Сэмюэл Фулд: Америкалық бейсболшының өмірі мен мансабы

American baseball player

Samuel Babson Fuld (born November 20, 1981) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and the current general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played eight seasons in MLB for the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics, and Minnesota Twins. He began his baseball career by twice batting .600 in high school, during which time Baseball America ranked him 19th in the country. Fuld played college baseball at Stanford University. There, he was a two time All American, set the school record for career runs scored, and established the College World Series record for career hits. Fuld was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 2004 Major League Baseball draft. He was an All Star two years later in the Florida State League. A year after that, Fuld was voted the Most Valuable Player in the Arizona Fall League. In the minor leagues—as a result of his defensive play—he was referred to as "a crash test dummy with a death wish", a "human wrecking ball act", a "wall magnet", and a "manager's dream and a trainer's worst nightmare". Fuld made his major league debut with the Cubs in 2007. He became a fan favorite for his defense and his tendency to run into outfield walls while making catches. Fuld batted .299 in his longest stint with the Cubs, but appeared only in late season call ups over three years. After the 2010 season, he was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays. Fuld made the Rays' 2011 opening day roster, and won the jobs of starting left fielder and leadoff hitter by mid April. Due to early season heroics, including a "Superman esque" catch, he was dubbed "Superman", "Super Sam", and "The Legendary Sam Fuld". Fuld's catch was put to Superman theme music in a YouTube video, and tweets about him went viral. In late April, Fuld led the American League (AL) in both batting average and steals. He played with the Rays through 2013. In 2014–2015, Fuld played for the Oakland A's (for two stints) and Minnesota Twins. Fuld played center field and batted lead off for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Fuld was born in Durham, New Hampshire. His father is Jewish and his mother is Catholic, and he has said that he was "kind of raised celebrating both" religions' holidays. He weighed at birth, so big he was nicknamed "Cool Papa Sam." He is the son of Kenneth Fuld, former Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Professor of Psychology at the University of New Hampshire, and Amanda Merrill, a former New Hampshire State Senator. He is also a second cousin, once removed, of former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld. He got his start playing baseball hitting plastic wiffle balls pitched by his grandmother when he was three years old. As a young child, Fuld carried around a copy of The Complete Baseball Handbook instead of a security blanket. Because of the climate, the league played a short baseball season, and some of the games were played as it snowed. Fuld batted .613 as a freshman, and .489 as a sophomore with 11 steals. He led his club to a league title as a junior in 1999, as he batted .600 with 9 steals. As a senior, he hit .550 with 6 homers, 12 RBIs, and 13 stolen bases. In addition he was a four time Central New England Prep School Baseball League All Conference player.|source=— Fuld
Ninety four colleges approached Fuld after high school, and he chose to attend Stanford University. He was an economics major there, graduating in 2004 with a 3.15 grade point average. He was a two time All American and a four year starter in center field for the Cardinal, playing alongside future major leaguers Carlos Quentin and Jed Lowrie. In 2001, as a freshman, he batted .357 as he established himself as the team's leadoff hitter. Fuld was fifth in the Pacific 10 (Pac 10) conference in runs scored (56), sixth in walks (32), and ninth in hits (81). In the post season he hit .596. He earned NCBWA Third Team All American honors, and was named a Baseball America Second Team Freshman All American, All College World Series, All NCAA Regional, All Pac 10, and a Collegiate Baseball Honorable Mention Freshman All American. Fuld also led the conference in total bases (162), was third in runs scored (67) and doubles (20), and fifth in triples (4). He was named a First Team (ABCA, Baseball America, Baseball Weekly) and Third Team (Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA) All American. He was also named a Jewish Sports Review College Baseball First Team All American, along with future major leaguers Craig Breslow and Adam Greenberg. In addition, Fuld earned the Stanford Jack Shepard Memorial Award and Come Through Award. He batted .421 with two homers in four CWS games, earning a spot on the All College World Series Team for the second straight year. And commenting on his defense, Stanford coach Mark Marquess said: "If it's in the ballpark, he's going to catch it. He's the premier center fielder in college baseball." Fuld was drafted in the 24th round (703rd overall) of the 2003 draft by the Chicago Cubs, but did not sign. Marquess thought that Fuld was drafted relatively late because of his size. At 5 ft 10 in, he is not as tall as most major league outfielders. But Fuld said of the Cubs' bid: "It was a generous offer. It was a tough choice." Before the 2004 season, Fuld was named a First Team (NCBWA), Second Team (Louisville Slugger), and Third Team (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball) Pre season All American, and an Honorable Mention Pac 10 All Academic. For the season, he received Honorable Mention to the Pac 10 All Academic Team and All Conference Team

When he became Stanford's and the Pac 10's all time leader in runs scored (268), Fuld said: "It means a lot to break the record. Obviously, a record like that is more of a tribute to the teammates I've had over the last four years." When he graduated from Stanford, he ranked among the school's all time top 10 in hits (353; # 2), triples (16; # 3T), and doubles (58; # 6T). The Cubs drafted him for a second time, in the 10th round (306th overall) of the 2004 draft, and this time Fuld signed, for a $25,000 signing bonus. When he made it to the major leagues, he became the 78th former Stanford Cardinal to do so. During the baseball off season, Fuld returned to Stanford to pursue a master's degree in statistics. "I was one of their reporters, which meant that I looked at game video and plotted the 'TVL'–type, velocity, and location–of every pitch", Fuld said. "They have this grid where you click on exactly where the ball crosses the plate. Play the tape, pause, and repeat." Fuld batted .300 with a .378 OBP and 22 steals in 353 at bats for the High A Daytona Cubs of the Florida State League in 2006, but he missed part of the season with a hip injury. He had surgery for a sports hernia in the off season. He was named to the league All Star team. In 2007, Fuld batted .291 with a .371 on base percentage, in 282 at bats, as he began the season with the Tennessee Smokies in the Double A Southern League. "He knows how to play the game, when to take a pitch, when to work the count, and when to go ahead and swing away and juice the ball", said his Tennessee manager, Pat Listach. "He's strong enough that he can hit the ball out of the yard occasionally. He's a gap, line drive type hitter." "He's a very intelligent player", added Listach. In August, Fuld was promoted to the Iowa Cubs in the Triple A Pacific Coast League. There, he batted .269, with a .397 on base percentage. Fuld played for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League in the Fall of 2007. On October 30, he was named AFL Player of the Week, after hitting .526. In 29 games with the Solar Sox, Fuld led the league in batting average (.402), hits (43), doubles (11), extra base hits (16), total bases (67), obp (.492), slugging percentage (.626), and OPS (1.118), and was 3rd in the league in runs (20) and walks (17), 4th in stolen bases (10), and 5th in triples (2). He batted .462 with runners in scoring position, and .500 against lefties. He also was named to the AFL Top Prospects Team. Fuld also won the Dernell Stenson Award for Leadership, becoming the first player to win both awards. He donated the money he raised in an auction to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. "This kid plays the game like it's supposed to be played", said Mesa Solar Sox manager Dave Clark.|source=— Matt Johnson, trainer for the Iowa Cubs
In 2008, Fuld started the season with the Triple A Iowa Cubs. There, due to his style of defensive play, he was referred to as "a crash test dummy with a death wish", a "human wrecking ball act", a "wall magnet", and a "manager's dream and a trainer's worst nightmare." Fuld had a "big winter" playing winter ball in Venezuela on the Tigres de Aragua, who he helped lead to a championship. He hit leadoff for Aragua, while batting .322 with 5 triples (leading the league), 36 walks and 43 runs (2nd), 16 doubles (5th), a .425 on base percentage (7th), and a .938 OPS (8th). For his 2008–09 winter performance, including walking nearly twice as much as he struck out, he was elected to the Baseball America All Winter League Team. Fuld began 2009 at Iowa, and hit .286 with 20 stolen bases and 8 triples in 73 games, including .326 versus left handed pitchers, primarily playing center field until he was called up on June 30. He walked 32 times compared to 22 strikeouts in 319 plate appearances, and had a .309 batting average with runners in scoring position.

In September 2007, the Chicago Cubs called Fuld up to the major league team. He was the 37th ballplayer from New Hampshire to make it to the major leagues. "I have so much respect for players like (Cubs first baseman) Derrek Lee", Fuld said. "They're great players. But to meet them and actually play with them and contribute and help them win is kind of a surreal experience. It doesn't seem too long ago that I was going to Fenway (Park in Boston) and idolizing these guys. I feel like a fan at times. I have to remind myself I'm a player." That month he was "forced" to sing Stanford's fight song on the team bus, as part of his rookie treatment. Later in the month, he was hazed after a game—made to walk from the park in Cincinnati to the team's downtown hotel in a Batgirl getup, accompanied by Félix Pie in pink baby pajamas, Carmen Pignatiello (as Supergirl), and Kevin Hart (as Wonder Woman). After peeking at his outfit, before he had to don it, Fuld said: "I think it was Batgirl. I was actually looking forward to it, believe it or not. [I didn't try it on] I'm pretty sure I would've looked good in it. Black's my color. I never did the frat thing in college, so this would kind of be like that." In mid September, as manager Lou Piniella had still not given Fuld an at bat, someone on the team hung a "Moonlight Graham" sign in Fuld's locker. Against the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 22, 2007, playing right field as a defensive replacement, Fuld raced back and made a "spectacular", "daredevil", catch just left of the 368 foot marker in right center field at Wrigley Field, slamming into the ivy covered brick wall and robbing the Pirates' Nyjer Morgan of extra bases. Fuld then bounced off the bricks and threw the ball to first base, doubling off a Pirates baserunner (see video of Fuld catch and throw to first). "That was amazing", said Fuld. "They were going crazy." General Manager Jim Hendry said: "That's as good a play as I've seen by a Cubs player at Wrigley Field since I've been here." The play later made ESPN on Baseball Tonight as the # 1 web gem of the day. After the season, Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune cited it as the Cubs' "Play of the Year." Many Cub fans refer to it as: "The Catch." Hendry observed: "[Fuld] can run. He's a tremendous defensive player." Hendry also indicated that Fuld was among the club's untouchables, saying: "We're not going to trade [Fuld]. It's pretty simple."

Fuld played for the Cubs in spring training in 2009, but was sent down to their AAA team in late March to work on stealing bases. He was called back up on June 30. Hendry said: "Sammy has been really hot. This will let Lou (manager Piniella) mix and match with outfield defense until Reed (Johnson) comes back." On July 1, 2009, Fuld recorded his first major league hit in his first major league start of the season and the second start of his career. Leading off the game Fuld hit a double against Virgil Vasquez of the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. In the fourth inning Fuld made a sliding catch of a sinking liner (see video of Fuld's sliding catch robbing Vazquez of a hit), and in the fifth inning he fielded a single and threw out Jack Wilson at home (see video). "It was huge", said Cubs starter Randy Wells. "Sam Fuld, man, he gets to so many balls. He made a [heck] of a play throwing that guy out—the perfect throw." Fuld hit the first home run of his major league career in the final game of the Cubs' 2009 season, on October 4 at Wrigley Field. He finished the season batting .299, and with the highest on base percentage (.409) of any Cubs player with 100 or more plate appearances.

Carrie Muskat, the Cubs' MLB. com beat reporter, wrote on March 1, 2010, that: "I can see Fuld making the Cubs' Opening Day roster Fuld has shown he can handle the part time workload, can play all three positions, and can be used as a defensive sub or pinch runner." On March 30, however, the Cubs sent him down to AAA Iowa. Piniella remarked: "The decisions weren't easy." Baseball writer Rob Neyer, noting that this followed Fuld batting .299 with a .409 on base percentage for the Cubs, wrote, "don't you think you could find a place for a fast guy who gets on base and plays great defense? The Cubs did find a place for him. No, not Wrigley Field. Not Heaven, either. Iowa. Again. Where Fuld posted a .383 on base percentage I'm telling you, there are worse fourth outfielders on half the teams in the majors right now." A writer for the American Spectator mused: "what were the Cubs thinking ? perhaps decision makers didn't pencil him into lineup cards because they were prejudiced against players of Fuld's stature. But those who don't believe guys of Fuld's size can be solid major league players should be sentenced to sit in the corner under the dunce hat, and read Joe Morgan's statistics over and over."