Samuel Babson Fuld (born November 20, 1981) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and current executive for the Philadelphia Phillies organization of Major League Baseball (MLB), where he most recently served as the team's general manager. He played eight seasons in MLB for the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics, and Minnesota Twins.
He began his baseball career by twice batting .600 in high school, during which time Baseball America ranked him 19th in the country. Fuld played college baseball at Stanford University. There, he was a two-time All-American, set the school record for career runs scored, and established the College World Series record for career hits.
Fuld was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 2004 Major League Baseball draft. He was an All Star two years later in the Florida State League. A year after that, Fuld was voted the Most Valuable Player in the Arizona Fall League. In the minor leagues—as a result of his defensive play—he was referred to as "a crash test dummy with a death wish", a "human wrecking ball act", a "wall magnet", and a "manager's dream and a trainer's worst nightmare".
Fuld made his major league debut with the Cubs in 2007. He became a fan favorite for his defense and his tendency to run into outfield walls while making catches. Fuld batted .299 in his longest stint with the Cubs, but appeared only in late-season call-ups over three years. After the 2010 season, he was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays. Fuld made the Rays' 2011 opening day roster, and won the jobs of starting left fielder and leadoff hitter by mid-April. Due to early-season heroics, including a "Superman-esque" catch, he was dubbed "Superman", "Super Sam", and "The Legendary Sam Fuld". Fuld's catch was put to Superman-theme music in a YouTube video, and tweets about him went viral. In late April, Fuld led the American League (AL) in both batting average and steals. He played with the Rays through 2013. In 2014–2015, Fuld played for the Oakland A's (for two stints) and Minnesota Twins.
Fuld played center field and batted lead-off for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic.Aron Heller (January 11, 2017). "Israel taps Jewish major-leaguers for World Baseball Classic", The Toronto Star.
Early life Fuld was born in Durham, New Hampshire. His father is Jewish and his mother is Catholic, and he has said that he was "kind of raised celebrating both" religions' holidays. He weighed at birth." He is the son of Kenneth Fuld, former Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Professor of Psychology at the University of New Hampshire, and Amanda Merrill, a former New Hampshire State Senator. He is also a second cousin, once removed, of former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld.
He got his start playing baseball hitting plastic wiffle balls pitched by his grandmother when he was three years old. As a young child, Fuld carried around a copy of The Complete Baseball Handbook instead of a security blanket. "He was only 5 or 6 and he was already computing batting averages and ERAs", his father said. "He'd sit in the bathtub, and I'd say 'If a guy goes 17-for-38, what's his batting average?' What struck me is that he'd perform these operations in very creative ways–not just that he got the right answer, but his methodology, adding in a factor and then dividing by 10, etc. I'd watch him and say 'wow,' just like I said 'wow' when he used to hit."
High school Fuld attended Berwick Academy as an eighth grader, during which time he made the high school varsity baseball team, and the University of New Hampshire's baseball coach said that he had the best batting swing of any player in the state. He was the team's MVP, and a league All Star. He then transferred to Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, where he played baseball and soccer, and ran track. Because of the climate, the league played a short baseball season, and some of the games were played as it snowed. Fuld batted .613 as a freshman, and .489 as a sophomore with 11 steals. He led his club to a league title as a junior in 1999, as he batted .600 with 9 steals. As a senior, he hit .550 with 6 homers, 12 RBIs, and 13 stolen bases. He was a three-time team captain and four-time MVP of the varsity baseball team.
He was named a 2000 Pre-season First Team All-American by Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, USA Today, and Fox Sports. Fuld was also listed 19th among the 100 Top High School Prospects of 2000 by Baseball America, and selected the New Hampshire 2000 Gatorade High School Player of the Year. In addition he was a four-time Central New England Prep School Baseball League All-Conference player.
Fuld also played from 1998 to 2000 with the Dover Post 8 American Legion team. With them, he earned 2000 New Hampshire State Tournament MVP honors. He also led his club to a state championship.
College
Ninety-four colleges approached Fuld after high school, and he chose to attend Stanford University. He was an economics major there, graduating in 2004 with a 3.15 grade point average. He was a two-time All-American and a four-year starter in center field for the Cardinal, playing alongside future major leaguers Carlos Quentin and Jed Lowrie.
In 2001, as a freshman, he batted .357 as he established himself as the team's leadoff hitter. Fuld was fifth in the Pacific-10 (Pac-10) conference in runs scored (56), sixth in walks (32), and ninth in hits (81). In the post-season he hit .596. He earned NCBWA Third Team All-American honors, and was named a Baseball America Second Team Freshman All-American, All-College World Series, All-NCAA Regional, All-Pac-10, and a Collegiate Baseball Honorable Mention Freshman All-American.
As a sophomore in 2002, he led the Pac-10 in hits (110), breaking Stanford's single-season record, while batting .375, third-best in the conference. Fuld also led the conference in total bases (162), was third in runs scored (67) and doubles (20), and fifth in triples (4). He was named a First-Team (ABCA, Baseball America, Baseball Weekly) and Third-Team (Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA) All-American. He was also named a Jewish Sports Review College Baseball First Team All-American, along with future major leaguers Craig Breslow and Adam Greenberg. In addition, Fuld earned the Stanford Jack Shepard Memorial Award and Come Through Award. He batted .421 with two homers in four CWS games, earning a spot on the All-College World Series Team for the second straight year. Fuld also played with Team USA in the summers of 2001 and 2002.
In 2003, Fuld was named a First-Team (NCBWA) and Third-Team (Baseball America) Pre-Season All-American. As a junior, he had 83 regular season runs, tying the school record (# 1 in the Pac-10). He hit .321 with 35 RBIs and 10 steals in 10 attempts, leading the conference in triples (9) while coming in fifth in hits (97), eighth in doubles (18) and total bases (145), and ninth in walks (34). In the post-season his 24 career hits broke the College World Series record of 23 set by Keith Moreland in 1973–75. And commenting on his defense, Stanford coach Mark Marquess said: "If it's in the ballpark, he's going to catch it. He's the premier center fielder in college baseball." He earned All-Pac-10 honors for the third straight season. Reflecting on his college career, Fuld said: "I think one of the things you take away from playing under Coach Marquess is whatever you do, be it baseball or anything else, you do it well and you do it with passion. You do it with excitement because, really, that's the way to go about things. Not only in sports, but beyond sports."
Fuld was drafted in the 24th round (703rd overall) of the 2003 draft by the Chicago Cubs, but did not sign. Marquess thought that Fuld was drafted relatively late because of his size. At 5 ft 10 in, he is not as tall as most major league outfielders. But Fuld said of the Cubs' bid: "It was a generous offer. It was a tough choice." He then led the Cape Cod League with a .450 on base percentage and batted .361 (second in the league) with 14 RBIs and 10 stolen bases in the summer of 2003 for the Hyannis Mets, and was voted a Cape Cod League All Star.Matt Goisman (June 22, 2017). "Cape League Conversation: Sam Fuld, Cape League Hall of Famer," Cape Cod Times.
Before the 2004 season, Fuld was named a First-Team (NCBWA), Second-Team (Louisville Slugger), and Third Team (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball) Pre-season All-American, and an Honorable Mention Pac-10 All-Academic. While playing the outfield at the end of his last college season, he broke his shoulder, tore his labrum, and partially tore his rotator cuff. For the season, he received Honorable Mention to the Pac-10 All-Academic Team and All-Conference Team
When he became Stanford's and the Pac-10's all-time leader in runs scored (268), Fuld said: "It means a lot to break the record. Obviously, a record like that is more of a tribute to the teammates I've had over the last four years." When he graduated from Stanford, he ranked among the school's all-time top 10 in hits (353; # 2), triples (16; # 3T), and doubles (58; # 6T).
Fuld said: "I want to try my hand. It's been a lifelong dream, really, to play professional baseball. I just love it too much not to give it a shot." The Cubs drafted him for a second time, in the 10th round (306th overall) of the 2004 draft, and this time Fuld signed, for a $25,000 signing bonus. When he made it to the major leagues, he became the 78th former Stanford Cardinal to do so. During the baseball off-season, Fuld returned to Stanford to pursue a master's degree in statistics.
Professional baseball career Minor leagues
The torn labrum injury he incurred in 2004 required surgery and a year of physiotherapy. During that time he read Michael Lewis's book Moneyball and got an internship position with STATS, Inc. of Chicago. "I was one of their reporters, which meant that I looked at game video and plotted the 'TVL'–type, velocity, and location–of every pitch", Fuld said. "They have this grid where you click on exactly where the ball crosses the plate. Play the tape, pause, and repeat." He also began seeking out stats that were not already kept. "There's so many statistics out there that I thought 'There's no stats on foul balls,' so I picked a few players and started tracking them, thinking I'd find something", Fuld said. But his bag that contained the notebook with all his stats was stolen.
Fuld's minor league career began in 2005, when he hit .300 with a .377 OBP and 18 stolen bases in 443 at bats for the Single-A Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League. He also had a 17-game hit streak, and turned in 7 outfield assists from center field.
Fuld batted .300 with a .378 OBP and 22 steals in 353 at bats for the High-A Daytona Cubs of the Florida State League in 2006, but he missed part of the season with a hip injury. He had surgery for a sports hernia in the off-season. He was named to the league All-Star team.
In 2007, Fuld batted .291 with a .371 on-base percentage, in 282 at bats, as he began the season with the Tennessee Smokies in the Double-A Southern League. "He knows how to play the game, when to take a pitch, when to work the count, and when to go ahead and swing away and juice the ball", said his Tennessee manager, Pat Listach. "He's strong enough that he can hit the ball out of the yard occasionally. He's a gap, line drive type hitter." He was an efficient leadoff batter for Tennessee, with more walks (41) than strikeouts (38). He was touted by Baseball America as having the best strike zone judgment in the organization. "He's a very intelligent player", added Listach. Fuld was also touted by Listach as having the best outfield skills on the team, as he led the Southern League with 13 assists from the outfield. In August, Fuld was promoted to the Iowa Cubs in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. There, he batted .269, with a .397 on-base percentage.