Mark Gardner (baseball)

Last updated

Mark Gardner
Mark Gardner 2008.jpeg
Gardner with the San Francisco Giants
Pitcher
Born: (1962-03-01) March 1, 1962 (age 62)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
May 16, 1989, for the Montreal Expos
Last MLB appearance
October 7, 2001, for the San Francisco Giants
Men's baseball
Representing Flag of the United States.svg United States
Amateur World Series
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1984 Cuba Team

Mark Allan Gardner (born March 1, 1962) is an American former pitcher in Major League Baseball. He pitched for the Montreal Expos, Kansas City Royals, Florida Marlins and San Francisco Giants and also coached for the Giants.

Contents

Professional career

Gardner pitched in the Major Leagues from 1989 to 2001 for the Montreal Expos, Kansas City Royals, Florida Marlins, and the Giants. In his career, Gardner pitched in 345 games, posting a record of 99–93 and a 4.56 ERA. He appeared in 275 of his 345 career games as a starter. Gardner was also used as a long reliever and spot starter during the final years of his career. On July 26, 1991, Gardner no hit the Dodgers for nine innings but gave up two hits to start the bottom of the 10th (Jeff Fassero gave up the game-winning hit to Darryl Strawberry, the very next batter, but Gardner took the loss) and lost 1–0. [1] [2] Two nights later, his teammate Dennis Martinez threw a perfect game against the Dodgers.

On September 3, 1995, Gardner notched his only save in the major leagues. He pitched the bottom of the 11th for the Marlins to nail down an 8-7 victory over the Astros. [3]

Gardner played the last six seasons of his career with the Giants. He shared the 2001 Willie Mac Award with Benito Santiago, which recognized each of their spirit and leadership.

Coaching career

One season after retiring, Gardner became the Giants' bullpen coach in 2003. He remained in the position until 2017 and was a member of three World Series championship teams.

Personal life

Gardner attended Clovis High School in Clovis, California, and California State University, Fresno, where he met his wife, Lori Gardner, an All-American softball pitcher. He and Lori have 2 sons. Lori Gardner struggled with liver cancer for several years during her husband's tenure with the Giants before dying from the disease in 2003. The Gardner family remains active in the Donate Life America organization.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Niekro</span> American baseball player (1944–2006)

Joseph Franklin Niekro was an American professional baseball pitcher. During a 22-year baseball career, he pitched from 1967 to 1988 for seven different teams, primarily for the Houston Astros.

The following are the baseball events of the year 2003 throughout the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Mahler</span> American baseball player (1953-2005)

Richard Keith Mahler was a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds (1989–1990) and Montreal Expos (1991). His brother Mickey was a major league pitcher as well; the two were Braves teammates in 1979. The brothers had also played together for the Triple-A Richmond Braves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guillermo Mota</span> Dominican baseball pitcher (born 1973)

Guillermo Reynoso Mota is a Dominican former professional baseball relief pitcher in Major League Baseball. In his career, he pitched for the Montreal Expos, Los Angeles Dodgers, Florida Marlins, Cleveland Indians, New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers and San Francisco Giants. Mota is 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) tall and weighs 240 pounds (110 kg). He throws and bats right-handed. He throws three pitches: a fastball, a slider and a circle changeup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. R. Richard</span> American baseball player (1950–2021)

James Rodney Richard was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball as a right-handed starting pitcher for the Houston Astros from 1971 to 1980. Richard led the National League (NL) twice in strikeouts and was named an NL All-Star player in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramón Martínez (pitcher)</span> Dominican baseball player (born 1968)

Ramón Jaime Martínez is a Dominican-American former pitcher in Major League Baseball. He won 135 games over a 13-year career, mostly with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is the older brother of Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martínez, and is currently a senior advisor in Latin America for the Baltimore Orioles.

Edward John Vosberg is a former left-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who had a 10-year career. He played with the San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Florida Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks, Philadelphia Phillies and Montreal Expos in the National League, and the Oakland A's and Texas Rangers in the American League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobby Witt</span> American baseball player (born 1964)

Robert Andrew Witt Sr. is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Cleveland Indians, and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Michael Darren Williams is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball for 12 seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros and the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1992 through 2003. Listed at 6' 2", 190 lb., Williams batted and threw right handed. He was born in Radford, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Forsch</span> American baseball player (1950–2011)

Robert Herbert Forsch was an American professional baseball player who spent most of his sixteen years in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the St. Louis Cardinals (1974–1988) before finishing his playing career with the Houston Astros (1988–1989). He was a member of the 1982 World Series Champions and National League (NL) pennant winners in 1985 and 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Herges</span> American baseball player & coach (born 1970)

Matthew Tyler Herges is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1999 to 2009, and is the former pitching coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The 1981 National League Division Series (NLDS), the opening round of the 1981 National League playoffs which began on Tuesday, October 6, and ended on Sunday, October 11. The Division Series was created on August 6 in response to the 1981 Major League Baseball strike, which caused the cancellation of roughly one-third of the regular season between June 12 and August 9; by the time play was resumed, it was decided that the best approach was to have the first-half leaders automatically qualify for postseason play, and allow all the teams to begin the second half with a clean slate. The series were best-of-five games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Billingham</span> American baseball player (born 1943)

John Eugene Billingham is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from 1968 through 1980, most notably as a member of the Cincinnati Reds dynasty that won three National League pennants and two World Series championships between 1972 and 1977.

The 2000 Major League Baseball season ended with the New York Yankees defeating the New York Mets in five games, for their third consecutive World Series title. The 2000 World Series was known as the Subway Series because both fans and the two teams could take the subway to and from every game of the series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Strickland</span> American baseball player

Scott Michael Strickland is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) relief pitcher who played for several teams between 1999 and 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howie Reed</span> American baseball player (1936-1984)

Howard Dean Reed was an American professional baseball player, a right-handed pitcher who appeared in 229 Major League games over ten seasons for the Kansas City Athletics, Los Angeles Dodgers, California Angels, Houston Astros and Montreal Expos. Listed at 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 195 pounds (88 kg), Reed was born in Dallas, Texas, and attended Woodrow Wilson High School and the University of Texas at Austin.

The 1981 Montreal Expos season was the 13th season in franchise history. They made it to the postseason for the first time in franchise history. Their playoff run ended in the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers, with Rick Monday hitting a ninth-inning solo home run in game 5, subsequently referred to as "Blue Monday" by Expos fans. This was the closest the Expos ever got to a World Series appearance while in Montreal.

The 1991 Major League Baseball season saw the Minnesota Twins defeat the Atlanta Braves for the World Series title, in a series where every game was won by the home team.

The 1981 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball for the 1981 season. The season had a players' strike, which lasted from June 12 to July 31, and split the season into two halves. Teams that won their division in each half of the season advanced to the playoffs. Teams faced each other in a League Division Series for the first time, a round of the postseason that did not return until 1995, where it became a permanent addition. The winners of the LDS moved on to the League Championship Series to determine the pennant winners that face each other in the World Series.

References

  1. ↑ "Retrosheet Boxscore: Los Angeles Dodgers 1, Montreal Expos 0". www.retrosheet.org.
  2. ↑ "Montreal Expos at Los Angeles Dodgers Box Score, July 26, 1991". Baseball-Reference.com.
  3. ↑ "Florida Marlins at Houston Astros Box Score, September 3, 1995". Baseball-Reference.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.