Manny Alexander

Manuel de Jesús (Manny) Alexander (born March 20, 1971 in San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic) is a backup infielder in Major League Baseball and has played for the Baltimore Orioles (1992-93, 1995-96), New York Mets (1997), Chicago Cubs (1997-99), Boston Red Sox (2000), Texas Rangers (2004) and San Diego Padres (2005-2006). He is a switch-hitter and throws right handed.

In a ten-season career, Alexander has posted a .232 batting average with 15 home runs and 111 RBI in 572 games played.

[edit] Trivia

Alexander is one of baseball's rare position players to have pitched in a major-league game. On April 19, 1996, Alexander pitched the last two-thirds of the eighth inning in the Orioles' 26-7 loss to the Rangers, which was the highest-scoring American League game in 41 years. The Rangers scored sixteen runs in the eighth; Alexander walked four batters and allowed a grand slam to Rangers shortstop Kevin Elster. After allowing five runs in all, Alexander had an earned run average of 67.50 for the game. [1]

Later in the 1996 season, Alexander again played a pivotal role. On July 15, Cal Ripken, Jr., played third base for the Orioles after 2,216 consecutive games as the Orioles' shortstop. Alexander replaced Ripken at shortstop for the next several games. In 1992, the Orioles initially called Alexander up from the minor leagues because Ripken had injured his ankle in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers; however, Ripken did not miss any games.

On June 30, 2000, during a traffic stop, police discovered steroids and syringes in a Mercedes-Benz owned by Alexander that had been loaned to team bat boy Carlos Cowart. Cowart was arrested for driving without a license and previous charges of driving without a license and failing to stop for police. After an investigation, police decided not to pursue steroid possession charges against Alexander after his lawyers provided evidence that at least five people had access to the vehicle.

In 2006, Manny Alexander reported late to spring training with the San Diego Padres due to visa problems in the Dominican Republic. Upon joining the team he was optioned to the Padres AAA affiliate the Portland Beavers. He split the most 2006 season between Portland and San Diego, but was released by the Padres on October 12, 2006.^[1]