Michael Morse

Michael John Morse (born March 22, 1982) is an American former professional baseball outfielder, first baseman and shortstop.

Morse was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the third round (82nd overall) of the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft.

Morse was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the third round (82nd overall) of the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft as a shortstop.

During his time in the minors, Morse primarily played shortstop and also filled in as a third baseman.

Morse was acquired by the Mariners along with Miguel Olivo and Jeremy Reed for Freddy Garcia and Ben Davis on June 27, 2004.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, Miami Marlins, Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants between 2005 and 2017.

Beginning the 2005 season with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers, he made his major league debut on May 31, 2005.

Although Morse made it to the big leagues as a shortstop, with the arrival of Yuniesky Betancourt Morse began to develop as a utility player, having spent time at first base and left field.

In 2005, he was suspended for 10 days for using performance-enhancing drugs.

He said that it was remnants from a minor league use of PEDs two years earlier, after which he swore he'd never use them again.

The scientific evidence supported the plausibility of Morse's explanation.

On July 6, 2006, Morse had surgery to repair a torn medial meniscus of his right knee.

In 2008, Morse had the best batting average in the major leagues in spring training, batting .492.

After playing only 5 games in 2008, Morse suffered a torn labrum diving for a ball in a game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; he had surgery to repair it and missed the rest of the season.

On April 1, 2009, Morse cleared waivers and was sent outright to the Mariners' AAA club, the Tacoma Rainiers.

In June 2009, the Mariners traded Morse to the Washington Nationals for outfielder Ryan Langerhans.

Morse was promoted to the majors by the Nats on August 21, 2009, after hitting .322 with 16 homers and 86 RBI in 110 minor league games.

In 2010 with the Nationals, Morse played 98 games and batted .289 with a .352 on-base percentage and a .519 slugging percentage, with 15 home runs and 41 RBIs.

In 2011 spring training, Morse led the Grapefruit League with nine home runs with 18 RBI.

He started the 2011 regular season in a left field platoon with Laynce Nix, but slumped on offense and was relegated mostly to pinch hitting by May.

However, on May 22, 2011, Morse moved to first base when Adam LaRoche's season was ended by injury.

In his first four games at first base, Morse hit three home runs with eight RBI.

From May 22 to July 5, Morse had 13 home runs and 35 RBI, the most in the majors in that span of time, earning him consideration with four others for the National League's final roster spot in the 2011 All-Star Game.

Morse was named to Sports Illustrated's "All-Underrated Team".

Morse finished the 2011 season with a .303 average, 31 home runs, and 95 RBI; he was in the top 10 in the National League in all three categories.

He was fourth in the league in slugging percentage (.550), behind Ryan Braun, Matt Kemp, and Prince Fielder.

Morse started the 2012 season on the disabled list with a strained back muscle.

He was activated on June 1, 2012 and made his season debut the next day.

On September 29, 2012 playing in Busch Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals with the bases loaded, Morse hit a line drive to right field that bounced off the top of the fence.

The ball was initially called in-play.

With confusion reigning on the basepaths, Morse was tagged out trying to return to first base.

The play was eventually reviewed by the umpires, who ultimately overturned the call and pronounced Morse's line drive a grand slam home run.

To ensure that none of the runners passed each other on the basepath, Morse was instructed to round the bases clockwise back toward the batter's box at home plate, take a mock swing at a nonexistent pitch, and then run counter-clockwise around the bases, like a usual home run.

After the season, he was awarded with the GIBBY Award for Oddity of the Year.

The chorus of Morse's at-bat song -- Take On Me by A-ha—notably became a favorite for Nationals fans to sing along to, so much so that it was played after Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh-inning stretch for the first half of 2013, even though Morse was no longer on the team.

Morse would continue to use this song when playing for subsequent teams.

In 2018, he began a second career as a baseball broadcaster.

Born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Morse lived with his siblings and grandparents in Jamaica until the age of six when he moved back to his birthplace.

Morse, raised by his single mother, attended Nova High School in Davie, Florida, the alma mater of fellow major leaguer Anthony Swarzak.

At Nova High, Morse was also a quarterback for the football team, following in the footsteps of his older brother, T.K.