Dave Winfield

David Mark Winfield (born October 3, 1951) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder.

He is the special assistant to the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association.

Over his 22-year career, he played for six teams: the San Diego Padres, New York Yankees, California Angels, Toronto Blue Jays, Minnesota Twins, and Cleveland Indians.

He earned a full baseball scholarship to the University of Minnesota in 1969, where he starred in baseball and basketball for the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Winfield's 1971–72 Minnesota team won a Big Ten Conference basketball championship, the school's first outright championship in 53 years.

Winfield also played college summer baseball for the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks for two seasons (1971–72) and was the MVP in 1972.

During the 1972–73 basketball season, he was involved in a brawl when Ohio State played at Minnesota.

In 1973, he was named All-American and voted MVP of the College World Series—as a pitcher.

Following college, Winfield was drafted by four teams in three different sports.

The San Diego Padres selected him as a pitcher with the fourth overall pick in the MLB draft.

Winfield was also drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in the 5th round of the 1973 NBA draft and by the Utah Stars in the 6th round of the 1973 ABA Draft.

Though he never played college football, the Minnesota Vikings selected Winfield in the 17th round of the 1973 NFL Draft.

He is one of five players ever to be drafted by three professional sports (the others being George Carter, Noel Jenke, Mickey McCarty and Dave Logan) and one of three athletes, along with Carter and McCarty, to be drafted by four leagues.

Winfield chose baseball; the San Diego Padres selected him in the first round, with the fourth overall selection, of the 1973 MLB draft.

Winfield signed with the Padres, who promoted him directly to the major leagues.

Although he was a pitcher, the Padres wanted his powerful bat in the lineup and put him in right field, where he could still use his powerful arm.

He batted .277 in 56 games his first season.

Over the next several years, he developed into an All-Star player in San Diego, gradually increasing his ability to hit for both power and average.

In 1977, he appeared in his first All-Star game at Yankee Stadium.

In 1978, he was named Padres team captain and in 1979, he batted .308 with 34 home runs and 118 RBI.

He played one more season with the Padres before becoming a free agent.

He more than doubled the previous record set when Nolan Ryan signed with the Houston Astros in 1979.

Winfield was among the highest-rated players in the game throughout his Yankee contract.

In December 1980, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner made Winfield the game's highest-paid player by signing him to a ten-year, $23 million contract (equivalent to $ million in ).

Steinbrenner mistakenly thought he was signing Winfield for $16 million, unaware of the meaning of a cost-of-living clause in the contract, a misunderstanding that led to an infamous public feud.

The $2.3 million annual average value of the contract set a record.

He was a key factor in leading the Yankees to the 1981 American League pennant.

In the 1981 American League Division Series, Winfield batted .350 with two doubles and a triple and made some important defensive plays helping the Yankees to victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Unfortunately, Winfield had a sub-par World Series, which the Yankees lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games.

After getting his only series hit, Winfield jokingly asked for the ball.

He had the winning hit in the 1992 World Series with the Blue Jays over the Atlanta Braves.

Winfield is a 12-time MLB All-Star, a seven-time Gold Glove Award winner, and a six-time Silver Slugger Award winner.

The Padres retired Winfield's No. 31 in his honor.

He also wore No. 31 while playing for the Yankees and Indians and wore No. 32 with the Angels, Blue Jays and Twins.

In 2004, ESPN named him the third-best all-around athlete of all time in any sport.

He is a member of both the Baseball Hall of Fame and College Baseball Hall of Fame.

Winfield was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and grew up in the city's Rondo neighborhood.

His parents divorced when he was three years old, leaving him and his older brother Stephen to be raised by their mother, Arline, and a large extended family of aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins.

The Winfield brothers honed their athletic skills in Saint Paul's Oxford Field, where coach Bill Peterson was one of the first to notice Winfield.

Winfield did not reach his full height of 6ft 6in until his senior year at Saint Paul Central High School.