Mark Teixeira

Few baseball players have ever achieved the level of success in the short time span than that of New York Yankee’s first baseman and sports speaker Mark Teixeira. Growing up in a house devoted to baseball, it’s no surprise that by the time Teixeira was four. After playing varsity ball for his high school for four years, Teixeira was drafted by the Boston Redsox, an offer he refused. He in turn decided to attend Georgia Tech, making one of the best decisions of his life young life. In his first year, he batted fifth in the entire ACC. The next year he would lead the ACC in every stat except RBI, which he lost by three to his teammate, Jason Basil. He easily won National Player of the Year. After his junior year, Teixeira was drafted by the Texas Rangers. He spend only one year in the minor leagues before making his major league debut in 2003. Teixeira was easily one of the team’s most valuable players, consistently batting above .300 and slugging homers by the dozen. In mid-2007, the Atlanta Braves where in desperate need for a power hitter and Teixeira fit the bill, smacking a three-run homer in his first game as a Brave. At the end of the season, Teixeira was traded to the Los Angeles Angels, where he spent a year. At the conclusion of that season, Teixeira became a free agent. The best offer he received was from the Boston Redsox, before the New York Yankees casually pronounced that they would match anything Boston had to offer.  Assuming all else to be equal, Teixeira did what any reasonable married man would do – asked his wife. She said she wanted to see him in pinstripes. In his first year after signing with the Yankees Teixeira helped bring the Yankees to their 27^th World Series title, edging out the Philadelphia Phillies in 6 games. For his performance in the World Series, Teixeira received both the Golden Glove award and the Silver Slugger award. In 2006 Teixeira and his wife set up the Mark Teixeira Charitable Fund, which supports many scholarships for college-hopefuls. When not on the field, Teixeira enjoys hunting, fishing, and Broadway musicals.