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Daniel William Heep (born July 3, 1957) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder.

Danny Heep
Outfielder
Born: (1957-07-03) July 3, 1957 (age 67)
San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Batted: Left
Threw: Left
MLB debut
August 31, 1979, for the Houston Astros
Last MLB appearance
June 8, 1991, for the Atlanta Braves
MLB statistics
Batting average.257
Home runs30
Runs batted in229
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Heep, who batted and threw left-handed, played for five different ballclubs during his 13-year career: the Houston Astros (1979–1982), New York Mets (1983–1986), Los Angeles Dodgers (1987–1988), Boston Red Sox (1989–1990), and Atlanta Braves (1991).

Heep played for two different World Series champions: the New York Mets in 1986, and the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1988.

Baseball career

Heep played baseball for, and graduated from, Lee High School in San Antonio.

Heep played for St. Mary's University in San Antonio where he was twice an All-American, in 1976 and 1978, as a pitcher. At St. Mary's he earned his bachelor's degree in physical education, and he is a member of that school's Athletic Hall of Fame.

Originally drafted by the Houston Astros in the 1979 Major League Baseball Draft, he compiled a .331 batting average, 23 home runs and 108 runs batted in (RBI) in a little over a year in the minors to earn his first major league call up. His major league debut came on August 31, 1979 against the New York Mets.[1] He remained with the Astros through the end of the season, achieving a .143 average with two runs batted in. The second RBI was a game winner against the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 30.[2] He was the Pacific Coast League batting champion with a .343 average with the Tucson Toros in 1980.[3]

After hitting .237 with four home runs and 22 RBI in 85 games with the Astros in 1982, he was acquired by the New York Mets for Mike Scott at the Winter Meetings on December 10.[3]

Danny Heep was the 4,000th strikeout victim of Nolan Ryan, on July 11, 1985.

NCAA coach

Heep was the head coach for the NCAA Incarnate Word Cardinals baseball team in San Antonio from 1998-2017. Since becoming head coach in 1998, the program has won two conference championships. In 2014, they became a Division I program in the Southland Conference.

Head coaching record

Below is a table of Heep's yearly records as a collegiate head baseball coach.

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Incarnate Word (Heart of Texas ConferenceDII) (1998–1999)
1998 Incarnate Word 33-17
1999 Incarnate Word 30-22 12-8
Incarnate Word (Heartland Conference – DII) (2000–2010)
2000 Incarnate Word 20-28
2001 Incarnate Word 35-21 12-4 1st
2002 Incarnate Word 31-24
2003 Incarnate Word 30-27
2004 Incarnate Word 41-17 NCAA Regional
2005 Incarnate Word 35-19 1st
2006 Incarnate Word 38-21 1st NCAA Regional
2007 Incarnate Word 34-21
2008 Incarnate Word 39-17 35-15 2nd
2009 Incarnate Word 36-17 32-14
2010 Incarnate Word 42-18 34-13 2nd NCAA Regional
Incarnate Word (Lone Star Conference – DII) (2011–2013)
2011 Incarnate Word 37-18 24-9 1st NCAA Regional
2012 Incarnate Word 23-21 16-11 3rd
2013 Incarnate Word 26-26 12-16 6th
Incarnate Word (Southland ConferenceDI) (2014–2017)
2014 Incarnate Word 18-32 9-15 11th ineligible
2015 Incarnate Word 21-33 11-19 11th ineligible
2016 Incarnate Word 13-38 5-22 13th ineligible
2017 Incarnate Word 20-36 8-22 12th ineligible
Incarnate Word (Div. I): 72-139 33-78
Total: 601-473

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Personal

His uncle was former major league catcher Matt Batts, who played for the Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Redlegs between 1947 and 1956.

References

  1. ^ "Houston Astros 2, New York Mets 0". Baseball-Reference.com. August 31, 1979.
  2. ^ "Houston Astros 3, Los Angeles Dodgers 2". Baseball-Reference.com. September 30, 1979.
  3. ^ a b "The New York Mets traded pitcher Mike Scott to...," United Press International (UPI), Friday, December 10, 1982. Retrieved February 3, 2023.