Mark Teixeira

Mark Charles Teixeira (born April 11, 1980 in Severna Park, Maryland) is a Major League Baseball player with the Texas Rangers. He is mainly a first baseman, but has also played at third base and in the outfield.

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Teixeira was originally chosen in the ninth round of the MLB amateur draft by the Boston Red Sox in 1998. However, Teixeira chose not to sign, and instead played college baseball at Georgia Tech. In 2001, his batting average was .427, and his OPS was 1.319.

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In 2001, Teixeira re-entered the draft and was selected by the Rangers with the fifth overall pick. He began playing professional baseball the next season. He started the 2002 season in the Florida State League, where he batted .320 with an OPS of 1.000 in 38 games. He was then moved up to the Class AA Tulsa Drillers, with whom he batted .316 with a .994 OPS and ten home runs in 48 games. It turned out that 2002 would be his only season in the minor leagues; he made the Rangers out of spring training in 2003.

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As a rookie in 2003, Teixeira batted .259 with a .811 OPS and 26 home runs. He improved on these numbers in 2004, batting .281 with an OPS of .930, 38 home runs, and 112 runs batted in. For his accomplishments, he earned the Silver Slugger Award as the best-hitting first baseman in the American League.

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In 2005, Teixeira became the third switch-hitter in MLB history, after Eddie Murray and Chipper Jones, to hit at least 20 home runs in each of his first three seasons.

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1980: 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday....

Severna Park, Maryland: Severna Park is a census-designated place located in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. As of the 2000 census, the CDP had a total population of 28,507....

Major League Baseball: Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in professional baseball in the world. More specifically, Major League Baseball ("MLB") refers to the entity that operates North America's two top leagues, the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational struct...

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