Jeremy Giambi


Jeremy Dean Giambi is an American former professional baseball outfielder and first baseman, who played in Major League Baseball for the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, and Boston Red Sox, from through. Giambi also played in Minor League Baseball in the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox organizations. He is the younger brother of former MLB player Jason Giambi.

Early life

Like his older brother Jason, Jeremy Giambi attended South Hills High School, Sierra Vista Middle School in Covina, California, and Covina Elementary School in Covina, California. He attended California State University, Fullerton and played college baseball for the Cal State Fullerton Titans. In 1994, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod Baseball League. The Kansas City Royals selected Giambi in the sixth round of the 1996 Major League Baseball Draft.

Professional career

Giambi started off his Major League career playing for the Royals, for whom he played for parts of two seasons. He was mentioned in Michael Lewis's book Moneyball as one of the replacement players for his older brother, Jason and became a character in the film that starred Brad Pitt. Despite his off field troubles, Jeremy was looked at by Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, because of his plate discipline. The Athletics had acquired Giambi from the Royals in exchange for Brett Laxton prior to the 2000 season.
During the 2002 season, the Athletics traded Giambi to the Philadelphia Phillies for John Mabry. After the 2002 season, the Phillies traded Giambi to the Boston Red Sox for Josh Hancock. He last played in the majors in 2003 for the Red Sox. After being released by the Red Sox, Giambi signed minor league deals with the Dodgers in 2004 and the White Sox in 2005 but only played in a total of 20 games in two seasons.

Drugs and steroids

On December 10, 2001, Giambi was caught with marijuana at a checkpoint at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. He was cited for misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance and released.
On March 13, 2005, The Kansas City Star reported that Giambi had admitted to having used anabolic steroids. His brother Jason has also admitted to using steroids according to grand jury testimony that has been leaked to the press. On December 13, 2007, Giambi was named in the Mitchell Report on steroid usage in baseball.