Eddy Furniss

William Edward Furniss III

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6'2", Weight 220 lb.
• School Louisiana State University
• High School Nacogdoches High School

• Born September 18, 1975 in Nacogdoches, TX USA

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Eddy Furniss was a first baseman who won the Dick Howser Trophy in 1998 while at LSU. In minor league baseball career, he never made it past AA retiring after the 2001 season.

As a high school player, Furniss was All-East Texas three times and an All-State first baseman as a senior. He was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 55th round of the 1994 amateur draft. He went to LSU helping the Tigers to the College World Series championship in 1996 and 1997 and third place finish in 1998. He hit 381-26-102 in 1996, .378-17-77 in 1997 for the national championship teams. Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the fourteenth round of the 1997 amateur draft he returned for his senior year hitting .403-28-76 winning the Dick Howser Trophy. In his collegiete career Furniss set LSU career records for home runs (80), doubles (87), RBI (308), and walks (191). He was an All-American in 1996 and 1998. He was also a first-team Academic All-American once and second-team Academic All-American twice with a ~3.6 GPA in pre-medicine/zoology. His 80 career college homers currently (2009) place him 4th all-time in NCAA Division I.

Furniss was drafted in the fourth round of the 1998 amateur draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Intially assigned to the Class A South Atlantic League's Augusta Greenjackets, he had a line of .465/.581/.860 with 9 home runs and 31 RBI in his first 24 games. Brought up to class AA Carolina League he only hit .136/.215/.159 with 0 home runs and 3 RBI in 13 games for the Carolina Mudcats. Sent down to the Lynchburg Hillcats of the class A-Advanced Carolina League he finished the year by hitting .193/.306/.312 with 2 home runs and 11 RBI in 31 games. In Lynchburg again for the 1999 season, Furniss hit .261/.393/.495 with 23 home runs and 87 RBI and was named as the Carolina League's All-Star first baseman. In 2000 he played the entire year with the Altoona Curve of the AA Eastern League where he hit 11 home runs and had 52 RBI with a line of .239/.363/.385.

In 2001, Furniss, now in the Oakland organization started the season with the Midland RockHounds of the class AA Texas League. He hit .250/.349/.379 with 1 home run and 13 RBI in 38 games. Sent down to the A-Advanced California League's Visalia Oaks he enjoyed his best season. He hit .347/.440/.592 with 20 doubles, 13 home runs, and 43 RBI. Despite this season, Furniss was released by the A's just before spring training. Signing with the Texas Rangers, he was assigned to the Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League he only hit .143/.229/.214 with 1 home run and 7 RBI in 26 games. He retired following the season. In 2010, he was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame.