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Matt Franco
Matt Franco
	Utility player
	Born: August 19, 1969 (age 55); Santa Monica, California, U.S.
	Batted: Left Threw: Right
Professional debut
	MLB: September 6, 1995, for the Chicago Cubs
	NPB: March 27, 2004, for the Chiba Lotte Marines
Last appearance
	MLB: September 27, 2003, for the Atlanta Braves
	NPB: August 8, 2006, for the Chiba Lotte Marines
MLB statistics
Batting average	.267
Home runs	22
Runs batted in	117
NPB statistics
Batting average	.283
Home runs	44
Runs batted in	163
	Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
	Chicago Cubs (1995); New York Mets (1996–2000); Atlanta Braves (2002–2003); Chiba Lotte Marines (2004–2006);

Matthew Neil Franco (born August 19, 1969) is an American former professional baseball player who played first base in the major leagues from 1995 to 2003, and in Nippon Professional Baseball from 2004 to 2006.

Early career

Franco grew up in Westlake Village, California, playing youth soccer with future USMNT players Eric Wynalda and Cobi Jones. He was a standout baseball player at Westlake High and was drafted out of high school.

Franco started his professional career in 1987 with the Rookie League Wytheville Cubs in the Appalachian League. He started the 1988 season in short season rookie ball, again with the Wytheville Cubs. He hit .392 and was promoted to the Low Level A ball New York/Penn League. He played for the Winston-Salem Spirit of the Carolina League in 1991. Franco moved up to Double-A and for the next two seasons played for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliates in the Southern League, first with the Charlotte Knights in 1992, and then the Orlando Cubs in 1993.

Franco moved up to Triple-A in 1993. After starting the season in Orlando, he ended the season in Des Moines with the Iowa Cubs of the American Association. Franco would return to the Iowa Cubs the next season before breaking into the majors with the Chicago Cubs in 1995.

Major leagues

On July 10, 1999, with the Mets trailing the Yankees by one run with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth, Franco came up with a pinch-hit single off of Mariano Rivera to score two runs and give the Mets a 9–8 win.

Franco held the major league record with 20 pinch hit walks in a season until Matt Joyce broke it in 2016.^[1]

Alleged PED use

Kirk Radomski alleged that he sold Franco steroids in 2000. Franco told investigators that he had never bought or used any performance-enhancing substances, nor had he heard of Radomski until he pleaded guilty in federal court to money laundering and distributing steroids and human growth hormone.^[2]

Personal life

Franco lives in Simi Valley, California^{[citation needed]}. He is the son of film producer Larry Franco and Jill Russell, a sister of actor Kurt Russell, which makes Franco a grandson of actor Bing Russell.^[3]

References

^ Baseball, Alamanc. "Pinch Hitting Records". Baseball-almanac.com. Baseball Almanac. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
^ Mitchell, George (December 13, 2007). Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball (PDF) (Report). Office of the Commissioner of Baseball. p. 165. Retrieved October 23, 2023. Radomski said that he sold Franco steroids on one occasion in 2000 after Franco called him to place the order. This call occurred, according to Radomski, after Radomski ran into Franco at an event. Franco agreed to an interview by telephone with my investigative staff. During that interview, Franco denied ever purchasing or using any performance enhancing substance. Franco also denied that he ever met, knew, or talked with Radomski, asserting that he had never even heard of Radomski before the publicity over Radomski's guilty plea.
^ Jones, Brad. "The Relative Success of Matt Franco : He Is the Envy of His Family Despite Growing Up in a Movie-Industry Household". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 1, 2014.