Rick Leach | |
---|---|
Outfielder / First baseman | |
Born: Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. | May 4, 1957|
Batted: Left Threw: Left | |
MLB debut | |
April 30, 1981, for the Detroit Tigers | |
Last MLB appearance | |
August 5, 1990, for the San Francisco Giants | |
MLB statistics | |
Batting average | .268 |
Home runs | 18 |
Runs batted in | 183 |
Teams | |
Richard Max Leach (born May 4, 1957) is an American former college football player and professional baseball player.
Leach was an all-state quarterback at Flint Southwestern High School in the fall of 1974, and the University of Michigan's starting quarterback in four consecutive seasons (1975–1978), leading the Wolverines to three straight Big Ten Conference championships and three appearances in the Rose Bowl. As a senior in 1978, he won the Big Ten Most Valuable Player, was selected as a first-team All-American, and finished third in the 1978 balloting for the Heisman Trophy.
As a baseball player he was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the first round (13th overall) of the 1979 MLB Draft.[1] Leach opted to play professional baseball over football, primarily a backup outfielder and first baseman for the Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays. He he had a career .268 batting average and .335 on-base percentage in 1,719 major league at bats from 1981 to 1990.