Eric Byrnes

Eric Byrnes is a retired Major League Baseball Player.  He played for five different MLB teams before retiring in 2010 as a member of the Seattle Mariners.  He now plays on a slow pitch softball team for fun.

Byrnes was born on February 16, 1976 in Redwood City, California.  After graduating from high school in 1994, he went to college at UCLA even though he was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Instead, he opted to go to college.  He played baseball at UCLA from 1995 to 98.  He was drafted again after his junior year by the Houston Astros, but decided to stay in school.  His college career batting average was .331 with 75 doubles, making him one of the best hitters on the history of the Pac-10.

Career in the Majors

In the 1998 MLB Draft, Eric Byrnes was selected by the Oakland Athletics.  He played in the A's minor league system before making his Major League debut on August 22, 2000 against the Cleveland Indians.  In his first games, he went 2-4 and had a stolen base as the designated hitter batter 7th in the lineup.  Byrnes had 10 at bats in his first season and hit .300.  The next season in 2001, he played in 19 games and hit his first Major League home run against the San Francisco Giants on June 9.  His average for the season was .237 and he had three home runs, one double, five RBIs and a stolen base.  That season, Byrnes appeared in two games against the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series.  He had two at-bats, but was unable to get a hit.

In a game in 2003, Byrnes made a base running mistake that cost the A's a run against the Boston Red Sox.  After a collision at the plate with catcher Jason Varitek, Byrnes did not touch home plate.  After he got up, he shoved Varitek and went towards his team's dugout.  Varitek then picked up the ball and tagged Byrnes for the out.  Later in the same inning, Red Sox player Bill Mueller was tagged out by A's catcher Miguel Tejada after he stopped running between third base and home for some reason.

2004 was Byrnes best year with the A's as he hit .283 with 20 homers and 73 runs batted in.

In 2005, Byrnes was traded to the Colorado Rockies in July.  He played in 15 games with the team, but only batted .189 with 2 doubles, 5 RBIs and 2 stolen bases.  Byrnes was then traded to the Baltimore Orioles just two weeks later.  Byrnes struggled with the Orioles and the team was sceptical if he was someone that could be an every-day player for the team.  He played in 52 games with the Orioles and batted .197 with 3 home runs, 7 doubles, a triple, 11 RBIs and 3 stolen bases.  His total batting average for that 2005 season was .231. with a total of 10 home runs and 25 RBIs in 111 games.

Byrnes became a free agent after the 2005 season and signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks for one year.  He had a very good 2006 season where he batted with an average of .267 with 26 home runs, 79 RBIs and 25 stolen bases.  He hit more home runs than anyone else on the team that season.  He also stole more bases and had the highest slugging at .482.

During the 2007 season, Byrnes' contract with the Diamondbacks was extended with a three-year deal worth $30 million.  He finished the 2007 season with 21 homes runs, 83 RBIs, 50 stolen bases, 30 doubles and 8 triples in 160 games.  He was one of a few players to hit at least 20 home runs and have 50 stolen bases.  Byrnes finished 11th in voting for the NL MVP award with 43 points.  He was given the Fielding Bible Award as the best fielding left fielder in the league.

In May, 2008, Byrnes went on the 15-day disabled list for the first time in his playing career.  An MRI would show that he had tears in both of his hamstrings.  He returned to the team about a month later.  The following season, Byrnes broke his hand and went back on the DL.  He came back the following month and finished the year playing in just 52 games batting .209 with 6 home runs and 24 RBIs.

2009 saw Byrnes go on the DL again with a broken left hand.  This would be his last year with the Diamondbacks as he was later released.  At the beginning of 2010, Byrnes signed a one-year deal with the Seattle Mariners worth $400,000.  After batting just .107 in 14 games with the Mariners, the team released him on May 2.  Shortly after his release, Byrnes announced his retirement from baseball.  He returned to his home in Half Moon Bay, California.  Even though he retired, Byrnes was still in line to get $11 million of his salary that was owed to him.  Byrnes says he has no regrets about retiring and he now plays softball for fun.

Byrnes has also worked as a broadcaster for baseball.  He was an analyst during the 2006 playoffs for ESPN on their Baseball Tonight show.  He has also done broadcast work for Fox Sports.  He is currently a contributor to the MLB Network.  He hosted "The Eric Byrnes Show" on FSN Arizona during the regular season when he was with the Diamondbacks.  He then had a weekly radio show on XM Radio.  During the 2007 MLB All-Star Game in San Francisco, Byrnes was in McCovey Cove in a kayak with one of his bulldogs as part of the Fox broadcast team.  He was hired in 2011 to host a talk show each night on KNBR radio.  He also does a post-game show for the Giants.  His talk show started on March 23.