Oddibe McDowell
| Oddibe McDowell | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Center fielder | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Born: August 25, 1962 Hollywood, Florida | |||||||||||||||||||||
Batted: Left Threw: Left | |||||||||||||||||||||
| MLB debut | |||||||||||||||||||||
| May 19, 1985, for the Texas Rangers | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Last MLB appearance | |||||||||||||||||||||
| August 10, 1994, for the Texas Rangers | |||||||||||||||||||||
| MLB statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting average | .253 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Home runs | 74 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Runs batted in | 266 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Medals
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Oddibe McDowell (born August 25, 1962) is an American former center fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played from 1985 to 1994 for the Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, and Atlanta Braves.
His first name is pronounced "owed a bee" or "oh-ta-bee." Because it also sounds vaguely like a slurred rendition of "oh to be", ESPN personality and announcer Chris Berman dubbed him Oddibe "Young Again" McDowell.[1]
Amateur baseball
McDowell was a noted multi-sport athlete at McArthur High School in Hollywood, Florida, and won the Florida High School Activities Association Class 4A wrestling championship at 155 pounds in 1979.[2]
McDowell won the prestigious Golden Spikes Award, which is given annually to the best amateur baseball player, in 1984 while playing college baseball at Arizona State University (ASU). He wore uniform number 0 at ASU; ASU inducted McDowell to the university's athletic hall of fame in 1991[3] and has retired his number.[4]
In 1981, McDowell won a gold medal as a member of the United States national team in World Games I. He was also a member of the 1984 United States Olympic Team.
McDowell was selected by the Texas Rangers in the first round of the 1984 Major League Baseball draft.
Professional baseball
McDowell stood out during his first stint with the Texas Rangers by wearing the very unusual uniform number 0. He wore the number 20 with the Indians, the number 1 with the Braves, and during his second time with the Rangers, he wore number 8.[5]
McDowell was the first player to hit for the cycle for the Rangers, doing so on July 23, 1985, in a Rangers' 8–4 victory over the Indians at Arlington Stadium.[6] Through the end of the 2017 season, Mark Teixeira, Gary Matthews, Jr., Ian Kinsler, Bengie Molina, Adrián Beltré, Alex Ríos, Shin-Soo Choo, and Carlos Gomez are the other Rangers players to hit for the cycle. McDowell finished 4th in the American League Rookie of the Year voting for 1985.
Through June 16, 2009, McDowell was tied for second of all Rangers players ever in career leadoff home runs, one behind the nine leadoff homers by Ian Kinsler.[7]
Post-playing career
McDowell was inducted to the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011.[8]
Between February 2011 and March 2012, Deadspin ran a series of 14 articles, which published McDowell's monthly water bill and the amount owed; until that time, water bills were publicly accessible on the Broward County Waste and Wastewater Services department's website.[9] Writing for New Times Broward-Palm Beach, Michael J. Mooney described the series as Dadaist and evidence of "the power of mass appeal and of interactive media."[10]
As of 2019, McDowell is in his fifth year as the head coach for the McArthur High School varsity baseball team in Hollywood, Florida.[11]
See also
- List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders
- List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle
References
- ^ "Chris Berman's Nicknames". Funny2. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
- ^ Florida High School Activities Association. "Wrestling - 2017-18 Championship Records" (PDF). FHSAA.org, 2017, Gainesville. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
- ^ "Baseball". thesundevils.com. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
- ^ "ASU Retired Numbers" (PDF). cstv.com. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
- ^ "Oddibe McDowell Baseball Stats by Baseball Almanac". Baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
- ^ "Texas Rangers 8, Cleveland Indians 4". Retrosheet. July 23, 1985.
- ^ http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090503&content_id=4551512&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
- ^ "2011 College Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees". collegebaseballhall.org. 2011. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
- ^ "Goodbye, Old Friend: The Last Oddibe McDowell Water Bill We'll Ever See Is $80.55". Deadspin. March 23, 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
- ^ Mooney, Michael J. (February 24, 2011). "Deadspin Cracks the Case of Oddibe McDowell's Water Bill, Finally (Updated)". New Times Broward-Palm Beach. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
- ^ "Oddibe McDowell – McArthur Mustangs Head Coach". browardhighschoolbaseball.com. 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
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- 1962 births
- Living people
- African-American baseball coaches
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- All-American college baseball players
- American expatriate baseball players in Canada
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- Baseball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics
- Baseball players from Florida
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- Competitors at the 1981 World Games
- Edmonton Trappers players
- Golden Spikes Award winners
- Major League Baseball center fielders
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