LaTroy Hawkins (born December 21, 1972 in Gary, Indiana) is a current Major League relief pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles. He has spent the majority of his career with the Minnesota Twins (1995-2003), before going to the Chicago Cubs in 2004. On May 28, 2005, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants in return for Jerome Williams and David Aardsma. Before the 2006 season, he was dealt to the Orioles in exchange for left-hander Steve Kline. He is right-handed and wears the number #32 on his uniform. He was 49-61 all-time after the 2004 season, with a 4.82 ERA in 443 games, and 98 games started. He has 601 career strike outs in 901 innings pitched. He also has 69 career saves and was 8th in the league in 2001 with 28.
In his time with the Cubs, he struggled in the last half of the 2004 season when he was shifted into the role of a closer, and he struggled up until his trade to the Giants, prompting angry boos from fans and hate mail. The boos and hate mail were part of the reason he was traded. When Hawkins and the Giants came back to Chicago in late July, he was roundly taunted and booed by the fans. The hatred he endured from Cub fans was a bit ironic considering that he was a Cub fan himself growing up.
LaTroy also has a large fan club started when he was with the Twins and based in Minneapolis. Numbering over 800 members, they have a core group of Twins and baseball fans who root for LaTroy in various cities and support him and his family throughout the year. To learn more about his fan club visit this website.
