Eric Byrnes

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Eric Byrnes
Arizona Diamondbacks — No. 22
Left Fielder
Bats: Right Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
August 22, 2000 for the Oakland Athletics
Selected MLB statistics
(through 2006)
AVG     259
RBI     .322
HR     74
Teams

    Eric James Byrnes (born February 16, 1976 in Redwood City, California) is a left fielder in Major League Baseball who currently plays for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

    Contents

    [edit] Amateur Career

    Byrnes' high school career was spent in the Western Catholic Athletic League, where he played for St. Francis High School in Mountain View, CA; a San Franciso Bay Area town located 15 miles north of San Jose. After graduating in 1994, he was selected in the MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Electing to go to college, Byrnes attended the University of California at Los Angeles where he quickly became a starter. At UCLA, he hit 2nd in the batting order and played right field in a lineup that featured future major-league stars Troy Glaus, Chase Utley, and Garrett Atkins. He was again selected in the MLB draft, this time by the Houston Astros after his junior season, but again elected to stay in school. Byrnes finished his career one of the most successful hitters in Pac-10 history with a .331 career average and 75 doubles, a conference record. He was selected in the 8th round of the 1998 MLB Draft by the Oakland Athletics, and this time was ready for his professional career.

    [edit] Professional Career

    Byrnes spent little time in the minors, receiving late-season call-ups to the A's in 2000 and 2001. By 2002, Byrnes was there to stay. He struggled in his first 2 seasons but had a breakout year in 2004, when he hit .283 with 20 home runs and 39 doubles. Despite getting off to a good start in 2005, he was traded midseason to the Colorado Rockies for pitchers Joe Kennedy and Jay Witasick in an effort to shore up the Oakland bullpen. Many in Oakland were sad to see Byrnes go, as he had been a fan favorite due to his extreme hustle and energy and the radio spots he did for the popular Bay Area sports radio station KNBR.

    Byrnes' stay in Colorado was a short one. After 15 games of hitting just .189, he was traded for the second time that season to the Baltimore Orioles for Larry Bigbie. Byrnes was happy to be with his old Oakland Athletics teammate Miguel Tejada, but again struggled with his new team, hitting just .192 in 52 games.

    After the 2005 season, Byrnes signed as a free agent with the Arizona Diamondbacks and was named the team's starting center fielder, despite having almost always played left field and right field to that point in his career.

    Eric Byrnes had a rebound year in 2006, belting a career-high 26 home runs and knocking in a career-high 79 RBIs. Byrnes has become a fan favorite in the desert. Diamondbacks announcers Mark Grace and Greg Schulte have given Byrnes the nickname "Pig-Pen", in honor of the Peanuts cartoon character, because his jersey is always dirty. In fact, the Diamondbacks had given away Eric Byrnes Dirty T-Shirts as a promotion[1].

    The Diamondbacks have made it a point to sign Byrnes to a long-term deal in the offseason. The D-Backs also plan to move him back to his natural position of left field in 2007, replacing the departing Luis Gonzalez.

    [edit] 2003 ALDS

    Byrnes is remembered in Oakland for a play in the 2003 American League Division Series against the Boston Red Sox. The A's had won the first two games of the series and needed to win one out of the next three to advance to the American League Championship Series. Trailing 1-0 in the 6th inning; Byrnes led off with a single, reached second on a stolen base, and reached third on a ground out by Billy McMillon. The next batter, Miguel Tejada, hit a ground ball to Red Sox pitcher Derek Lowe. Byrnes made a break for home and collided at home plate with Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek. Lowe's throw went all the way to the backstop, but Byrnes never touched home plate. After the collision with Varitek, Byrnes got up and started hobbling towards the dugout, thinking he had scored. Meanwhile, Varitek retrieved the ball from the backstop and tagged out Byrnes. Two at-bats later, Tejada was also called out at the plate on another controversial call. Oakland lost that game 3-1 and went on to drop the next two games to lose the series 3-2. Both Tejada and Byrnes would be out of Oakland two years later, as Tejada was signed by the Orioles, and Byrnes was traded to the Rockies.

    [edit] Off the field activities

    During the 2006 postseason, Byrnes was an analyst for ESPN's Baseball Tonight show. He has also appeared on Fox's baseball pregame show and The Best Damn Sports Show Period talk show. (In one appearance on the latter, he surprised everyone by jumping over the set's large coffee table in one leap. After he left, John Salley demonstrated his own difficulty attempting to simply step over the table, saying of Byrnes, "That white boy has got serious ups.") He co-hosted the World Series pre-game show on FOX Sports, for games 1 and 2, while Joe Girardi did 3,4, and 5. Had the World Series came back to Detroit for games 6 and 7, Byrnes would have been part of the pregame show.

    [edit] External links

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