Torii Hunter

Torii Hunter's Postseason Blog

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0000

Angels center fielder Torii Hunter is blogging about the Postseason as the Halos look to bring another World Championship to Los Angeles. Details are as follows: http://toriihunter.mlblogs.com/.

Torii Hunter Project (Placentia) - MLB.com

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 04:00:00 +0000

Hunter sees field in his name built
Outfielder donates money to help local kids play ball
By Ben Platt / MLB.com

PLACENTIA, Calif. -- Back on Aug. 31 of last year, many of the residents of Placentia who attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the city's Kraemer Clubhouse softball field that would benefit all the kids in the area were a little skeptical that the project would ever happen. But a year later, the field, built with the help of the community, Magical Builders, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and their new center fielder, Torii Hunter, who donated $50,000 to have the field that bears his name, is finished.
"I'm amazed there's a Torii Hunter here in the OC, in Placentia," said the outfielder, with a big grin on his face. "It's too nice to be mine. I mean, the fence is great and the Magical Builders have done such a great job here -- just looking at it, I'm at a loss for words right now."

Hunter, along with Angels owner Arte Moreno, Jon and Christy Frank of the Magical Builders and many residents and area politicians attended a Friday ceremony at the field that will benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Brea-Placentia-Yorba Linda and will serve as the home of the Angels' RBI League, along with youth programs throughout the local community.

"Everybody's involved," said Hunter. "I didn't realize how many people were involved. When I got the call about the project and the situation that was going on in this area, I decided to do it because I wanted to help out, and coming here and seeing all the people that were out here and were involved is big. This community is all together. They're as one."

The project took two years from planning to completion and to help expedite it, the Angels Baseball Foundation, working closely with the city, enlisted the help of the Magical Builders, a non-profit organization, which, for the last four years, has helped renovate Boys & Girls Clubs during All-Star Weekends in Detroit, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and New York.

"The Angels Foundation called and asked us if we would like to be a part of this project," said Christy Frank, who serves as the Arizona-based organization's executive director. "Once you get the players and the Angels name out there, sub-contractors are willing to give as well, so we started calling and the sub-contractors cane on board and we were able to build an amazing field for the children."

Hunter, who was known for his philanthropic work as a member of the Minnesota Twins, helped get everything finished right after he signed with the Angels.

"Having Torii Hunter a part of this has been phenomenal," said Frank. "He is such a role model for the children, so when you get someone like Torii to be a part of your team you grab him right up."

Hunter's boss agrees.

"The ownership of Minnesota told me right after we signed Torii that 'you signed a great player, but you also signed a great person,'" said Moreno. "We were aware of all the stuff he had done, but he continues to to go the extra yard. "

Hunter believes that giving back is an extension of his personal story.

"That's what I do. That's in my heart," said Hunter. "This game has helped my family financially. I was able to get a scholarship to the University of Arkansas. This game has helped me tremendously and I want to be able to give any other kid the same opportunity and use it for baseball."

Moreno believes that fields like these can only help with kids finding their own way and teaching them to love the game of baseball.

"This is very important," said Moreno. "One of the things we try to do in the Angels organization is to try to expand youth fields, the RBI program, inner-city baseball and continue to develop, that's the future of the game."

Source: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080912&content_id=3463314&vkey=news_ana&fext=.jsp&c_id=ana

Make Music With Me - WeMix Winner Announced

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 04:00:00 +0000

Diamond Cut Contest Winner – Get It Now!

The battle was fierce. The songs were live. It was a tough call but we have a winner:

Big ups to RIPCHORD and TAZUH repping Phoenix.

Their song "Luv Of Da Game" premiered last week as my official walk on tune.

The song is hot and it's out now! Check it out by clicking here.

To order your MP3, just click here.

All of my proceeds are going to the Torii Hunter Foundation so please support it. And you could win a great prize for signing up, so go get it!

Torii

Make Music With Me – At WeMix.com

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0000

What's up! Quick note to spread the word about a great thing happening right now.

I've partnered with a super cool new website called WeMix.com. The site was created by my man Chris "Ludacris" Bridges and it's a great place for new musicians to collaborate and also to discover great new music from the streets.

We're doing a song contest called the Torii Hunter WeMix Diamond Cut. I want one of you, someone out there, to write my next "walk on" song. This will be an original song that plays every time I come to bat in Anaheim, with 40,000 fans digging the groove.

So what are you waiting for? The contest is live right now. You go to WeMix.com, upload your original songs, beats, vocals – whatever. I'm going to pick my 3 favorite songs, and then the WeMix community will vote for the winner.

The winner will go straight into the studio to record a full version of their song. I'll join you to personally help out, and you never know which other superstars and producers will swing by to help out.

Even if you've never made music before, you can make mashups of songs at WeMix and have a real say in helping us create this totally unique song.

To go to my WeMix contest, click this link: http://www.wemix.com/contest.aspx?ctid=1328

Good luck and check it out now!

You can listen to the song here.

Torii

Purple Party a Success!

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0000

The 'Purple All Star Celebration' with Torii Hunter in New York City on July 14th was an incredible one.

Freddie Sykes from Tennessee Ridge, Tennessee was the lucky winner. He was treated to two round-trip airfare tickets, hotel accommodation, and tickets to attend the exclusive 'Purple All Star Celebration' with Torii Hunter. The event was also attended by New York Yankees closer, Mariano Rivera and featured a private performance by rapper/hip hop artist Talib Kweli. The celebration took place during the MLB All Star weekend in New York City.

Congratulations to Freddie Sykes!

Keep checking back to www.toriihunter.com for an awesome new contest that will be announced in the next few weeks. I am teaming up with a music icon and baseball fans on a hip hop contest. Check back for more hints.

Hunter blasts 200th career homer

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:00:00 +0000

ANAHEIM -- Torii Hunter belted his 200th career homer on Monday, during the Angels' series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Hunter sat on a 2-1 pitch from Rays starter Edwin Jackson and knocked it over the left-center-field wall to give the Angels a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Vladimir Guerrero, who singled to lead off the inning, scored on Hunter's blast.

It was the eighth home run of the year for Hunter, who signed a five-year, $90 million free agent contract this past offseason to play center field for the Angels.

Hunter's impact on the American League West-leading Angels has been felt on both sides of the ball. He has not committed an error while providing solid defense in center, and also leads the team with 34 runs scored and 106 total bases.

The 32-year-old drilled a walk-off grand slam at home on April 7 against the Indians, and tied a club record with three doubles in a single game on April 18 against Seattle. Hunter's first homer as an Angel came April 3 at Minnesota, his big league home for the previous 10 seasons.

2007 Career Highlights:

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:00:00 +0000

Appeared in a career-high 160 games and moved into ninth place on the Twins All-Time hit list passing Zoilo Versalles (1046) and Roy Smalley (1046) on Opening Day, April 2 vs. Baltimore...later passed Cesar Tovar (1164) and Chuck Knoblach (1197) on the Twins All-Time hit list and ranks seventh with 1218 hits...hit safely in career-high 23 straight games, going 35-for-94 (.372) from April 11-May 9, was the fourth longest hitting streak in Twins history...during the streak he recorded 11 multi-hit games, 12 doubles, five home runs and 19 rbi...hit his seventh career grand slam, April 17 at Seattle...went 3-for-5 with two home runs and a career-high seven rbi, May 13 vs. Detroit, marking the 14th time in Twins history a player has driven in seven-or-more runs...hit his eighth career grand slam and second of the season, May 18 at Milwaukee...eighth career multi-homer game (second of season), June 28 vs. Toronto...had 13-game hitting-streak, going 21-for-54 (.389) with five doubles, three homers and 12 rbi, August 13-26...ninth career grand slam (third of season), August 15 at Seattle..his nine grand slams moved him into second place on the Twins All-Time list trailing only Harmon Killebrew (10)...finished the year with 49-multi-hit games...set a career-high with 107 rbi...ranks 5th on the Twins All-Time list in doubles (259) and stolen bases (711) and 7th in total bases (2105), runs (672), home runs (192) and rbi (711)...posted a .995 fielding percentage (2 E, 394 TC)...tied for American League lead in grand slams (three), was fourth in doubles, tied for sixth in extra-base hits (74), seventh in home runs and 10th in rbi.

All-Star Regimen - Men's Fitness

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:00:00 +0000

L.A.'s new angel in the outfield Torii Hunter is one of baseball's best all-around players. He credits body-weight training, stabilization exercises, and a tailor-made diet.

Story at: http://www.mensfitness.com/sports_and_recreation/athletes/74?page=1

Hunter transitioning to a bigger stage - ESPN.com

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:00:00 +0000

By Amy K. Nelson
ESPN.com

Story at: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2008/news/story?id=3266823