Former Philadelphia Phillies slugger Jeremy Giambi passed away at age 47 Wednesday, his agent Joel Wolfe told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
At this time, a cause of death is unknown. Rosenthal did note that Giambi passed away at his parents’ house in Southern California.
The Phillies acquired Giambi in a trade from the Oakland Athletics in May of 2002, in exchange for John Mabry. Giambi homered twice in his first game as a Phillie, a 13-9 loss to the Montreal Expos on May 25, 2002. Giambi — who got at-bats at first base, right field, left field and DH — slashed .244/.435/.538 with 12 home runs, 28 RBIs and a 1.9 fWAR as a Phillie.
After the 2002 season, Giambi was traded to the Boston Red Sox, with the Phillies acquiring the late Josh Hancock in return. 2003 turned out to be Giambi’s final major league season.
Of course, Giambi’s older brother, Jason, was a five-time All-Star who hit 440 home runs in 20 big league seasons. Jason and Jeremy were teammates on the A’s in 2000, when the elder Giambi won the American League MVP.
The thoughts of everyone at Phillies Nation are with the Giambi family at this time.