Mike Gallego

Michael Anthony Gallego (born October 31, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player and current coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an infielder from 1985 to 1997, most notably as a member of the Oakland Athletics team that won three consecutive American League pennants and a World Series championship in 1989. He also played for the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals. After his playing career, Gallego served as a major league coach.

Mike Gallego
Gallego with the Oakland Athletics
Los Angeles Angels – No. 86
Infielder / Coach
Born: (1960-10-31) October 31, 1960
Whittier, California
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 11, 1985, for the Oakland Athletics
Last MLB appearance
July 23, 1997, for the St. Louis Cardinals
MLB statistics
Batting average.239
Home runs42
Runs batted in282
Teams
As player

As coach

Career highlights and awards

Career

Gallego was born in Whittier, California of Mexican descent and attended St. Paul High School in Santa Fe Springs, California. He was the Athletics starting second baseman during their three-year run of American League Championships from 1988 through 1990, which included a World Series sweep in 1989 against their Bay Area rivals, the San Francisco Giants. Throughout his career, he was known more for his glove than his bat. In 1990, he led the AL in sacrifice hits with 17. He had 28 hits without an extra-base hit in 1995, still the post-1912 non-pitcher record. Gallego's 12 home runs in 1991 set a career high.

While playing with the Yankees from 1992 to 1994, Gallego was the last player to wear the uniform number 2 prior to the Yankees' former All-Star shortstop, Derek Jeter.[1]

Gallego closed out his career with the Cardinals in 1996 and 1997, where he once again played under Tony La Russa, his manager while with the A's.

Before playing professionally, he graduated from St. Paul High School, where he lettered in baseball and football, and then attended the University of California, Los Angeles (1978–81, history major). Gallego represented the United States at the 1979 Pan American Games.[2]

Gallego was named the Colorado Rockies third base and infield coach in December 2004 and coached until October 7, 2008. He was hired as the A's third base coach and infield instructor during the 2008 offseason. He was dismissed on August 24, 2015.[3]

On November 25, 2015, Gallego was announced as director of baseball development for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.[4] He was promoted to third base coach for the 2019 season, and to bench coach prior to the 2020 season.[5]

Personal

Gallego and his wife Caryn have three children, Joe, Niko and Ali. His son Niko also played for UCLA baseball and was signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 2010.[6] Niko helped the Bruins to the Championship Series of the 2010 College World Series, where they lost to South Carolina for the national championship. Following his graduation from UCLA, Niko began playing for the Visalia Rawhide of the California League.[7] He is the uncle of Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes.[8]

References
  1. Callahan, Maureen (March 30, 2014). "Jeter's retirement marks end of Yanks' single-digit numbers". NY Post. Retrieved 2014-07-08.
  2. "1979 Pan American Games (Rosters)". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  3. Lee, Jane (August 24, 2015). "A's Name Washington 3B Coach; Gallego Dismissed". Major League Baseball. Retrieved August 24, 2015.
  4. Gonzalez, Alden (November 25, 2015). "Angels name Black special assistant to GM". Major League Baseball. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  5. Maria Torres (October 31, 2019). "Joe Maddon's new Angels coaching staff is full of former Cubs". Orange County Register. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  6. Angulo, Blair (July 14, 2010). "Baseball team's offseason heats up". ESPN Los Angeles.
  8. "Austin Barnes and the tools of persistence". 2017-07-05.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.