Chuck Knoblauch
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Edward Charles "Chuck" Knoblauch (born July 7, 1968 in Houston, Texas) is an American former Major League Baseball second baseman who played for the Minnesota Twins (1991-97), New York Yankees (1998-2001) and Kansas City Royals (2002).
He was selected by the Twins in the 1st round (25th pick) of the 1989 amateur draft, and the choice paid off when he was named the American League's Rookie of the Year in 1991 after batting .281. He also helped the Twins win their second World Series in five years, hitting .350 in the ALCS and .308 in the Series. From 1994-96 he batted .312, .333, and .341; he won the AL Gold Glove Award at second base in 1997, but was traded to the Yankees months later in exchange for four players and $3 million.
In New York, Knoblauch helped the Yankees to become the first team in 26 years to win three consecutive World Series; they won the AL pennant in every season he was with the team, and he hit over .300 in at least one postseason series each year. However, in 1999 he began to make off-target throws when fielding, committing an error as a second baseman on the average of once every six games. Perhaps the biggest of such errors was during the 1998 ALCS when he got into an argument with a teammate and thus let the ball sitting on the ground and allowed the Indians to win the game. Knoblauch's fielding woes continued through 2000, and he was soon relegated to playing left field and designated hitter. His batting average and on-base percentage began to decline as well. A move to Kansas City did not stop Knoblauch's decline in productivity, and in 2003 he retired after not being able to make a major league roster.
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 moving from Washington in 1961.
External links
- Chuck Knoblauch at:
- Baseball Reference (http://www.baseball-reference.com/k/knoblch01.shtml)
- Baseball Library (http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/K/Knoblauch_Chuck.stm)