Kansas City Royals

Luke Anthony Hochevar is an American professional baseball starting pitcher for the Kansas City Royals organization of Major League Baseball. He is an alumnus of the University of Tennessee. He throws and bats right-handed. While attending Fowler High School in Fowler, Colorado, he was the 2A... Player of the Year . During his senior year, he was also a member of the National Honor Society. Hochevar was selected by Los Angeles Dodgers in the 39th round of the 2002 MLB amateur entry draft, but decided on college instead. Hochevar attended University of Tennessee. In 2005, he struck out a school record 154 batters while posting a 15-3 record and 2.26 ERA for the season. He was named the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year and won the Roger Clemens Award. The Dodgers would select Hochevar again, this time in the first round of the 2005 draft. After heated, desperate negotiations among the Dodgers, Hochevar, and his agent Scott Boras, Hochevar suddenly switched agents to Matt Sosnick, accepted a $2.
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Alex Jonathan Gordon is a Major League Baseball Outfielder for the Kansas City Royals. Alex was born into a baseball-loving family in Lincoln, NE. Anecdotes indicate that all four of the Gordon Boys, Eric, Alex, Brett and Derek were named after famous baseball players. All of the boys played... baseball from a very early age. Gordon was a two-time Gatorade Nebraska Player of the Year after hitting .483 with 25 home runs and 112 RBI at Lincoln Southeast High School in Lincoln, Nebraska, from which he graduated in 2002. Alex was a member of the 2004 U.S. National Team which had players from 15 different colleges. He helped lead Team USA to an 18–7 overall record, seeing the majority of his playing time at first base. He hit .388 with 4 home runs, 12 RBI and 18 runs scored in 24 contests and was named the top offensive player at the World University Baseball Championship in Tainan, Taiwan after leading all players with a .524 average with 2 homers, 5 RBI and 8 runs scored in 8 games.
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Billy Ray Butler is a Major League Baseball Designated Hitter for the Kansas City Royals. He has also played first base, left field and right field. Butler was selected by the Royals in the first round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft out of high school and signed for a $1.45 million bonus,... $250,000 below the recommended slot value for that pick. He attended Wolfson High School in Jacksonville, Florida, where he was teammates with fellow first round draft pick Eric Hurley, a pitcher selected by the Texas Rangers. He turned down a scholarship to play for the University of Florida to go pro. He played his rookie season at the age of 18 in 2004 with the Royals Pioneer Baseball League affiliate Idaho Falls Chukars, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, where he batted .373 with 10 home runs and 68 RBIs in 73 games. In 2006 Butler led the Texas League with a .331 batting average. Despite taking time out to play for Team USA Butler amassed 96 RBIs while playing right field for the Double-A Wichita Wranglers. A third baseman in high school, Butler played right field and left field for Wichita in 2006.
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The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American... League's East Division. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Baltimore, Maryland in 1901 as the Baltimore Orioles. The team moved to New York City in 1903 as the New York Highlanders, taking the Yankees as their official name in 1913. From 1923 to 2008, the Yankees' home ballpark was Yankee Stadium; in 2009, they moved into a new ballpark, also called Yankee Stadium. The Yankees have won 27 World Series championships and 40 American League pennants, both MLB records. Forty-three Yankees players and eleven Yankees managers have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Yogi Berra. In pursuit of winning championships, the franchise has utilized a large payroll to recruit talent, particularly under former owner George Steinbrenner. Due in part to their success, the Yankees have garnered widespread popularity and a dedicated fanbase. The Yankees brand is recognized worldwide.
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The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's... American League. Since their inception in 1998, the club has played at Tropicana Field. Having finished in last place in nine of their first ten seasons, the Rays' first season with a winning record was 2008, when they won their first division title and proceeded to win the pennant. Since 2007, the Rays have had four straight winning seasons and three playoff appearances, including two AL East championships. In November 2007, majority owner Stuart Sternberg made significant changes to his franchise's image, changing the club's name from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to the "Tampa Bay Rays", which he described as "a beacon that radiates throughout Tampa Bay and across the entire state of Florida." The teams' primary colors, formerly black, green, and blue, were changed to navy blue, Columbia blue, and gold, and the team's symbol was changed from a devil ray to a ray of sunlight. The devil ray symbol, however, is still used on the sleeve of their jerseys, and there is still a tank of cownose rays in the outfield.
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The Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of... Major League Baseball 's American League . The "Blue Jays" name originates from the bird of the same name, and the fact that blue is the traditional colour of Toronto's other professional sports teams, the Maple Leafs and the Argonauts. Nicknamed "the Jays", the team's official colours are royal blue, navy blue, white, and red. An expansion franchise, the club was founded in Toronto in 1977, initially owned by the Labatt Brewing Company. Originally based at Exhibition Stadium, the team began playing its home games at the SkyDome, upon completion of its construction in 1989. Since 2000, the Blue Jays have been owned by Rogers Communications, and in 2004, the SkyDome was purchased by that company, which renamed the venue to Rogers Centre. They are the second MLB team to be based outside the United States, and currently the only team outside the U.S. after fellow Canadian franchise, the Montreal Expos, relocated to Washington, D.C. after the 2004 season .
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The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was... founded in Detroit in 1894 as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant 10 times . The team currently plays their home games at Comerica Park in Downtown Detroit. The Tigers constructed Bennett Park at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Trumbull Avenue and began playing there in 1896. In 1912, the team moved into Navin Field, which was built on the same location. It was expanded in 1938 and renamed Briggs Stadium. It was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961 and the Tigers played there until moving to Comerica Park in 2000. The club is a charter member of the American League, one of four clubs still located in its original city. Detroit is also the only member of the Western League, the AL's minor league predecessor, that remains in its original city under its original name.
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The Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. Enfranchised in 1977, the Mariners are a member of the Western... Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Safeco Field has been the Mariners' home ballpark since July 1999. From their 1977 inception until June 1999, the club's home park was the Kingdome. The "Mariners" name originates from the prominence of marine culture in the city of Seattle. They are nicknamed "the M's", a title featured in their primary logo from 1987–1992. The current team colors are Navy Blue, Northwest Green , and Metallic Silver, after having been Royal Blue and Gold from 1977–1992. Their mascot is the Mariner Moose. The organization did not field a winning team until 1991, and any real success eluded them until 1995 when they won their first division championship and defeated the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series. The game-winning hit in Game 5, in which Edgar Martinez drove home Ken Griffey, Jr. to win the game in the 11th inning, clinched a series win for the Mariners, and has since become an iconic moment in team history.
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