Danny Graves

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Danny Graves**

Minnesota Twins — No. --
Relief pitcher
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
July 13, 1996 for the Cleveland Indians
Selected MLB statistics (through 2007)
Saves	182
Earned run average	4.05
Strikeouts	429
Former teams
Cleveland Indians (1996-1997) Cincinnati Reds (1997-2005) New York Mets (2005) Cleveland Indians (2006)

Daniel Peter Graves (born August 7, 1973 in Saigon, South Vietnam) is a relief pitcher for the Minnesota Twins organization. Born to an American serviceman father and a Vietnamese mother, he is the first and only Vietnam-born player in the history of the Major Leagues, and one of the few Vietnamese-American players.

1 Biography
- 1.1 High school and college
- 1.2 Major League Baseball career
2 Personal Life
- 2.1 See also
- 2.2 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] High school and college

Graves's family moved to the U.S. when he was fourteen months old. He graduated from Brandon High School in Brandon, Florida and was awarded a baseball scholarship to the University of Miami. As a right-handed relief pitcher for the school as a junior, he posted a 0.89 earned run average and led collegiate baseball with a school-record 21 saves.

[edit] Major League Baseball career

In 1994, Graves was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the fourth round of the amateur MLB draft. Two days after being drafted, he tore his ACL during the College World Series. After a year of rehabilitation, he was named Cleveland's top minor league pitcher of 1995, and was in the major leagues a year later. He was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in July 1997.

In his first nine seasons with Cleveland and Cincinnati, Graves compiled a 40-42 record as a pitcher with 406 strikeouts, a 3.89 ERA, and 172 saves in 755.2 innings. He is the only player ever to have more than one season in which all the hits were home runs. This happened in 2000 and 2001, with one homer each.

On May 23, 2005, Graves was released by Cincinnati after a poor start to the season and after making an obscene gesture to a heckler who reportedly yelled racial slurs at him. He subsequently was signed as a free agent by the New York Mets on June 11, 2005.

After putting up a 5.89 ERA with the Mets, he was designated for assignment on August 23, 2005. He cleared waivers and was sent to AAA Norfolk on August 26, but was called back up to the Mets when rosters expanded. Graves was 0-2 with an 18.00 ERA in five games with Norfolk [1].

On December 19, 2005, Graves signed a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians. Graves pitched well in spring training, earning a spot in the Indian bullpen, but he was designated for assignment on May 12, 2006, after he opened the season with a 2-1 record and 5.79 ERA in 13 relief appearances [2].

On May 18, 2006, Graves was assigned to the Indians' AAA affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons, in Buffalo. He finished the 2006 season with the Bisons, with a 4.01 ERA (1 Win 1 Loss).

Graves signed a minor-league deal with the Rockies on December 19, 2006. On March 24, 2007 the Rockies released him.

During the 2007 season Graves was on the roster of the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, leading the league in saves. [3]

Graves later tried out for the Rochester Red Wings, a minor league affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, signing with the team on 3/30/2008.

[edit] Personal Life

Danny has 4 kids with his ex-wife Andrea. Three are biological and one is adopted. Danny is the first ever Vietnamese born MLB player. Danny also has reportedly gotten three women pregnant after his divorce with Andrea. He denies these allegations.