Chuck Knoblauch

[William Malone]

Edward Charles Knoblauch was born on July 7, 1968 in Houston, Texas.

The Minnesota Twins used the 25th overall pick on Knoblauch in 1989, and it didn't take long for him to reach the Major League level. He was the Twins starting second baseman on Opening Day in 1991, winning Rookie of the Year honors and helping Minnesota win their second World Series in a five year stretch. Knoblauch continued to improve as the years went on, and he quickly established himself as one of the best players in franchise history.

His 276 stolen bases is the most by any player in a Twins uniform, as is his single season clip of 62 steals in 1997. Knoblauch led the Majors with 45 doubles in 1994, which was a Twins record at the time. That mark has since been broken by Marty Cordova (46 in 1996) and Justin Morneau (47 in 2008), but it's possible that Knoblauch would still have this record if the 1994 season wasn't cut short by a player's strike. He was an All-Star four times while in Minnesota, winning two Silver Slugger awards and a Gold Glove.

This was the guy Minnesota wanted to build their franchise around after the retirements of Kent Hrbek and Kirby Puckett. After not trading away the free agent to be at the 1996 deadline, the Twins signed Knoblauch to the largest contract in franchise history on August 24th of that year. It seemed like he was destined to be a Twin for life, and then things changed.

Just one year later, Knoblauch demanded a trade. He was shipped off to the New York Yankees for prospects Cristian Guzman, Eric Milton, Brian Buchanan and Danny Mota. Knoblauch won three more rings in the Bronx, but he was only a small part of the dynasty as his skills began to decline. After hitting .319 with a 127 OPS+ over the previous four seasons before getting traded, he hit .272 with a 100 OPS+ during his four seasons with the Yankees. But the more infamous part of his decline came in the field, as Knoblauch developed the "yips" and was no longer able to complete the short throw from second to first base. He was strictly a DH by the end of 2000, and moved to left field in 2001.

While playing left field as a visitor at the Metrodome in 2001, fans began throwing debris in the direction of their former star. Umpires pulled the Yankees off a field that was littered with beer bottles, hot dogs, and a few golf balls. This caused a lengthy delay, and more than 40 fans were ejected. 

 

Since retiring, Knoblauch has had his share of legal troubles. He was charged with assaulting a family member by choking after an incident with his wife in 2009, which is a third degree felony in Texas. Knoblauch pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge, and received one year probation. He was arrested again for similar charges in 2014, which prompted the Twins to cancel his upcoming Twins Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Knoblauch was also named as a steroid user in the 2007 Mitchell Report, which cited a link to the same trainer who was providing Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte with performance enhancing drugs. The report alleged that this trainer, Brian McNamee, injected Knoblauch with human growth hormone around seven to nine times during the 2001 season. Knoblauch later admitted this was true, making clear that 2001 was the only time he used such drugs in his career. His poor hitting during that season made him add that "it was not performance enhancing for me."

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[Bodie]

It takes a lot of... personality to cause Twins fans to go full-on Philly, but little Chucky did it!

People forget just how popular he was before he piddled it down his leg.  If he wasn't your favorite Twin at the time, you still saw a huge career ahead of him.  And as a Twin.

His career ended with much of the state of Minnesota quietly chuckling to themselves as they heard the latest on him.  And to have him stinking up Yankee Stadium?  A lot of us laughed out loud, and talked of karma or some such.