Name	Ryan Braun
Height	6' 2
Naionality	American
Date of Birth	November 17, 1983
Place of Birth	Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California
Famous for

Ryan Braun is currently a left fielder for the Milwaukee Brewers. Braun was born on November 17, 1983, in Mission Hills, California. Both of Braun’s parents are Jewish. His father was born in Israel, and his mother was born in America. Braun’s early success has earned him the nickname “The Hebrew Hammer,” a reference to former Brewer Hank Aaron, whose nickname was “Hammerin’ Hank,” and the movie The Hebrew Hammer.

Braun went to Grenada Hills High School in Grenada Hills, California, and played on the school baseball team for four years. Braun was the captain and Most Valuable Player of the team for three years. In his junior year, Braun played shortstop, and pitcher. As a sophomore in 2000, Braun had a .456 Batting Average (BA), while posting a .654 On Base Percentage (OBP). In Braun’s junior year, he had a BA of .421, with a .668 OBP. As a senior, his BA was .451, with a .675 OBP. Braun broke the school record for career home runs (HR) with 25. Braun was rated the 6th best shortstop in the country in his senior year by Baseball America in 2003.

Braun was offered scholarships to Stanford University and UC Berkeley, but chose to switch coasts and attend the University of Miami. In his freshmen year, Braun was named “National Freshmen of the Year,” and 1st team “Freshman All-American,” by Baseball America in 2003. He was also named 1st team All-American by Collegiate Baseball. Braun clinched these awards by having a .364 BA, 76 Runs Batted In (RBIs), and 17 HR. As a sophomore, Braun played shortstop and designated hitter and had a .335 BA, a Slugging Percentage (SLG) of .606, and 21 Stolen Bases (SB). During his junior year, his last at Miami, Braun had a .396 BA, 18 HR, a .726 SLG, 76 RBIs, and 23 SB. Braun ranked 9th in SLG, and 10th in RBIs in NCAA Division I, and was named to Baseball America’s 2005 College All-American Team as the designated hitter.

Braun was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 1st round (5th overall pick) in the 2005 Amateur Baseball Draft as a third basemen, and received a salary of $2.45 million. He was sent down to the minor leagues until the Brewers were ready to call him up to the majors. From 2005-2006, Braun played for the Helena Brewers, West Virginia Power, Brevard County Manatees, Huntsville Stars, Scottsdale Scorpions, and Nashville Sounds, all of which are minor league teams.

The Milwaukee Brewers invited Braun to training camp in 2007. The Brewers allowed Braun to compete for the starting position at third base, because the regular starting third baseman, Corey Koskie, was injured, and ended up missing the entire season. In Braun’s first spring training game, he went 4-5, with a grand slam, a 3-Run HR, a double, a single, and a stolen base; along with 7 RBIs.

In 2007, Braun played 113 games with 492 plate appearances, and led the National League with a .634 SLG. Braun set an all-time Major League rookie SLG record, breaking the record set by Mark McGwire, who had a .618 SLG for the Oakland Athletics in 1987. Braun also broke the team rookie records of 28 HR and 81 RBIs set by Prince Fielder in 2006. Braun hit 34 HR, with 97 RBIs, in 113 games. Braun was also a very successful batter against left-handed pitchers. Against them, he had the best Batting Average (.450), OBP of .516, and SLG of .964 of all major league hitters with at least 125 plate appearances against lefties, and was tied for 2nd in the major leagues in HRs with 15. On July 7, 2007, Braun became the fastest Brewer ever to hit his 10th major league HR, hitting it in his 38th game, shattering the previous record of 61 games set by Bill Schroeder. Braun hit his 15th HR in the 50th game of his career, and his 20th in his 64th game, making him the fastest to 15 and 20 since Albert Pujols got there in the 49th and 63rd games of his career in 2001. He was also the fastest to 20 in Brewers history. He hit his 25th HR in his 82nd game, quicker than any player since Mark McGwire in 1987, becoming just the 21st player ever to hit that many homers as a rookie. He broke the Brewer rookie record of 28 HRs on September 9, 2007. His 34 HRs for the season were just 4 behind the NL rookie record of 38 HRs shared by Frank Robinson (1956) and Wally Berger (1930), and were the fifth-highest total ever for an NL rookie.

Ryan Braun was one of three Jewish starters who played in the 2008 All-Star game. Kevin Youkilis, of the Boston Red Sox was the American League’s starting first baseman, and Ian Kinsler, of the Texas Rangers was the American League’s starting second baseman. Braun was a starting Outfielder for the National League. Braun also was selected to compete in the 2008 Home Run Derby, and finished in 3rd place.