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Playin' Catch...

Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees and Ken Griffey Jr. of the Cincinnati Reds have been named the inaugural recipients of the 2005 Major League Baseball Comeback Player of the Year Award ... as the result of fan balloting on MLB.com, it was announced today. Throughout the voting process, Major League Baseball fans cast nearly 400,000 votes for the award.

This season, Giambi, who received 100,037 votes, won by a decisive margin and re-emerged as a star on the baseball field this year after a 2004 injury-riddled campaign. For the season, the Yankees' left-handed slugger hit 32 home runs and had 87 RBI while leading the American League with 108 walks. Additionally, his .440 on-base percentage was the highest in the American League and second overall in the Majors.

Giambi began his surge towards claiming the Major League Baseball Comeback Player of the Year Award ... in July by hitting a Major League Baseball best 14 home runs while also raising his batting average 33 points over the course of the month. The five-time All-Star also recorded another milestone in July by hitting his 300th career home run. [More].

The Department of Athletics at Long Beach State announced the four award winners for the Hall of Fame Inspirational Awards which will be presented at the Annual Hall of Fame Banquet on Thursday, October 20, 2005 at the Hyatt Regency in Long Beach.

...Winning the Todd Hart Courage Award are ... and baseball athlete Sean Boatright (Mission Viejo, CA) ... Student-athletes were nominated for the individual awards by their coaches and the voting was conducted by the Department of Athletics Senior Staff...

The Todd Hart Courage Award is presented to an athlete who best exemplifies courage. The award reads: “Todd displayed true courage and moments of greatness often found away from the bright lights and playing fields. He faced his challenge and turned adversity into an opportunity to let his courage serve as a daily inspiration to Long Beach State athletes and young men and women everywhere.”...

Sean Boatright has racked up more time on the disabled list than most players do in a lifetime. As a highly-touted outfield out of Orange County in 2001, Sean had to miss the 2002 season due to injuring his back. The next year (2003) he continued to suffer back problems, appearing in just 19 games on the season. But through determination and hard work he was able to come back from surgery and make a contribution. In 2004 he was healthy and ready to begin the year when he injured his elbow in the season-opening series with USC, forcing him to miss 22 games. He triumphantly returned to the lineup later in the season to bat .330 overall and led the 49ers to a Super Regional. He was named to the All-Regional Tournament team at Stanford after batting .600 in the three 49er victories, two of which came over the host Cardinal. This past year he injured his hamstring in the opening weekend at Arizona State and was out of action for six weeks. Boatright fought back though, and earned second team All-Big West honors in the process. He was drafted this past summer, but opted to come back to school for a hopefully injury-free senior season.