| Matt LaChappa | |
|---|---|
| San Diego Padres | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born:June 29, 1975 San Diego, California, U.S. | |
Bats: Left Throws: Left | |
| MiLB debut | |
| 1993, for the Arizona League Padres | |
| MiLB statistics | |
| Win–loss record | 18–19 |
| Earned run average | 4.80 |
| Strikeouts | 277 |
| WHIP | 1.489 |
| Teams | |
Matthew John "Matt" LaChappa (born June 29,1975) is an American baseball pitcher who pitched in the San Diego Padres minor league system. LaChappa is known for being a "Padre for life",having signed a minor league contract with the team for nearly thirty years since suffering a heart attack during a Rancho Cucamonga Quakes game on April 6,1996. [1] [2] LaChappa currently resides with his family at the Barona Indian Reservation. [3]
LaChappa was a second-round draft choice during the 1993 Major League Baseball draft from El Capitan High School. [4] He began his minor league career with the Arizona League Padres in 1993,moving to Class A Springfield Sultans in 1994,and finally Class A-Advanced Rancho Cucamonga Quakes the following year. He won 11 games for the Quakes. [5]
In 1996,while warming up in the bullpen to enter what would have been the first game of his season as a relief pitcher,LaChappa collapsed and suffered a heart attack. [6] The Quakes athletic trainer performed CPR on LaChappa for 20 minutes until he was taken to a local hospital. At the hospital,he suffered a second heart attack. [4] LaChappa survived,but suffered brain damage from the lack of oxygen and is mostly confined to a wheelchair and has difficulty moving and speaking. Since the incident,the Padres organization has signed him yearly to a basic Minor League contract so that he can maintain his health insurance. The Padres have also named a Little League field after him in Lakeside,California. [4] The Matt LaChappa Athletic Scholarship Foundation was also established to assist high school students to pay for their college education. [7]