John Baker (baseball)
Encyclopedia
John David Baker is an American professional baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 catcher
Catcher
Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...

 for the San Diego Padres
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times...

 of Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

.

Personal

He graduated from De La Salle High School (Concord, California)
De La Salle High School (Concord, California)
De La Salle High School is a Roman Catholic Private school for boys in Concord, California, United States. Located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland, the school was founded in 1965 as a Lasallian institution. De La Salle currently enrolls just over 1,000 students, and roughly 99% of each...

 in 1999 before attending the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

. As a junior in 2002, he led the Pac-10 with a .383 batting average and was selected to the All Pac-10 team.

During the offseason he taught Physical Education at St. Isidore School in Danville, California
Danville, California
The Town of Danville is located in the San Ramon Valley in Contra Costa County, California. It is one of the incorporated municipalities in California that uses "town" in its name instead of "city". The population was 42,039 in 2010. Danville is one of the wealthiest suburbs of Oakland and San...

. Where his wife, Meghan used to teach.

John also enjoys broadcasting as he had a stint as a co-host with Rick Tittle on the SportsByline USA radio network. John is also a philanthropist who was nominated for the Roberto Clemente award, among other humanitarian awards. He visited the troops in the Middle East and he also helped victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

Florida Marlins

Baker was drafted in 2002
2002 Major League Baseball Draft
The 2002 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, was held on June 4 and 5.This year's draft is featured in Michael Lewis' 2003 book Moneyball.-First Round Selections:-Supplemental First Round Compensation Selections:...

 by the Oakland Athletics
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....

 in the 4th round of the amateur draft. He was mentioned several times in Michael Lewis'
Michael Lewis (author)
Michael Lewis is an American non-fiction author and financial journalist. His bestselling books include The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, Liar's Poker, The New New Thing, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, Panic and Home Game: An...

 2003 book Moneyball
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game is a book by Michael Lewis, published in 2003, about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Beane. Its focus is the team's modernized, analytical, sabermetric approach to assembling a competitive baseball team, despite...

.

His first major league hit was a solo home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...

 off Chan Ho Park of the Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...

 on July 10, . Since 2009 Baker has been sharing catching duty with teammate Ronny Paulino
Ronny Paulino
Ronny Leonel Paulino is a professional baseball player. He currently plays catcher for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball...

; Baker plays against right-handed pitchers while Paulino plays against left-handed pitchers.

At the end of the 2010 season, Baker had Tommy John Surgery
Tommy John surgery
Tommy John surgery, known in medical practice as ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, is a surgical procedure in which a ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with a tendon from elsewhere in the body...

, and didn't return to the majors untill late in the 2011 season, when the Marlins expanded their active roster for the "september callups", due to his rehabing from Tommy John Surgery.

San Diego Padres

On November 22, 2011, Baker was traded to the San Diego Padres
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times...

 for Wade LeBlanc
Wade LeBlanc
Wade Matthew LeBlanc is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball.-2006-07: Draft and pro debut:...

.

External links

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