Sean Casey (baseball)

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Sean Casey (baseball) bigraphy, stories - American baseball player

Sean Casey (baseball) : biography

July 2, 1974 –

Sean Thomas Casey (born July 2, 1974),Stringer, Matt. , The Temple News, November 20, 2003. Accessed December 3, 2007. "For example, Sean Casey, a lifetime .300 hitter, plays first base for the Cincinnati Reds and hails from Willingboro, NJ." nicknamed "The Mayor," is a former Major League Baseball first baseman for the Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit Tigers, and Boston Red Sox. Casey was selected to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game three times during his career.http://www.seancasey.co/biographyhttp://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/caseyse01.shtml He is currently a broadcaster and commentator for the MLB Network.http://mlb.mlb.com/network/personalities/?id=3998548

Awards and accomplishments

  • National League All-Star, , ,
  • Hutch Award, given to the player who personifies the spirit, courage and integrity of former manager Fred Hutchinson.
  • Nominee for the 2005 Roberto Clemente Award
  • Nominee for the 2004 and 2005 Branch Rickey Award
  • Nominee for the 2004 and 2005 Sporting News "Good Guys" award
  • Inducted into the University of Richmond, Department of Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003.

With Conan O’Brien, Casey is a founder of TM, an innovative anti-hunger organization based in Lawrence Massachusetts.

In a May 16, 2007, Sports Illustrated Player’s Poll, Casey won the distinction of being considered the "friendliest player in baseball", after winning 46% of the votes. 464 MLB players participated in the survey. Hal McCoy, a Cincinnati Reds beat writer for 35 years, has said, "There’s no debate, and there never will be a debate. Sean Casey is the nicest guy in professional baseball. Ever."

On August 26, 2008, Sean Casey was inducted into the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame.

On January 29, 2009, Casey was inducted into the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame.

On November 28, 2011, it was announced that Casey had been elected to the Cincinnati Reds Baseball Hall of Fame. He was inducted (along with Dan Driessen and John Reilly) on June 23, 2012.http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111128&content_id=26048140&vkey=pr_cin&c_id=cin

Personal life

Casey is a lifelong Roman Catholic. He was featured in the film series Champions of Faith and is actively involved with the group Catholic Athletes for Christ. He and his wife Mandi have four children.

Baseball career

Casey attended Upper St. Clair High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the University of Richmond, where he was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. His .461 batting average in 1995 led all Division I players. He was drafted in in the 2nd round by the Cleveland Indians and was traded to the Cincinnati Reds before the season. On April 3 1998, Casey was hit in the eye with a ball thrown by teammate Damian Jackson during batting practice, resulting in a fractured eye orbit, and subsequent surgery. Casey had his best year in hitting .332 with 25 HRs and 99 RBIs and 103 runs scored in 151 games. In 1999, he won the Hutch Award.

During his tenure in Cincinnati, and later in Pittsburgh and Detroit, Sean Casey was regarded as approachable and friendly, and his nickname, "the Mayor," comes from his reputation for chatting casually with every runner who makes it to first base, and from his very public charity work. It was frequently expanded to "the Mayor of Riverfront" when the Reds played at Riverfront Stadium. On May 16, 2007, Casey was voted in 2007 as "the friendliest player in baseball" by fellow players in a Sports Illustrated poll. He garnered 46% of the vote with the second place vote being split between Jim Thome and Mike Sweeney with only 7% each. Casey is also regarded as among the slowest-running players in the game, grounding into 27 double plays in the season. This tied him with A.J. Pierzynski for the record of most Grounding in Double Plays by a National League Left Hander in a season.