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Kevin Christian Maas (born January 20, 1965 Castro Valley, California) is a former Major League Baseball player. He was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 22nd round of the 1986 draft after attending the University Of California. He made his major league debut for Yankees on June 29, 1990 when they called him up from the Columbus Clippers. It was hoped that he would be the heir apparent to Don Mattingly. He started his big league career on a tear, setting a record for the fewest at bats (72) to hit 10 home runs. He was helped by a three game series at Texas when he homered in each game of the series. At the end of the 1990 season, Maas had hit 21 home runs in 79 games and he finished second in The Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award voting to Sandy Alomar, Jr. of the Cleveland Indians.

Like Mattingly, Maas was a left-handed batter. As a result many of his home runs went into the right field stands. About halfway through the season a group of a dozen or so young ladies began wearing "Maas-tops" to Yankees home games and sitting in the right field stands. Whenever Maas hit a home run to right, the girls would get up, remove their tops and jump up and down until Maas finished circling the bases.^[1] However after a few home runs the women were banned from entering Yankee Stadium.^{[citation needed]}

The following season he served as the Yankees designated hitter and occasional fill in for Mattingly at first base. Even though he played in 148 games, his sophomore season was not as successful as his first. He did hit 23 home runs (in 500 at bats), but hit just .220 with 128 strikeouts.

By 1992, Maas was shuffling back and forth between the major and minor leagues. He was released by the Yankees in 1994. He bounced around between San Diego, Cincinnati, and Minnesota. He briefly returned to the majors in 1995 with Minnesota but it was clear he was a "one hit wonder." Maas then signed with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan's Central League in 1996 to replace Glenn Davis.

[edit] Personal life

As of 2008, Maas works at Charles Schwab as a financial consultant in his hometown of Castro Valley, California. He is divorced and has a daughter named Lacey and a son named Christian. He is regularly invited to Old-Timers' Day at Yankee Stadium and participated in the 2008 game.^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube