DAVID JUSTICE

'David Justice' (born April 14 1966 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a former right fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Atlanta Braves (1989-96), Cleveland Indians (1997-2000), New York Yankees (2000-01), and Oakland Athletics (2002).

Contents

Baseball career

Later baseball career

Honours

Television/Broadcasting Career

Trivia

References

See also

External links

Baseball career

===Atlanta Braves===
Justice made his major league debut in May 1989, playing for the last-place Braves. The young right fielder earned the starting job after Braves fan favorite Dale Murphy was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. Justice promptly went on an offensive tear during the second half of the 1990 season, finishing with 28 home runs, which certainly helped him claim the National League's Rookie of the Year Award. In 1991, the Braves suddenly found themselves as a winning team, and Justice, who finished with 87 runs batted in despite being injured for part of the season, played in his first World Series.
After seeing his production slide slightly in 1992, Justice enjoyed a monster 1993 season. He clubbed 40 home runs and 120 RBIs with 78 walks, finishing third in MVP voting behind Barry Bonds and Lenny Dykstra. Justice was batting .313 with a .427 on base percentage and .531 slugging average when the strike ended play in 1994.
When baseball returned in 1995, Justice helped his teammates to victory in the 1995 World Series against the Cleveland Indians with a crucial home run in Game 6 to provide the only run in a 1-0 game that clinched the championship.
In May 1996, a swing and miss in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates caused a season-ending shoulder injury. It would prove to be Justice's last at bat as a Brave. On ESPN, Justice stated,
''"I love the Braves, so when John Schuerholz looked me in my face and told me "I bet my house and my family that you won't be traded" that's good enough confidence for me coming from a General Manager, one week later GONE."''
===Cleveland Indians===
Justice proved right away that he had many good years left. He hit .329 with a .418 OBP and .596 slugging average in 1997, with 33 home runs, while making another World Series appearance. He posted solid numbers in 1998 and 1999 with Cleveland before his big year in 2000. That season, he hit .286 with a .377 OBP and .584 slugging average, and slugged 41 homers with 118 RBIs.
===New York Yankees===
This strong season persuaded the New York Yankees to trade three players (Jake Westbrook, Zach Day and Ricky Ledee) for him in late June. Justice won the 2000 AL Championship Series MVP Award en route to his second world championship.

Later baseball career

His production slid considerably in 2001, and he was traded to the New York Mets, then the Oakland Athletics after the season. He played a final season on an Oakland team which reached the playoffs in 2002. Justice finished his career as a .279 hitter, with a .378 OBP and .500 slugging average, 305 home runs, 903 walks and 1017 RBI in 1610 games. He will become eligible for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.

Honours

In March of 2007, it was announced that David Justice would be inducted into the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame. He was the first member of any of the Braves' fourteen consecutive division title teams (1991-2005, excluding the strike-shortened season in 1994) to be inducted in the Braves Hall of Fame. The induction took place on August 17, and Newnan, Georgia rap star Dizzyd along with numerous ex Braves players and coaches attended 2007.

Television/Broadcasting Career

After his playing career, Justice wanted to stay around baseball and for two years he served as a commentator for ESPN baseball telecasts. He later moved on the the YES Network of the New York Yankees and broadcasted games and hosted pre and post game shows. He is currently the host of Kids On Deck.

Trivia

★ Justice graduated from Covington, Kentucky Covington Latin School at age 16 in 1982. He skipped the seventh and eighth grades.

★ Attended Thomas More College in Crestview Hills, Kentucky.

★ While growing up, he wanted to play in the NBA. His mother didn't think he would make it to the NBA and stressed that he receive a good education.

★ Justice was married to film actress Halle Berry between 1993 and 1996. He is currently married to Rebecca Villalobos.

★ He has two sons, David Jr. (b. 27 December 1999 with Nicole Foster) and Dionisio (b. 7 June 2002 with current wife Rebecca).

★ In fourteen seasons in the league, Justice reached the World Series six times (1991, 1992, 1995, 1997, 2000, and 2001) and made the playoffs ten times (with each of his four teams).

★ For two years, Justice was a color commentator for ESPN's baseball telecasts. Currently, he serves as a studio analyst for the YES Network's New York Yankees Pre-Game Show and New York Yankees Post-Game Show, and hosts the network's ''Kids on Deck''.

★ Justice's addition to Oakland was referred to as an 'experiment' by A's assistant GM Paul DePodesta.^[1] The experiment was to evaluate whether hitters retained their ability to get on base as they got older (kept their batter's eye). His .378 OBP and BB/K ratio of greater than 1:1 seemed to prove that correct.

★ Justice is mentioned in Moneyball as one of the players Oakland brought in to replace the loss of Jason Giambi to free agency.

★ Once appeared on the TV show The Young and the Restless.

★ A member of the fraternity Omega Psi Phi Inc.

References

1. http://danjulien.atspace.com/beane.htm


http://www.ajc.com/braves/content/sports/braves/stories/2007/03/26/0327justice.html

See also

★ Top 500 home run hitters of all time

★ List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI

External links

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