Ryan Dempster

Ryan Scott Dempster is a professional baseball player from Canada and is a pitcher in the Major League division. The right-handed pitcher began his career in 1998 with the Florida Marlins. He stayed in the warm sunny climes till 2002 before being traded out to the Cincinnati Reds for a season. He became a part of the Chicago Cubs lineup in 2004, a position he has held ever since.

During his transfer from the Reds to the Cubs, Dempster was suffering from an elbow injury that required the Tommy John Surgery. Dempster was back before anyone expected him to be, and pitched for the Cubs in the last part of 2004. In 2005, he replaced LaTroy Hawkins as the closing pitcher on the Cubs' roster.
In 2008, Dempster's season lasted over 420 games where he has held a 76-81 record with an ERA of 4.55 in 195 starts. He had 33 of 35 saves in the season and in the two saves that he lost, Dempster managed to win the game. He became the only Cubs' player to start a game and collect over 30 saves in a season, and just the third one in the history of the game to ever do so.

In 2008, during Spring training, Dempster performed admirably, putting him in third spot of the opening rotation. He recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts and also became the first pitcher, for the Cubs, to earn a 10-0 win-loss record after 31 years. He had a 17-6 season-end record.

Dempster was part of the National League All-Star teams in 2000, with the Marlins, and in 2008 with the Cubs. In 2000, he won the Tip O'Neill award and was also named in the 99 "Good Guys" list of players in professional sports, a list carried out by Sporting News.