Casey Close
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Born: October 21, 1963 Columbus, Ohio |
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Casey Richard Close (born October 21, 1963) is an American sports agent and former college and professional baseball player.
Close was born in Columbus, Ohio and graduated from Worthington High School before attending the University of Michigan on a baseball scholarship. He played for the Michigan Wolverines baseball team from 1983 to 1986. As a freshman, he hit a grand slam to help Michigan defeat Stanford and advance to the final four in the College World Series. As a senior in 1986, Close won the batting triple crown in the Big Ten Conference with a 469 batting average, seven home runs and 19 RBIs. In 1986, he was also selected as Michigan's team captain, the Big Ten Conference Player of the Year, the Baseball America National Player of the Year, a first-team All-American and the Big Ten Medal of Honor winner. Close holds the University of Michigan career records for home runs (46) and runs scored (190), and his .869 slugging percentage in 1986 is a single-season record among Michigan baseball players. Close also ranks among Michigan's all-time leaders in several other statistical categories, including games played (2nd all-time with 229 games played), runs batted in (3rd all-time with 185 RBIs) and career batting average (4th all-time at .373).Barry Larkin, who played with Close at Michigan, recalled: "He had power, but didn't have a lot of speed, and that's about all he didn't have. He had a great arm, power and a nice bat."
In January 2011, Close was named as one of the 2011 inductees into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor.
Close was drafted by the New York Yankees in the seventh round of the 1986 MLB Draft. He played minor league baseball for the Oneonta Yankees (1986), Albany-Colonie Yankees (1987–1988), Columbus Clippers (1988) and Calgary Cannons (1989–1990). He had his best season in professional baseball in 1989 when he appeared in 95 games for Calgary (the Seattle Mariners' AAA club), batting .330 with a .503 slugging percentage, 38 extra base hits and 56 RBIs.
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