BALTIMORE, MD – Ben McDonald, API Sports client and the first pick in the 1989 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, is the subject of today’s sports feature story in USA Today. The article, “Only the Money is Guaranteed” can be found online at http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2009-06-02-ben-mcdonald-cover_N.htm.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the draft in which McDonald, a Golden Spikes Award winner at LSU and an Olympic gold medalist, was selected first overall by the Baltimore Orioles. McDonald battled shoulder problems throughout his professional career, undergoing three rotator cuff surgeries, but still posted a respectable 78-70 career record with a 3.91 ERA after a stellar amateur career in which he recorded nearly 400 career strikeouts at LSU.

“Baseball was great to me,” McDonald said from his home in Denham Springs, LA. “The sport allowed me to travel the world, compete at the highest level possible and make a very good living. I have no regrets. I won a high school state championship and an Olympic gold medal, pitched in a college world series and played in the big leagues for nine years. Some people say that I ran into a lot of bad luck, but I feel extremely lucky to have accomplished what I did.”

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of his being the No. 1 pick, McDonald will be traveling to MLB Network’s studios in Secaucus, NJ, next week to represent the Orioles at this year’s amateur draft. He will join longtime Orioles and baseball executive Fred Uhlman, Sr., at the Orioles’ table. Following his appearance at the draft McDonald will head to Baltimore, where he will appear at the Orioles’ June 10 game against Seattle.

While at LSU McDonald put up amazing numbers. A two-time All-American, he went 14-4 with 202 strikeouts in his final season and started his junior campaign by compiling 44-2/3 consecutive scoreless innings. His career accomplishments earned him induction into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008. He also recorded two complete games in leading the United States to the gold medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. McDonald made just two minor league starts before being called up to the big leagues, making his debut in Baltimore Sept. 6, 1989.

McDonald, 41, resides in Denham Springs, a small western suburb of Baton Rouge, with his wife Nicole and his two children, Jorie (14) and Jase (8). He coaches his kids’ softball and baseball teams and spends much of his free time hunting. McDonald once captured a 6-foot alligator with his bare hands and placed it in the bathtub of a teammate as a prank. His personality has earned him many appearances on nationally recognized hunting television shows and a place in the broadcast booth working on Cox telecasts of SEC baseball games.