Former Italian /American Player of the Day: Greg Gagne (1983-1997)

-
Gregory Carpenter Gagne was born on November 12, 1961 in Fall River, Massachusetts. The shortstop was originally drafted by the A.L. New York team, in the 5th round of the 1979 draft. He was traded to the Minnesota Twins with Ron Davis in the Roy Smalley deal in April 1982.

He peeked his head in the majors in 1983 getting a cup of coffee & driving in three runs in 27 at bats. By 1985 he would solidify himself as the Twins shortstop for the eight years, winning two World Championships. He proved to be one of the AL’s better fielding shortstops in that time, leading the league in fielding % (1993) put outs (1994) while coming in tops in most defensive categories during his playing time. He would also lead in errors at short twice (1986 & 1995).

In October of 1986 he hit two inside the park HRs in the same inning, tying a modern day MLB record. Both came off Chicago’s Floyd Bannister at Minnesota’s Metro dome. In 1986 he hit 12 HRs with 12 stolen bases & a Twins career high 54 RBIs. In the Twins 1987 Championship season he hit .265 with 7 triples 10 HRs & 40 RBIs.

Post Season: In the 1987 ALCS, he hit a HR in Game #4, then another off Frank Tananna in Game #5, breaking a 1-1 tie in the 4th inning. Both HRs came in Detroit’s Tiger Stadium. In the World Series he hit another HR against St. Louis, driving in three runs in the Series overall.

In 1988 he hit a career high 14 HRs stealing 15 bases, although he struck out a career high 110 times as well. From 1986-1989 Gagne averaged six triples per season, totaling 26 overall.

Post Season: In Game #1 of the 1991 World Series, Gagne hit a three run HR in the 6th inning off Atlanta’s Charlie Leibrandt at the Metro dome, giving Minnesota a 4-0 lead as they went on to win Game #1 & the Series. He struggled the rest of the Series only getting three more hits & batting .167 overall.

After the 1992 season he signed on with the Royals for two seasons, having career highs in RBIs (57) & batting average (.280) in 1993. He closed out his final two seasons with the Dodgers batting .253 over two seasons there, retiring in 1997.


In his 15 year career he played in 1798 games, batting .254 with 1440 hits 296 doubles 111 HRs 50 triples & 604 RBIs, while posting a .972 fielding percentage.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lacerations but was coherent. The
Read more

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford
Read more

The Odd Couple TV Show's Beloved Supporting Cast

-
Image
On this the 45th Anniversary Season of when my favorite television show of all time The Odd Couple first debuted it's time to pay tribute to the great supporting  cast. Murray Greshler was a  big hit with fans as the simple minded bumbling NYPD Officer: Murray the Cop . Murray was a long time friend of Oscar Madison & usually becomes the subject of Oscar's jokes. Some great lines referenceing Murrays nose are "N ose' Feliciano" / "Tokyo Nose" & "Come inside Murray, your sucking up all the air in the hallway".  Even Felix chimed in asking him if the other army reserve soldiers made fun of him saying "when you look up it looks like a two car garage". Murray would become one of both Felix & Oscars best friends appearing 73 of the 114 Odd Couple episodes . Murray wouldn't think twice about double parking his patrol car double parked outside the Park Avenue or Central Park West building where Felix & Oscar
Read more

The 1970's Oakland A's Ball Girls- (MLB's First)

-
Image
In the days of the early seventies the Oakland A's won three straight Championships & changed the face of baseball forever.  The team's controversial owner was known to be cheap in paying his star players & known to meddle in the teams on field affairs. He drove managers crazy & even had Dick Williams resign after winning his second straight World Series. But Finley also revolutionized baseball in many other ways. He was instrumental in getting the designated hitter in the American League & have the World Series played at night, so fans could attend after work. He gave his players fancy names like Catfish, Blue Moon & True Blue.  When his star Reggie Jackson refused to shave his beard, he encouraged the whole team to grow facial hair by paying them $200 each.  The A's team even grew their hair long, a sign of the times. But before that baseball players had not had facial or long hair since the 1800's.  He introduced bright colored yello
Read more

Fictional Mets Infielder Chico Escuela ( of SNL) Visits Mets Spring Training (1979)

-
Image
Bill Murray interviews (Garrett Morris) Chico Escuela In March 1979, original Saturday Night Live cast member; Garrett Morris joined the Mets at Miller Huggins Field for Spring Training. At the time the Mets were still holding Spring Training in St. Petersburg Florida.  Morris was filmed being interviewed by his SNL cast mate, Bill Murray as the fictional Mets player: Chico Escuela who wore uniform #5 (cinque).  Escuela was famous for his spoof of the Latin players of the time, who did not speak much English. His famous quote "baseball been berry- berry good to me" began the previous year on SNL's weekend update. Bill Murray & Ed Kranepool It was said during the mock 1979 Spring Training interview, that Chico who was a nine time All Star second baseman, had given up his job at the Weekend Update Sports desk to make a comeback with the Mets at age 41.  Chico had fictionally written a tell all baseball book; "Bad Stuff About the Mets" which tick
Read more