Dan Uggla was a five-foot-11, 210 lb. right-handed second baseman from Louisville, KY. Born 40 years ago today, he played his college ball with the University of Memphis. In 2001, he slashed .379/.498/.790 in 58 games, with 18 home runs and 67 RBI. He was then drafted in the 11th round of the 2001 MLB Amateur Entry Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Following the 2005 campaign, the Diamondbacks left Uggla unprotected, and the Florida Marlins chose him in the annual rule 5 draft. For those who don’t keep up on it, when a player gets acquired through rule 5, the gaining club must keep them on the active major league roster for the entirety of that season or risk losing them back to the original club.