 in a mixed Jewish and Christian ceremony; they have two daughters and reside in Irvine, California.
Minor league career
Green spent time in the minors with the Dunedin Blue Jays, earning a spot on the Florida State League's all-star team. In 1994, he played for Toronto's AAA affiliate, the Syracuse Chiefs, where his .344 average won the International League batting title. That season, he was named the league's Rookie of the Year, the Chiefs' MVP with the R. Howard Webster Award, and the Blue Jays' Minor League Player of the Year. He also batted .306 during the 1994–1995 Venezuelan Winter League.
Major league career
Green made his Major League debut on September 28 as the second-youngest player in the majors. He received a World Series ring despite not playing in the 1993 World Series. In 1995, his full rookie season, he started 97 games, hitting 15 home runs with a .288 average, and set Blue Jays rookie records in doubles (31), hit streak (14), extra base hits (50), and slugging percentage (.509). In 1998, he became the first Blue Jay to join the 30–30 club, hitting 35 home runs and stealing 35 bases. In 1999, he hit a 449-foot home run into SkyDome's fifth deck, earned his first All-Star appearance, and finished the season with a career-best .309 average, 42 home runs, 134 runs, 123 RBIs, and a .588 slugging percentage. He led the league in doubles (45), extra-base hits (87), and total bases (361), and won both a Gold Glove Award and a Silver Slugger Award, finishing ninth in MVP voting.
Honors and awards
Green received the Bart Giamatti Award from the Baseball Assistance Team in 2000 for community involvement. He was named Baseball Man of the Year at the Cedars-Sinai Sports Spectacular in 2003 and inducted into the Arizona Fall League Hall of Fame that same year. In 2004, he was presented the Hank Greenberg Sportsmanship Award by the American Jewish Historical Society. He has been inducted into the Orange County Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Northern California, the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (2001), the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (2005), and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (2014).
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