Ralph Milliard
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| Ralph Milliard | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Second baseman | |
| Born: 30 December 1973 Willemstad, Curaçao | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| May 12, 1996, for the Florida Marlins | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 27, 1998, for the New York Mets | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .172 |
| Hits | 16 |
| Runs batted in | 3 |
| Stats at Baseball Reference | |
| Teams | |
Ralph Gregory Milliard (born 30 December 1973) is a Dutch former baseball player and current baseball coach. Milliard represented the Netherlands at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney where he and his team placed fifth. Four years later at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens they placed sixth.
Milliard started playing baseball at age four in his native country Curaçao. When he was nine he moved with his family to Soest in The Netherlands where he played with the Knickerbockers club in the youth divisions. He was selected at age 14 to be part of the National youth team, the Cadetten. At age sixteen he moved to HCAW and played at the highest level, the Dutch Honkbal Hoofdklasse and developed into a talented short stop and second baseman.[1]
Professional career
In 1992 he signed a contract with the Florida Marlins[2] and played in total ten seasons as a professional from which three seasons were at the major league level. His strong point was his superb fielding as a shortstop and second baseman. He played for the Marlins, the New York Mets and the Cincinnati Reds. In 1996 he debuted in the Major Leagues for the Marlins on 12 May of that year. He was the second player from Curaçao to get to the Major Leagues and the eleventh Dutchman to do so. As a second baseman for the Marlins Milliard played 32 games in two seasons and won the World Series.[3] In 1998 he played another 10 games at second base and shortstop. In 2001 Milliard was sold from the San Diego Padres to the Cleveland Indians. With this club he failed to get into the major league selection and decided to return to The Netherlands.[4]