Ray Durham

Infobox MLB player
name=Ray Durham


width=250
position=Second baseman
team=Milwaukee Brewers
number=5
bats=Switch
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1971|11|30
birthplace=city-state|Charlotte|North Carolina
debutdate=April 26
debutyear=1995
debutteam=Chicago White Sox
statyear=September 25, 2008
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.277
stat2label=Home runs| stat2value=192
stat3label=Runs batted in
stat3value=875
teams=
*Chicago White Sox (by|1995-by|2002)
*Oakland Athletics (by|2002)
*San Francisco Giants (by|2003-by|2008)
*Milwaukee Brewers (by|2008-present)

Ray Durham (born November 30, 1971 in city-state|Charlotte|North Carolina), nicknamed The Sugarman, is a Major League Baseball second baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers.

A two-time All-Star, Durham in his prime was one of the premier offensive catalysts in all of baseball, providing prototypical lead-off hitting with power. He is a 12-year major league veteran owning a .277 lifetime batting average with 1,222 runs scored, 2,015 hits, 426 doubles, 79 triples, 189 home runs, 858 RBI and 271 stolen bases in 1,925 career games. Durham is considered an average fielder. Though he has solid range on pop-ups, he has been plagued by below-average hands throughout his career. His arm is considered average.

Early life

He graduated from Harding University High School in Charlotte in 1990, where he played baseball and football. He was on the state select baseball team and was an honorable mention All-American defensive back. He did not attend college as he began playing minor league baseball with the Gulf Coast White Sox. Ray Durham was originally a 5th round pick by the Chicago White Sox in by|1990. He still resides in North Carolina in the off-season, in a small town called Stanley, North Carolina.

Major League career

Chicago White Sox (1995–2002)

Durham was a member of the Chicago White Sox from by|1995 to by|2002. Durham was a leadoff hitter during these years of his career. Durham established himself as one of baseballs better leadoff hitters with above league average on base percentages and averaging well over 20 stolen bases and 10 home runs per season. His performance from by|2000 to 2002 was exceptional. By posting at least 15 home runs with 100 runs, 20 steals, a .450 slugging percentage and 65 RBI in three consecutive seasons, Durham became just the 10th player in baseball history to accomplish such a feat. Durham is in great company, with the list including Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Joe Morgan, as well as current superstars Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez. Durham left Chicago as the club's all-time leader in leadoff home runs (20), while ranking fifth in steals (219), 7th in doubles (249) and extra base hits (408) and 8th in runs (784).

Oakland Athletics (2002)

Durham was traded to the Oakland Athletics before the 2002 baseball trading deadline for right-handed pitcher Jon Adkins. Durham's hitting helped push the A's into the 2002 playoffs. The Durham deal was a prototypical "rent a player" trade that can occur at the trading deadline. The A's, who constantly rank among the bottom teams in baseball in player salaries, made a trade for the short-term playoff push. With the A's limited finances, it was well known in baseball circles that Durham would most likely re-sign elsewhere.

an Francisco Giants (2003–2008)

After the 2002 season, Durham signed a three-year contract $20.1m with the San Francisco Giants with a $7m player option for a fourth year that was later exercised [ESPN.com news service. "Giants sign two former All-Stars, offer Kent arbitration." December 7, 2002. http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/1207/1473034.html. Accessed on August 26, 2007] . The health Durham displayed during the earlier years of his career vanished. Between 1996 and 2002, Durham appeared in at least 150 games each season, but in by|2003 he only appeared in 110 games and in by|2004 he appeared in 120. Recurring hamstring injuries and other injuries caused Durham to spend time on the disabled list. The injuries also hampered Durham's success when he was on the field. Durham's running game and stolen bases dropped as Durham tried to protect his hamstrings from reinjury. Despite these injuries, Durham did post solid offensive numbers during his time in the line up.

Because of Durham's injuries that limited his speed and the recurring injuries to Giants outfielder Moisés Alou, Durham was given the opportunity to bat fifth in the batting order more often. Durham was batted fifth regularly in by|2006. In the 2005-2006 off-season, Durham adopted a new work out and strength conditioning routine. The result was a healthy Durham and perhaps his best offensive year in 2006 when in 137 games he batted .293 with career highs in slugging percentage (.538), home runs (26), RBI (93).

Durham re-signed with the Giants for a two-year contract worth $14.5 million on December 2, 2006 [Associated Press. "Durham agrees to two-year deal with Giants." December 1, 2006. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2682749. Accessed on August 26, 2007. ] . Giants general manager Brian Sabean lauded Durham for making an impressive transition from a lead off hitter to a middle of the order run producer [Schulman, Henry. "Durham returning to the Giants: Feliz should be next; Bonds still up in air." December 2, 2006. The San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/02/SPG4OMO6U11.DTL&hw=Brian+Sabean+Ray+Durham+sign+year+deal&sn=005&sc=729. Accessed August 26, 2007.] .

After re-signing with the Giants, Durham struggled in by|2007. Durham called the season "embarrassing" and the "worst" of his career. Durham admitted that his defense has suffered because he was thinking about his hitting while on defense. Durham claims he has had trouble adjusting to the new strategy to pitch against him that includes throwing cutters inside and throwing curveballs on the outside corner. Some Giants fans and radio personalities criticized Durham's performance in 2006 as being motivated by money because 2006 was Durham's contract year. Durham denied these claims and claimed that almost every year is a contract year. [Schulman, Henry. "Durham's struggles affecting entire game." Sunday, August 26, 2007. The San Francisco Chronicle. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/26/SPN0RPFPJ.DTL. Accessed August 26, 2007. ]

On August 21, 2007, against Sergio Mitre of the Florida Marlins, Durham fouled a pitch at the plate that bounced up and hit his groin. He would go on to single on the next pitch. "I was swinging at the first thing so I could sit down," Durham said. "Then, I end up with a knock and I had to run from first to third. It did not feel good". [Schulman, Henry. "Ortiz struggles to keep his pitching arm right." San Francisco Chronicle. Tuesday, August 21, 2007. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2007/08/21/SP4VRLUV0.DTL. Accessed on August 21, 2007.]

Ray Durham has also gained fame and popularity through his nickname: "Ray-Ray." As he once said in a clubhouse interview, Durham prefers the nickname because it brings out his youthful attitude and enjoyment of the game of baseball.

On September 9, 2007, Durham hit a pinch-hit three-run homer in the 8th inning to help San Francisco beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2.

On June 12, 2008, Durham got his 2000th hit off Colorado Rockies pitcher Greg Reynolds.

Milwaukee Brewers (2008-present)

On July 20, 2008, Durham, was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for minor league pitcher Steve Hammond and minor league outfielder Darren Ford.

ee also

*Top 500 home run hitters of all time
*List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
*List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
*List of Major League Baseball players with 2000 hits

References

External links

*baseballstats|mlb=113660 |espn=3163 |br=d/durhara01 |fangraphs=230 |cube=D/ray-durham
* [http://sidewalkstv.com/webclips/d/raydurham.html Ray Durham 2007 Interview] on "Sidewalks Entertainment"