"Emphasis is always on improvement with this guy, and he continued to do that. Pagliarulo set career highs with 32 home runs, 87 RBI and a team-leading 12 game winning RBI. He matched the record for the second highest home run total by a Yankee third baseman, behind Graig Nettles' 37 in 1977.
Pagliarulo hit only four of his homers against left-handers. Though he is improving against southpaws, he still has some bad at-bats against them and is a very aggressive player who sometimes get himself in trouble that way. Mike appeared to tire late in the season for the second straight year and did not homer in his last 20 games.
Born in Medford, Mass., the Yankees selected him in the sixth round of the June 1981 draft. His father Charles was an infielder in the Cubs organization in 1958."
-Tom Pedulla, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1988 Edition
"Quietly, without much fanfare, Mike Pagliarulo is developing into one of the finest third basemen in all of baseball. With a blue-collar work ethic, this determined professional is best known for his 'get dirty' style of play. In 1987, only his third full season with the Yankees, he improved his power stats for the third straight year while providing consistent and sometimes spectacular defense at the hot corner.
Often considered the next coming of third bagger Graig Nettles, Pags doesn't want to be compared to anyone and has set out to establish his own place in Yankee history. His 32 home runs and 87 RBI were both career highs, with his homer total matching Nettles for the second highest single season total hit by a Yankee third baseman (surpassed only by Nettles' 37 in 1977). Pags also led the team with 12 game-winning RBI and showed marked improvement against left-handers, including four homers off southpaws. His only disappointment was a .234 average which, with the way he works, will improve.
'I always say my goal is to get better,' he says. 'I've always improved in the past.'"
-The New York Yankees Official 1988 Yearbook
"Pagliarulo was one of the top power hitters in the American League. He hit 32 home runs, which tied him for ninth place in the American League in that category and led the Yankees. Mike ranked third on the club with 87 runs batted in, and his home run and RBI totals were both career highs.
His 32 home runs matched Graig Nettles for the second highest single season total hit by a Yankee third baseman (Nettles hit 32 homers in 1976 to lead the American League in that category), surpassed only by Nettles' club record of 37 home runs by a third baseman, set in 1977. Coupled with his 28 home runs last year, Pagliarulo and Nettles have the top four single season home run totals by a Yankee third baseman.
Pagliarulo averaged one home run every 16.3 at-bats in 1987, the best mark among Yankee regulars and the second best ratio on the team, behind only Ron Kittle's ratio of one homer per 13.25 at-bats. Pagliarulo also led the team with 12 game-winning RBIs, which also set a new career high in that category.
He batted .234 (122-for-522) in 150 games with 26 doubles, three triples and 76 runs scored. In addition to career highs in homers, RBIs and game winning RBIs, he also established career highs in games, at-bats, runs, hits, doubles and slugging percentage (.479). Mike was second on the club in games played and doubles, third in RBIs, total bases (250) and slugging percentage (among Yankees with 200 or more at-bats), and fifth in hits and runs scored. He also led the Yankees with 111 strikeouts.
Mike hit four home runs off left-handed pitchers: Joe Sambito (June 19 at Boston), Joel McKeon (July 10 against Chicago), Floyd Bannister (July 24 at Chicago) and Bill Wilkinson (August 18 at Seattle).
His first home run of the season, off Jack Morris of the Tigers in Yankee Stadium on April 20, broke a string of 143 at-bats since his previous home run (his last 99 at-bats of 1986 and his first 44 at-bats of 1987). On May 8 against Minnesota he hit his second career grand slam (off Jeff Reardon in the ninth inning) and, coupled with his earlier solo homer off Mark Portugal, he had his fourth career two-homer game. His five RBIs in that contest established a career single game high.
Mike hit one other grand slam in '87, on September 4 against California off Kirk McCaskill (his 30th homer of the season), and now has three career grand slams. His four RBIs in that game was one of three four-RBI games he had last year in addition to his one five-RBI game, with the other two coming on June 3 against California and June 15 against Baltimore. Mike had four two-homer games: the May 8 game against Minnesota, on May 12 against Chicago (solo homers off Bill Long and Bob James), August 5 at Cleveland (solo homers off Phil Niekro) and August 20 at Seattle (solo homers off Mike Campbell), and now has seven career two-homer games. He hit home runs in back-to-back games five times: June 2-3 against California, June 19-20 at Boston, July 7-8 against Minnesota, August 20 (the two homers at Seattle) and August 21 (at Oakland), and September 4-5 against California.
He had 36 multi-hit games in 1987, including two three-hit games: June 7 at Milwaukee and September 7 at Boston. Mike had two doubles in that September 7 game, one of two games in which he had two doubles (the other was on August 19 at Seattle). He hit two of his three triples on May 20 at Oakland.
Mike started the season slowly, batting just .194 (30-for-155) with six homers and 20 RBIs on May 30 after 44 games, but over his next 63 games, through August 11, he batted .285 (61-for-214) with 18 home runs and 41 RBIs to raise his overall average to .247 (91-for-369), the highest point it would be all year following his eighth game of the season.
In 10 games from July 7-20, he batted .353 (12-for-34) with five home runs, nine RBIs and 13 runs scored. Included in that stretch was a seven-game hitting streak from July 10-20, Pagliarulo's longest hitting streak of the season (matching his career best), when he hit .391 (9-for-23) with three doubles, three home runs, six RBIs and 10 runs scored. In the final game of that streak, July 20 at Minnesota, he scored thee runs, his 1987 single game high.
In six games from August 15-21, seven of his nine hits were for extra bases (five home runs and two doubles) and he had nine RBIs in that span. His last home run came on September 8 at Boston off Al Nipper. Suffering from a sore right elbow, Mike did not hit a home run in his final 20 games of 1987 (covering 68 at-bats), his longest homerless stretch of the season. In those final 20 games he hit just .185 (12-for-65) with just three extra base hits (all doubles) and seven RBIs to lower his batting average from .241 to his final .234 mark.
Against right-handers in 1987 Pagliarulo batted .236 (87-for-369) with 28 home runs and 67 RBIs. Against lefties he hit .230 (35-for-152) with four home runs and 20 RBIs. He was 0-for-8 as a pinch hitter with two strikeouts and batted .233 (28-for-120) with runners in scoring position. His one stolen base of the season came on June 3 against California.
He played 147 games at third base, the most by a Yankee since Nettles played 159 games at third in 1978. Pagliarulo had a fielding percentage of .959, committing only 17 errors in 410 chances, ranking fifth in the AL among third basemen playing 100 or more games. He put together a stretch of 26 errorless games from July 3 through August 5. He made his first career appearance at first base on June 14 against Milwaukee.
In the last month of the season Mike suffered a sore right elbow, which hampered his play, and underwent arthroscopic surgery at NYU medical center, performed by Dr. John Bonamo on October 8, to remove loose bodies in his right elbow.
Mike blossomed into one of the top power hitters on the Yankees in 1986 as he hit 28 home runs, which tied him for 15th place in the American League in that category, and finished tied with Rickey Henderson for second place on the Yankees. His homer total was the fourth highest ever by a Yankee third baseman, surpassed only Graig Nettles' 37 home runs in 1977, his 32 in 1976 and Mike's 32 in 1987.
He began the season slowly, hitting just .215 (13-for-61) at the end of April with three home runs and seven RBIs. His single off Juan Agosto on May 12 at Minnesota broke an 0-for-17 streak against left-handed pitchers since the start of the season. Mike hit two home runs for the second time in his career on May 23 against California, solo homers off Don Sutton and Ken Forsch, and matched his former single game career high of four RBIs on May 25 against California.
Mike hit a home run off Milt Wilcox on May 29 at Seattle. The following night, May 30 at Oakland, he was hit in the face by a Curt Young pitch in the seventh inning. It was feared at first that he might have suffered some broken bones and facial damage that might cause him to miss an extensive amount of games, but the injury proved to be a hairline fracture of his nose, coupled with lacerations on the bridge of his nose and a bruised right forearm. He missed only one game and returned to the lineup on June 1 at Oakland and proceeded to hit home runs in three successive games, becoming the only Yankee to hit homers in three straight contests in 1986.
He hit home runs in back-to-back games against the Orioles on June 7 (a three-run homer off Mike Boddicker) and June 8 (a two-run homer off Ken Dixon), and in the seven games from June 1 through June 8 hit .333 (8-for-24), with five of those eight hits home runs, and added nine RBIs. In 14 games from May 23 through June 8 he batted .367 (18-for-49) with nine home runs and 19 RBIs to raise his average from .185 to .241. Mike went the next 22 games, from June 9 through July 3, covering 89 at-bats, with just two home runs yet had a season-high six-game hitting streak from June 6-11. He matched his single game career high with four hits, all singles, on June 27 against Toronto.
Mike hit solo home runs on consecutive days in Chicago on July 4th (off Richard Dotson) and July 5 (off Joe Cowley). On July 11 at Minnesota, he homered in the first of two consecutive games, a three-run blast, following that the next game with a solo homer. On July 18 against Chicago, he matched his single game career high with four RBIs, including a three-run homer off Floyd Bannister, his second homer off a left-hander in 1986. In the 14 games from July 4 through July 21 he hit safely in 11, batting .396 (19-for-48) with seven home runs and 19 RBIs while raising his average from .253 to .275. Mike was hitting .262 with 21 homers and 49 RBIs at the All-Star break.
He went ten games, July 22 to August 1 (36 at-bats), without a home run or an RBI, then hit two solo homers off Ken Schrom on August 2 at Cleveland. He hit his last homer of the season on August 24 against Oakland off Dave Stewart, going his final 99 at-bats after that without a home run.
Pagliarulo suffered a pulled hamstring running out a triple in that game. At the time of his injury, he was hitting .257 (105-for-408) with 28 home runs and 68 RBIs in 118 games. The injury limited him to four pinch-hit appearances (1-for-4) over the Yankees' next ten games (August 25-September 3). In the 31 games he played following that injury, he hit .156 (15-for-96) with no homers, three RBIs and 31 strikeouts.
He finished the season with a .238 batting average and averaged one home run per 18.0 times at bat, trailing only Dan Pasqua and Ron Kittle in that category. He hit .258 (88-for-341) against righties with 26 homers and 60 RBIs, and .196 (32-for-163) against lefties with two homers and 11 RBIs
Mike had 27 multiple-hit games, including a four-hit game and six three-hit games. He hit two home runs in the same game twice and homered in consecutive games five times, including the streak of three straight. He recorded his first career stolen base on June 1 at Oakland was 1-for-9 (.111) as a pinch hitter with an RBI.
He played 143 games at third base, and his fielding percentage of .953 ranked seventh among third basemen playing 100 or more games. He made two appearances at shortstop- July 2 against Detroit and August 17 at Kansas City.
Mike was signed in 1981 by Yankee scout Fred Ferreira and batted .216 in 72 games at Oneonta with two homers in 245 at-bats. In 1982, he was named utility infielder on the South Atlantic All-Star team. He played a full season at AA Nashville in 1983 and led Southern League third basemen in fielding with a .954 percentage in 133 games with 433 total chances (98 putouts and 315 assists).
He made his major league debut on July 7, 1984 when called up from Columbus to replace the injured Toby Harrah. He hit his first big league home run on July 13 (second game) off Kansas City's Bret Saberhagen. He hit his first grand slam on September 18 off Baltimore's Dennis Martinez.
Pagliarulo became New York's regular third baseman in 1985 and averaged one home run every 20 at-bats. He was hitting only .165 through June 9 (15-for-91) with two home runs and 16 RBIs, then hit .263 (76-for-289) with 17 homers and 46 RBIs through the remainder of the season.
He had his first career two-homer game on July 27 at Texas, hitting a pair of two-run homers good for four RBIs, and had a hitting streak of seven games from July 14-24. He went 4-for-6 on September 9 at Milwaukee, his first career four-hit game. Mike was sent to bat right-handed [by Billy Martin] against Mickey Mahler on September 18 at Detroit, striking out with runners at second and third, two out and the scored tied 2-2.
He played 134 games at third base in '85 and had the third fewest errors for a third baseman with at least 100 games. He hit .278 in 22 pinch-hit appearances. He hit .254 in 126 games against right-handers, .151 in 12 games against southpaws. Mike's 62 RBIs ranked sixth on the club.
Mike graduated in 1978 from Medford (Mass.) High School, where he played baseball, basketball and ran track. In baseball he was All-State two years, MVP and captain. Mike played South Medford Little League, Medford Babe Ruth League and Medford American Legion baseball. He attended the University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL) and was a finance major. His father, Charles Pagliarulo , was an infielder in the Chicago Cubs organization in 1958.
Mike enjoys golf and going to Boston Celtics and Bruins games."
-1988 New York Yankees Information Guide
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