Jason Bay

With his 26 home runs, Bay broke a Pirates rookies record of 23 set by Johnny Rizzo in 1936 and matched by Ralph Kiner in 1946.

Jason Raymond Bay (born September 20, 1978) is a Canadian-American former professional baseball left fielder who played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB).

Initially drafted by the Montreal Expos, he played for the San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Seattle Mariners.

In youth baseball, Bay's Trail little league team reached the 1990 Little League World Series.

Bay attended North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene and Gonzaga University in Spokane, where he played college baseball from 1997-2000 In 1999, he played for the Chatham Athletics in the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Bay was drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 22nd round of the 2000 Major League Baseball draft and was assigned to the Expos' Short-Season A team in Burlington, Vermont, the Vermont Expos.

In 2001, Bay was assigned to the Expos’ High Single-A team in the Florida State League, the Jupiter Hammerheads.

He began the year slowly, and in May was moved to the Clinton LumberKings of the Midwest League, where Bay reached base in his first 26 games, then went on to bat .362 and win the league batting title.

In all, he batted .315 with 14 home runs and 75 runs batted in on the year.

The Expos traded Bay to the New York Mets on March 24, 2002, with Jim Serrano for Lou Collier.

At the trading deadline on July 31, 2002, the Mets traded Bay to the San Diego Padres with Josh Reynolds and Bobby Jones for Jason Middlebrook and Steve Reed.

Bay debuted with the Padres on May 23, 2003, getting his first major league hit, a home run, in the ninth inning.

Two days later, he suffered a broken right wrist after being hit by a pitch.

On August 26, 2003, Bay was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates, along with Óliver Pérez and Cory Stewart in exchange for Brian Giles.

He finished the season with a .287 batting average, four home runs, and 14 RBI in 30 games.

Bay was the National League Rookie of the Year in 2004 and he won the Silver Slugger Award in 2009.

He is a three-time MLB All-Star and a three-time Tip O'Neill Award winner as the best Canadian baseball player.

Bay began the 2004 season on the disabled list due to surgery during the offseason, and did not rejoin the team until May.

Despite missing the beginning of the season, he still produced the best offensive numbers of any National League rookie.

He batted .282 in 120 games, leading all major league rookies in home runs (26) and RBIs (82).

He also led all NL rookies in slugging percentage (.550), extra base hits (54) and total bases (226).

Selected as the 2004 NL Rookie of the Year by The Sporting News, Bay was the second Pittsburgh Pirates player honoured with the award, after second baseman Johnny Ray in 1982.

Bay was also the first Canadian player to win the award.

In 2005, Bay was selected to his first All-Star Game as a reserve outfielder.

He was the only player on either roster not to appear in the game.

Bay also appeared in the 2005 Century 21 Home Run Derby, representing Canada in the nationality-themed contest; he was eliminated in the first round after hitting no home runs.

Bay finished the season with a .306 average, 32 home runs, and 101 RBI, leading the Pirates in every major hitting category.

After the 2005 season, Bay signed a four-year contract extension worth a guaranteed $18.25 million.

Bay batted .321 with 12 home runs (a Pirate record for home runs in a month) and 35 RBIs in May 2006.

From May 22 to May 28, he hit home runs in six consecutive games, two short of the major league record held by Dale Long, Don Mattingly, and Ken Griffey Jr.. He had actually hit 10 home runs in ten games, but he had failed to hit a home run in one of the games, and hit two the next day.

Following an aggressive public relations campaign by the Pirates in 2006, Bay led all National League outfielders in All-Star voting.

Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder even urged fans to vote for Bay during a summer concert at Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena.

Bay became the first member of the Pittsburgh Pirates voted into the All-Star game as a starter since Andy Van Slyke.

In the game, Bay went 1-for-3 with a single.

After battling injuries, Bay's 2007 season was less productive.

Despite having a strong first couple of months, he batted .247 with 21 home runs and 84 RBI.

Bay had a much more productive 2008 with Pittsburgh, batting .282 with 22 home runs and 64 RBI through the All-Star break.

In a May series against the Chicago Cubs, Bay had extra-inning walk-off hits in back-to-back games; the first two walk-off hits of his career.

On July 31, 2008, Bay and a player to be named later (Josh Wilson) were traded to the Boston Red Sox in a three team deal that sent Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Andy LaRoche with Bryan Morris to the Pittsburgh Pirates from the Dodgers and Brandon Moss with Craig Hansen to the Pirates from the Red Sox.

A month later, he got his third walk-off hit of the season and his career with a 13th-inning solo home run against the Tampa Bay Rays.