Mark Teixeira  
 

  • Mark lettered in basketball and soccer at Mount St. Joseph, but his favorite sport outside of baseball was golf.
  • A big reason why Mark chose Georgia Tech was the job coach Danny Hall had done with Jason Varitek, a fellow switch-hitter, in preparing him for pro ball.
  • Mark was named ACC Rookie of the Year in 1999. He was just the third player to win that honor and go on to win ACC Player of the Year honors.
  • Mark won the Dick Howser Trophy, the NCAA’s MVP award, as a sophomore.
  • Mark finished his college career with 36 homers, 165 RBIs and a .409 average.
  • The only Georgia Tech player to be drafted higher than Mark was Ty Griffin, who was taken fourth by the Cubs in 1988.
  • The players selected before Mark in the 2001 draft were Joe Mauer, Mark Prior, Dewon Brazelton and Gavin Floyd.
  • Mark began his major league career hitless in 16 at bats. His first hit was a double off Mark Mulder.
  • Mark’s 26 homers in 2003 were the third most in history for a rookie switch-hitter.
  • When Mark hit for the cycle in 2004, he joined Mickey Mantle and Wes Parker as the only players to get half their hits from each side of the plate.
  • Mark’s five consecutive games with a homer in 2004 is the second-longest long ball streak by a switch-hitter.
  • Mark’s 38 homers and 112 RBIs in 2004 broke the club records of 37 and 105 RBIs by a first baseman, set by Rafael Palmeiro in 1993.
  • Mark won a Silver Slugger award in 2004 as the AL’s top-hitting first baseman.
  • On September 6, 2005, Mark became just the fifth player in major league history to hit 100 home runs in his first three seasons.
  • Mark is one of a handful of Marylanders to star in the majors. The most famous are Al Kaline, Cal Ripken, Babe Ruth, Lefty Grove, Home Run Baker, Leon Day, Brian Jordan, Jimmie Foxx. Mark and Gavin Floyd were the first Baltimore-area players ever taken in the first round of the draft.
  • Mark finished his final semester in college by making Dean’s List and was named an Academic All-American.
  • Thanks to an Information Technology class he took at Georgia Tech, Mark knows how to design web sites.
  • Mark was a Management major at Georgia Tech.
  • While Mark was in college, his father took a two-year course to become a certified financial manager so he could handle his finances.
  • Mark’s batter’s box song is "All Along the Watch Tower" by Jimi Hendrix.


 

 
Jason Varitek, 1992 Topps


Mickey Mantle, 1976 SSPC Promo


Gavin Floyd, 2003 Baseball America

  

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