Houston Astros

Christopher Alan Burke is a Major League Baseball player who is currently a free agent. Burke is known for his versatility; he has played every position except pitcher and catcher. Burke played baseball at St. Albert the Great Elementary School and St. Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky... and the University of Tennessee, where he was named to three All-America teams. In 1999, Burke was selected as a Freshman 2nd team All-American at second base. In 2000, in addition to being named a 3rd team All-American, he was named to the All-Southeastern Conference team at second base. In 2001, his junior year, Burke moved to shortstop and helped the Volunteers make an appearance in the College World Series by hitting .435 with 30 home runs and 49 stolen bases, being named to the CWS all-tournament team. He was a 1st team All-American shortstop, and was the unanimous choice as the 2001 SEC Player of the Year. He was also a finalist for the 2001 Rotary Smith Award. Burke was the Houston Astros' first overall pick in the 2001 Major League Baseball Draft as the 10th overall selection.
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Bradley Thomas "Brad" Lidge is a reliever who is currently currently a pitcher for the Washington Nationals. Nicknamed "Lights Out", he is the all-time leader in strikeouts per nine innings among pitchers with at least 200 appearances in their career. Lidge throws a four-seam fastball that... consistently reaches 91 or 92 miles per hour, as well as a hard, sharp breaking slider that ranges from 85 to 87 mph. He sealed the Phillies' 2008 World Series Championship with the final out, a strikeout of Eric Hinske in Game 5. Brad Lidge was born in Sacramento, California on December 23, 1976. At a young age, the Lidge family moved to Englewood, Colorado. Growing up, Lidge was very active, playing football, basketball and baseball among other sports. Lidge attended Cherry Creek High School. Lidge attended Notre Dame. He won the Big East player of the year award during his junior season under coach Paul Mainieri, leading the conference with an 8–2 record and 93 strikeouts in 80.1 innings. Lidge was a 1st round draft pick by the Houston Astros, taken 17th overall in the 1998 Major League Baseball Draft.
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The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The team is a member of the Central Division of Major League... Baseball's National League and plays its home games at Miller Park. The team is so named because of the city's association with the brewing industry. Originating in Seattle, Washington, as the Seattle Pilots, the club played for one season in 1969 before being acquired in bankruptcy court by current MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and then moved to Milwaukee. The Brewers were part of the American League from their creation as an expansion club in 1969 through the 1997 season, after which they moved to the National League Central Division. Milwaukee had previously been a National League city when its team was the Milwaukee Braves . In 1982, Milwaukee won the American League East Division and the American League Pennant, earning their only World Series appearance to date. In the Series, they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, four games to three. In 2008, the Brewers achieved their first postseason berth in the 26 years since their World Series appearance as the wildcard team in the National League.
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The San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in... 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times. They and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are the only MLB California teams to originate in California; the Dodgers and Giants are originally from New York, and the Athletics are originally from Philadelphia. The Padres adopted their name from the Pacific Coast League team which arrived in San Diego in 1936. That minor league franchise won the PCL title in 1937, led by then-18-year-old San Diegan Ted Williams. The team's name, Spanish for "fathers", refers to the Spanish Franciscan friars who founded San Diego in 1769. In 1969, the San Diego Padres joined the ranks of Major League Baseball as one of four new expansion teams, along with the Montreal Expos , the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Pilots . Their original owner was C.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's... National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming the Dodgers definitively by 1932. The team moved to Los Angeles before the 1958 season. They played their first four seasons in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before moving to their current home of Dodger Stadium, the third-oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball . The Dodgers have won 6 World Series titles and 21 National League pennants. Eight different Cy Young Award winners have pitched for the Dodgers, producing a total of ten Cy Young Awards . In the modern era, the team, then known as the Robins, won league pennants in 1916 and 1920, losing the World Series both times, first to Boston and then Cleveland. In 1941, as the Dodgers, they captured their third National League pennant, only to lose again to the New York Yankees.
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The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division. As one... of the oldest baseball teams, they have won the most games of any team in the history of American baseball, and any North American professional sports team. They have won 21 National League pennants and appeared in 18 World Series competitions – both records in the National League . The Giants 6 World Series Championships are also tied for second in the National League with the Dodgers . The Giants have played in the World Series an NL record 18 times, but boycotted the event in 1904. With their history, the Giants have the most Hall of Fame players in all of professional baseball. The Giants played at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan, New York, until the close of the 1957 season, after which they moved west to California to become the San Francisco Giants.
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The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's... National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National League . The team is currently owned by a family trust of TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, and was previously owned by the Chicago Tribune and, prior to the Tribune, by the Wrigley Company. The Cubs have not won the World Series in 103 years, a longer championship drought than that of any other major North American professional sports team, and are often referred to as "The Lovable Losers" because of this distinction. They are also known as "The North Siders" because Wrigley Field, their home park since 1916, is located in Chicago's north side Lake View community at 1060 West Addison Street. The Cubs have rivalries with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Milwaukee Brewers, and the cross-town White Sox. The club played its first games in 1870 and was founded professionally in 1871.
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