title: Ambidexterity

text: In basketball a player may choose to make a pass or shot with the weaker hand. NBA stars Kyrie Irving, Carlos Boozer, David Lee, John Wall, Derrick Rose, Chandler Parsons, Andrew Bogut, John Henson, Michael Beasley, and Jerryd Bayless are ambidextrous players, as was Kobe Bryant. Bogut and Henson are both stronger in the post with their left-handed hook shot than they are with their natural right hands. Brothers Marc and Pau Gasol can make hook shots with either hand while the right hand is dominant for each. Bob Cousy, a Boston Celtics legend was forced to play with his left hand in high school when he injured his right hand, thus making him effectively ambidextrous. Mike Conley shoots left-handed, but has preferred to shoot floaters right handed, as he does everything else right-handed off the court. Ben Simmons and Luke Kennard are also natural right-handers shooting left-handed. Tristan Thompson is a natural left-hander, and was a left-handed shooter, but has shot right-handed since the 2013–2014 season. He does perform left-handed hook shots more often. Los Angeles Lakers center DeAndre Jordan who is left-handed, shoots with his left hand but has been known to dunk with his right hand, spin clockwise in his 360 dunks, and shoot right handed hook shots more accurately and from further out. Charlotte Hornets small forward Miles Bridges is a left-handed shooter; however, he dunks the ball and blocks shots more frequently with his right hand. Former Los Angeles Lakers center Roy Hibbert shoots his hook shots equally well with either hand. Former Oklahoma City Thunder left-handed point guard Derek Fisher used to dunk with his right hand in his early years. Candace Parker, forward for the Chicago Sky, also has equal dominance with either hand. Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant shot with either hand, although his right hand was dominant: due to an injury to the right hand, he was forced to shoot with his left. Paul George, Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter are all noted to be right-handed, but rotates clockwise for dunks, but Carter is able to also spin counterclockwise, as he did during high school. McGrady also spins anti-clockwise for his baseline dunks. Larry Bird, LeBron James, Paul Millsap, Russell Westbrook, Danny Ainge and Gary Payton shoot right-handed, but do almost everything left-handed off the courts, but Bird once had a game in which he only shot left-handed running hook shots, cross passes and layups. Ronnie Price, however has a tendency to dunk with his left hand, but he is a right-handed shooter. Josh McRoberts is known to be a left handed shooter but does everything with his right hand such as his famous dunks. Ivica Zubac is a right handed shooter, but can shoot hook shots with both hands, and is more accurate with his left handed hooks.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Trevor Booker is left handed for shooting a basketball but writes with his right hand. Ben Simmons shoots jumpers and free throws left-handed, but does everything else right-handed, including dunking, throwing long passes and writing. He also shoots more right-handed non-jumpers (layups, floaters and hook shots).


title: Ambidexterity

text: In skateboarding, being able to skate successfully with not only one's dominant foot forward but also the less dominant one is called "switch skating" and is a prized ability. Notable switch skateboarders include Rodney Mullen, Eric Koston, Guy Mariano, Paul Rodriguez Jr., Mike Mo Capaldi, and Bob Burnquist. Similarly, surfers who ride equally well in either stance are said to be surfing "switch”. Also, snowboarding at the advanced level requires the ability to ride equally well in either.


title: Ambidexterity

text: In combat sports fighters may choose to face their opponent with either the left shoulder forward in a right-handed stance ("orthodox") or the right shoulder forward in a left-handed stance ("south-paw"), thus a degree of cross dominance is useful. In boxing, Manny Pacquiao has a southpaw stance in the ring even though he is really ambidextrous outside the ring. Also, in mixed martial arts, many naturally left-handed strikers like Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva will switch stances in order to counter opponent's strikes or takedown attempts to stay standing. Additionally, some fighters actually choose to fight in a southpaw stance despite their dominant hand being their right, one such fighter being Vasyl Lomachenko. This is done as it gives access to a strong and precise jab from the lead hand, which is arguably the most important strike in boxing for setting up combos and interrupting your opponent during their attacks. Bruce Lee also practiced this same method of fighting with his dominant hand forward.


title: Ambidexterity

text: In cricket, it is also beneficial to be able to use both arms. Ambidextrous fielders can make one-handed catches or throws with either hand. Sachin Tendulkar uses his left hand for writing, but bats and bowls with his right hand, it is the same with Kane Williamson. There are many players who are naturally right-handed but bat left and vice versa. Sourav Ganguly uses his right hand for writing and bowls with the right hand, too, but bats with his left hand. Players due to injuries may also switch arms for fielding.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Zaheer Khan bowls left-arm fast-medium but bats right handed. Phillip Hughes batted, bowled, and fielded left-handed before a shoulder injury. Australian batsman George Bailey also due to sustaining an injury, taught himself to throw with his weaker left arm. He is now often seen throughout matches switching between arms as he throws the ball. See also reverse sweep and switch hitting. David Warner has batted right-handed in high school, and has practiced right-handed as well, when he is normally a left-handed switch-hitter. Alastair Cook, Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ben Dunk, Ben Stokes, Adam Gilchrist, Eoin Morgan and Kagiso Rabada are natural right-handers, but bat left-handed.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Akshay Karnewar is an ambidextrous bowler. Originally, he only bowled with his right hand, but since he does everything else with his left hand, he was taught to bowl left-handed as well but needs to signal to the umpire when he switches hands when bowling to allow for the field to change. He is a left-handed batsman. As an off-spinner and left-arm orthodox spin, the ball will always spin towards the batsman (OB vs. RHB; SLO vs. LHB), or away from opposite-handed batsmen, which is the predominant role of switch-handed spinners.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Sri Lankan Kusal Perera started his cricket as a right hand batsman, until he changed to left hand to mimic his favourite cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya. Another Sri Lankan Kamindu Mendis is also a handy ambidextrous bowler. He can bowl orthodox left-arm spin and he can bowl right-arm offspin as well. Yasir Jan, however is a fast bowler both right and left handed and tops over 140 km/h with both hands, with his right arm being faster.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Jofra Archer warms up with slow orthodox left-arm spin, and Jos Buttler practiced left-handed as a club cricketer.


title: Ambidexterity

text: In cue sports, players can reach farther across the table if they are able to play with either hand, since the cue must either be placed on the left or the right side of the body. English snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan is a rarity amongst the current ranks of top snooker professionals, in that he is able to play to world standard with either hand. While he lacks power in his left arm, his ability to alternate hands allows him to take shots that would otherwise require awkward cueing or the use of a rest. When he first displayed this ability in the 1996 World Championship against the Canadian player Alain Robidoux, Robidoux accused him of disrespect. O'Sullivan responded that he played better with his left hand than Robidoux could with his right. O'Sullivan was summoned to a disciplinary hearing in response to Robidoux's formal complaint, where he had to prove that he could play to a high level with his left hand. Many people think O'Sullivan had to play a match against former professional Rex Williams, but this never took place. On Eurosport's coverage of the 2014 International Championships, commentator David Hendon confirmed that O'Sullivan never played the match against Rex Williams.


title: Ambidexterity

text: In figure skating, most skaters who are right-handed spin and jump to the left, and vice versa for left-handed individuals, but it also down to habit for ballerinas. Olympic Champion figure skater John Curry notably performed his jumps in one direction (anti-clockwise) while spinning predominantly in the other. Very few skaters have such an ability to perform jumps and spins in both directions, and it is now considered a "difficult variation" in spins under the ISU Judging System to rotate in the non-dominant direction. Michelle Kwan used an opposite-rotating camel spin in some of her programs as a signature move. No point bonus exists for opposite direction jumps or bi-directional combination jumps, despite their being much harder to perfect. Nobody can perform a jump sequence (because it requires change of edge, whereas a combo is maintained on the same edge) from clockwise to anti-clockwise, or vice versa.


title: Ambidexterity

text: In association football, being able to kick with either foot provides more options for both passing and scoring, as well as the ability to play on either side of the pitch. Therefore, players with the ability to use their weaker foot with proficiency are valuable in any team. Examples of ambidextrous footballers include Andreas Brehme, Johan Cruyff, Obafemi Martins, Santi Cazorla, Ivan Perisic, Adam Lallana, Diogo Jota, Adriano Correia, Pedro Rodriguez, Diego Forlán, Glenn Hoddle, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Sócrates, Paolo Maldini, George Best, Michael Laudrup, Pelé, Marc Overmars, Michel Platini, Roberto Baggio, Carlos Valderrama, Bobby Charlton, Zico, Tom Finney, John Barnes, John Charles, Ousmane Dembélé, Mason Greenwood, Ronaldo Nazário, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Wayne Rooney, Kevin De Bruyne


title: Ambidexterity

text: In American football, it is especially advantageous to be able to use either arm to perform various tasks. Ambidextrous receivers can make one-handed catches with either hand; linemen can hold their shoulders square and produce an equal amount of power with both arms; and punters can handle a bad snap and roll out and punt with either leg, limiting the chance of a block. Naturally right-handed quarterbacks may have to perform left-handed passes to avoid sacks. Chris Jones is cross-dominant. Although he is a left-footed punter, he throws with his right. Chris Hanson was dual-footed, able to punt with either foot.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Some players find cross-dominance advantageous in golf, especially if a left-handed player utilizes right-handed clubs. Having more precise coordination with the left hand is believed to allow better-controlled, and stronger drives. Mac O'Grady was a touring pro who played right-handed, yet could play "scratch" (no handicap) golf left-handed. He lobbied the USGA for years to be certified as an amateur "lefty" and a pro "righty" to no avail. Although not ambidextrous, Phil Mickelson and Mike Weir are both right-handers who golf left-handed; Ben Hogan was the opposite, being a natural left-hander who played golf right-handed, as is Cristie Kerr. This is known as cross-dominance or mixed-handedness.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Ice hockey players may shoot from the left or right side of the body. For the most part, right-handed players shoot left and, likewise, most left-handed players shoot right as the player will often wield the stick one-handed. The dominant hand is typically placed on the top of the stick to allow for better stickhandling and control of the puck. Gordie Howe was one of few players capable of doing both, although this was at a time when the blade of the stick was not curved.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Another ice hockey goaltender Bill Durnan, had the ability to catch the puck with either hand. He won the Vezina Trophy, then for the National Hockey League's goalie with the fewest goals allowed six times out of only seven seasons. He had developed this ability playing for church-league teams in Toronto and Montreal to make up for his poor lateral movement. He wore custom gloves that permitted him to hold his stick with either hand. Most goaltenders nowadays choose to catch with their non-dominant hand.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Field hockey players are forced to play right-handed. The rules of the game denote that the ball can only be struck with the flat side of the stick. Only one player Laeeq Ahmed on Pakistan National Hockey team, played with unorthodox left hand below and right hand up side of stick grip with full command. He played from 1991 to 1992 for the national team. Perhaps to avoid confusing referees, there are no left-handed sticks. In floorball, like ice hockey, right-handed players shoot left and, likewise, most left-handed players shoot right as the player will often wield the stick one-handed. Floorball goalkeepers do not use a stick, so they have two glove hands, and act much like a soccer goalkeeper, but with an ice hockey helmet. When they venture out of the goal box, they act just like an outfield soccer player.


title: Ambidexterity

text: In field lacrosse, which is more popular in the United States, it is extremely advantageous to be able to use both hands, as players can play on both sides of the field and are harder to defend against. Usually in field lacrosse, all players except goalies, but especially offensive players, are expected to be able to catch and throw with their weak hand. However, in box lacrosse, which is more popular in Canada, players often only use their dominant hand, like in hockey.


title: Ambidexterity

text: The traditional martial arts tend to feature a larger number of practitioners who have intentionally developed ambidexterity to a high degree, compared to athletes in combat sports. This is because unlike sports, which have structured rules and common player preferences, traditional martial arts are intended for situations such as self-defense, in which a wider array of physical challenges may occur.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Some arts and schools practice all or most techniques and movements with both sides, while others emphasize that some techniques should only be trained on the right or the left (though both sides tend to eventually receive nearly equal attention). This may be for a number of reasons. Some of these arts rely on the tendency of right-handed people to move differently with the left side than with the right, and attempt to take advantage of this. Similarly, certain weapons are more often carried on one side. For instance, most weapons in ancient China were wielded primarily with the right hand and on the right side; this habit has carried on to the practice of those weapons in modern times. As an example, in Xing Yi Quan, most schools that teach spear-fighting only practice on the right side, although much of the rest of the art is ambidextrous in practice.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Shawn Michaels is ambidextrous. He typically kicks with his right leg in Sweet Chin Music, but uses either arm for his signature elbow drop, depending on the position.


title: Ambidexterity

text: In professional sports car racing, drivers who participate in various events in both the United States and Europe will sometimes encounter machines with the steering wheel mounted on different sides of the car. While steering ability is largely unaffected, the hand used for shifting changes is . due to the fact that the shift pattern relative to the driver changes, e.g. a gear change that requires moving the lever toward the driver in a left-hand-drive vehicle becomes a movement away from the driver in a right-hand-drive vehicle. A driver skilled in shifting with the opposite hand is at an advantage.


title: Ambidexterity

text: In tennis, a player may be able to reach balls on the backhand side more easily if they're able to use the weaker hand. An example of a player who is ambidextrous is Luke Jensen. Due to a physical advantage on the space of time needed when matching the ball with the racket simultaneously with tagging the opponent's movement, being laterality-crossed on eyedness with handedness may be a decisive factor for outstanding performance, since the hand which strikes the ball can do it while the overriding eye, matching with this hand, can be tagging the opponent's movement-decisions. Such have the case of Rafael Nadal who uses his right hand for writing, but plays tennis with left. There are many players who are naturally right handed but play lefty and vice versa. Evgenia Kulikovskaya is also an ambidextrous player, Kulikovskaya played with two forehands and no backhand, switching her racket hand depending on where the ball was coming. Jan-Michael Gambill is the opposite case of Kulikovskaya, since he played with a two handed forehand and backhand, although he served with his right hand. Other famous examples of a two handed forehand are Fabrice Santoro and Monica Seles. Seles' playing style was unusual in that she hit with two hands on both sides and, at the same time, always kept her (dominant) left hand at the base of her racket. This meant that she hit her forehand cross-handed. Currently, Maria Sharapova is also known to be ambidextrous. Cheong-eui Kim is a truly ambidextrous player with no backhand, and can serve left-handed as well as right-handed.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Some table tennis players have used their ability to hit with their non-dominant hand to return balls out of reach of their dominant hand's backhand, most notably Timo Boll, a former world #1 player.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Although it is quite uncommon, in badminton, ambidextrous players are able to switch the racquet between their hands, often to get to the awkward backhand corner quickly. As badminton can be a very fast sport, at professional levels of play, players might not have time to switch the racquet, as this disrupts their reaction time.


title: Ambidexterity

text: In rugby league and rugby union being ambidextrous is an advantage when it comes to passing the ball between teammates as well as being able to use both feet by the halves is an advantage in gaining field position by kicking the ball ahead. Jonny Wilkinson is a prime example of a union player who is good at kicking with both feet, he is left handed and normally place kicks using his left, but he dropped the goal that won the Rugby World Cup in 2003 with his right. Dan Carter is actually right handed, but kicks predominantly with his left, sometimes with his right.


title: Ambidexterity

text: A volleyball player has to be ambidextrous to control the ball to either direction and performing basic digs. On the other hand, the setter has to be proficient in performing dump sets with either hand to throw off blockers. Wing spikers that can spike with either hand can alter trajectories to throw off receivers' timing.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Although most artists have a favored hand, some artists use both of their hands for arts such as drawing and sculpting. It is believed that Leonardo da Vinci utilized both of his hands after an injury to his right hand during his early childhood.


title: Ambidexterity

text: A contemporary artist, Gur Keren, can draw with both his hands and even feet. Thea Alba was a well-known German who could write with all ten fingers.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Tribalogy is the artistic study of creating abstract lines and shapes on a surface using both hands at the same time. An artist who studies tribalogy is referred to as a tribalogist.


title: Ambidexterity

text: In drum and bugle corps (and drum and bell corps), snare drummers, quads (tenors), and bass drummers need to be somewhat ambidextrous. Since they have to abide by what the composer/arranger has written, they have to learn to play evenly in terms of dynamics and speed with their right and left hands.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Former Beatles member Paul McCartney is left-handed (guitar and bass guitar) and played left-handed when performing (as can be seen in many photos and videos throughout his musical career). The drummer of The Beatles, Ringo Starr, is left-handed as well, but he plays a right-handed drum kit. American instrumental guitarist Michael Angelo Batio is known for being able to play both right-handed and left-handed guitar proficiently. Irish guitar player Niall Horan, from boyband One Direction, applies on this case. He writes with the left hand but plays the guitar with the right one.


title: Ambidexterity

text: The ambidexterity of Jimi Hendrix has been explored in a psychology, but he was known for playing a standard right-handed guitar with his left hand. The guitarist Duane Allman was the reverse of Hendrix, playing right-handed but left-handed in all other tasks. Shara Lin is naturally left-handed, but plays the violin and guitar right handed. She can also play the piano with her left hand while playing the zither with her right. Also, naturally left-handed musicians have to play with right-handed-only instruments (violin, viola, cello).


title: Ambidexterity

text: Kurt Cobain, frontman of Nirvana, was naturally ambidextrous. He grew up having a slight preference for his left-hand (as can be seen in many of his childhood photographies), but as an adult he wrote right-handed. He played guitar exclusively left-handed.


title: Ambidexterity

text: With respect to tools, ambidextrous may be used to mean that the tool may be used equally well with either hand; an "ambidextrous knife" refers to the opening mechanism and locking mechanism on a folding knife. It can also mean that the tool can be interchanged between left and right in some other way, such as an "ambidextrous headset," which can be worn on either the left or right ear. As an opposite example, some scissors are made specifically for use in one hand, and will not cut properly if used in the other hand. Left-handed as well as ambidextrous scissors are nowadays available.


title: Ambidexterity

text: A degree of ambidexterity is required in surgery because surgeons must be able to tie with their left and right hands in either single or double knots. This is usually due to factors like the positioning of the surgeon, whether they have an assistant and the angle required to throw and secure the knot.


title: Ambidexterity

text: Ambidexterity is also useful after surgery on a dominant hand or arm, as it allows the patient to use their non-dominant hand with equal facility as the limb which is recovering from surgery.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Kevin Edmund Youkilis (; born March 15, 1979), nicknamed "Youk" , is an American former professional baseball first baseman and third baseman, who primarily played for the Boston Red Sox. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, he was drafted by the Red Sox in 2001, after playing college baseball at the University of Cincinnati. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox, and the New York Yankees. He later served as a special assistant to the Chicago Cubs and former Red Sox GM Theo Epstein.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Known for his ability to get on base, while he was still a minor leaguer, Youkilis was nicknamed "Euclis: The Greek God of Walks" in the best-selling book, "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game". A Gold Glove Award-winning first baseman, he once held baseball's record for most consecutive errorless games at first base (later broken by Casey Kotchman). He is also a three-time MLB All-Star, two-time World Series Champion, and winner of the 2008 Hank Aaron Award.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: An intense performer on the playing field, Youkilis was known for his scrappiness, grittiness, dirt-stained jerseys, home-plate collisions, and his strange batting stance. He excelled despite a physique that led many observers to underestimate his athletic ability. He was called "roly-poly" by his high school coach, "pudgy" by his college coach, a "fat kid" by general manager Billy Beane, and a "thicker-bodied guy" by the Red Sox scout who recruited him. As Jackie MacMullan wrote for the "Boston Globe": "He does not look like an MVP candidate; more a refrigerator repairman, a butcher, the man selling hammers behind the counter at the True Value hardware store." Youkilis was named to the "Sporting News" list of the 50 greatest current players in baseball, ranking No. 36 on the list in 2009, No. 38 in 2010, and No. 35 in 2011.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis' Jewish great-great-great-grandfather, a native of 19th-century Romania, moved to Greece at the age of 16 to avoid conscription at the hands of the notoriously anti-Semitic Cossacks. He became homesick, however, and returned to Romania after a couple of years, although he changed his surname from "Weiner" to "Youkilis" to avoid conscription and imprisonment.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis was born in Cincinnati, the son of Carolyn (née Weekley) and Mike Youkilis, a wholesale jeweler. His father was born to a Jewish family, while his mother, a native of West Virginia, converted to Judaism after her marriage. Youkilis has described his father as a "well-known third baseman in the Jewish Community Center fast-pitch softball league."


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis is Jewish and had a bar mitzvah at a Conservative synagogue. At the age of 15, he had an uncredited one-line speaking role in the romantic comedy film "Milk Money".


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: He attended Sycamore High School (class of 1997) in the northeastern suburbs of Cincinnati, where he played third base, shortstop, first base, and the outfield for the school team (the Aviators) which won the Amateur Athletic Union National Championship in 1994. He was a four-year letter winner, a two-time All-Greater Miami Conference (1996 and 1997) and All-City (1996 and 1997) player, and All-State his senior season as he led the team with a .475 batting average and finished second all time in home runs. While at Sycamore High School, he was the only player to homer off his future Red Sox teammate Aaron Cook.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis was inducted into the Sycamore Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2017, the school honored him by retiring his jersey number, number 13.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: When he graduated from high school in 1997, Youkilis was and weighed about . He was recruited by two Division I schools: Butler University and his ultimate choice, the University of Cincinnati —an institution that was the alma mater of both his father and Youkilis' longtime idol, Sandy Koufax, and had just finished a 12–46 season. UC coach Brian Cleary spotted Youkilis at a winter camp. "I looked at him and said, Well, we need somebody", said Cleary. "I'd love to tell you I saw something no one else did, but he was just better than what we had."


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: While majoring in finance, Youkilis excelled as a player for the Cincinnati Bearcats from 1998 to 2001. "I take no credit", said Cleary. "He coaches himself. He knows his swing. Any time we said anything to him, he was already a step ahead. He made the adjustments he had to make. I just think he's a really smart guy who had a great feel for what he had to do." In his junior year in 2000, he was a second-team All-American and first-team All-Conference USA, as he set school records by hitting three home runs in one game and 19 for the season, and drawing 63 walks in 60 games; still, he went undrafted. "He was kind of a square-shaped body, a guy [who] in a uniform didn't look all that athletic", Cleary said. "He wasn't a tall, prospect-y looking guy. He looked chubby in a uniform. … It wasn't fat. He was strong. [But] I think the body did scare some people away."


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: During the period between his junior and senior years, he played in the Cape Cod League for the Bourne Braves, where he was named a league all-star, and finished sixth in the league in batting average. In his senior year in 2001, he repeated as second-team All-American. He set UC career records for home runs (56), walks (206), slugging percentage (.627), and on-base percentage (.499) with a batting average of .366. "He had a great eye … he hardly ever struck out looking", said Brad Meador, UC's associate head coach. "When he did, you knew the ump missed the call." Cleary, noting how driven Youkilis was to succeed, told his father: "Your son's going to be a millionaire some day. I don't know if it's in baseball, but he's going to make some money one of these days."


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Yet, when asked what he liked about Youkilis, former Boston scout Matt Haas said: "At first glance, not a lot. He was unorthodox. He had an extreme crouch—his thighs were almost parallel to the ground. And he was heavier than he is now. But the more I watched him, the more I just thought, 'Throw the tools out the window. This guy can play baseball.'"


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In 2001, at Haas' urging, the Boston Red Sox drafted Youkilis in the eighth round (243rd overall), to the chagrin of Billy Beane, who had hoped that he would be able to draft him in a later round. ESPN reported that: "questions about his defense and power with wood kept him out of the top part of the draft." He signed for a mere $12,000 signing bonus. "Kevin would have played for a six-pack of beer", his father said.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: "Teams didn’t appreciate performance as much then as they do now", observed Red Sox VP of Player Personnel Ben Cherington eight years later. "His college performance was off the charts. If he [were] in the draft this year, he'd be at least a sandwich pick, if not a first rounder. His performance was that good, in college and on the Cape. Now, teams appreciate what that means. There's no way he’d last that long now."


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In 2007, he was inducted into the University of Cincinnati James P. Kelly Athletics Hall Of Fame. In 2015, the University of Cincinnati retired his No. 36 jersey number.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In 2018, Youkilis took his final exams and graduated the University of Cincinnati with a business degree.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In 2001, Youkilis made his professional debut as a third baseman with the Lowell Spinners, a Short-Season A Class franchise in the New York–Penn League. He went on to lead the league with a .512 OBP, 52 runs, and 70 walks (against just 28 strikeouts), while hitting for a .317 batting average (third in the league) in 59 games. He also reached base safely by hit or walk in 46 consecutive games (the third-longest such streak in the minor leagues). Peter Gammons wrote that August: "Remember this name: Kevin Youkilis, who resembles Steve Balboni." Honored by the Spinners with a "Youkilis bobblehead night", Youkilis said: "It's an honor—you know you've made it when you get a bobblehead of yourself." Promoted from Lowell towards the end of the season, he played five games with the Augusta GreenJackets of the South Atlantic League, a Low-A Class league. He was named Red Sox Minor League Player of the Year.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In 2002, Youkilis appeared in 15 games for Augusta, in 76 games for the Sarasota Sox (40 of them at first base), and in 44 games for the Trenton Thunder. He hit .310, with eight home runs and 80 RBI for the year, and he was voted Trenton's "Player of the Year." His .436 on-base percentage was the fifth-highest in the minors in 2002, and his 80 walks were seventh-most. In recognition of his performance, the Boston Red Sox named Youkilis their 2002 Minor League Player of the Year.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: After the 2002 season, Boston's then-assistant general manager, Theo Epstein, sent Youkilis to the Athletes' Performance Institute in Tempe, Arizona, where he engaged in an intensive six-week training regimen. Youkilis then moved his off-season home to Arizona, and attended the Institute in the 2004–08 off seasons as well.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In 2003, Youkilis started the season with the Portland Sea Dogs. In 94 games, he led the Eastern League with a .487 on-base percentage (best all-time for the team through 2007), and was third in the league with a .327 batting average (second-best all-time for the team through 2007). 86 walks (against just 40 strikeouts), and a .953 OPS, and tied for third with 16 hit by pitch. Later, he earned a spot on the Eastern League All-Star team, the "Baseball America" AA All-Star team, and on the U.S. roster for the 2003 All-Star Futures Game. After Portland, Youkilis moved up to play for the Pawtucket Red Sox, the Boston Red Sox Class-AAA franchise. During his time with Pawtucket, Youkilis managed to complete a streak he started while in Portland: he reached base in 71 consecutive games, tying future teammate Kevin Millar's minor-league record for consecutive games reaching base. His 104 walks were the third-highest number recorded in the minors in 2003. Asked, however, about the focus in position-playing baseball on five-tool players, Youkilis quipped, "I don't even know if I have a tool."


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Writing for ESPN, John Sickels evaluated him as follows in mid-2003:Youkilis is an on-base machine. He never swings at a bad pitch, and is adept at working counts and out-thinking the pitcher. Unlike some guys who draw lots of walks, Youkilis seldom strikes out. He makes solid contact against both fastballs and breaking pitches. Youkilis' swing is tailored for the line drive, and he may never hit for much home run power. But he hits balls to the gaps effectively, and could develop 10–14 home run power down the road. Youkilis does not have very good speed, though he is a decent baserunner. His defense at third base draws mixed reviews. His arm, range, and hands all rate as adequate/average. He doesn't kill the defense at third base, but he doesn't help it much, either, and is likely to end up at first base down the road.Youkilis spent the 2003–04 winter in Mexico, playing for Navojoa of the Mexican Pacific League. In 2004, he appeared in 32 games for Pawtucket, hitting .258 with three home runs, and a .347 on-base percentage, before being called up to the Red Sox on May 15.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In his minor league career through 2005, he batted .299 with a .442 OBP while playing 340 games at third base, 59 at first base, and two at second base.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: On May 15, 2004, when Red Sox regular starting third baseman Bill Mueller was placed on the disabled list, Youkilis was called up for the first time. "I didn't sleep much", Youkilis said. "I got about four hours of sleep. … They told me the night before I was playing... I got in there, and man, I was just amped up and excited." During his first major-league game in Toronto, with his parents watching from the second row behind the dugout, Youkilis (in his second at bat) homered against 1996 Cy Young Award winner Pat Hentgen, becoming just the seventh player in team history to hit a home run in his first game. As a prank, the team initially gave Youkilis the silent treatment when he returned to the dugout after his homer. "This one will go down probably as the greatest day of my life", he said.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Later, Youkilis was swept up in the team's ritual annual hazing, in which he and other rookies were made to wear skimpy Hooters waitress outfits, orange satin shorts and tight, clingy white tank tops, for the team trip from Canada through US Customs in Florida. "I walked into the locker room, and all my clothes were gone", Youkilis said. "There was just a Hooters outfit and shoes." Youkilis was named the American League (AL) Rookie of the Month for May, after leading AL rookies with nine walks and a .446 OBP as he batted .318 with 7 RBI, and 15 runs in 13 games. Noting ways that his life had suddenly changed, he said: "I'm staying in the best hotel I've ever stayed in, and my paycheck has quadrupled." In mid-July he was sent back down to AAA, however, to make room for Ramiro Mendoza, though he was brought up again towards the end of the season.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: On September 24, which was Yom Kippur, Youkilis appeared in the dugout in uniform, but declined to participate in the game out of deference to the religious holiday. Youkilis was named the club's Rookie of the Year by the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. For the season, in 44 games, he saw an average of 4.67 pitches per plate appearance, first among major leaguers with at least 90 plate appearances. As Youkilis observed, "Fighting off pitches, fouling off pitches, laying off pitches, making it so the opposing pitcher can't breathe; that's my job." He was on the roster for the Red Sox for the 2004 American League Division Series (ALDS), making his sole appearance in Game 2 against the Anaheim Angels. "It's been an unbelievable ride", Youkilis said. "It's a great first year, a year you probably can't top. Hopefully, it ends like a Cinderella story." He was removed from the roster for the next round, the American League Championship Series (ALCS), and was on the roster but did not play in the World Series.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: While virtually nobody else knew it, Youkilis broke his toe during spring training in 2005, and was back playing again in a matter of days. It was "in Vero Beach", Youkilis said. "I was trying to make the team."


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: On the Red Sox Opening Day roster for the first time in his career in 2005, Youkilis found himself on the way back down to Pawtucket on April 13 as the team needed to activate Curt Schilling, and Youkilis happened to still have minor league options; but told that he would be back, Youkilis decided to keep his Boston apartment and commute to Pawtucket. Up and down all season as the Red Sox made use of his options, he got a call-up—prompted by Bill Mueller having back spasms in batting practice—one August day as he was in Pawtucket's clubhouse before a game. Without changing out of the same white pants that he wore for both Boston and Pawtucket home games, he packed his car, drove the to Boston, walked into the Red Sox clubhouse, changed his jersey and cleats, and was ready to play.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: He ultimately played 43 more games for Pawtucket in 2005 before being called up permanently. On September 18, he fractured the tip of the ring finger of his right hand fielding a ground ball, and did not play again until October 2, the final day of the regular season. In 2005 with Boston, Youkilis hit .278 with a .400 on-base percentage in 79 at-bats in 44 games during five stints with the team. He saw an average of 4.68 pitches per plate appearance, the most of any Red Sox player with at least 50 at-bats. He made 23 appearances at third base, nine at first base, and two at second, and batted at least once from all nine spots in the batting order.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In 2006, his first full season in the majors, Youkilis became a regular first baseman (with 127 games at first). Until that time, he was primarily a third baseman, though he did play nine games at first base with the Red Sox in 2005, and 56 games at first base in his minor league career. Also in 2006 he played in the outfield for the first time in his professional career, 18 games in left field. Despite his inexperience in the outfield, Youkilis did not commit an error while in the outfield; he did, however, commit eight errors while playing the infield.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis tied for the major league lead in sacrifice flies (11), and led the AL with 4.43 pitches per plate appearance and by hitting line drives 24% of time that he put balls in play. Also that year, Youkilis finished second in the AL in pitches seen (3,009) and percent of pitches taken (63.8), 4th in OBP with runners in scoring position with two outs (.524), 7th in bases on balls (91; the six players ahead of him averaged 41 home runs and 14 intentional walks, while Youkilis hit only 13 homers and was not intentionally walked once), tied for 7th in "bases taken" (22; advanced on fly balls, passed balls, wild pitches, balks, etc.), 8th in doubles (42) and batting average with runners in scoring position with two out (.375), 9th in walk percentage (13.8%), and 10th in times on base (259). He scored 100 runs, hit for a .325 batting average with runners in scoring position, and hit four first inning leadoff home runs. He did this despite struggling in the second half of the season with plantar fasciitis and a problematic abdominal muscle.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis had a career-high 23-game hitting streak starting on May 5, 2007, and ending on June 2, 2007, in which he hit .426 (43–for–101) with 13 doubles, six home runs, 21 RBI, and a .468 OBP. At one point during the hitting streak, he had nine straight games with at least two hits (tying a Red Sox record set by Jim Rice in 1978), and became the first Red Sox hitter since Trot Nixon to hit an inside-the-park home run. During the hitting streak, on May 20, he hit what would be the shortest homer by a Sox player during the season—a 321-foot homer around the Pesky Pole. The home run would not have cleared the fence at any of the other 29 ballparks in baseball. Although the hit streak ended on June 2, he did walk three times in an 11–6 win over the Yankees.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: His manager Terry Francona said, "He's taking more of what the pitchers give him, using the whole field. He's going to work the count about as good as any hitter in baseball. Last year if he got a two-strike breaking ball, he might swing and miss. This year he's fouling it off, or taking it to right field."


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: On June 1, Yankees pitcher Scott Proctor hit Youkilis in the head with a pitch; Proctor was ejected from the game. On August 30, Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain threw a pair of 98 mph pitches over Youkilis's head; Chamberlain was ejected, and later also suspended two games for "inappropriate actions." "That's the second time", Youkilis observed. "Scott Proctor hit me in the head. Coincidence? I don't know. It doesn't look good."


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: On June 25, 2007, Youkilis played in his 120th consecutive game at first base without an error, breaking the prior Red Sox record set in 1921 by Stuffy McInnis. On September 7, he played in his 179th consecutive game at first base without an error, which broke the prior AL record set in 1973 by Mike Hegan.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: On September 15, Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang struck Youkilis on his right wrist with a pitch, resulting in a deep tendon bruise that kept him out until September 25, when he returned with the aid of a cortisone shot. In 2007, Youkilis was sixth in the AL with 15 hit by pitch (HBP).


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis's error-less streak at the end of the regular season was 190 games; while he was charged with an error in the sixth inning of an October 16, 2007, playoff game against the Cleveland Indians, postseason games are not included in the record. Youkilis said, "I'm not worried about making the error. I'm worried about trying to help the team win and trying to get an out any way we can." Leading the league with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage, and an AL-record 1,079 error-less chances at first, Youkilis won the 2007 AL Gold Glove award for first basemen.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: While he batted .288 for the season, with men on base, he hit .340 with a .435 OBP. He was 6th in the league in pitches per plate appearance (4.27) and in hit by pitch (15).


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In the first inning of Game 1 of the ALDS against the Angels he hit his first post-season home run. It was his first homer since returning from being hit by Wang, and Youkilis said his wrist "felt a lot better as the days have progressed. I think the best thing about it is that it's playoff time, and adrenaline helps the most." In the 7-game ALCS against the Indians he hit three more home runs, had 14 hits (tying the LCS record jointly held by Hideki Matsui and Albert Pujols since 2004), and scored 10 runs (bettering Matsui's 2004 ALCS record) while batting .500 (another new ALCS record, bettering Bob Boone's .455 in 1986) with a .576 OBP and a .929 slugging percentage.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Still, in the World Series against Colorado, he did not start the team's away games. Francona faced a dilemma when playing without a DH in the NL park of having to bench either Youkilis, 120-RBI man Mike Lowell, or 117-RBI man David Ortiz, as he had to choose from among them which two would play first base and third base. Bob Ryan of "The Boston Globe" called it "the most difficult decision any American League manager has had to make in the 34-year history of the DH". Youkilis said, "It doesn't bother me. I want to play, but I totally understand the situation. Look, I'm doing everything I've always wanted to do. I'm playing in a World Series. I'm playing every day. I'm happy. I just want to win... If I have to take a seat, that's just the way it has to be." Youkilis hit two doubles (both in Game 1) and had three walks in only 12 plate appearances in the 4-game win over Colorado, as he was not in the starting lineup for the away games. Dismissing questions as to whether he was upset about being benched for the last two games of the World Series, Youkilis said, "Move on and go to another team if you’re worried about your playing time, and think you deserve to play over somebody else."


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis was selected the 2007 recipient of the Jackie Jensen Award for spirit and determination by the Boston BBWAA chapter.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In 2007, Youkilis had earned $424,500, the fourth-lowest salary on the club. In February 2008, he signed a one-year contract for $3 million, avoiding salary arbitration. In March 2008, his role as the designated player representative of the Red Sox became known during the resolution of a player-management dispute regarding non-payment of coaches and staff for the Red Sox trip to Japan.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: On April 2, 2008, on an unassisted game-ending play against the Oakland A's, Youkilis broke the Major League record for most consecutive error-less games by a first baseman, previously held by Steve Garvey, at 194 games. In his 205th game without an error on April 27, Youkilis also established a new major league record for first basemen, when he fielded his 1,701st consecutive chance without an error, passing the old mark of 1,700 set by Stuffy McInnis from 1921 to 1922. His streak, which started on July 4, 2006, was snapped at 238 games (2,002 fielding attempts) on June 7, 2008 against the Seattle Mariners.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: He was named AL Player of the Week for May 5–11, after batting .375 while leading the AL with five home runs, and tying for the American League lead with 10 RBI.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In an early June game at Fenway Park, one camera reportedly showed Manny Ramirez taking a swing at Youkilis, and the two had to be separated by teammates in the Red Sox dugout. "I think they were just exchanging some views on things", manager Terry Francona said. "We had a lot of testosterone going tonight." Asked about the incident the following year, Youkilis said: "We have two different approaches to the game. Winning and losing isn’t life and death to Manny."


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: He was the AL's starter at first base on the 2008 AL All-Star team that played the 79th Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, voted in by the fans with 2,858,130 votes in his first year on the ballot. Youkilis became the sixth Red Sox first baseman to start an All-Star Game at first base, following Jimmie Foxx (1938; 40), Walt Dropo (1950), Mickey Vernon (1956), George Scott (1966), and Mo Vaughn (1996).


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In late July, Manny Ramirez was traded away by the Red Sox. Youkilis took over the cleanup spot of the lineup.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In 2008, Youkilis led the AL in at bats per RBI (4.7), was third in slugging percentage (.569) and sacrifice flies (9), fourth in RBI (115), extra base hits (76), and OPS (.958); fifth in hit by pitch (12); sixth in batting average (.312) and on-base percentage (.390); seventh in doubles (43) and in times advanced from first to third on a single (14); eighth in total bases (306), 10th in at-bats per home run (18.6), and 12th in home runs (29). He was also second in extra base hit percentage (12.2% of all plate appearances) and tied for seventh in times advanced from first to third on a single (14).


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis also batted .356 against relief pitchers, .358 with men on base, and .374 with runners in scoring position. He drew seven intentional walks during the 2008 season, the first season he had garnered any, and also led the AL with a .353 batting average after the sixth inning.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis finished third in the balloting for the 2008 AL MVP Award, receiving two first-place votes (one from Evan Grant of "The Dallas Morning News"), while his teammate Dustin Pedroia won and Justin Morneau came in second. Only Youkilis and Morneau were named on all ballots.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In the ALCS Game 5 vs. the Tampa Bay Rays, the Red Sox were down by seven runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Youkilis scored the winning run for the Red Sox to complete the second-largest comeback in MLB postseason history. Before Game 4 of the 2008 World Series, he was named the winner of the AL Hank Aaron Award for the best offensive performance of the 2008 season.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis signed a four-year, $41.25 million contract with the Red Sox on January 15, 2009. The deal also included a team option (at $14 million, with a $1.25 million buyout) for 2013. Later that year, he was voted #36 on the "Sporting News" list of the 50 greatest active baseball players, voted on by a panel that included members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis batted cleanup for Team USA in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, tying for the lead among all WBC players in home runs (3) and runs (9), and tying for second on the team in RBIs (6) and walks (6), through the first two rounds. He had to leave the team with a left ankle sprain, however, before the WBC semifinals.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis hit a walk off home run against the Yankees on April 24, 2009. "He has skills, man", said David Ortiz. "I don't know how he do it. He just do it." He was subsequently placed on the disabled list a few days later, but returned to play on May 20. "It's frustrating not being able to play", he said. "Watching baseball is not something I like to do."


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis was picked to be a reserve on the AL 2009 All-Star team by Tampa Bay and AL manager Joe Maddon, after coming in second in the fan vote to Mark Teixeira, 3,309,050–3,069,906.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: On August 6, 2009, with the Red Sox suffering numerous injuries, Youkilis played left field for the first time since he played 18 games there in 2006. On August 8, he again played left field, and made a couple of twists and turns on a fly ball hit by Johnny Damon before committing an error.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: On August 11, 2009, after 6' 5" pitcher Rick Porcello of the Detroit Tigers hit him in the back with an 89 mph pitch, Youkilis immediately charged Porcello on the mound. Youkilis threw his helmet at the fast back-pedaling Porcello, and Porcello tackled Youkilis, both went down, and both benches cleared. Both players were tossed from the game, and each received a five-game suspension.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Hearing that his friend and former minor league teammate Greg Montalbano had died of testicular cancer at the age of 31 late on August 21, Youkilis dedicated his next game to his friend's memory. After inscribing "GM" in marker on his cap, he hit two home runs in the game against the Yankees, while driving in six runs. Both times as he crossed home plate, he looked up and pointed to the sky. "That was for him", Youkilis said. "There are some crazy things that have happened in my life. You … feel like there's somebody out there somewhere pushing balls out for you, and doing great things."


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In 2009, Youkilis was second in the AL in OBP (.413) and OPS (.961), fourth in hit by pitch (16), fifth in slugging percentage (.548), and batted .305 overall and .362 with runners in scoring position. He also led the AL in pitches per plate appearance (4.42), was sixth in batting average on balls in play (.363), and 10th in walk percentage (13.6%). "Statistically, if you consider 2008 and 2009, you could make the case there has been no better player in the league [in that time]", said Red Sox EVP Epstein. Of the players with 1,000 plate appearances in the AL over the 2008–09 seasons, none had a higher OPS than Youkilis (.960).


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In the field, while Youkilis split his time primarily between first base and third base and therefore did not qualify for the fielding percentage title at either, his .998 fielding percentage in 78 games at first matched that of the league leader Lyle Overbay, and his .974 fielding percentage in 63 games at third base was better than league-leader Melvin Mora's .971.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis finished sixth in balloting for the 2009 AL MVP Award, receiving two second-place votes. He was selected as the Red Sox most valuable player (winner of the 2009 Thomas A. Yawkey Memorial Award) in voting by the Boston Chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In 2010, Youkilis was again named to "Sporting News" list of the 50 greatest current players in baseball, ranking No. 38 on the list. A panel of 21 MLB executives was polled to arrive at the list.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: On August 2, Youkilis' season was cut short by a right thumb abductor muscle tear, which he had played through for two weeks. At the time of his injury, he was tied for 3rd in the major leagues in runs scored (77), and led all major leaguers with a .798 slugging percentage against left-handed pitchers. He was 3rd in the AL in on-base percentage (.411), tied for 5th in walks (58), tied for 7th in extra-base hits (50), 8th in slugging percentage (.564), and 9th in total bases (204). He had surgery to repair the tear on August 6.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: The injury limited him to only 102 games for the season, his fewest since his 2005 sophomore year. Slowed by his injury, he had only 362 at-bats, but batted .307/.411/.564 with 19 home runs and 62 RBI. For the years 2008–10, his .964 OPS ranked second in the major leagues, behind Albert Pujols (1.074).


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: During the offseason the Red Sox acquired All-Star first baseman Adrián González, and with the imminent departure of Adrián Beltré, Youkilis agreed to the make the switch back to third base.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In 2011, Youkilis was again named to "Sporting News" list of the 50 greatest current players in baseball, ranking No. 35 on the list. A panel of 21 MLB executives was polled to arrive at the list.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis was named a reserve for the 82nd All-Star Game. At the All-Star break, he was third in the league in doubles (26), fourth in on-base percentage (.399), sixth in RBIs (63), seventh in OPS (.911), and ninth in walks (49). For the season, he led all AL third basemen in fielding percentage, at .967. However, he batted only .258, his lowest MLB season average of his career.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: The Red Sox suffered a collapse late in the 2011 season, losing their playoff positioning. A source among the Red Sox claimed that Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey spent games they did not pitch in the clubhouse eating fried chicken and drinking beer; some Red Sox teammates speculated that Youkilis was the source of this information, alienating him from his teammates.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: On April 15, 2012, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine publicly questioned Youkilis' motivation and physical ability to succeed. Viewing rookie Will Middlebrooks as the superior third baseman, Valentine began to play Middlebrooks over Youkilis. The Red Sox traded Youkilis to the Chicago White Sox on June 24 for pitcher Zach Stewart and utility man Brent Lillibridge. The Red Sox agreed to pay $5.5 million of Youkilis' salary to help close the deal. In the seventh inning of that day's game, Ben Cherington, the Red Sox General Manager, informed Valentine that a transaction was pending. Youkilis hit a triple in his last at bat, and received a long standing ovation while tipping his helmet to the crowd after being taken out for pinch runner Nick Punto.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: The next day, Youkilis started for the White Sox, playing against the Minnesota Twins. He went 1–for–4 with a single in the 4–1 loss. He hit his first home run as a member of the White Sox on July 3, against the Texas Rangers off of Roy Oswalt. He also went 3–6 with 4 RBIs in that game. On July 9, 2012, Youkilis was named the American League Player of the Week, after batting .478 with three home runs and 10 RBI in a 5–1 span for the White Sox. White Sox manager Robin Ventura reported that Youkilis was a competitor with a "grinder mentality", who fit in well with his White Sox teammates.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: On July 16, Youkilis returned to Boston with the White Sox. During his first at bat, the Fenway Park crowd gave him a loud, extended cheer, causing Youkilis to step out of the batter's box and acknowledge fans. He went 3–for–4 with two doubles in the game.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: For the season, he batted .235/.336/.409 with 19 home runs and 60 RBI, and tied for the major league lead in hit by pitch, with 17. He became a free agent after the 2012 season.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: On December 11, Youkilis accepted a one-year contract worth $12 million to play third base for the New York Yankees. Though Youkilis had not been popular with members of the Yankees and their fans, Robinson Canó and Alex Rodriguez publicly supported the signing, and Joba Chamberlain reached out to Youkilis in an attempt to smooth over their past differences. The deal became official on December 14. Youkilis was diagnosed with a lumbar spine sprain when the 2013 season began and was placed on the 15-day disabled list on April 30, 2013. He was activated and returned on May 30, 2013. He was placed back on the disabled list on June 14, 2013 after re-injuring his back. Youkilis then underwent surgery to repair a herniated disk in his back on June 20, 2013, and was expected to miss 10–12 weeks. However, he missed the remainder of the 2013 season. In only 28 games played, Youkilis hit a career-low .219 with two home runs and eight RBI.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis agreed to a one-year, $4 million contract with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball for the 2014 season. He missed part of the season due to plantar fasciitis. In 21 games, Youkilis batted .215 with one home run and 11 RBI.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In 1,061 games over 10 seasons, Youkilis posted a .281 batting average (1,053-for-3,749) with 653 runs, 254 doubles, 18 triples, 150 home runs, 618 RBI, 539 bases on balls, 104 hit by pitch (as of 2020, 85th all-time), a .382 on-base percentage, and a .478 slugging percentage. He finished his career with a .9975 fielding percentage at first base (as of 2020, 2nd all-time, 0.001 behind Casey Kotchman), and a .991 fielding percentage overall. In 29 postseason games, he batted .306 (34-for-111) with 22 runs, nine doubles, six home runs, 17 RBI and 13 walks.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: On October 30, 2014, Youkilis announced his retirement from baseball. In February 2015, Youkilis was hired by his former GM Theo Epstein as a scout and development consultant for the Chicago Cubs.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In August 2016, Youkilis, along with his brother Scott, purchased the Los Gatos Brewing Company, and re-opened it as the Loma Brewing Company, a brewpub in Los Gatos, California. The brewery was subsequently named as the 2017 California Commercial Beer Brewery of the Year.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Michael Lewis's 2003 best-seller "" focuses on Oakland Athletics' General Manager Billy Beane's use of Sabermetrics as a tool in the evaluation of potential prospects. In the book, Lewis discusses then-prospect Youkilis in detail, and refers to him as "Euclis, the Greek God of Walks", a moniker that has stuck. Beane put more stock in empirical evidence than in scouts' hunches, and did not care that Youkilis was pudgy (or, as Lewis put it in the book, "a fat third baseman who couldn't run, throw, or field"), but just loved his ability to get on base (helped in no small part by the ballplayer's 20/11 vision). The book brought minor leaguer Youkilis his first national recognition.Lewis also revealed that Beane repeatedly tried to trade for Youkilis before Youkilis reached the major leagues, but his attempts were blocked by then-Red Sox GM Theo Epstein.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Asked by a reporter what he thought of the nickname, Youkilis quipped, "It's better than being 'the Greek God of Illegitimate Children.'" But according to his father, "Kevin disliked that 'Greek God of Walks' stuff." "It was frustrating to hear fans say, 'Get a walk!'" Youkilis said. "I'll take a walk—a walk's as good as a hit—but don't you want me to hit a home run or something?"


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: On August 8, 2005, while playing for the Red Sox, Youkilis took the field in the 9th inning along with Adam Stern and Gabe Kapler, setting a record for the most Jewish players on the field at one time in AL history, and the most in Major League Baseball history since four Jewish players took the field for the New York Giants in a game in 1941.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis was featured in the 2008 Hank Greenberg 75th Anniversary edition of Jewish Major Leaguers Baseball Cards, published in affiliation with Fleer Trading Cards and the American Jewish Historical Society, commemorating the Jewish Major Leaguers from 1871 through 2008. He joined, among other Jewish major leaguers, Ryan Braun, Brad Ausmus, Ian Kinsler, Brian Horwitz, Gabe Kapler, Jason Marquis, Jason Hirsh, John Grabow, Craig Breslow, and Scott Schoeneweis.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: He was one of three Jewish players in the 2008 All-Star Game, joining Braun and Kinsler, and one of three Jewish players on the Team USA 2009 World Baseball Classic team, joining Braun and Grabow. Kinsler says that "Youkilis always says something to me on the bases. 'Happy Passover,' he'll throw something at me."


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis was named the Jewish MVP for 2008, beating out fellow All-Stars Braun and Kinsler. He was voted the top Jewish baseball player of the decade 2000–09 in online balloting, beating out Shawn Green and Braun. Through the 2018 season, his .382 on base percentage placed him fifth on the career all-time list of Jewish major leaguers (directly behind Al Rosen), his .478 slugging percentage placed him sixth (behind Shawn Green), his 254 doubles and 618 career RBI placed him 7th (behind Mike Lieberthal for doubles, and behind Al Rosen for RBIs), his 150 home runs tied him for seventh with Lieberthal (behind Al Rosen), and his 539 walks placed him eighth behind Ryan Braun.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In "", a 2010 documentary film narrated by Dustin Hoffman, Youkilis noted:It's something that I probably won’t realize until my career is over, how many people are really rooting for me and cheering for me. And it's not just because I went 3-for-4, or had a great game. It's just the fact that I represent a lot of Jewish people and a lot of the Jewish heritage, and the struggles that a lot of our people have had.He expressed interest in playing for Israel at the 2013 World Baseball Classic, if healthy. Since the 2013 qualifier was during the regular season, he was unable to compete, but he announced that he would play for the team if they made it past the qualifying round.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In an embarrassing formatting oddity, it was noticed in 2007 that multiple baseball websites such as Baseball-Reference.com and Baseball Prospectus had been using "youkike" as part of their urls for webpages featuring Youkilis. This unintended quirk affected those sites that used an automatic url-creating algorithm which combined the first five letters of a player's surname with the first two letters of his first name. Following the discovery, the sites manually adjusted the urls to remove the inadvertent ethnic slur.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: At one point, the University of Cincinnati expressed interest in renaming its Marge Schott Stadium to "Kevin Youkilis Field at Marge Schott Stadium," after Youkilis. However, Youkilis, sensitized by the fact that he is Jewish, declined to be associated with late Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott, who was known for her racist and anti-Semitic statements. Youkilis recalled his father saying to him: "Kevin that is a tremendous honor that they would think of doing this. The only problem is that our family name will never coexist with that other individual. I will never let our family name be next to someone that was filled with such hatred of our Jewish community." In 2020, Bearcats pitcher Nathan Moore along with Youkilis called for the university to remove Schott's name from the stadium. In June of that year the university's board of trustees voted unanimously to remove Schott's name from the stadium, effective immediately.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Kevin Youkilis Hits For Kids is a charitable organization established by Youkilis in 2007. Youkilis's foundation focuses on raising support and awareness for the health, advocacy, safety, and medical healing of children across Massachusetts, in his hometown of Cincinnati, and beyond. Rallying the support of volunteers, local business, and the heart of Red Sox Nation, Kevin Youkilis Hits for Kids teams with existing, community-based children's charities and medical research efforts that lack sufficient funding and awareness. One organization that Hits for Kids works with is the Joslin Diabetes Center's Pediatric Health Services. He has a special sensitivity about youth suicide, since his college roommate, a close and supportive friend of his since high school, committed suicide on Thanksgiving during his sophomore year. To this day, he said, "I sit back at night and wonder what I could've done."


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: "In my religion, the Jewish religion, that's one of the biggest things that's taught, is giving a mitzvah, forming a mitzvah", said Youkilis. "I was always taught as a kid giving to charity. You're supposed to give a good amount of charity each and every year. … It's just a great thing when you can make a kid smile that's going through some hard times in life … I wish more people, not just athletes, would give people just a little bit of their time. It doesn't take much … It can make a huge difference."


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: After the first game of the ALDS, Youkilis re-shaved his head for good luck in a sign of solidarity with cancer patient Mitt Campbell. Following the team's 2007 World Series victory, Youkilis shaved his goatee for a $5,000 donation by Gillette to his foundation.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In November 2008, Youkilis and Enza Sambataro held a wedding ceremony in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, though the couple never formalized their wedding. The ceremony was attended by Red Sox teammates Mike Lowell, David Ortiz, and Dustin Pedroia. Sambataro, a Newton, Massachusetts native, was CEO of Youkilis's charity, Hits for Kids, until the couple split up in 2010.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: In February 2012, the "Boston Herald" reported that Youkilis was engaged to Julie Brady, the sister of National Football League quarterback Tom Brady. Two months later, the couple were quietly married in New York City, and a pregnancy was rumored at that time. Twelve months after the "Boston Herald" article, the wedded couple, along with their infant son, were featured in a 30-minute program on the YES Network. The family lives in Los Gatos, California.


title: Kevin Youkilis

text: Youkilis made an appearance in season 1, episode 8 of the Travel Channel show "Man v. Food". The episode was recorded at Boston's Eagle's Deli and featured Youkilis rooting against host (and New York Yankees fan) Adam Richman in an eating challenge. In 2011, he appeared in the music video for the Dropkick Murphys song "Going Out in Style".


title: Portal (series)

text: Portal is a series of first-person puzzle-platform video games developed by Valve. Set in the "Half-Life" universe, the two main games in the series, "Portal" (2007) and "Portal 2" (2011), center on a woman, Chell, forced to undergo a series of tests within the Aperture Science Enrichment Center by a malicious artificial intelligence, GLaDOS, that controls the facility. Most of the tests involve using the "Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device" – nicknamed the portal gun – that creates a human-sized wormhole-like connection between two flat surfaces. The player-character or objects in the game world may move through portals while conserving their momentum. This allows complex "flinging" maneuvers to be used to cross wide gaps or perform other feats to reach the exit for each test chamber. A number of other mechanics, such as lasers, light bridges, tractor funnels and turrets, exist to aid or hinder the player's goal to reach the exit.


title: Portal (series)

text: The "Portal" games are noted for bringing students and their projects from the DigiPen Institute of Technology into Valve and extending their ideas into the full games. The portal concept was introduced by the game "Narbacular Drop" and led to the basis for the first game. Another game, "", formed the basis of surface-altering "gels" introduced in "Portal 2".


title: Portal (series)

text: Both games have received near-universal praise, and have sold millions of copies. The first game was released as part of a five-game compilation, "The Orange Box", and though intended as a short bonus feature of the compilation, was instead considered the highlight of the five. Its success led to the creation of the much longer "Portal 2", which included both single player and cooperative player modes; it too received near-universal critical acclaim. In addition to the challenging puzzle elements, both games are praised for their dark humor, written by Erik Wolpaw, Chet Faliszek, and Jay Pinkerton, voice work by actors Ellen McLain, Stephen Merchant, and J.K. Simmons, and songs by Jonathan Coulton. A number of spin-off media have been developed alongside the games, and several of the game elements have become parts of Internet memes.


title: Portal (series)

text: Both "Portal" games take place in the fictional "Aperture Science Enrichment Center". Aperture Science was founded by Cave Johnson (voiced by J.K. Simmons) and originally sought to make shower curtains for the military. Its research happened upon the discovery of portal technology, and soon became a direct competitor with Black Mesa Research Facility (from the "Half-Life" series) for government funding. Johnson acquired the rights to a disused salt mine in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where they started building a labyrinthine set of offices, laboratories, facilities, and test chambers. During this time, Johnson became poisoned from exposure to moon dust, a key component of the paint needed for the portal placing technology, and became increasingly deranged.


title: Portal (series)

text: In "Portal 2", the player explores these long-abandoned areas of Aperture, learning that the company had moved from testing on the country's finest, to paid volunteers, and ultimately to forcing its own employees to participate in testing. Near the point of his death, Johnson ordered his lifelong assistant Caroline (voiced by Ellen McLain) to be the first test subject for a mind-to-computer transfer; her personality would ultimately form the core of GLaDOS (also McLain). Sometime after Johnson's death, the old sections of the facility were vitrified, and a more modern facility built atop those ruins. GLaDOS was built to control the facility and monitor the tests, but researchers found that the computer had villainous tendencies, threatening to kill the entire staff before it was shut down in time. The Aperture researchers constructed a number of "personality cores" that would fit onto GLaDOS to prevent her from turning against them. Despite this, on the day she was officially activated (coincidentally on "Take Your Daughter to Work Day"), she turned against the researchers and killed nearly everyone in the facility with lethal doses of neurotoxin gas. In the games and the comic "Lab Rat", one employee Doug Rattmann survived due to his schizophrenia and distrust of GLaDOS. In trying to find a way to defeat GLaDOS, he finds that Chell, one of the human subjects kept in cryogenic storage within Aperture, has a high level of tenacity, and arranges for the events of "Portal" to occur by moving her to the top of GLaDOS' testing list. GLaDOS remains driven to test human subjects despite the lack of humans.


title: Portal (series)

text: The player is introduced to Aperture in "Portal", which is said by Valve to be set sometime between the events of "Half-Life" and "Half-Life 2". The player-character Chell is awakened by GLaDOS for testing. Chell resists GLaDOS' lies and verbal ploys and succeeds to defeat GLaDOS' core, the destruction creating a portal implosion that sends Chell to the surface, unconscious. Rattmann, who has helped Chell by writing warning messages and directions to maintenance areas on the facility walls and had observed the final battle, escapes Aperture, but on witnessing a robot dragging Chell's body back inside, sacrifices his escape to assure that Chell is put into indefinite cryogenic storage. He himself is critically wounded but appears to make it to another cryogenic chamber, though his ultimate fate is not revealed.


title: Portal (series)

text: "Portal 2" takes place numerous years after the events of the first game; the Aperture facility has fallen into disrepair without GLaDOS. A personality core named Wheatley (Stephen Merchant) wakes Chell from her sleep to help her stop a reactor failure, but inadvertently awakens GLaDOS, who had backed up her personality. Though they defeat GLaDOS by putting Wheatley in her place, Wheatley is overwhelmed with power, sending Chell and GLaDOS, temporarily reduced to a small computer powered by a potato, to the old core of Aperture, where GLaDOS rediscovers her relation to Caroline. They return to the surface where they are forced to defeat Wheatley before his ineptitude with the Aperture systems causes the facility reactors to become critical and explode. GLaDOS is returned to her rightful place and returns the facility to normal. GLaDOS then lets Chell go, realizing that the prospect of trying to kill her is too much trouble. Instead, she turns to two robots of her own creation, Atlas and P-Body, to locate a mythical store of additional human subjects kept in cryogenic sleep for her to continue testing on.


title: Portal (series)

text: In addition to these characters, the game includes numerous laser-seeking turrets that seek to kill the player-characters, though are apologetic for it; most are voiced by McLain, though some defective ones in the sequel are voiced by Nolan North. GLaDOS introduces Chell to the "Weighted Companion Cube", appearing similar to other Weighed Cubes (crates) in the game, but decorated with hearts on its sides; GLaDOS attempts to make Chell believe the Companion Cube is a sentient object and a key to her survival, before making Chell dispose of it in an incinerator prior to leaving a test chamber. Both games feature other personality cores that were constructed to keep GLaDOS in check; the first game includes three cores, the Morality, Curiosity, and Intelligence Cores, voiced by McLain as well as a snarling Anger Core voiced by Mike Patton. In "Portal 2", three more such cores (beyond Wheatley) are introduced including the irrelevant Fact Core, the bold Adventure Core, and the space-obsessed Space Core, each voiced by North.


title: Portal (series)

text: The player controls the main character (Chell in the single player campaigns, or one of Atlas and P-Body in the cooperative mode) from a first-person view, running, jumping, and interacting with switches or other devices. The player-characters are able to withstand large drops, but can be killed by falling in the toxic water of the facility, crushed to death, passing through laser grids, or fired on repeatedly by turrets.


title: Portal (series)

text: Both games are generally divided into a series of test chambers; other sections of the game are more exploratory areas that connect these chambers. Each chamber has an exit door that must be reached, often requiring that certain conditions have been met such as having weighed down a large button with a "Weighted Cube", effectively a crate. These puzzles require the use of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, the portal gun. The gun can shoot two portals, colored differently for identification, on any flat surface that is painted with a specific paint containing moon dust. Once both portal ends are placed, the player can walk the character between them, or carry objects with the portal gun through them. Portal ends can be re positioned as often as necessary, but certain actions, such as walking through "emancipation grills" or moving a surface with a portal will cause the portals to dissipate.


title: Portal (series)

text: A critical feature of portals is that they retain the magnitude of momentum when an object travels through it; as stated by GLaDOS to the player in the first game, "Speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out". When portals are placed on non-parallel planes, this can create the effect of "flinging". Commonly, one uses gravity to build up their momentum when they fall into a portal, which flings them out of the other side to gain speed and distance that normal jumping and running could not generate. A leapfrogging effect can be used by placing portals in series during this flinging, gaining further momentum with each use.


title: Portal (series)

text: Portals will also allow light and other objects to transfer through them, and numerous puzzles involve using portals to manipulate bouncing energy balls, lasers, "hard light" bridges, and tractor beams to access new locations or direct objects to specific receptacles that must be activated to open the level's exit. "Portal 2" introduces "mobility gels" that can paint surfaces, including turrets and cubes, that can also move through portals though not directly by the player. The gels can create a surface that repels the player (Repulsion Gel), increases the player's speed (Propulsion Gel), or allows the surface to accept portals (Conversion Gel).


title: Portal (series)

text: The concept of "Portal" came from "Narbacular Drop," a student project from the DigiPen Institute of Technology. The game included the aspects of placing portals on any flat surfaces and using them to maneuver around levels. Valve's employees, attending a DigiPen career fair, saw their game and shortly later offered the entire team jobs at Valve to help expand on their idea.


title: Portal (series)

text: Valve originally saw "Portal" as an experimental game to be included with its upcoming compilation, "The Orange Box", alongside its release of "" and "Team Fortress 2". To give the game character, a minimal story, tied loosely with the "Half-Life" world, was written by Valve's Erik Wolpaw and Marc Laidlaw. They needed a character to guide the player through the game, coming onto a polite but humorous artificial intelligence, which would ultimately become the character of GLaDOS.


title: Portal (series)

text: "Portal"s release with "The Orange Box" received near-universal praise, with the standalone game earning an aggregate Metacritic rating of 90 out of 100. With success of the game, work on an expanded sequel began nearly immediately, expanding the development team from 8 to about 30-40 programmers. Initial ideas for "Portal 2" retained the idea of solving puzzles through scientific concepts, but eliminating the use of portals altogether; these versions did not fare well with test audiences nor with Gabe Newell, Valve's president; these ideas were dropped though saved for potential reuse in a different game by Valve. "Portal 2" development was restarted specifically to keep the portal concept but adding new elements to freshen the gameplay.


title: Portal (series)

text: During this period, Valve had witnessed another student project out of Digipen, "" which allows the player to spray paint onto surfaces to alter their behavior, and brought them into Valve, though not initially as part of the "Portal". The "Tag" team had found a way to incorporate their paints with real-time fluid dynamics code previously made by Valve, and soon their concept for paints had become the "conversion gels" as part of "Portal 2".


title: Portal (series)

text: Valve included a co-operative play mode, based on their own observations and stories from players about working out the solutions to "Portal"s puzzles in a group environment. With this feature, they sought the ability to enable cross-platform play of "Portal 2" between computers and consoles through Steamworks. This led to a surprise reveal by Newell that not only would "Portal 2" be on the PlayStation 3 platform, after previously stating the difficulties in supporting this console, but that it would include support for cross-platform play between personal computers and PlayStation 3 players through a limited Steamworks interface. Valve brought in writer Jay Pinkerton formerly with "National Lampoon", and "Left 4 Dead" writer Chet Faliszek to assist Wolpaw with the larger story. They built on the character of the Aperture Science facility, providing a deeper story for GLaDOS and Aperture's CEO Cave Johnson, as well as developing several concepts for "personality cores" ultimately to the creation of the Wheatley core character.


title: Portal (series)

text: "Portal 2" was similarly released with high praise with a 95 out of 100 score on Metacritic. Valve has continued to support the game through the release of two separate downloadable content packages, one introducing a new co-operative campaign, and a second that incorporated an easy-to-learn level editor that allowed players to make their own test chambers and share these through the Steam Workshop to others. Further on this, Valve has created a special version of the "Portal" level editor to be used alongside its "Steam in Schools" program as a means of using the game and editor to teach students about physics, math, and other lessons; Valve released this version of "Portal 2" free for educational use. Exploring options for a full-scale VR game in 2017, Valve experimented with "Portal", but found the portal systems disorienting in VR; instead, they returned to the "Half-Life" series and released "" in 2020.


title: Portal (series)

text: In April 2022, Erik Wolpaw urged Valve to make "Portal 3" saying "I am also not getting any younger. We are reaching the point where - it's crazy to think – [we're ] literally going to be too old to work on Portal 3. So we should just do it." In September, Ellen McLain also called for "Portal 3" saying she was willing to star in it and asked fans to: "Write in. Email Valve. You've got my blessing,"


title: Portal (series)

text: "Portal" was initially released in October 2007 as part of a compilation game called "The Orange Box", alongside "Half-Life 2" and its two episodes and "Team Fortress 2". Valve considered including "Portal" as a bonus feature of the compilation; the game was purposely kept short such that if it did not meet expectations, players would have the rest of the content of "The Orange Box" as a "safety net". "Portal" has since been repackaged on Windows as a standalone game in April 2008. A Mac OS X client was introduced simultaneously with the release of the Steam client for that platform in May 2010; as part of its promotion, the game was released free of charge for both platforms during which at least 1.5 million players downloaded it.


title: Portal (series)

text: "Portal: Still Alive" was a standalone version of "Portal" with additional content for the Xbox Live Arcade, released in October 2008. The game included new achievements, additional challenges from the existing test chambers, and additional non-story levels based on those found in the Flash-based "Portal: The Flash Version" created by We Create Stuff.


title: Portal (series)

text: "Portal 2" was released as a standalone game in April 2011 on both computers and consoles. It is considered as one of the greatest video games of all time by numerous publications and critics. It received acclaim for its gameplay, pacing, dark humor, writing, the voice work of McLain, Merchant, and Simmons, and its challenging but surmountable learning curve.


title: Portal (series)

text: "Portal: Companion Collection" is a compilation of both games and "Still Alive" content released for Nintendo Switch on June 28, 2022. The port was developed in collaboration with Nvidia Lightspeed Studios.


title: Portal (series)

text: In September 2022, Nvidia announced it would release an updated version of "Portal" with real-time ray tracing, as a free DLC for owners of the original game on PC. It was released on December 8, 2022.


title: Portal (series)

text: Aperture Hand Lab is a roomscale VR video game co-developed by Canadian studio Cloudhead Games and Valve, released free for Windows on June 25, 2019. It is a tech demo set in the Portal universe that showcases the functions of the hand, knuckle, and finger tracking technology used by the Valve Index.


title: Portal (series)

text: "The Lab" is a VR game developed by Valve that as part of its partnership with HTC and the VR headset, the HTC Vive. It was described as a "room-scale" VR experience, consisting of about a dozen small experimental experiences that highlight the use of VR; such include experiencing a fully panoramic view that has been stitched together from a number of photographs, a physics game where the player attempts to launch personality cores into piles of boxes using a catapult, and a bow-and-arrow based game. "The Lab" was announced at the 2016 Game Developers Conference, and was released free on April 5, 2016, following the public release of the HTC Vive.


title: Portal (series)

text: "Aperture Desk Job" is a free game set in the "Portal" universe released on March 1, 2022. It is a demonstration of the various features of the Steam Deck handheld system. In the game, the player works as a quality assurance checker for toilets manufactured by Aperture Science in its early years. They are guided by the personality core Grady (voiced by Nate Bargatze) through the steps, but as the game progresses, mishaps in the automated factory lead Grady to suggest that the player develop a weaponized toilet as an invention to pitch to Cave Johnson (voiced by Simmons).


title: Portal (series)

text: Valve licensed the use of "Portal" to Headup Games and Clockstone Software, the developers of "Bridge Constructor", to develop "Bridge Constructor Portal". The game follows the same type of gameplay as "Bridge Constructor", where players are tasked to create a bridge from a limited set of parts to cross a river or chasm, using physics simulations to test if the bridge will hold up against traffic crossing it. "Bridge Constructor Portal" adds in elements from the "Portal" series, such as portals, as part of the construction challenge. The game is set within Aperture Laboratories, with the puzzles monitored by GLaDOS. The game released on December 20, 2017, for personal computers and mobile devices, and later in 2018 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch consoles.


title: Portal (series)

text: To help the Lab Rats develop the fictional history of Aperture Science, Valve created a digital comic to tell the story of the "Rat Man", a schizophrenic who is unseen in the games themselves but creates murals and scrawlings that guide Chell in both games. The comic, "Portal 2: Lab Rat", takes place both during and after "Portal", explaining the events that led to "Portal 2". The Rat Man's artwork appears early in "Portal 2", where it retells the plot of "Portal". Michael Avon Oeming, who had worked on comics for Valve games "Team Fortress 2" and "Left 4 Dead", and Valve in-house artist Andrea Wicklund drew the comic. Ted Kosmatka wrote most of the story with input from the "Portal 2" writers. The 27-page comic was made available online in two parts about two weeks before the game's release and was also bundled with the game itself. Dark Horse Comics has published "Portal 2: Lab Rat" in a printed anthology of Valve comics, "Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and Other Steam-Powered Stories", in November 2011.


title: Portal (series)

text: In the comic, Doug Rattmann (also known as The Rat Man) is a scientist working in the Aperture facility. He escapes GLaDOS's initial neurotoxin attack, but suffers symptoms as his schizophrenia medication runs out, causing hallucinations of his Weighted Companion Cube talking. Noticing that Chell is uniquely tenacious among the test subjects held by Aperture, Rattmann moves her to the top of the queue of testing subjects, thus starting the events of the first "Portal". After Chell defeats GLaDOS, Rattmann escapes Aperture, but returns against the Companion Cube's objections when he sees the Party Escort Bot dragging an unconscious Chell back inside and into a disabled cryo chamber. He ensures that Chell is kept in indefinite suspended animation, but he is shot by a turret in the process. He then enters a stasis pod himself, leaving his fate afterward unknown.


title: Portal (series)

text: "The Final Hours of Portal 2" is a digital book written and created by Geoff Keighley. This digital book gives insight on the creation of "Portal 2". Keighley had previously worked as an editor at GameSpot, writing several 10,000-word "Final Hours" pieces on various games where he visited the studios during the late development phases to document the creation of the game. One piece, "The Final Hours of Half-Life 2", allowed Keighley to interact with Valve during 2003 and 2004 and talk with the staff as they completed work on "Half-Life 2". Keighley wanted to recreate a similar work for "Portal 2", with focus on making it an interactive work for the iPad. Keighley was granted "fly on the wall" access to Valve when "Portal 2" was being produced. The initial iPad release was written by Keighley with work by Joe Zeff Design, a studio that had also produced digital applications for "Time" magazine. The interactive work provides movie clips and short applications to demonstrate the various mechanics of the game and stages of the game's development. The work was later ported into a non-interactive eBook, and into an application with the same iPad interactivity on the Steam platform. With the iPad and Steam version, Keighley is able to offer live updates to the work; upon release of the "Peer Review" downloadable content pack, the work was updated with an additional chapter discussing the creation of the new content and what new features players could expect in the future from "Portal 2".


title: Portal (series)

text: The Potato Sack was an A.R.G (alternate reality game) conceived by Valve and 13 indie video game developers as a prelude to the release of "Portal 2". "Portal 2" had been announced by a similar game, where a patch applied to the Steam version of "Portal" in March 2010, provided clues heralding the official announcement. The Potato Sack game, launched on April 1, 2011, led to the reveal of "GLaDOS@home", a spoof of distributed computer challenges, to get players to cooperate on playing the independent games as to unlock "Portal 2" on Steam about 10 hours before its planned release.


title: Portal (series)

text: A board game version of "Portal", developed by Cryptozoic Entertainment with oversight from Valve, was released in 2015. Titled "Portal: Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game", the game is based on players manipulating their tokens - which are representative of unwitting test subjects - through various test chambers in the Aperture Laboratories. The goal being to test the most lucrative chambers while attempting to stall the progress of other players. Valve had approached Cryptozoic with the core concepts of the board game, which the publisher found only needed small modifications in gameplay for the purpose of balance.


title: Portal (series)

text: Valve has sold several "Portal"-based prints, T-shirts, and other memorabilia through its own store, often riding on the popularity of certain memes that the series has created. When first released, both were sold out in under 24 hours. Valve also has partnerships with other vendors for similar merchandise. WizKids has released collectible miniatures of the turrets, cores and companion cube(s) within the game.


title: Portal (series)

text: The series' main antagonist, GLaDOS, was included as the dealer in "Poker Night 2". This game features portal themed unlockables such as playing cards, table and room. Wheatley is also featured as a bargaining chip. A "Portal" based downloadable content for "Zen Pinball 2" "Pinball FX2" was made in collaboration with Valve and Zen Studios.


title: Portal (series)

text: The crossover video game "Lego Dimensions", which incorporates the use of Lego minifigures with a special gamepad, includes "Portal"-themed elements, as demonstrated during its Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015 trailer. A "Portal"-themed level appears as part of the main story campaign, with GLaDOS playing a significant role in the game's plot. A Chell minifigure was released that comes packaged with buildable sentry turret and companion cube; the figure unlocks an additional level and open-world area based on the series when used in-game. The "Portal" levels include Easter eggs based on Doug Rattman hiding himself away. The game also features a new song written by Jonathan Coulton and performed by Ellen McLain that plays over the end credits.


title: Portal (series)

text: A cosmetic set based on the Companion Cube was released as a visual replacement for the "Io" character in Valve's multiplayer online battle arena game, "Dota 2".


title: Portal (series)

text: GLaDOS guest stars in "" in a full-story expansion. Atlas appears as a player-character in the downloadable content package for "Runner2". P-Body is a playable character in the Windows release of "Super Bomberman R". In April 2018, set of seven "Portal"-themed DLC levels were added to "The Ball".


title: Portal (series)

text: A few "Portal" characters, including Chell and P-Body, feature as avatar customization items in the game "Fall Guys" for 5 crowns each.


title: Portal (series)

text: GLaDOS appears in a sub-quest in "Cyberpunk 2077" as a murderous AI driving a taxi and eventually tries to kill the protagonist.


title: Portal (series)

text: "" includes a free "Portal" themed expansion pack which adds "Portal"-themed rooms and traps to the game.


title: Portal (series)

text: Portal Stories: VR is a single-player virtual reality fangame of "Portal 2" developed by Prism Studios.


title: Portal (series)

text: Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative is a 2014 first-person puzzle-platform video game developed by the Aperture Tag Team.


title: Portal (series)

text: Thinking with Time Machine is a single-player mod for "Portal 2" developed by Ruslan Rybka, also known as Stridemann, and released by SignHead Studio.


title: Portal (series)

text: Mari0 is a fan-made video game that combines elements of the video games "Super Mario Bros." and "Portal".


title: Portal (series)

text: In August 2011, Dan Trachtenberg released a fan film based on the series called "Portal: No Escape". The video would later go viral.


title: Portal (series)

text: During the 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit, Valve's Newell and film director J. J. Abrams announced plans to partner to create films on Valve's properties, including "Half-Life" and "Portal". In an interview in March 2016, Abrams stated that while he has been working on many other projects since, he still has plans to direct these films in the future, with both films in the writing stage. In an "ask me anything" thread on Reddit in January 2017, Newell confirmed that Valve is still working on this film.


title: Portal (series)

text: The "Portal" games have found application in educational aspects outside of game development. The first game was praised as an example of instructional scaffolding where the student is first given an environment to learn new tools with sufficient hand-holding, but these facets are slowly removed as the student proceeds. At least one college, Wabash College, introduced "Portal" as part of required coursework; at Wabash, the game is used as an example of Erving Goffman's dissemination on dramaturgy, "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life".


title: Portal (series)

text: At a mid-2011 presentation at the 2011 Games for Change Festival at New York University, Gabe Newell stated Valve's intention to direct "Portal" and "Portal 2" towards education. Newell stated that Valve "doesn't see divide between making a game that can do well and be educational", and was already working with schools to develop lesson plans around the game. In one example, Valve brought in students from nearby Evergreen School to watch them interact with the game in an educational setting. As part of this effect, the company promoted "Portal" for free use by any user during September 2011.