Background and career
Cornelius Clifford Floyd Jr. (born December 5, 1972) is an American former Major League Baseball left fielder who played for 17 seasons, most notably for the Montreal Expos, Florida Marlins and New York Mets. He is currently a baseball analyst who co-hosts on Sirius XM Radio and appears for both MLB Network and the Chicago Cubs on Marquee Sports Network.
Floyd was born to parents Cornelius Clifford Floyd Sr. and Olivia Floyd. After spending 13 years as an only child, Floyd was joined by brother Julius. Sister Shanta was later adopted when the Floyds noticed her as a six-year-old classmate of Julius' who had been troublesome for her then adoptive parents. The three siblings were raised in Markham, Illinois, a small suburb southwest of Chicago. Floyd's father, a former member of the United States Marine Corps, worked double shifts at a U.S. Steel plant in Chicago to allow the family to live in a safe and stable neighborhood. At Thornwood High School in South Holland, Illinois, Floyd was a three-sport star in baseball, football, and basketball. In basketball, he led his high school to the Class AA Sectional Playoffs. He hit .508 with 130 RBI during the final two years of his high school career and led his team to the Illinois Class AA state baseball championship as a senior. He was heavily recruited by Arizona State University, Stanford, and Creighton University and signed a letter of intent to play for head coach Jim Hendry at Creighton. However, when the Montreal Expos drafted him as the 14th pick in the 1st round of the 1991 Major League Baseball draft, Floyd chose to go to the minor leagues.
Prior to being called up by the Expos, Floyd won The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year Award in 1993 after successful stints with the Harrisburg Senators of the Eastern League and Triple-A Ottawa Lynx. He made his major league debut that same year at only 21 years old, playing in 10 games with the Expos. On June 27, 1994, Floyd hit a home run off Atlanta Braves pitcher Greg Maddux at Olympic Stadium on a pitch that was low, by golfing the ball out in what would become a signature moment in the Expos dominant but strike-shortened 1994 season. Although Floyd never showed the power that was to come in later years during his first tenure with the Expos, he has expressed fondness for his time in Montreal, crediting his initial experience there for helping him grow both professionally and as a person.
In 1997, Floyd was traded from the Expos to the Florida Marlins for Dustin Hermanson and Joe Orsulak. He won his lone World Series with the franchise in 1997. In 1998, Floyd earned a starting position in the Marlins' outfield. In 2000, in 420 at-bats, he hit .300 with 22 home runs and 91 RBI, including two walk-off home runs. In 2001, Floyd hit 31 home runs and set career highs with a .317 batting average and 103 RBIs in 149 games and was selected to play in his first and only All-Star Game.
In 2002, Floyd was traded from the Marlins back to the Expos, with Claudio Vargas, Wilton Guerrero, and cash, for Graeme Lloyd, Mike Mordecai, Carl Pavano, Justin Wayne, and Donald Levinski. His second stint with the Expos was short-lived; he appeared in only 15 games before being traded.
On July 30, 2002, Floyd was traded from the Expos to the Boston Red Sox for Sun-woo Kim and Song Seung-jun. Theories swirled around baseball as to the move (along with several others done by the Expos that year), with critics suggesting the MLB-owned Expos had traded Floyd in order to help the Red Sox. Floyd hit .317 in 47 games for the Red Sox.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
