Orioles Card "O" the Day

An intersection of two of my passions: baseball cards and the Baltimore Orioles. Updated daily?

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Aubrey Huff, 2009 Upper Deck #539

Whoops, I almost missed this one. Aubrey Huff officially announced his retirement this past weekend. He did not play baseball last year after spending parts of 13 seasons with the Devil Rays, Astros, Orioles, Tigers, and Giants. The 37-year-old corner infielder is looking to kick-start a career in broadcasting, already having landed a gig with the Pac-12 Network for college baseball coverage. The highlights of his time in the major leagues include:

-A career batting line of .278/.342/.464 (114 OPS+) with 242 HR and 904 RBI

-A 2003 season that still places him atop Tampa Bay's single-year leaderboards in hits (198), total bases (353), doubles (47), and times on base (259).

-An award-winning 2008 campaign that saw him named Most Valuable Oriole and the American League Silver Slugger at DH. He led the O's with 32 HR, 108 RBI, a .552 slugging percentage, a .912 OPS, and a 137 OPS+. He also scored 96 runs, cracked 48 doubles, and batted .304.

-Two World Series rings with the Giants. Though he didn't contribute much to San Francisco's championship drive in 2012, playing only 52 games with a .608 OPS and seven RBI, he was a major offensive force for the club in 2010. That year he batted .290/.385/.506 (142 OPS+) with 35 doubles and team bests of 26 HR and 86 RBI. He also slugged .588 and drove in four runs in the Giants' five-game Series win over the Rangers.

-In addition to his on-the-field exploits, Aubrey Huff also had a knack for doing and saying the perfect thing off of the field...as long as you don't know anything about the articles linked here.

Enjoy your retirement, Aubrey. Just don't tell the world about it.

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