Sid Bream

Sidney Eugene Bream (born August 3, 1960) is an American former professional baseball first baseman.

Sidney Eugene Bream was born on August 3, 1960, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Harrisburg.

The third-oldest of six children, he grew up in Mount Holly Springs.

His family had their own Christian singing group, and Bream travelled all over Pennsylvania with them, eventually getting to sing as part of a family quartet once he got older.

Since his father was a St. Louis Cardinals fan, Bream rooted for the same team growing up.

He attended Carlisle High School, a Division 4A institution, where he played baseball and basketball.

Bream hoped to be drafted by a Major League Baseball (MLB) team out of high school, but when none selected him, he decided to attend college instead.

Both Temple University and Liberty University offered him full tuition scholarships, but Liberty's included room & board as well, and he chose to attend there.

Bream was "one of Liberty’s first true athletic stars," according to the university's website.

As a first baseman for the Liberty Flames, he was named an All-American by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

He earned similar honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches for his play on the court.

Bream set Liberty records for highest career batting average (.435) and slugging percentage (.830); he holds five other baseball records at Liberty as well.

In 1980, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League, where he was named a league all-star, and was coached by Al Worthington, who was also Liberty's head baseball coach.

After attending Liberty University, Bream was drafted by the Dodgers in 1981.

Bream was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second round of the 1981 MLB Draft.

Bream started his professional career with the Vero Beach Dodgers of the Single-A Florida State League in 1981.

In 70 games, he batted .327 with 35 runs scored, 85 hits, one home run, and 47 runs batted in (RBI).

He split 1982 between Vero Beach and the San Antonio Dodgers of the Double-A Texas League.

In 63 games with San Antonio, he batted .310 with 41 runs scored, 70 hits, four home runs, and 43 RBI.

His numbers were even better at San Antonio, where he batted .320 with 43 runs scored, 83 hits, eight home runs, and 50 RBI in 70 games.

Bream made it all the way to Triple-A before the end of the year, hitting a home run in three games with the Albuquerque Dukes of the Pacific Coast League (PCL).

From 1983 through 1994, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1983–85), Pittsburgh Pirates (1985–90), Atlanta Braves (1991–93), and Houston Astros (1994).

In 1983, Bream spent the whole minor league season with Albuquerque, batting .307 with 149 hits.

He led the PCL in home runs (32, tied with Kevin McReynolds) and RBI (118), also finishing third in runs scored (115, behind Gary Pettis's 138 and Lemmie Miller's 122) and walks (93, behind Gerry Davis's and Randy Ready's 99).

He was a September callup by the Dodgers, who hoped he would be a helpful part of their team in the future.

Bream made his major league debut on September 1, pinch-hitting for Steve Yeager in an 8–3 loss to the Montreal Expos.

His first major league hit, against Tom Hume of the Cincinnati Reds on September 7, 1983, tied the score in the ninth inning as the Dodgers went on to win 7–3 in extra innings.

In 15 games (11 at bats), Bream batted .182 with two hits and two RBI for the Dodgers in 1983.

Bream started the 1984 season with Albuquerque but was called up by the Dodgers in July.

Used mainly as a pinch hitter, he batted .167 with three RBI in 19 games (18 at bats) before getting sent back to Albuquerque.

Though thrice ranking among the minor league home run leaders, he batted no higher than .184 in limited playing time before getting traded to the Pirates in 1985.

In Pittsburgh, he regularly played over 100 games a year for the Pirates, hitting at least 10 home runs in four full seasons (1986–88, 1990) with them.

Defensively, he set an NL record for most assists in a season with 166 in 1986.

After a knee injury cost him most of the 1989 season, he hit 15 home runs in 1990 as the Pirates reached the playoffs, losing to the Cincinnati Reds in the NLCS.

Bream reached the playoffs each of the next three seasons as well, though he did so with the Braves, who signed him as a free agent after the 1990 season.

The Braves defeated Pittsburgh in the NLCS in 1991 and 1992, reaching the World Series two years in a row but losing it both times.

Bream received most of the starts at first base in 1991 and 1992, hitting 11 and 10 home runs, respectively.

He is best remembered for his game-winning run scored in the 1992 National League Championship Series (NLCS) that sent the Braves to the World Series.

He was getting the majority of the playing time at first base in 1993 until the Braves acquired Fred McGriff in July, relegating Bream to a reserve role for the rest of the year.

Bream played one more year in 1994 with the Astros as a backup to Jeff Bagwell before retiring in 1995.