Eleven individuals and one team combined to make this a dream summer for area sports fans. Here's what they accomplished:
Pedro Alvarez
Sport: Baseball
Nashville connections: Vanderbilt
2012 accomplishments: Hit 30 homers, tying for 10th place in the National League, and drove in 85 runs for the Pirates. The third baseman was a regular on ESPN SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays for his glove work.
Brian Baker
Sport: Tennis
Nashville connections: Hillwood High School
2012 accomplishments: After winning a clay court event in April in Savannah, Ga., and losing in the finals in Nice, France, Baker made it to the second round of the French Open and reached the fourth round at Wimbledon.
R.A. Dickey
Sport: Baseball
Nashville connections: Montgomery Bell Academy, University of Tennessee, Nashville Sounds
2012 accomplishments: Pitcher posted a 20-6 record for the Mets with 230 strikeouts and a 2.73 ERA. A strong contender for NL Cy Young Award.
Ryan Flaherty
Sport: Baseball
Nashville connections: Vanderbilt
2012 accomplishments: The platoon player batted .216 for the Orioles, who made it to the AL Division Series.
Steven Fox
Sport: Golf
Nashville connections: Hendersonville (UT-Chattanooga)
2012 accomplishments: Won the U.S. Amateur in Colorado in mid-August, an epic comeback against Californian Michael Weaver. Fox, who survived a 17-for-14 playoff to make the 64-man match play field (seeded No. 63), was 2-down with two holes remaining. After winning both of those to force a 37th hole, Fox won the title with an 18-foot birdie putt. It qualified him for both the 2013 Masters and U.S. Open.
Dario Franchitti
Sport: Auto racing
Nashville connections: Leipers Fork resident, married to actress Ashley Judd
2012 accomplishments: Won five poles, but registered only one win in 15 races. But what a win: the May 27 Indianapolis 500. It was the third time the native of Scotland won “the greatest spectacle in racing.”
Luke List
Sport: Golf
Nashville connections: Vanderbilt
2012 accomplishments: Won the South Georgia Classic in late April and finished third on the just-completed Web.com Tour.
Mike Minor
Sport: Baseball
Nashville connections: Chapel Hill, Vanderbilt
2012 accomplishments: Posted an 11-10 record for the NL wild-card Braves with a 4.12 ERA and 105 strikeouts.
David Price
Sport: Baseball
Nashville connections: Murfreesboro Blackman, Vanderbilt
2012 accomplishments: Went 20-5 for the Rays with 205 strikeouts and a 2.56 earned run average. A strong contender for AL Cy Young Award.
Brandt Snedeker
Sport: Golf
Nashville connections: Montgomery Bell Academy, Vanderbilt
2012 accomplishments: His win in the crowning TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola reaped an $11.4 payday on Sept. 23 in Atlanta — $10 million for winning the FedEx Cup and the $1.4 million first prize for the event. The week after that incredible high, Snedeker and his U.S. Ryder Cup teammates suffered an agonizing loss as Europe rallied on Sunday to retain the Cup. He won two PGA Tour events in 2012 to go with a second- and a third-place finish.
Dan Uggla
Sport: Baseball
Nashville connections: Columbia Central, Memphis
2012 accomplishments: The second baseman batted .220 for the NL wild-card Braves with 19 home runs and 78 RBI.
Goodlettsville 12s All-Stars
Sport: Little League baseball
Team members: Jayson Brown, Luke Brown, Lorenzo Butler, Cole Carter, Ryan Lyle, Seth Martin, Brock Myers, Collin O’Berry, Blake Osborne, Jake Rucker, Jonathan Seals, Justin Smith, Andrew Snyder.
2012 accomplishments: The Tennessee Little League champions advanced to the Southeast Regional, beating perennial powerhouse Warner Robins, Ga., in the finals to reach the little League World Series. The highlight of the tournament saw Goodlettsville beat Petaluma, Calif., 24-16 for the U.S. championship after blowing a 15-5 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning to force extra innings. Goodlettsville then answered with nine runs to earn a berth in the championship against Japan, falling 12-2 in the title game. In that U.S. championship game, Butler set a LLWS single-game record with nine RBIs and tied another mark with three homers in the game.