Todd Hundley

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Todd Hundley
Catcher
Born: May 27, 1969 (1969-05-27) (age 39)
Martinsville, Virginia
Batted: Switch Threw: Right
MLB debut
May 18, 1990
for the New York Mets
Final game
September 27, 2003
for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Career statistics
Batting average     .234
Home runs     202
Runs batted in     599
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Todd Randolph Hundley (born May 27, 1969 in Martinsville, Virginia) is a former Major League Baseball catcher/outfielder. He is the son of former Chicago Cubs catcher Randy Hundley. Hundley is a graduate of William Fremd High School, attended William Rainey Harper College and currently lives in Glenview, Illinois.

Contents

[edit] Professional Career

Todd made his major league debut with the New York Mets on May 18, 1990 when he was only 20 years old. He came up with great fanfare but didn't hit very well his first few years in the major leagues. After a few years and a few injuries, his hitting increasingly improved to match his defense. By 1996, Hundley broke the single-season home run record for catchers (then held by Roy Campanella) with a career and Mets single season record of 41. The record for catchers has since been broken by Javy López in 2003 and Carlos Beltrán tied the Mets' single season record in 2006. He was an all-star in 1996 and 1997 while playing for the New York Mets.

Hundley was publicly criticized in 1997 by Mets manager Bobby Valentine for his propensity for long nights out on the town that reportedly included beer drinking and cigarette smoking.

The Mets acquisition of Mike Piazza in May of 1998 combined with a career-threatening elbow injury brought his tenure with the Mets to a close. With Piazza on the roster, Hundley attempted to make a comeback as a left fielder, but was unsuccessful and was later traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the end of the season on December 1, 1998 in a three-team trade that brought Armando Benitez and Roger Cedeno to the Mets while also sending fellow catcher Charles Johnson to the Orioles. In addition to the Dodgers, Hundley also played for the Chicago Cubs (2001-2002), and then returned to the Dodgers for the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

Throughout his career in baseball, Hundley has earned over $47 million, according to the Society for American Baseball Research (as of 2004).[citation needed]

[edit] Mitchell Report

Hundley was named in the Mitchell Report (baseball) on December 13, 2007 as a player who took performance-enhancing drugs. "The career arcs of two players vividly illustrated how the use of steroids spread through the major leagues. Todd Hundley and David Segui were teammates on the New York Mets in the mid-1990s. They received steroids from Kirk Radomski, a former clubhouse attendant who was a major source of the drugs, according to Mitchell. As Mitchell reported, it was Segui, in a rolling-stone existence as a journeyman on seven teams, who introduced seven players, as well as a trainer, to Radomski. That trainer then reportedly supplied performance-enhancing drugs to three more players, including Roger Clemens. Hundley went West in a 1999 trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers and took Radomski’s telephone number with him, Radomski told Mitchell. Hundley gave the number to catcher Paul Lo Duca, who then put Radomski in touch with four more players, including pitchers Eric Gagné, who once converted a record 84 consecutive saves, and Kevin Brown, a six-time All-Star, the report said. By the 2000 season, the Dodgers’ roster had 11 players who would end up in Mitchell’s report, more than any other team in one year. It is not clear that those 11 players were all using performance-enhancing drugs in 2000.

[edit] Other information

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  • Hit a home run on Opening Day four seasons in a row, between 1994 and 1997.
  • As a member of the Chicago Cubs during a home game on June 26, 2002, Todd "flipped the bird" to fans while rounding the bases after hitting a home run. Later, Hundley said he was acknowledging heckling fans behind the Reds dugout. The media and Cubs fans never fully accepted the claim.

[edit] See also

[edit] References