Troy Neel

Troy Lee Neel (born September 14, 1965) is an American former professional baseball player. After a solid start in Major League Baseball (MLB), Neel moved to Japan and compiled strong numbers in six seasons playing in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). In 2022, Neel came 11,682 out of 669,173 people in the Australian ESPN AFL tipping contest.

Troy Neel
Designated hitter / First baseman
Born: (1965-09-14) September 14, 1965
Freeport, Texas, U.S.
Batted: Left
Threw: Right
Professional debut
MLB: May 30, 1992, for the Oakland Athletics
NPB: April 1, 1995, for the Orix BlueWave
Last appearance
MLB: August 11, 1994, for the Oakland Athletics
NPB: August 24, 2000, for the Orix BlueWave
MLB statistics
Batting average.280
Home runs37
Runs batted in120
NPB statistics
Batting average.262
Home runs137
Runs batted in438
KBO statistics
Batting average.193
Home runs1
Runs batted in3
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Early life

Neel was born in Freeport, Texas. He attended Texas A&M University before his professional baseball career. At the time, Neel was playing basketball. He did not play organized baseball before the age of 20, but his ability was good enough that he was able to switch to Howard College from Texas A&M.[1]

Career

Initially, Neel was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 9th round of the 1986 MLB draft, before being traded to Oakland in 1991, where he made his Major League debut.

Neel played in the major leagues for the Oakland Athletics primarily as a first baseman and designated hitter from 1992 to 1994. He made his debut on May 30 against the Baltimore Orioles, hitting second in the lineup and playing the entire game in left field. He went 0 for 4 with 2 strike outs. His first Major League hit was as a pinch hitter off reliever Bobby Thigpen of the Chicago White Sox on June 5 and his first career home run came on July 6 against Jeff Muttis of the Cleveland Indians. That game was his best of the year, going 3 for 5 with a 2-run home run, a double and 3 runs scored. By the end of the season he saw action in 24 games, hitting for a .264 batting average (14 hits in 53 at bats), with 3 home runs and 9 runs batted in, playing first base, left field and designated hitter. In 1993 Neel became a first-string player, belting 19 home runs with 63 RBI's on a solid .290 average. The following year his playing time was a bit reduced to 83 games, yet he still provided punch with 15 HR and 48 RBI's. Unexpectedly that would turn out to be his last year in the majors. He finished with a career .280 average in 758 at bats.

Moving to Japan alongside teammate Doug Jennings, he had a successful baseball career for the Orix BlueWave, playing with them for six seasons from 1995 until 1998, before signing with the Anaheim Angels and being assigned to the Triple-A Vancouver Canadians in that year, before returning to Japan on April 30 the same year and playing there until 2000. He also was able to make fast friends with then future MLB stars Ichiro Suzuki and So Taguchi.

Neel was the Most Valuable Player in the 1996 Japan Series, as the BlueWave defeated the Yomiuri Giants 4-games-to-1. Neel had 6 RBI in the Series.

Neel finished his professional baseball career in 2001 playing with the Doosan Bears in Korea. He was cut midway through the season after both putting up bad numbers, and a barfight that involved him getting arrested.[2] The Bears would end up winning that year's Korean Series without him.[3]

Personal life

Neel has been married at least two times.

Like another NPB foreigner before him, Ralph Bryant, he had been a player considered by fans to have been talented thanks to the so called, "magic" of manager Akira Ohgi..

Child support controversy

In 2000, Neel was ordered by the State of Texas to pay $5,000 a month in child support to his ex-wife who is the mother of his two children, a son and daughter.[2] Instead of paying, Neel fled the country then rejoined his former team in Japan, the Orix BlueWave.

After retiring from baseball after being cut midway through the 2001 season, the remarried Neel purchased a 16-acre 700,000 sq ft (65,000 m2) island in Vanuatu in the South Pacific, where he and his wife ran a 21-room resort which cost a reported $1.5 million[4] overlooking a lagoon. He chose to live there because since Vanuatu did not have any extradition treaties with the United States, this would allow him to stay there for at least five years, then gain citizenship there so he would not have to pay his ex-wife anything.[3][2] Called "the worst dead beat dad in 'the history of Texas'",[4] he owed over $725,000 in child support,[5] ultimately determined to be $778,000.[4] In 2005, a grand jury in San Antonio indicted Neel on a charge of foreign travel to evade child support obligations.[6] They were not able to do much about it, since Neel was still living in Vanuatu at the time, but this allowed the authorities on the island to not give him a Vanuatuan passport, and therefore, proper citizenship into the island.

His passport expired in 2008, and Vanuatu authorities forced him to leave the country. On December 11, 2008, Neel was arrested at the Los Angeles International Airport by US Health and Human Services investigators after he exited a plane from Sydney, Australia; he awaited trial in San Antonio, Texas.[2] On May 7, 2009, Neel was scheduled to plead guilty in court to avoiding child support payments. Neel faced as much as two years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.[1][7]

Neel reached a one-lump settlement with his ex-wife, for $116,000 and not the $778,000 he owed,[4] a reduction of 85%. He received no jail time sentence, only probation.[4]

References
  1. Kreytak, Steven (7 May 2009). "Officials: Former Austinite, big leaguer, to plead in child support case". Statesman.com. Cox Media Group. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011.
  2. "Former A's 1B Neel charged in child support case". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Associated Press. 12 December 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  3. Troy Neel - Baseball's Worst Deadbeat Dad | Mini NPB Player Profile, retrieved 2023-08-10
  4. Brill, Bob (20 April 2010). "Baseball playing dead beat dad Troy Neel still gets away with it". Examiner.com. Clarity Digital Group LLC.
  5. "CS Evader: Troy Neel". Child Support Evaders. Texas Attorney General. 2008-12-14. Retrieved 2008-12-14.
  6. "Ex-Big Leaguer Pleads Not Guilty In Texas Child Support Case". KWTX.com. San Antonio, Texas: KWTX-TV. 21 January 2009. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  7. "Cooperative Effort Reels in Texas' Most Heinous Child Support Evader" (Press release). Attorney General of Texas. 12 December 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
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