Brad Ausmus

(1969- )

Brad Ausmus is currently a major league baseball player playing for the Houston Astros. He was drafted in 1987 by the New York Yankees, but chose to chase his childhood dream and attend Dartmouth College. The Yankees allowed him to play for one of their minor league teams while he was at college. Given NCAA rules barring paid professional athletes from playing college sports, the MLB-drafted minor leaguer Ausmus could not actually play for Dartmouth's team, the Big Green, and instead served as a volunteer coach and bullpen catcher. He has played in over 1700 career games as a catcher for the San Diego Padres, Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros. In 1999, he had his best statistical hitting season and made the all-star team while with the Detroit Tigers. In 2005 he played in the World Series while with the Houston Astros. Brad Ausmus is known as a great defensive catcher, winning gold glove awards in 2001, 2002 and 2006, all with the Astros. Ausmus was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2004