Jim Sundberg

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James Howard Sundberg (born May 18, 1951 in Galesburg, Illinois) is a former professional baseball catcher for a number of teams, most significantly the Texas Rangers. He batted and threw right-handed. As of February 2006 he is employed by the Texas Rangers as Executive Director to the President.

Sundberg graduated from the University of Iowa. While attending the University of Iowa he joined The Delta Upsilon Fraternity. In 1974, he made the rare jump from Class A level baseball to the major leagues with the Rangers, and finished fourth in the Rookie of the Year balloting (teammate Mike Hargrove won the award).

He was known for being one of the best fielding catchers of all time. He has a .993 all-time fielding percentage, and won 6 straight Gold Glove Awards. He completed 145 double plays in 1962 games in his career, 1927 of them as a catcher.

Sundberg ended his career with 1493 hits in 6021 at bats, good for a .248 batting average. He had 95 home runs and 624 RBIs in 1962 games. Sundberg won a World Series with the Kansas City Royals in 1985 (See: 1985 World Series). At the time of his retirement, Sundberg had caught more major league games than any man in history except his contemporary Bob Boone. ^[1] He still ranks fifth today. ^[2]

Sundberg was the first catcher to win 6 American League Gold Gloves, although Bob Boone won 5 in the AL and two more in the NL.

Galesburg High School, has named their main baseball field after Sundberg.

[edit] Highlights

• Spent his 1984 All-Star season playing for the Milwaukee Brewers when he was traded by the Rangers to Milwaukee for Ned Yost and Dan Scarpetta
• 3-time All-Star (1974, 78, 84)
• 6-time Gold Glove winner (1976-81)
• Top 10 in sacrifice hits, three times (1974, 75, 77)

[edit] External links

• Baseball Reference
• The Greatest Royals of All-Time- #93 Jim Sundberg