Paul Konerko, first baseman for the Chicago White Sox since 1999, began his major league baseball career with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1997. After playing in only 55 games for the Dodgers in two seasons, he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 1998. A year later, Konerko began his career as the regular first baseman for the Chicago White Sox. After seven successful years with the White Sox, Konerko was made the team's captain in 2006.
James Loney, this year's first baseman for the Tampa Bay Rays, made his major league debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2006. He played in 48 games in 2006 and ended the season with a .284 batting average, with 4 home runs, 6 doubles and 3 triples. One of the highlights of the season for Loney came on September 28th when he had 4 hits and tied Gil Hodges for the Dodgers' record for the most RBIs in one game with 9.
Edwin Encarnacion, first baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays, was drafted in 2000, at age 17, by the Texas Rangers but a year later they traded him to the Cincinnati Reds. He played for four years in the minor leagues before being called up to the Reds in June, 2005. His first partial season was not strong, ending with a .232 batting average and only 9 home runs. He improved in his second and third years in the majors, batting .276 with 15 home runs in 2006 and .289 with 16 home runs in 2007.
Albert Pujols, all star first baseman and designated hitter for the Los Angeles Angels, was first signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1999 for $70,000. It took only two years for Pujols to make it to major league play, starting his active career with the Cardinals in 2001. In his rookie year with St. Louis, Pujols batted .329 with 37 home runs and 130 RBIs. Pujols became a free agent in 2012 and after 11 successful years with the Cardinals (2001-2011), he signed a lucrative 10 year, $254 million contract with the Angels.
Adrian Gonzalez, first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers, began his major league career in 2004 with the Texas Rangers. He was with the Rangers for two years, playing in 16 games in 2004 and 43 games in 2005. He was only a fair player in those first two years, ending with a .238 batting average in 2004 and an even poorer .227 in 2005. However, once he was traded to the San Diego Padres after the 2005 season, Gonzalez began to improve considerably. However, in December, 2010, he was traded by the Padres to the Boston Red Sox.
Justin Morneau, first baseman for the Minnesota Twins, began his professional baseball career in the Canadian minor leagues. He was drafted by Minnesota in 1999 and he played with their minor league teams for four years before putting on a Twins' uniform in June, 2003. Morneau played in 40 games with the Twins in 2003 and he followed that with 74 games the next season. The 2005 season was his first full season for Minnesota. In 2008, Morneau signed a lucrative $80 million, six-year contract with the Twins.
Todd Helton, first baseman for the Colorado Rockies, has played his entire career in the major leagues with the Rockies. He has been a power hitter for the Rockies, currently holding the third highest career batting average for all active major league players, right behind Ichiro Suzuki and Albert Pujols.
In 2009, Kendrys Morales had big shoes to fill when he replaced Mark Teixeira at first base for the Los Angeles Angels and he proved himself up to the task. In his first full season with the Angels, Morales batted .306 with 173 hits, 34 home runs, 43 doubles and 108 RBIs.
Joey Votto, the power hitting first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds, was first drafted by the team straight out of high school in 2002. However, Votto spent almost six years in the minor leagues before finally getting a chance to play with the Reds in September of 2007. He played in only 24 games in 2007 but the following year, his rookie year, Votto played in 151 games. That year, he broke the Reds' record for most RBIs by a rookie with 84.
Adam LaRoche, first baseman for the Washington Nationals, comes from a baseball family. His brother Andy plays for the Toronto Blue Jays and his father was a major league pitcher.