Scott Brosius made quite an entry into the major leagues on August 7, 1991, when he hit a home run in his second major league at-bat for the Oakland Athletics (his first was a double). Years later, in game three of the 1998 World Series, Brosius, now a Yankee, hit two home runs against the San Diego Padres.
Born in Hillsboro in 1966, Brosius attended Rex Putnam High School, where he was first-team all-conference in his senior year. He went to Linfield College and played baseball from 1985 to 1987, and then was drafted by the Oakland Athletics. At Linfield, he was all-conference in 1986 and honorable mention all-America in 1987.
Brosius played third base for the Athletics from 1991 to 1997. In 1996, his batting average was .304, and he hit 22 home runs. In 1997, however, he had a bad year, and headlines such as “Struggling Brosius is atrocious” made the front page of the sports section in the Oakland papers.
After the 1997-1998 season, Brosius was traded to the New York Yankees; he played third base for that team through 2001. He played in four World Series games; the Yankees won three of them, in 1998, 1999, and 2000. “We could have won four in a row,” Brosius said, “but with a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth in game seven, we let the Diamondbacks score two runs to win the World Series.”
In 1998, Brosius was an American League All-Star and World Series MVP. He batted .300 and had 98 RBIs and 19 home runs. In 1999, he won the Gold Glove Award. John Sterling, a Yankee announcer, called him “Ferocious Brosius,” and at one time Chris Bermann gave Scott the longest nickname of them all, Supercalifragilisticexpiali. For his career, Scott hit a total of 141 home runs and had 531 RBIs.
Between 2002 and 2007, Brosius was the assistant baseball coach at Linfield College. In 2008 he became the head coach. During that season, Linfield set a school record for wins and went to the NCAA III World Series.
Brosius lives in McMinnville with his wife, Jennifer, and three children. To show his children the importance of education, he took correspondence courses and finished an internship to earn his bachelor’s degree in January 2002, at the age of thirty-four.
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Further Reading
"Scott David Brosius," Baseball Reference website. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/brosisc01.shtml.
Olney, Buster. "Brosius Is Backing Up His Belief in Education," New York Times, March 24, 2001, p. D5. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/24/sports/baseball-yankees-notebook-brosius-is-backing-up-his-belief-in-education.html.
Olney, Buster. "Brosius Is Reluctant To Bask in the Glow," New York Times, Oct. 27, 1999, p. D2. http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/27/sports/world-series-notebook-brosius-is-reluctant-to-bask-in-the-glow.html.
Olney, Buster. "Brosius to Retire After Four Seasons With Yankees," New York Times, Nov. 27, 2001, p. S1. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/27/sports/baseball-brosius-to-retire-after-four-seasons-with-yankees.html.
