Mark Quinn

Mark David Quinn (born May 21, 1974) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and right-handed batter who played for the Kansas City Royals. Quinn was drafted in the 11th round of the 1995 Amateur Draft after playing two seasons for the Rice University Owls. He played for the Royals between 1999-2002. On July 8, 2006 he signed a minor league contract with the Toronto Blue Jays organization. He was released one month later, and retired for good prior to the 2007 season.

Career

In 1998, Quinn led the Texas League in batting average when he hit .349 for the Wichita Wranglers. He captured a second minor league batting crown the following year, posting a .360 average for the Omaha Golden Spikes of the Pacific Coast League.

On September 14, 1999 Quinn became just the third player in MLB history to hit two home runs in his major league debut, joining Bob Nieman (1951) and Bert Campaneris (1964). In 2000 Quinn became the Royals regular leftfielder. He hit .294 with 20 home runs, earning him the Sporting News American League Rookie Player of the Year and a spot on the 2000 Topps All-Star Rookie Team. Quinn split the 2001 season between right field, left field, and designated hitter. His production at the plate dropped to 17 homers and a .269 average. Quinn opened the 2002 season on the DL with one of the more bizarre sports injuries: a broken rib caused by "kung-fu fighting" with his brother in San Diego. By 2002 Quinn only appeared in 23 games for the Royals and hit just .237 in what would be his final year in the majors.

Quinn brothers' killings

Jason, Richard and Mark Quinn were three brothers killed by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in a firebomb attack on their home in Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland on 12 July 1998, towards the end of the three-decade period known as "The Troubles".

Background

The Quinn family, consisting of mother Chrissie and sons Richard, Mark and Jason, lived in the Carnany estate in the predominantly Protestant town of Ballymoney. The family was of a mixed religious background. Mother Chrissie was Roman Catholic who herself was from a mixed background and the boys' father Jim Dillon was Catholic. After separating from her estranged husband, Chrissie reared the boys as Protestant "to avoid the hassle". Chrissie lived with her Protestant partner Raymond Craig in Carnany which had only a few Catholic residents and was mostly Protestant, reflecting the religious make-up of Ballymoney itself. The boys, aged 9, 10 and 11, attended a local state school and on the evening before their deaths had been helping to build the estate's Eleventh Night loyalist bonfire. A fourth brother, Lee, was staying with his grandmother in Rasharkin at the time of the attack.