| Dave Nilsson | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 David playing for the Brewers | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Catcher / Outfielder / First baseman / Designated hitter | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Born: 14 December 1969 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||
Batted: Left Threw: Right | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Professional debut | |||||||||||||||||||||
| MLB: 18 May, 1992, for the Milwaukee Brewers | |||||||||||||||||||||
| NPB: 31 March, 2000, for the Chunichi Dragons | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | |||||||||||||||||||||
| MLB: 3 October, 1999, for the Milwaukee Brewers | |||||||||||||||||||||
| NPB: 28 July, 2000, for the Chunichi Dragons | |||||||||||||||||||||
| MLB statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting average | .284 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Home runs | 105 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Runs batted in | 470 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| NPB statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting average | .180 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Home runs | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Runs batted in | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||||||
Medals
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David Wayne Nilsson AM (born 14 December 1969) is an Australian former professional baseball catcher and current manager of the Australia national baseball team and the Brisbane Bandits. He played for Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers from 1992 to 1999 and was an All-Star in 1999, becoming the first Australian player to appear in an All-Star game. He ended his Major League career on 3 October 1999 with 837 games played, 789 hits, 105 home runs and a .284 career batting average.
Nilsson became a free agent in the offseason following 1999, but opted not to sign with any MLB teams because of his desire to play for Australia in the 2000 Olympics. He was widely applauded for this move as he was turning down big money to represent his country, something very rarely seen in baseball. Before leaving the US, he had been Australia's second highest earning sportsman behind Greg Norman, according to the Business Review Weekly.
Nilsson previously played for the Brisbane Bandits and Melbourne Reds in the previous incarnation of the Australian Baseball League where he holds the record for all time batting average (.351) and all time slugging average (.661). His brothers Gary, Bob and Ron also played in the competition. He also played in the Japanese NPB and Italian Serie A. He went on to also represent Australia in the 2004 Olympics where they won a historic silver medal, and also represented his country in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006. He spent one season as manager with the Brisbane Bandits during the 2010–11 Australian Baseball League season, before returning to become the incumbent manager since 2014–15. In 2018 he succeeded Jon Deeble as the Australian national baseball team manager.
Nilsson represented Australia at the Olympics in 2000 and 2004, and has been involved in the strategic direction of the sport in Australia.
In 2018, he was named as one of the Queensland Greats by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in a ceremony at the Queensland Art Gallery on 8 June 2018.[1]
Nilsson was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours in recognition of his "service to baseball as a player, coach and mentor".[2]
- ^ "Congratulations to the 2018 Queensland Greats". Queensland Greats Awards. Queensland Government. 20 July 2018. Archived from the original on 27 October 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
- ^ "David Wayne Nilsson". honours.pmc.gov.au. Retrieved 10 June 2019.