Late Nineties Reserve Mets Outfielder: Shawn Gilbert (1997-1998)

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Albert Shawn Gilbert was born March 12th 1965 in Camden New Jersey. The Gilbert family moved west to Arizona where he attended high school. Gilbert then went to college at Fresno, as well as Huntington Beach California & finally Arizona State at Tempe.

Gilbert was drafted by three team with the Minnesota Twins finally signing him in the 12th round of the 1987 draft. It was a long minor league journey for Gilbert who would spend a total 17 years in the minors. In 1992 he was picked up off waivers by the Chicago White Sox, two years later he was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies & finally in 1996 signed with the New York Mets.

On June 2nd, 1997 he made his MLB debut as a pinch hitter, getting a base hit off Montreal's Carlos Perez in a 10-0 Expo win. Kirby was a speedy base runner who would get used as a pinch runner. The outfielder was also used as a inch hitter.

On July 3rd, he hit his the first of his two career HRs, it came in Florida off the Marlins; Rob Stanifer. In 29 games he hit .136 (3-22) with the one HR & RBI. He is one of very few players to actually have more runs scored (9) than hits (7) in his career.

In 1998 he played in three Mets games going 1-5. That June he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for out fielder; Wayne Kirby. He played in four games with the Cards & then went to the minors. He returned two years later to appear in 15 games with the 2000 Los Angeles Dodgers.

After playing in the minor leagues from 2001-2003 he retired at age 38. In three years he batted .150 with seven hits, two HRs & three RBIs & two stolen bases.

Retirement: After his playing days he became a coach at Fresno Pacific & then Long Beach University as an assistant in 2011.

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