Bret Boone

Infobox MLB retired
name=Bret Boone

Bret Robert Boone (born April 6, 1969 in El Cajon, California) is a former Major League Baseball second baseman.

Boone was born in El Cajon, California to Susan G. Roel and Bob Boone. [ [http://www.wargs.com/other/booneb.html 1 ] ] He is a graduate of El Dorado High School and the University of Southern California. He is the grandson of former major leaguer Ray Boone and brother of Aaron Boone.

Professional career

In by|1992, Boone became the first-ever third-generation big-leaguer in baseball history. As a member of an All-Star family, he is the son of Bob, a catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, California Angels and Kansas City Royals (by|1972-by|1990) and later a manager with the Royals and Cincinnati Reds; his brother Aaron is a third baseman who has played with the Reds, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, and Florida Marlins. and his grandfather Ray was an infielder for the Indians, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Athletics, Milwaukee Braves and Boston Red Sox (by|1948-by|1960).

Boone enjoyed his best season in by|2001, leading the league in runs batted in (141) with career highs in batting average (.331), home runs (37), triples (5), runs (118) and hits (206), earning him a Silver Slugger award. He also finished third in the AL MVP voting; started in the All Star Game in Seattle; and provided outstanding defense, though he did not win the Gold Glove award. His Mariners- the best team in their history that year- paced the league with a record 116 wins, earning the AL West championship and advancing to the ALCS, as well as tying the all-time team record for wins in a season with the by|1906 Chicago Cubs.

He was designated for assignment by the Seattle Mariners on July 3, by|2005, and later traded on July 11 to Minnesota for cash and a player to be named later. Minnesota released Boone on August 1 after only 14 games, where the second baseman struggled with a .221 batting average, with 7 home runs and 37 RBI in 88 games for the Mariners and Twins.

On January 4, by|2006, Boone signed a minor league contract with the New York Mets. He received an invitation to spring training, but on March 1, only a few days into spring training, he announced his initial retirement from baseball, citing a lack of passion for the game. [cite web |url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060301&content_id=1329064&vkey=spt2006news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb|title=Bret Boone calls it a career|accessdate=2008-09-07 |work=MLB.com |publisher= |date= ]

Boone was also a guest announcer for Fox during the 2003 ALCS when his brother, Aaron hit a walk-off home run to send the Yankees to the World Series.

On February 18, by|2008, Boone came out of retirement and signed a minor league contract with the Washington Nationals. [cite web |url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20080218&content_id=2377914&vkey=pr_was&fext=.jsp&c_id=was|title=Nationals sign three-time All-Star Bret Boone to Minor-League contract|accessdate=2008-09-07 |work=MLB.com |publisher= |date= ] At first he was assigned to the minor league camp, but after five days, he was invited to the team's major league spring training camp. [cite web |url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080223&content_id=2386181&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=was|title=Boone joins big league camp|accessdate=2008-09-07 |work=MLB.com |publisher= |date= ]

On March 21, 2008, Boone was reassigned to minor league camp after hitting .189 and began the season with the Columbus Clippers, the Nationals Triple-A affiliate. [cite news |last=Ladson |first=Bill |title=Nats reassign Boone to Minors |url=http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080320&content_id=2447297&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=was |work=MLB.com |date=2008-03-20 |accessdate=2008-03-20 ] He had hoped to get signed by a major league club, and left the Clippers in late April to work out on his own. However, on May 28, he once again announced his retirement. [cite web |url=http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3415391|title=After 14 major league seasons, retiring Boone in a better place|accessdate=2008-09-07 |work=ESPN.com |publisher= |date= ]

He finished his career with a .266 batting average, 252 home runs and 1,021 RBI in 1,780 games in 14 Major League seasons.

Related links

*List of NL Gold Glove winners at second base
*List of NL Gold Glove winners at second base
*List of top 500 Major League Baseball home run hitters
*List of second generation MLB players
*List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
*List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
*List of Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game

References

External links

*baseballstats |mlb= |espn=2759 |br=b/boonebr01 |fangraphs=1067 |cube=B/bret-boone
* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/B/Boone_Bret.stm Baseball Library] - biography and career highlights