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Former major-league slugger Jeremy Giambi died at his parents' home in Southern California on Wednesday, his agent Joel Wolfe confirmed. He was 47. The Los Angeles County medical examiner-coroner ruled the cause of death suicide by gunshot wound, according to the Associated Press.

"I am completely shocked by the news about Jeremy. He was an incredibly loving human being with a very soft heart and it was evident to us as his teammates that he had some deeper battles going on," Barry Zito, Giambi's former teammate with the Oakland Athletics, told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. "I hope this can be a wake up call for people out there to not go at it alone and for families and friends to trust their intuition When they feel somebody close to them needs help. God bless Jeremy and his family in this difficult time."

Giambi was originally a sixth-round draft pick by the Kansas City Royals in 1996. He broke into the big leagues with Kansas City as a September call up in 1998, and spent parts of two seasons with the Royals before being traded to the Athletics in Feb. 2000, where he teamed up with his older brother Jason for two seasons.

Jeremy spent 2000-01 as a productive lefty platoon corner outfielder and first baseman with the A's, hitting .271/.369/.439 with 33 home runs in 745 plate appearances. Giambi is perhaps best remembered for being tagged out at the plate on Derek Jeter's flip play in Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS.

"Now that we know what happened, it's maybe I should've slid," Giambi told The Athletic's Alex Coffey about the play in 2022. "If I slid and I was out, maybe the question would be, should I have run (Jorge) Posada over? And then I think, well, maybe I should've taken him out. And then I think back to when Pete Rose took out Ray Fosse (in the 1970 All-Star Game) and I think, well, what happens if I ruin Posada's career? Those are things we can't analyze. Obviously, I think about it. I don't dwell on it, but I think about it."

Giambi was traded to the Phillies in May 2002, then to the Red Sox in December 2002, where he eventually lost his DH job to David Ortiz. He authored a .241/.394/.461 line with 25 homers in 554 plate appearances with three teams from 2002-03 while batting injuries. Giambi played 26 minor-league games with the Dodgers and White Sox from 2004-05 before calling it a career.

"He could take a teasing and give it back. It's a tough shadow when your brother is Jason Giambi and he wore that with pride. He was well liked and fun loving," longtime A's executive Billy Beane told Shayna Rubin of the Mercury News.    

In March 2005, Giambi became one of the first major leaguers to admit using anabolic steroids, saying, "It's something I did. I apologize. I made a mistake." Giambi retired as a career .263/.377/.430 hitter with 52 home runs in 510 big-league games over the course of six seasons.