Background and career
Bob Kelly Abreu (; Spanish: [boβ aˈβɾew]; born March 11, 1974), nicknamed "El Comedulce" and "La Leche", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Mets. Abreu is a two-time All-Star, and has won a Gold Glove Award and a Silver Slugger Award. He has been a single-season league leader in games played (twice), doubles, and triples. He had two seasons in which he collected thirty home runs and thirty stolen bases, making him one of thirteen players to have achieved the 30–30 club twice in a career. Through 2014, Abreu led active ballplayers in doubles (565), walks (1,456), and outfield assists (136), was fifth in runs scored (1,441) and stolen bases (400), seventh in extra-base hits (911) and on-base percentage (.396), and tenth in runs batted in (1,363). He is also one of only seven players ever to record at least 900 career extra-base hits and steal at least 400 bases along with Barry Bonds, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Craig Biggio, Honus Wagner, and Paul Molitor. Of these, all but Bonds and Abreu are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Abreu was signed as an amateur free agent by the Houston Astros on August 21, 1990. He was the Astros Minor League Player of the Year in 1996 and made his Major League debut on September 1, 1996, against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was announced as a pinch hitter but did not get to bat because he was subsequently pinch hit for by Mike Simms. He had his first official at-bat the following day against the St. Louis Cardinals when he flied out to left field as a pinch hitter in the top of the sixth inning. After a few more appearances as a pinch hitter or late inning defensive replacement, he made his first start in left field against the Colorado Rockies on September 6, going hitless in four at-bats with two strikeouts. Abreu's first Major League hit was a single to right field as a pinch hitter against Bobby Jones of the New York Mets on September 24. He finished his first season with five hits in 22 at-bats. He hit his first two home runs in the same game on April 28, 1997, against Jamey Wright and Steve Reed of the Colorado Rockies. He played in 59 games for the Astros in 1997, hitting .250 with three home runs and 26 RBI. Left unprotected in the 1997 MLB Expansion Draft when the Astros decided to keep fellow Venezuelan outfielder Richard Hidalgo, Abreu was selected by the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays, only to be dealt hours later to the Phillies for shortstop Kevin Stocker, a trade regarded among the worst in MLB history.
In 1998, his first season with the Phillies, Abreu led the team with a .312 batting average and collected 17 home runs, 74 RBI, and 19 stolen bases in 151 games, with 271 putouts and 17 assists in right field.
In 1999, Abreu made a brief run at the batting title. His .335 career-high average that season ranked third in the National League and was the highest posted by a Phillies player since outfielder Tony González hit .339 in 1967. His .446 career-high OBP was third in the league and he tied for the league lead in triples with 11. In 2000, Abreu finished fourth in the league in triples (10), sixth in doubles (42), seventh in walks (100), and ninth in OBP (.416). Abreu became the first Phillie outfielder since Greg Luzinski with back-to-back 20 homer seasons. In 2001, Abreu led the NL in games played (162), and was third in walks (106), fourth in stolen bases (36) and doubles (48), and eighth in runs (118) and sacrifice flies (9). He also hit a career-high 31 home runs and had a career-high 110 RBI. For the 2002 season, Abreu led the league in doubles (50), and was sixth in walks (104), seventh in stolen bases (31) and intentional walks (13), eighth in OBP (.413), ninth in hits (176), and tenth in runs (102). In 2003, Abreu was fourth in the league in walks (109), seventh in sacrifice flies (7), eighth in OBP (.409), and ninth in stolen bases (22).
In 2004, Abreu got his first All-Star berth, being voted in as the National League All-Star Final Vote winner in online voting on MLB.com. Abreu hit the first home run at Citizens Bank Park on Opening Day, April 12, 2004. He finished the season with a .301 average, 30 home runs, and 105 RBI, and ranked among the National League top five in five offensive categories: runs (fourth, 118) -- the third time in six years that he scored 118 runs, doubles (fourth, 47), stolen bases (third, 40—a career high), walks (second, 127—a career high) and on-base percentage (fifth, .428). Abreu became the first player in major league history to record 30 home runs, 40 doubles, 40 stolen bases, and 100 walks in a single season. He also led the Major Leagues in pitches-per-plate-appearance (4.32) and number of pitches seen (3,077), was eighth-highest in the league in total bases (312), and posted the league's tenth-best OPS (.971).
In May, Abreu was honored as the Player of the Month in the National League, after he hit .396 and 11 home runs. He also led the NL for the month in slugging average (.792), on-base percentage (.535), and walks (30) and was tied for the league lead with 30 RBI. He became the first player in Major League history to hit at least one home run in nine out of ten team games. He was voted a starter in the NL outfield for the All-Star Game, finishing second in fan voting, behind St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jim Edmonds. Prior to the All-Star Game at Comerica Park in Detroit, Abreu won the Home Run Derby as he set records with 24 home runs in a single round (since broken by Josh Hamilton in 2008), and 41 overall, topping Miguel Tejada's previous marks of 15 and 27 set one year earlier. Abreu's longest homer was measured at 517 feet, the third longest in Derby history.
