Pat Borders | |||
---|---|---|---|
Catcher | |||
Born: Columbus, Ohio |
May 14, 1963 |||
|
|||
MLB debut | |||
April 6, 1988, for the Toronto Blue Jays | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
July 27, 2005, for the Seattle Mariners | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Batting average | .253 | ||
Home runs | 69 | ||
Runs batted in | 346 | ||
Teams | |||
Career highlights and awards | |||
|
Medal record | ||
---|---|---|
Men's baseball | ||
Representing United States | ||
Olympic Games | ||
2000 Sydney | Team |
Patrick Lance Borders (born May 14, 1963) is an American former Major League Baseball catcher and current manager of the Williamsport Crosscutters. He was the Most Valuable Player of the 1992 World Series as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. Borders also won an Olympic gold medal with the United States baseball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
Borders was born in Columbus, Ohio, but spent the majority of his childhood in Lake Wales, Florida. He attended Lake Wales High School and was a standout in both football and baseball. He batted .440 as a junior, and as a senior he batted .510 with a school single season record 10 home runs and 36 RBI. Although he was offered a football/baseball scholarship to Mississippi State University, he turned it down to sign with the Blue Jays, who had drafted him in the sixth round of the 1982 Major League Baseball Draft.
Borders was brought up in the Toronto Blue Jays system and made his major league debut in 1988, playing in 56 games. Initially playing first and third base, he was converted to a catcher as his defense was deemed not strong enough to keep him in the majors. Over the next few seasons, he earned the full-time position behind the plate, and he was a cornerpiece of the 1992 and 1993 World Series champion teams. In the 1992 Series, he hit .450 with one home run en route to winning the World Series MVP award. On September 2, 1990, while with the Blue Jays, Borders caught Dave Stieb's no-hitter—the only one in franchise history to date.