Player Profile: Lance Berkman

I have 68 cards of Lance Berkman. This one is from 2010 Topps Update.

Playing career: Lance Berkman came up with the Astros in 1999 and quickly become a star. One of the team’s many “Killer B’s”, the six-time all-star was one of the NL’s leading power hitter in the 2000’s. He hit 366 home runs and 422 doubles in his career, twice leading the NL in doubles. He led the NL in RBIs in 2002, but put up his best numbers in 2006, when he hit .315 with 45 HR and 136 RBI. He later played for the Yankees, Cardinals and Rangers and retired after the 2013 season.

My memories: I remember him being traded to the Yankees during the 2010 season and he looked completely washed-up and done. He was fat and out-of-shape and looked lost at the plate. Then he went to the Cardinals in 2011 and had a great comeback season, capped off with one of the biggest hits in World Series history, a two-strike, two-out game-tying RBI single in Game 6 of the World Series.

Interesting facts: In 2012 Forbes.com named him America’s seventh most generous celebrity based on amount of money donated to charity. Most of his donations are to religious-based children’s organizations. In 2013 he donated a fire truck to the town of West, TX that suffered a deadly fertilizer plant explosion that year. The town’s truck had been destroyed in the blast.

Berkman married the daughter of Johnny Baker, a former Houston Oilers linebaker, and Carla Swanson, of the Swanson TV dinner family.

Where he is now: An assistant coach at Second Baptist School in Houston.

Google Autocomplete results: He is third when you type Lance B, between Lance Briggs, a linebacker for the Chicago Bears, and Lance Bangs, a music video director. There do not appear to be any other prominent Lance Berkmans.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Ronald Bermudez.