Albert Belle

He also drove in 152 runs to break Zeke Bonura's single-season franchise record of 138 in 1936 (to date, the RBI total also remains a White Sox single-season record).

Albert Jojuan Belle (born August 25, 1966), known until 1990 as Joey Belle, is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder who played from 1989 to 2000, most notably for the Cleveland Indians.

Albert and his fraternal twin, Terry, were born on August 25, 1966, in Shreveport, Louisiana, the son of Albert Belle Sr., a high school baseball and football coach, and Carrie Belle, a former math teacher.

He attained the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.

Belle attended Huntington High School in Shreveport, where he was a star baseball and football player, a member of the National Honor Society and vice president of the local Future Business Leaders of America.

He graduated sixth in his high school class and made the all-state baseball team twice.

In 1984, he was selected to play for the US in the Junior Olympics, in which the U.S. won a silver medal.

He played outfield and pitched, winning one game.

After graduation, Belle accepted a baseball scholarship to Louisiana State University.

Belle played college baseball at Louisiana State University from 1985 to 1987, where he made 1st team All-SEC in 1986 and 1987 and played in 184 games, with 585 at bats, 194 hits, 30 doubles, 49 home runs, 172 runs batted in, 157 runs, a .670 slugging percentage, and a .332 batting average.

In 1986, he played collegiate summer baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Chatham A's and was named a league all-star, then returned to the league in 1987 to play for the Hyannis Mets.

In his junior year, he was batting .349 before an incident involving a heckler insulting him with racial epithets at an SEC Tournament game led to a suspension that kept him out of the College World Series.

After college, he was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the second round of the 1987 MLB draft.

Belle became the fourth player to have eight straight seasons of 30 home runs and 100 RBIs, joining Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx and Lou Gehrig (a feat since matched by Albert Pujols, Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez).

He retired with a .295 career batting average, and averaged 37 home runs and 120 RBIs per season between 1991 and 2000.

He is one of only 11 players in MLB history to have nine consecutive 100-RBI seasons.

In 1992, Belle would have become one of only five players in MLB history to hit a home run over the left-field roof of Detroit's Tiger Stadium (joining Harmon Killebrew, Frank Howard, Cecil Fielder and Mark McGwire).

However, the ball struck a light tower on top of the roof and fell back into the stands.

He was an accomplished baserunner, with a career-high 23 steals in 1993, and 17 steals in 1999 despite hip problems that plagued him late in his career.

He led the league three times in RBIs, three times in total bases, three times in extra-base hits and twice in slugging.

He was a five-time All-Star between 1993 and 1997.

He had a strong throwing arm, and was a gifted pitcher in high school.

His range factor by games played was consistently higher than the major league average at that position; nevertheless, he still managed to accrue a -63 Total Zone Runs during 12 major league seasons.

Belle's career highs in home runs, RBIs, batting average, runs scored and walks occurred in five separate seasons.

Belle had two other top ten MVP finishes, in 1993 (7th) and 1998 (8th).

In 1994, Belle lost the batting title to New York Yankees outfielder Paul O'Neill, .359 to .357.

Known for his taciturn personality and intimidating stature, Belle was one of the leading sluggers of his time, and in 1995 became the only player to ever hit 50 doubles and 50 home runs in a season, despite the season being only 144 games.

He was also the first player to break the $10 million per year compensation contract in Major League Baseball.

Belle was a five-time All-Star and Silver Slugger.

In 1995, Belle became the first player in major league history to hit 50 home runs and 50 doubles in the same season; the last player before him to reach as many as 40 in both categories had been Willie Stargell in 1973.

The achievement was more impressive because Belle played only 143 games in 1995 due to a season shortened by the previous year's player strike.

Belle's surly reputation and disdain of the media cost him votes for the 1995 MVP Award.

He finished second in the voting to the Boston Red Sox' Mo Vaughn even though he led the American League that season in runs scored, home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage and total bases, and outpaced Vaughn head-to-head in every important offensive category except RBIs (both men had 126); both players' teams reached the playoffs.

This was in the middle of a three-year streak in which Belle finished 3rd, 2nd and 3rd for the American League MVP.

In the winter of 1996, Belle signed a 5-year, $55 million (equivalent to $0 today) deal with the Chicago White Sox as a free agent.

This contract made him the highest-paid player in baseball for a brief period and the first player in baseball history to make $10 million in a season.

He enjoyed two great seasons in Chicago, including a career-high 27-game hitting streak in May 1997, and came close to another 50/50 season in 1998 with 49 home runs (a White Sox team record that still stands) and 48 doubles.

Additionally, when Cal Ripken Jr. ended his record consecutive game streak at 2,632 in September 1998, it was Belle who took over as the major leagues' active leader in the category (his streak of 392, however, ended the next year due to a perceived lack of hustle viewed by his manager).

In 2006, the Hardball Times published a statistical comparison of Belle's career statistics with that of 60 of his current and former peers.

The article ranked him in career "prime value", behind Hall of Famers Ralph Kiner and Frank Thomas.