Former MLB standout Jeremy Giambi died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office said on Friday.
Giambi, 47, was found dead on Wednesday by police responding to a medical emergency call at the home of his parents.
Police said there were no signs anyone else was involved, with the coroner’s office declaring he died by suicide.
Photo: AP
Giambi, a former outfielder and first baseman, spent six seasons in the MLB from 1998-2003, but had his best success alongside older brother, Jason Giambi, with the Oakland Athletics, who reached the 2000 and 2001 playoffs with the siblings after missing out for seven consecutive seasons.
Jason Giambi is well-known in Taiwan as a New York Yankees teammate of Taiwanese pitcher Wang Chien-Ming.
Jeremy Giambi helped California State University, Fullerton win the 1995 College World Series and was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in 1996, making his MLB debut with the team in 1998 before joining Oakland in 2000.
Retired pitcher Barry Zito told the San Francisco Chronicle that Jeremy Giambi, his former Oakland teammate, was “an incredibly loving human being with a very soft heart, and it was evident to us as his teammates that he had some deeper battles going on.”
Zito’s comments came on Wednesday, before the coroner’s report was released.
“I hope this can be a wake-up call for people out there to not go at it alone and for families and friends to trust their intuition when they feel somebody close to them needs help,” he said. “God bless Jeremy and his family in this difficult time.”
Jeremy Giambi also played for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2002 and the Boston Red Sox in 2003, finishing his career with 52 home runs, 209 runs batted in and a .263 average.
In March 2005, he told the Kansas City Star that he had taken anabolic steroids, and in 2007, the Mitchell Report investigating doping in the MLB said that he was among the athletes who purchased steroids from Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative as part of a doping scandal that tainted the league, athletics and other sports.
Additional reporting by Reuters and CNA
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