Eric Soderholm

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Eric Thane Soderholm played for the Minnesota Twins, the Chicago White Sox, the Texas Rangers, and the New York Yankees in his 9 seasons in Major League Baseball. Soderholm was selected with the 1st overall selection in the secondary phase of the 1968 Free Agent draft by the Twins.

Soderholm won the Twins regular job at third base in 1974 and had two solid seasons as their starter. He then injured his knee and missed the entire 1976 campaign. The White Sox took a gamble and signed Soderholm as a Free Agent in November 1976. The move paid off as Soderholm responded with a career year in 1977, hitting .280 and slugging 25 home runs. Soderholm stroked 16 of his 25 homers after the All-Star break to help keep the South Side Hitmen, as the Sox were fondly known that year, in the AL West pennant race into September.

Soderholm was named the AL Comeback Player of the Year by The Sporting News after the 1977 campaign. Soderholm followed up his comeback year by bashing another 20 home runs in 1978 for the White Sox. During the 1979 season, Soderholm was dealt to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Ed Farmer. Soderholm was dealt again after the 1979 season to the New York Yankees where he finished out his playing career as a part-time Designated Hitter.

After retiring from baseball, he went on to own a healing arts center in Hinsdale, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. [1]