15 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Chone
Figgins
1) Chone Figgins attended
Brandon (FL) High School, where he was third-team High School
All-American as 1997 senior and first team All-Conference as
both a junior and senior. Figgins was named second team
All-Conference as sophomore and voted team MVP in
1996.
2) On June 3rd 1997, Chone
Figgins was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 4th round
of the 1997 Baseball Amateur Draft.
3) On July 13th 2001,
Figgins was traded to the Angels for Kimera
Bartee.
4) In 2002, he was
named named Best Baserunner and Fastest Baserunner of the
Pacific Coast League by Baseball America.
5) Figgins had his contract
selected from Triple-A Salt Lake on August. 22nd
2002, replacing Tim Salmon on roster,
6) At the time of his
promotion, he was leading the Pacific Coast League with 18
triples, 100 runs scored and 39 stolen bases. The 18
triples and 39 stolen bases set new franchise records (old
marks were 10 triples and 35 stolen
bases).
7) Figgins appeared as a pinch-runner in
10 of the 15 games with the Angels scoring two game-winning
runs and one go-ahead run. In his major-league
debut on August. 25, 2002 he appeared as a pinch-runner
and scored the game-winning run in the 8th inning
against Boston.
8) Figgins made his first
major league start (second base) on September. 15,
2002 against the Texas Rangers. He collected
his first ML hit and RBI (single off Aaron Myette) in the
game.
9) He was added to the
Angels' postseason roster in 2002 and appeared in six
games. He batted 1.000 (1-1), scored four runs and stole
one base during the playoffs.
10) In 2003, he finished
the month of August with a .392 (31/79) average, highest in
the major leagues that month.
11) During the 2004 season, he started at six
different positions: shortstop (9), third base (81),
centerfield (36), left field (1), right field (1) and second
base (14). He and Jolbert Cabrera of Seattle (brother of
current teammate,
Orlando Cabrera
) were
only players in the majors that season to do
so.
12) Figgins collected his 14th triple
of the season on August 10th vs. Baltimore, setting an Angels'
single-season record. He finished second in
the majors with 17 triples.
13) On September 18, 2004, he became the
first Angel since 1993 to record 30 stolen bases in a
season. He finished third in the American League with 34
stolen bases (in 47 tries) and had seven multi-stolen base
games. He also stole third 10 times which was second
best in the A.L.
14)
Figgins hit safely in the last nine games of 2004 (.410,
16/39), a stretch in which the Angels went 7-2 to erase a three-game deficit against
the Oakland A's and win the AL West. During those nine
games, he had six multi-hit efforts and scored eight runs in that
span. Figgins received two 10th place votes in the
A.L. MVP voting in 2004 tying him for 24th
place.
15) The
best game of his career came on May 14th, 2004 when
he finished the game going 5-6 with two runs scored, a triple,
a grand slam home run and six RBI's against the Orioles.
The home run off Kurt Ainsworth was the first of his
career and he became the second player in 2004 (Brian
Dallimore) to collect a grand slam as their first home run of
their career. He also became the second Angel to ever
accomplish the feat (Buck Rogers in
1961).