Jason Gilbert Giambi (born January 8, 1971) is a Major League Baseball first baseman and designated hitter for the New York Yankees.
He was the American League MVP in 2000 with the Oakland Athletics, and is a 5-time All-Star who has led the American League in walks 4 times, in on base percentage 3 times, in doubles and in slugging percentage once each, and won the Silver Slugger award twice.
Through December 2006, he is 4th in the majors of all active players in hit by pitch (127; he has been hit 8 times by David Wells in 30 at bats), 6th in on base percentage (.413), and 8th in walks (1,089).
He also is 3rd in the majors in the 2000s, through 2006, in both obp (.438) and walks (551), 10th in slugging percentage (.582), 13th in home runs (175), and 16th in RBIs (526).
Born in West Covina, California, Giambi attended Sierra Vista Middle School in Covina, California.
He then attended South Hills High School, where he was a 3-sport standout. Jason was on the baseball team, whose roster also included his brother Jeremy Giambi and 2 other future Major Leaguers, pitchers Cory Lidle and Aaron Small. He batted .386 during his 3 years of varsity baseball, leading his team to the state finals as a senior. He was voted MVP in both baseball and basketball. In football, he was an All-League quarterback.
Giambi went on to play collegiately at Long Beach State University. Giambi also was a stand-out player on the USA baseball team.
Giambi was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 2nd round in 1992.
He was a member of the 4th-place United States national baseball team at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
Before making it into MLB, Jason played a season for the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks, Alaska in the Alaska Baseball League.
Oakland Athletics (1995-2001)
Giambi made his major league debut in 1995 with the Oakland Athletics. The team called him up as he was hitting .342 with a .444 obp in Triple-A. Originally used occasionally as an outfielder, third baseman, and first baseman, he assumed the full-time first base job upon the trade of Mark McGwire to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1997.
Giambi led the team in 1998 with 27 home runs, 110 RBI, and a .295 batting average.
Giambi was even better in 1999, when he hit .315 with 33 homers, 105 walks (2nd in the league), and 123 RBI (6th). He came in 8th in MVP voting.
He had a sensational 2000 season. He led the league in on base percentage (.476; leading the majors) and walks (137; a personal high, and still the highest most walks in the AL since 1991). He hit .333 (7th in the league) with 43 homers (2nd; a career high), 137 RBI (4th; a career high), 108 runs (10th), and a 647 slugging percentage (3rd). Giambi narrowly won the American League MVP award over Frank Thomas.
His 2001 season was nearly identical. He led the league for the second year in a row in both on base percentage (.477; a career best, and still the highest OBP in the AL since 1995) and walks (129). He also led the league in slugging percentage (.660; a career best), doubles (47; a career high), times on base (320), and extra base hits (87). He batted .342 (2nd in the American League; a career high) with 38 homers (7th), 109 runs (6th), and 120 RBI (8th). He was second in the league in intentional walks (24), the only time in his career that he was in the top 10 in this category. He finished a close second in MVP voting to rookie Ichiro Suzuki, and won the Silver Slugger award.
Both years, he led the Athletics to the post-season, both times losing in the American League Division Series to the New York Yankees.
In the off-season after the 2001 season, Giambi became a free agent for the first time.
New York Yankees (2001-current)
Giambi signed a 7-year $120-million deal with the perennially contending New York Yankees. This upset many Athletics fans, who felt betrayed by the departure of their team leader. Giambi remains an object of the A's fans' wrath whenever New York visits Oakland. During a game on May 14, 2005, he was hit with a beer thrown by an unruly fan on his way back to the dugout. New York fans, however, having seen their team pass on Manny Ramírez the previous off-season, were excited to add a top hitter to their offense, which was anemic throughout the 2001 post-season.
Giambi continued slugging with New York in 2002. He led the league for the 2nd consecutive year in times on base (300), had 109 walks (2nd), was 3rd in the league with both a .435 obp and 15 HBP, had 41 home runs (4th), 120 runs (4th; a career high), and a .598 slugging percentage (4th), knocked in 122 runs (5th), and batted .314 (6th). He came in 5th in AL MVP voting, and again won the Silver Slugger award. He also hit an "ultimate grand slam" -- a walk-off grand slam against the Twins, that won that game 13-12.
Although his average dipped to .250 in 2003, he led the league in walks (129) for the 3rd time in his career and in HBP (21) and percent of plate appearances that were walks (19.4%),[1] maintained an extremely high on-base percentage (.412; 3rd in the league), hit 41 home runs (4th), and had 107 RBI (8th). He was also second in the major leagues in fly ball percentage (52.0%). He remained one of the most patient hitters in the majors. At the same time, he also led the league in strikeouts (140), the only season that he has even been in the top 10 in the league in that category.
On July 30, 2004, test results confirmed that Giambi had a benign tumor, which placed him on the disabled list. He was treated for the tumor, and returned to the team and played in a game on September 14.
Towards the middle of the 2005 season, Giambi saw a resurgence in his career. On July 31 he hit his 300th career home run off of Esteban Yan of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. This was his 14th home run of the month, tying Mickey Mantle for the Yankee record for home runs in July. Giambi ended the 2005 season leading the major leagues in walk percentage (20.6%) and leading the American League in walks for the 4th time in his career (109), and in OBP for the 3rd time in his career (.440, as well as in fly ball percentage (47.7%); second in MLB to Todd Helton), and had an OPS of .975, placing him 5th in the AL. He hit 32 homers (10th in the league), the 7th time in his career in which he has hit 30 or more, and was 4th in HBP (19) and at-bats per home run (13.0). Giambi was named the AL Comeback Player of the Year.
In 2006 Giambi was named the American League Player of the Month for April, hitting .344 with 9 home runs and driving in 27 runs (RBI). However, he was left off the 2006 American League All-Star roster. He finished the season leading the majors in in walk percentage (19.8%) and leading the league in % Pitches Taken (64.4), 2nd in walks (110), hbp (16), and pitches seen per PA (4.37), 5th in at bats per home run (12.1), 6th in on base percentage (.416), 7th in home runs (37) and slugging percentage (.558), 8th in intentional walks (12), and 9th in RBIs (113), despite playing in only 139 games (half of them at DH, and half at 1B) for the 2nd year in a row. He performed the unusual feat of having as many RBIs as hits, and for the 3rd time in his career had more walks than strikeouts.
Source : Wikipedia
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Jason Giambi Got Beat Up By a DoorWhen Jason Giambi showed up at Tropicana Field on Wednesday night, his teammates and the media noticed a gash by his right eye. His eyelid was bruised and swollen, and he looked like he'd just stepped out of a boxing ring after getting ... Continue reading
Jason Giambi Uses Oldest Excuse In BookJason Giambi came to the park yesterday looking like Rocky Balboa after 10 rounds with Drago. His right eye had a deep gash framed in grotesque purples and greens. You hate to see someone messed up like that, and "how'd it happen" is ... Continue reading
Jason Giambi Gets Beat Up By an Inanimate ObjectJason Giambi had trouble navigating through a doorway yesterday. I'm sure it was just a simple mistake and there was no alcohol involved. After all, the Yankees are in the middle of a pennant chase would need to stay on top of their ... Continue reading
JASON GIAMBI GOT ANOTHER GASHGet it? ‘Cause he already has a vagina? That one has a mustache too! However, some people are curious about the origins of the new facial gash that Giambino is sporting these days. Turns out that gash has been worked in the restroom as ... Continue reading
Jason Giambi Uses Oldest Excuse In BookJason Giambi Uses Oldest Excuse In Book Jason Giambi came to the park yesterday looking like Rocky Balboa after 10 rounds with Drago . His right eye had a deep gash framed in grotesque purples and greens. You hate to see someone messed ... Continue reading
Jason Giambi blames bathroom door for gash above eyeJason Giambi blames bathroom door for gash above eye As someone who's sleptwalk his way into any number of hotel closets, nightstands and television cabinets, my initial impulse is to believe Jason Giambi's explanation for the gash he's ... Continue reading
Jason Giambi Ends Red Sox Sweep DreamsI can't wait for Jason Giambi and his ugly mustache to be watching the playoffs on TV... (AP Photo). If the Red Sox were able to pull off yesterdays win (which they should have) the death toll would be singing loud and clear for the ... Continue reading
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Jason Giambi saves season with two big hits as Yankees beat Red SoxWiths seven outs to go in Thursday's finale against the Red Sox, it looked like the Yankees were sleepwalking their way to a meaningless September. Jon Lester had manhandled the Bombers all afternoon, limiting them to four harmless ... Continue reading
Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi Are Killing The Yankees Playoffs ...Giambi should be batting 7th and come out late in the game as I have written about in my struggles of Jason Giambi post. If you want to stay righty/lefty, then just bat Hideki Matsui 5th and Xavier Nady 6th. ... Continue reading
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