Skip Schumaker

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**Skip Schumaker**
Major League Baseball debut
St. Louis Cardinals — No. 55
Outfield
Bats: Left	Throws: Right
June 8, 2005 for the St. Louis Cardinals
Selected MLB statistics (through October 2, 2006)
Batting average	.205
Hits	16
Runs scored	12
HR	1
RBI	3

Jared Michael "Skip" Schumaker (born February 2, 1980 in Torrance, California) is an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, a Major League Baseball team.

[edit] Biography

Schumaker graduated from Aliso Niguel High School before a short, two-year career at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 2001, his only year with regular playing time, Schumaker had 100 total hits for a batting average of an even .400, while achieving 41 runs batted in. During this year, he was selected in the 5th round of the amateur draft by the Cardinals, and elected not to return to college for a final year.

Schumaker spent the remainder of 2001 with the short-season New Jersey Cardinals, and in 2002 he had 158 hits for the Potomac Cannons. His minor-league career advanced from single-A level in 2003, when he was promoted to the Tennessee Smokies, where he spent two full seasons. A .316 batting average in 2004 was enough to give him a shot with the Cardinals during spring training in 2005.

After spending the first two months of the season in Memphis, Schumaker was given his major-league debut on June 8 against the Boston Red Sox at Busch Stadium. Schumaker entered the game as a pinch-hitter for the pitcher, Chris Carpenter, and was struck out by David Wells. Schumaker remained with the club until June 14, failing to pick up a hit in five at-bats.

Schumaker was given a second spell in St. Louis on injury cover on August 10, and picked up his first major-league hit two days later in a pinch-hit appearance against the Chicago Cubs. He returned to Memphis following the August 14 game, with one hit in his eight games as a major-league hitter. On September 8, 2005 Schumaker went over into the stands and made a great catch [1]. Schumaker hit his first Major League home run on April 5, 2006 in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies.