Mike Lieberthal

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Mike Lieberthal bigraphy, stories - American baseball player

Mike Lieberthal : biography

January 18, 1972 –

Michael Scott "Mike" Lieberthal (born January 18, 1972, in Glendale, California), nicknamed Lieby, is a former Major League Baseball catcher. He batted and threw right-handed.

In a 14-year career, Lieberthal played for the Philadelphia Phillies (–) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (). He compiled a career batting average of .274, with 150 home runs and 610 runs batted in. During his career he won the Gold Glove Award, and was twice an All Star.

His 1999 season (.300, 31 home runs, 96 RBIs, Gold Glove Award) was arguably the best ever of any Phillies catcher, and he caught more games in his career than any other Phillies catcher (1,139). His career 149 home runs at catcher were the most in team history. Lieberthal had a .310 batting average, a .381 on base percentage, and .510 slugging percentage lifetime against left-handed pitching.

He was inducted into the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame on August 10, 2012.

Charitable fundraising

From 1998, he sponsored "Lieby’s VIPs," in which he purchased $30,000 worth of tickets for children with cancer, and their families. In addition, he treated the children to a Halloween party. He served as 2000 Chairman of C.A.D.E.’s (Corporate Alliance for Drug Education) fundraising drive.

Beginning in 2001, he co-hosted a celebrity billiards tournament, with Doug Glanville and Randy Wolf, to raise money for the Philadelphia Futures mentor program (since 2001, the event raised over $325,000 for the Futures program).

Career

Minor leagues

Lieberthal played in the minor leagues from 1990–. He played for Martinsville in 1990 (Rookie League), Spartanburg ("A"; for which he batted .305) and Clearwater ("A+") in , Reading in ("AA"), and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre from 1992–95 ("AAA").

Philadelphia Phillies (1994–2006)

He made his major league debut on June 30, 1994, at the age of 22 as the starting catcher against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He recorded his first career base hit in the 4th inning against Pedro Astacio. On July 16, 1994 he hit his first homerun off of Ramon Martinez in the 3rd inning of a 10–6 Phillies victory against the Dodgers.

In , he had surgery for torn cartilage in his left knee. In June , he won Player of the Month award after batting .400, but his season was shortened by a pelvic stress fracture injury. In , he hit .339 in games that were late and close.

In , he hit 31 home runs and 96 RBIs for the Phillies, while hitting .300 with a career-best .551 slugging percentage. He hit .377 against left-handers, and was 8th in the league with 8 sacrifice flies and 11 HBP. He was an All Star for the first time, only the second Phillie catcher ever to receive the honor (joining Bob Boone). He also won a Gold Glove Award, after posting a .997 fielding percentage—a new Phillie record at catcher. He joined Johnny Bench, Lance Parrish, and Ivan Rodriguez as the only catchers to have hit 30 home runs in the same season that they won the Gold Glove Award. He also became the eighth major league catcher to bat .300 and hit 30 homers in the same season. He also became the first Phillie to bat .300 and hit 30 home runs since Greg Luzinski, in 1977.

In , Lieberthal was again an All-Star, and hit .350 against left-handers. A play at the plate involving a collision with Bernie Williams resulted in an ankle injury that knocked him out for the rest of the season. In September 2000, he had surgery to remove a bone spur in his right elbow.

In May , Lieberthal was picked off at first base and tore his ACL and MCL and cartilage in his knee while attempting to dive back to the bag. He had surgery in June, and missed the rest of the season. In October , he injured the same knee as he stepped out of a golf cart near his home. He tore the meniscus, and had surgery.

In 2002, he was 5th in the league in HBP (14), and batted .346 against left-handers. He was the Sporting News NL Comeback Player of the Year, the first catcher to win it, and also was a co-winner of the Player’s Choice NL Comeback Player award.