Shane Heams

Shane Heams was a pitcher who helped the United States win a baseball gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He played in the minor leagues after being drafted in the 41st round of the 1994 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft by the Seattle Mariners.

Heams never made it to the big leagues, becoming a career minor leaguer from 1995 to 2005. He started out as an outfielder with the Arizona Complex League Mariners in 1995 but was converted to pitcher the next year. He announced his retirement from baseball in 1998 but it was short-lived and he then signed with the Detroit Tigers, being assigned to their minor league team, the Jamestown Jammers.

Heams later pitched with the West Michigan Whitecaps of the Midwest League in 1999, and in 2000 with the AA Jacksonville Suns of the Southern League and the AAA Toledo Mud Hens of the International League. In 2001 he was back in Double-A with Erie and the Mud Hens and was then claimed by the Boston Red Sox who assigned him to their Triple-A affiliate, the Pawtucket Red Sox. He later had signings with the Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds and then sat out the 2003 season. Heams came back in 2004 and played with the independent Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League before retiring for good during the 2005 season.