Lou Collier

Louis Keith Collier was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1973. After high school, he was drafted in the 56th round of the 1991 MLB Amateur Draft by the Houston Astros. He declined to sign, instead attending Kishwaukee College (Malta, Illinois), from where he was drafted in the 1992 draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 31st round. He moved on to Triton College (River Grove, Illinois) where he played in 1993. He then signed with the Pirates after the season.

After five years in the Pirates organization, Collier got called up to Pittsburgh in 1997. The following year, Collier played in 110 games for the Bucs but hit a disappointing .247/.316/.338 and was waived, where he was picked up by the Brewers.

Collier played three infield spots and all three outfield spots over the next three years for Milwaukee. In 138 games, Collier had a slash line of .252/.332/.371 across 294 ABs. He was included in a three-way trade with the New York Mets and Colorado Rockies in January 2002. Two months later, he was traded from the Mets to the Montreal Expos. Collier played in just 13 games for the Expos before being released. Over the next two seasons, Collier played in the majors for Boston and Philadelphia before traveling to play in the Korean Professional League for two years. In 2007 while playing in the Phillies organization, he announced his retirement.

Collier has worked as a scout, a coach for the US National team, and has a baseball school that instructs youngsters. Collier’s 20-year-old son Cam is currently a Top 10 prospect in the Cincinnati Reds organization.