David Dellucci

David Dellucci
Left fielder
Born: October 31, 1973 (1973-10-31) Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Batted: Left	Threw: Left
MLB debut
June 3, 1997 for the Baltimore Orioles
Last MLB appearance
July 22, 2009 for the Toronto Blue Jays
Career statistics
Batting average	.256
Home runs	101
Runs batted in	398
Teams
Baltimore Orioles (1997) Arizona Diamondbacks (1998–2003) New York Yankees (2003) Texas Rangers (2004–2005) Philadelphia Phillies (2006) Cleveland Indians (2007–2009) Toronto Blue Jays (2009)
Career highlights and awards
World Series champion (2001) Led NL in triples in 1998

David Michael Dellucci (born October 31, 1973) is a retired Major League Baseball outfielder.

High School

Dellucci graduated from Catholic High in Baton Rouge in 1991. He earned the team's Most Valuable Player honors in both baseball and football, and All-State honors for baseball. During the winter of 2001, he was inducted into the Catholic HS Hall of Fame.

College

He played four seasons at the University of Mississippi, where he was an All-Southeastern Conference selection in both 1994 and 1995 and earned All-American status in 1995, setting 10 school records while leading the SEC in hitting. He was named Athlete of the Year at Ole Miss in 1995. Dellucci was elected into the Ole Miss "M Club" Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010 and was named as one of the 50 Greatest Athletes in Ole Miss history.

Career

Dellucci was drafted in the 10th round by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1995 First-Year Player Draft. In 1997, Dellucci hit his first major league home run on June 25 in a road game against the Brewers. Selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 1998 MLB Expansion Draft, he played for Arizona from 1998 to 2003, including playing on the World Series-winning squad in 2001. During the 2003 season, Dellucci was traded to the New York Yankees, along with pitcher Bret Prinz and catcher John Sprowl, in exchange for outfielder Raúl Mondesí. He finished the 2003 season with New York, and in 2004, signed with the Texas Rangers as a free agent. In 2005, with Texas, he had 29 homers and 65 RBI. In 2006, Dellucci was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Robinson Tejeda and Minor League outfielder Jake Blalock.

Dellucci signed with the Cleveland Indians on December 6, 2006. On June 19, 2007, Dellucci severely tore his left hamstring tendon off the bone just under his left knee. He missed time early in Spring Training 2009 due to a surgically repaired thumb after smashing it in the tailgate of his trailer. He started the 2009 season on the disabled list with a strained left calf. While hitting .275 in 40 at bats, he was designated for assignment by the Indians on May 29, 2009, and after clearing waivers was released on June 1.

On June 10, 2009, Dellucci agreed to terms on a minor league contract with the Blue Jays. On July 3, the Blue Jays purchased Dellucci's contract from the Las Vegas 51's of the AAA Pacific Coast League. After a brief stint with the major league club in Toronto, he was designated for assignment on July 24, 2009. He was released on July 31, 2009 by the Las Vegas 51s, the Triple-A affiliate of the Blue Jays.

Personal

After Hurricane Katrina, Dellucci, a Louisiana native, started the Catch 22 for Blue Foundation to raise money to help the victims of the hurricane. He was rewarded with a Commendation from the Louisiana Senate and House of Representatives. He heads Dellucci's Dream Foundation which puts on an annual free baseball clinic in Baton Rouge for boys and girls and educates young children with life skills. Dellucci is on the Board of Directors for the Miracle League of Baton Rouge which has built a rubberized field for handicapped children in wheelchairs and walkers to play baseball. He helps coach and pitches during the games.

He has also worked for CST and Sports South as a color analyst for college baseball games. Dellucci is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys hunting and fishing.

Dellucci was elected into the Louisiana American-Italian Hall of Fame in 2011.

He is married to Rachel Reynolds, a model on The Price is Right.

See also

• List of Major League Baseball triples champions

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube