John Flaherty

John Timothy Flaherty (born October 21, 1967) is an American television baseball broadcaster and a former professional baseball catcher. He played for the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and New York Yankees of Major League Baseball between 1992 and 2005. He is currently a broadcaster for the YES Network. Early life Flaherty grew up in West Nyack, New York and graduated in 1985 from Saint Joseph Regional High School in Montvale, New Jersey. He went to grammar school at St. Anthony School in Nanuet, New York. He attended George Washington University, graduating in 1990 with a BA in Speech Communications and a minor in Psychology. He batted and threw right-handed. In 1987, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League. Professional career (1992–2005) Drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 1988, he moved through the farm system and broke through with the Sox in 1992. He also played for the Red Sox in 1993, and in 1994 he was traded to the Detroit Tigers for Rich Rowland. In 1996, Flaherty had a 27-game hitting streak. This ranks as the third-longest hitting streak of all time by a catcher, behind only Sandy Alomar Jr.'s 30-game streak and Benito Santiago's 34-game streak. In 1996, the Tigers traded Flaherty to the San Diego Padres, along with Chris Gomez, for Brad Ausmus, Andújar Cedeño, and a minor leaguer. In 1997, the Padres traded Flaherty to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Andy Sheets and Brian Boehringer. He played as the Devil Rays' everyday catcher through the 2002 season. As a member of the Devil Rays, he broke up a no-hitter by Pedro Martínez in the ninth inning.