Samuel Babson Fuld (born November 20, 1981) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and current executive for the Philadelphia Phillies organization of Major League Baseball (MLB), where he most recently served as the team's general manager. He played eight seasons in MLB for the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics, and Minnesota Twins.
He began his baseball career by twice batting .600 in high school, during which time Baseball America ranked him 19th in the country. Fuld played college baseball at Stanford University. There, he was a two-time All-American, set the school record for career runs scored, and established the College World Series record for career hits.
Fuld was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 2004 Major League Baseball draft. He was an All Star two years later in the Florida State League. A year after that, Fuld was voted the Most Valuable Player in the Arizona Fall League. In the minor leagues—as a result of his defensive play—he was referred to as "a crash test dummy with a death wish", a "human wrecking ball act", a "wall magnet", and a "manager's dream and a trainer's worst nightmare".
Fuld made his major league debut with the Cubs in 2007. He became a fan favorite for his defense and his tendency to run into outfield walls while making catches. Fuld batted .299 in his longest stint with the Cubs, but appeared only in late-season call-ups over three years. After the 2010 season, he was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays. Fuld made the Rays' 2011 opening day roster, and won the jobs of starting left fielder and leadoff hitter by mid-April. Due to early-season heroics, including a "Superman-esque" catch, he was dubbed "Superman", "Super Sam", and "The Legendary Sam Fuld". Fuld's catch was put to Superman-theme music in a YouTube video, and tweets about him went viral. In late April, Fuld led the American League (AL) in both batting average and steals. He played with the Rays through 2013. In 2014–2015, Fuld played for the Oakland A's (for two stints) and Minnesota Twins.
Fuld played center field and batted lead-off for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
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Early life
Fuld was born in Durham, New Hampshire. His father is Jewish and his mother is Catholic, and he has said that he was "kind of raised celebrating both" religions' holidays. He weighed 10 pounds (4.5 kg) at birth." He is the son of Kenneth Fuld, former Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Professor of Psychology at the University of New Hampshire, and Amanda Merrill, a former New Hampshire State Senator. He is also a second cousin, once removed, of former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld.
He got his start playing baseball hitting plastic wiffle balls pitched by his grandmother when he was three years old. As a young child, Fuld carried around a copy of The Complete Baseball Handbook instead of a security blanket. "He was only 5 or 6 and he was already computing batting averages and ERAs", his father said. "He'd sit in the bathtub, and I'd say 'If a guy goes 17-for-38, what's his batting average?' What struck me is that he'd perform these operations in very creative ways–not just that he got the right answer, but his methodology, adding in a factor and then dividing by 10, etc. I'd watch him and say 'wow,' just like I said 'wow' when he used to hit."
High school
Fuld attended Berwick Academy as an eighth grader, during which time he made the high school varsity baseball team, and the University of New Hampshire's baseball coach said that he had the best batting swing of any player in the state. He was the team's MVP, and a league All Star. He then transferred to Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, where he played baseball and soccer, and ran track. Because of the climate, the league played a short baseball season, and some of the games were played as it snowed. Fuld batted .613 as a freshman, and .489 as a sophomore with 11 steals. He led his club to a league title as a junior in 1999, as he batted .600 with 9 steals. As a senior, he hit .550 with 6 homers, 12 RBIs, and 13 stolen bases. He was a three-time team captain and four-time MVP of the varsity baseball team.
He was named a 2000 Pre-season First Team All-American by Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, USA Today, and Fox Sports. Fuld was also listed 19th among the 100 Top High School Prospects of 2000 by Baseball America, and selected the New Hampshire 2000 Gatorade High School Player of the Year. In addition he was a four-time Central New England Prep School Baseball League All-Conference player.
Fuld also played from 1998 to 2000 with the Dover Post 8 American Legion team. With them, he earned 2000 New Hampshire State Tournament MVP honors. He also led his club to a state championship.
College
Ninety-four colleges approached Fuld after high school, and he chose to attend Stanford University. He was an economics major there, graduating in 2004 with a 3.15 grade point average. He was a two-time All-American and a four-year starter in center field for the Cardinal, playing alongside future major leaguers Carlos Quentin and Jed Lowrie.
In 2001, as a freshman, he batted .357 as he established himself as the team's leadoff hitter. Fuld was fifth in the Pacific-10 (Pac-10) conference in runs scored (56), sixth in walks (32), and ninth in hits (81). In the post-season he hit .596. He earned NCBWA Third Team All-American honors, and was named a Baseball America Second Team Freshman All-American, All-College World Series, All-NCAA Regional, All-Pac-10, and a Collegiate Baseball Honorable Mention Freshman All-American.
As a sophomore in 2002, he led the Pac-10 in hits (110), breaking Stanford's single-season record, while batting .375, third-best in the conference. Fuld also led the conference in total bases (162), was third in runs scored (67) and doubles (20), and fifth in triples (4). He was named a First-Team (ABCA, Baseball America, Baseball Weekly) and Third-Team (Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA) All-American. He was also named a Jewish Sports Review College Baseball First Team All-American, along with future major leaguers Craig Breslow and Adam Greenberg. In addition, Fuld earned the Stanford Jack Shepard Memorial Award and Come Through Award. He batted .421 with two homers in four CWS games, earning a spot on the All-College World Series Team for the second straight year. Fuld also played with Team USA in the summers of 2001 and 2002.
In 2003, Fuld was named a First-Team (NCBWA) and Third-Team (Baseball America) Pre-Season All-American. As a junior, he had 83 regular season runs, tying the school record (# 1 in the Pac-10). He hit .321 with 35 RBIs and 10 steals in 10 attempts, leading the conference in triples (9) while coming in fifth in hits (97), eighth in doubles (18) and total bases (145), and ninth in walks (34). In the post-season his 24 career hits broke the College World Series record of 23 set by Keith Moreland in 1973–75. And commenting on his defense, Stanford coach Mark Marquess said: "If it's in the ballpark, he's going to catch it. He's the premier center fielder in college baseball." He earned All-Pac-10 honors for the third straight season. Reflecting on his college career, Fuld said: "I think one of the things you take away from playing under Coach Marquess is whatever you do, be it baseball or anything else, you do it well and you do it with passion. You do it with excitement because, really, that's the way to go about things. Not only in sports, but beyond sports."
Professional baseball career
Minor leagues
The torn labrum injury he incurred in 2004 required surgery and a year of physiotherapy. During that time he read Michael Lewis's book Moneyball and got an internship position with STATS, Inc. of Chicago. "I was one of their reporters, which meant that I looked at game video and plotted the 'TVL'–type, velocity, and location–of every pitch", Fuld said. "They have this grid where you click on exactly where the ball crosses the plate. Play the tape, pause, and repeat." He also began seeking out stats that were not already kept. "There's so many statistics out there that I thought 'There's no stats on foul balls,' so I picked a few players and started tracking them, thinking I'd find something", Fuld said. But his bag that contained the notebook with all his stats was stolen.
Fuld's minor league career began in 2005, when he hit .300 with a .377 OBP and 18 stolen bases in 443 at bats for the Single-A Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League. He also had a 17-game hit streak, and turned in 7 outfield assists from center field.
Fuld batted .300 with a .378 OBP and 22 steals in 353 at bats for the High-A Daytona Cubs of the Florida State League in 2006, but he missed part of the season with a hip injury. He had surgery for a sports hernia in the off-season. He was named to the league All-Star team.
In 2007, Fuld batted .291 with a .371 on-base percentage, in 282 at bats, as he began the season with the Tennessee Smokies in the Double-A Southern League. "He knows how to play the game, when to take a pitch, when to work the count, and when to go ahead and swing away and juice the ball", said his Tennessee manager, Pat Listach. "He's strong enough that he can hit the ball out of the yard occasionally. He's a gap, line drive type hitter." He was an efficient leadoff batter for Tennessee, with more walks (41) than strikeouts (38). He was touted by Baseball America as having the best strike zone judgment in the organization. "He's a very intelligent player", added Listach. Fuld was also touted by Listach as having the best outfield skills on the team, as he led the Southern League with 13 assists from the outfield. In August, Fuld was promoted to the Iowa Cubs in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. There, he batted .269, with a .397 on-base percentage.
Fuld played for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League in the Fall of 2007. On October 30, he was named AFL Player of the Week, after hitting .526. In 29 games with the Solar Sox, Fuld led the league in batting average (.402), hits (43), doubles (11), extra-base hits (16), total bases (67), obp (.492), slugging percentage (.626), and OPS (1.118), and was 3rd in the league in runs (20) and walks (17), 4th in stolen bases (10), and 5th in triples (2). He batted .462 with runners in scoring position, and .500 against lefties. Fuld was named the 2007 Most Valuable Player of the Arizona Fall League, after being the season's dominant player. He also was named to the AFL Top Prospects Team.
Major leagues
In September 2007, the Chicago Cubs called Fuld up to the major league team. He was the 37th ballplayer from New Hampshire to make it to the major leagues. He made his debut September 5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, as a defensive replacement. "I have so much respect for players like (Cubs first baseman) Derrek Lee", Fuld said. "They're great players. But to meet them and actually play with them and contribute and help them win is kind of a surreal experience. It doesn't seem too long ago that I was going to Fenway (Park in Boston) and idolizing these guys. I feel like a fan at times. I have to remind myself I'm a player."
That month he was "forced" to sing Stanford's fight song on the team bus, as part of his rookie treatment. Later in the month, he was hazed after a game—made to walk from the park in Cincinnati to the team's downtown hotel in a Batgirl getup, accompanied by Félix Pie in pink baby pajamas, Carmen Pignatiello (as Supergirl), and Kevin Hart (as Wonder Woman). After peeking at his outfit, before he had to don it, Fuld said: "I think it was Batgirl. I was actually looking forward to it, believe it or not. [I didn't try it on] I'm pretty sure I would've looked good in it. Black's my color. I never did the frat thing in college, so this would kind of be like that." In mid-September, as manager Lou Piniella had still not given Fuld an at bat, someone on the team hung a "Moonlight Graham" sign in Fuld's locker.
Against the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 22, 2007, playing right field as a defensive replacement, Fuld raced back and made a "spectacular", "daredevil", catch just left of the 368-foot-marker in right-center field at Wrigley Field, slamming into the ivy-covered brick wall and robbing the Pirates' Nyjer Morgan of extra bases. Fuld then bounced off the bricks and threw the ball to first base, doubling off a Pirates baserunner (see video of Fuld catch and throw to first). "That was amazing", said Fuld. "They were going crazy." General Manager Jim Hendry said: "That's as good a play as I've seen by a Cubs player at Wrigley Field since I've been here." The play later made ESPN on Baseball Tonight as the # 1 web gem of the day. After the season, Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune cited it as the Cubs' "Play of the Year." Many Cub fans refer to it as: "The Catch."
In 2008, Fuld pushed Pie for the center field spot during spring training. Piniella said that Pie was only "a head or nose in front" of Fuld. Hendry observed: "[Fuld] can run. He's a tremendous defensive player." Hendry also indicated that Fuld was among the club's untouchables, saying: "We're not going to trade [Fuld]. It's pretty simple." In late March, however, Piniella chose Pie to open the season as the starting center fielder over Fuld, and sent Fuld down to the minor leagues.
Executive career
On November 3, 2017, Fuld retired as a player and was named major league player information coordinator for the Philadelphia Phillies under new manager Gabe Kapler. In that position he worked closely with the team's players, coaches, front office, and the research and development department, to "integrate the use of information in all areas of on-field performance and preparation and make recommendations regarding the most effective areas of future research and analysis."
After the 2018 season the Toronto Blue Jays interviewed Fuld to be their next manager, and he reportedly “made a strong impression”, but withdrew his name from consideration. At the same time, Gerry Fraley, writer for The Dallas Morning News, opined that Fuld was an interesting possibility to be hired as the next Texas Rangers manager.
After the 2019 regular season, Fuld's name was mentioned by a number of people as a candidate for the position of manager with the Pittsburgh Pirates. At the same time, NBC in Chicago mentioned him as a possible candidate to be the new manager for the Chicago Cubs, Joel Sherman mentioned him as an "off the beaten road" possibility to manage the New York Mets, and he was also mentioned as a possible managerial candidate for both the San Francisco Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies. R.J. Anderson, writing for CBS Sports, opined: "He's on the fast track to holding down a managerial post of his own." Jayson Stark also mentioned him as someone teams could consider as a new manager.
After the 2020 season, he was reportedly a finalist for the position of manager of the Boston Red Sox.
On July 14, 2020, Fuld returned to the field, playing Center Field during a Phillies Summer Camp exhibition game.
On December 22, 2020, Fuld was announced as the new general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies.
On December 19, 2022, the Phillies extended Fuld's contract through the 2025 season.
On November 8, 2024, the Phillies announced that Fuld would step down as the team's general manager and begin a transition to a role as the team's president of business operations. Preston Mattingly succeeded Fuld as general manager. Fuld graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree and assumed the new role in 2026. Following the 2026 season, he declined an offer from the Athletics to be their president of baseball operations.
World Baseball Classic – Team Israel
Fuld was the starting center fielder and batted lead-off for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
Personal life
In June 2009, Fuld married Sarah Kolodner. He had met her while they were fellow students at Phillips Exeter Academy. She was recruited by Princeton University for their lacrosse team, and won two national lacrosse championships.
Diabetes
Fuld was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 10 years old. He recalled, "I was losing weight, I was thirsty all the time, just classic symptoms, so my parents knew something was wrong and the doctor diagnosed it right away. It was tough, but when I realized there was no other alternative, I just looked at it as a challenge."
At the age of 12, he met pitcher Bill Gullickson, who also had diabetes, and talked to him for 10 minutes. "That was enough to inspire me", Fuld said. "Any time I can talk to young diabetic kids, I look forward to that opportunity", said Gullickson.
Fuld was comfortable handling the kidding in the clubhouse regarding his treatments. "We dish it out pretty good about his insulin shots", said his AA manager Pat Listach. "We always give him stuff about putting needles in the refrigerator, and shooting up in the clubhouse. He takes it all in stride. He's a good guy."