| Name |
Jason Giambi |
| Height |
|
| Naionality |
American |
| Date of Birth |
8-January-1971 |
| Place of Birth |
West Covina, California |
| Famous for |
Baseball Player |
Jason Giambi is an American professional baseball first baseman, who is a free agent. He was the American League MVP in 2000 while with the Oakland Athletics, and is a five-time All-Star who has led the American League in walks four times, in on base percentage three times, and in doubles and in slugging percentage once each, and won the Silver Slugger award twice. Giambi took performance-enhancing drugs during his career, for which use he has publicly apologized. Giambi was named one of the Top 10 Most Superstitious Athletes by Men's Fitness.
Giambi made his major league debut in 1995 with the Oakland Athletics. Originally used occasionally as an outfielder, third baseman, and first baseman, he assumed the full-time first base job upon the trade of Mark McGwire to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1997. Giambi led the team in 1998 with 27 home runs, 110 RBIs, and a .295 batting average. In 1999, Giambi hit .315 with 33 homers, 105 walks (2nd in the league), and 123 RBIs (6th). He came in 8th in MVP voting. In the 2000 season he led the league in on base percentage (.476; leading the majors) and walks (137; a personal high and still the most walks in the AL since 1991). He hit .333 (7th in the league) with 43 homers (2nd; a career high), 137 RBIs (4th; a career high), 108 runs (10th), and a .647 slugging percentage (3rd). Giambi narrowly won the American League MVP award over Frank Thomas. In his 2001 season was nearly identical. He led the league for the second year in a row in both on base percentage (.477; a career best, and still the highest OBP in the AL since 1995) and walks (129). He also led the league in slugging percentage (.660; a career best), doubles (47; a career high), times on base (320), and extra base hits (87). He batted .342 (2nd in the American League; a career high) with 38 homers (7th), 109 runs (6th), and 120 RBIs (8th). He was second in the league in intentional walks (24), the only time in his career that he was in the top 10 in this category. He finished a close second in MVP voting to rookie Ichiro Suzuki, and won the Silver Slugger award.
Both years, he led the Athletics to the post-season, both times losing in the American League Division Series to the New York Yankees in 5 games. On January 6, 2009, Giambi agreed to sign with the Oakland Athletics. He officially re-joined the A's the next day, and was given his old No. 16 jersey. Giambi hit his first home run since returning to the Athletics on April 25, 2009. On May 23, 2009, Giambi hit his 400th career home run in a 8–7 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was placed on the disabled list on July 20. At the time he had the lowest batting average in the majors, and 4th-lowest slugging percentage in the American League. On August 7, 2009, he was released by the A's.
