The Definition of a Ballplayer

Name: Gary Gaetti

Card Company: Leaf

Year: 1993

Team: Kansas City Royals

Bats/Throws: R

Ht: 6'0

Gary Gaetti is one of those players that get lost in the shuffle. Which is a shame because for the majority of his career Gary Gaetti was a productive baseball player. Now I know that productivity doesn’t necessarily link itself into greatness, but Gaetti needs to be recognized. Players like Gaetti usually floated in obscurity never really becoming a big-time house hold name. However, every dog or in this case “rat” has its day, and today we give props to Gary Gaetti.

Gary Gaetti is one of the rare players to be drafted 3 times, by 3 different teams in 3 different years. He finally signed with the Twins in 1979, he would go on to spend three years in the Twins farm system before getting his chance at the big-league level. Gaetti would man the hot corner for the next 9 years providing stability to what was an up and coming Twins franchise. Gaetti swung a big stick in Minneapolis averaging 22 home runs and 84 RBI’s while batting .256 with a .307 OBP. Now what he lacked in batting average he made up for in defense winning 4 straight Gold Gloves between 1986-1989.

Gaetti was a rock at 3B for the Twins playing 140+ games for the Twins 7 out of his 9 years in the Twin Cities. Sometimes the best thing you can say about a player is that they were there, and Gary Gaetti was there at 3B a lot. Gary Gaetti was part of a young core that included Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek that helped lead the Twins to the 1987 World Series. In that 1987 postseason he would win ALCS MVP helping the Twins upset the heavily favored Detroit Tigers, by smacking 2 HR’s with 5 RBI’s. He would go on to make the AL All-Star team in 1988 and 1989, these would be his only two selections of his career.

After a decline in his game saw him hit only .229 in 1990 Gaetti would hit free Agency signing with the then California Angels. It didn’t work out with the Angels as his production continued to drop off which would lead to his unceremonious release in 1993. The Royals would pick him off the scrap pile because George Brett was now a DH and there previous 3B Keith Miller was injured. In KC Gaetti would get his career back on track. After splitting time at 3B in 1993-1994 Gary Gaetti would have one of his most productive season in 1995. At 36 years, old Gaetti would play 137 games setting career highs in home runs with 35, knocking in 95 RBI’s while hitting .261, winning his only career Silver Slugger.

After the 1995 season, Gaetti would sign with the St. Louis Cardinals where he would continue his productivity before being released by the redbirds in 1998. He would go on to sign that year with the Cubs becoming a key member of the Cubs team that won the NL wild card that year. In his next season, he would play 113 games at the age of 40 where he finally fell off with a stat-line of (.204 BA) (.260 OBP) (9 HR) (46 RBI). Gaetti would try and play one more year with the Red Sox only lasting 5 games before finally calling it a career.

Players like Gaetti are a rarity in baseball, not only did he play 20 years but he was healthy for many of them. The best thing about Gary Gaetti was his toughness and his ability to be “there”, and you can’t say that about everyone.

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