Kirk Gibson

• Born: May 28, 1957
• Place of Birth: Pontiac, Michigan

Kirk Gibson played on two World Series-winning baseball teams and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award, but he is best remembered for an improbable and memorable home run hit in the opening game of the 1988 World Series. He also served as a sports analyst and a major-league coach.

Kirk Gibson was born and raised in Michigan. He attended Michigan State University, where he originally excelled at football. At a coach's suggestion, he played college baseball for one year and proved highly talented at that sport as well. He was ultimately drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) as well as the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB) and decided to sign with the latter.

Gibson's major-league career began in 1979, and by 1983 he had established himself as the Tigers' starting right fielder. He was a member of the great 1984 Tigers team that opened the season by winning thirty-five of its first forty games and went on to win the World Series. Gibson batted .333 in that World Series and hit two home runs in the fifth and final game. By then, he was known for his strong combination of power and speed at the plate.

Gibson left the Tigers as a free agent after the 1987 season after it was found that team owners had previously colluded against the free agency system. He signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers and had an excellent first season with his new team. He batted .290, hit twenty-five home runs, and won the National League Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award. He also continued to build his reputation as a dangerous clutch hitter when a game was on the line. The Dodgers finished in first place in the National League’s Western Division, won the National League Championship Series, and faced the heavily favored Oakland Athletics in an all-California World Series.

A leg injury kept Gibson on the bench in the first game of the World Series, but in the bottom of the ninth inning of that game—with two outs, one runner on base, and the Dodgers trailing 4 to 3—manager Tommy Lasorda summoned Gibson to pinch-hit. Gibson could not run, but he told Lasorda that he could swing the bat. On the mound was Oakland’s ace relief pitcher, Dennis Eckersley, at the time the best reliever in baseball. Gibson fouled off several of Eckersley’s pitches, grimacing in pain with each cut. Drama built with each swing of the bat. Then, Gibson connected, sending a high line drive over the right field wall to give the Dodgers an improbable 5–4 victory. Gibson hobbled around the bases pumping his fist back and forth and was mobbed by his delighted teammates at home plate. Inspired by Gibson’s blast, the Dodgers won the next three games to sweep the World Series. The ninth-inning home run in the first game was Gibson’s only appearance in the 1988 World Series.

Gibson played two more seasons in Los Angeles but was limited by injuries and would never fully recapture his earlier form. He signed with the Kansas City Royals in 1991 and was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates the next year but was soon released. For a time, he retired from playing, but was convinced to return to the Tigers in 1993. He would play three final seasons in Detroit, even hitting a strong 23 home runs in the strike-shortened 1994 campaign. After appearing in just seventy games in 1995, he retired once again.

In retirement, Gibson developed a career in broadcasting, working as a television analyst for the Tigers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Gibson also moved into coaching, taking the position of bench coach with the Tigers in 2003 and later working as a hitting coach. In 2007 he became a bench coach with the Arizona Diamondbacks. In 2010 he was promoted to interim manager in Arizona, and he took over the job on a permanent basis the following season. After leading the Diamondbacks to a division title in 2011, Gibson was named National League Manager of the Year. However, he was unable to replicate that success and was fired just before the end of the 2014 season. In 2015 he began a new stint as a commentator for the Tigers, and in 2019, he was named a special assistant for the team.

Impact

Gibson is remembered as a solid major league player who sealed his place in history with a few legendary performances. His ninth-inning home run in the first game of the 1988 World Series has become one of the most memorable homers in World Series history, and the film of that home run has become one of baseball’s iconic game films. Played over and over at World Series time, the film reminds fans that anything can happen in a game of baseball and that a baseball game is never truly over until the last out of the last inning has been recorded.

Bibliography

Beach, Jerry. "Revisiting Game 1 of the 1988 World Series and Kirk Gibson's Incredible Home Run." Forbes, 30 Mar. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/jerrybeach/2020/03/30/ten-facts-about-game-1-of-the-1988-world-series-ie-the-kirk-gibson-home-run-game/#794660f1514a. Accessed 22 May 2024.

Bishop, Bill. "Kirk Gibson." Society for American Baseball Research, sabr.org/bioproj/person/kirk-gibson/. Accessed 22 May 2024.

"Kirk Gibson." Baseball Reference, 2020, www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gibsoki01.shtml. Accessed 22 May 2024.

“Kirk Gibson New Special Assistant for Tigers, Keeps TV Role.” Los Angeles Times, 28 Jan. 2019, www.latimes.com/sports/mlb/la-sp-kirk-gibson-tigers-20190128-story.html. Accessed 21 Apr. 2023.

Shatzkin, Mike, ed. The Ballplayers. New York: Arbor House, 1990.

Ward, Geoffrey C., and Ken Burns. Baseball: An Illustrated History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.