R.I.P. Sam McDowell

1994 Profile: Mike Gallego

"As 1993 spring training commenced, Fort Lauderdale Stadium took on the appearance of a Hurricane Mike of sorts. Mike Gallego, that is. As trade winds swirled, the Yankee middle infielder seemed all but out the door, an apparent victim of the numbers game.

But to his credit, Gallego went about his business and his steady-as-usual brand of ball. The third-year Yankee dismissed the rumors and quietly became one of the team's most valuable players in a season of many surprising performances.

The biggest question mark was Gallego's role on the team. With the acquisition of shortstop Spike Owen, and Pat Kelly anchored at second, Gallego appeared the odd man out.

'As far as what his role was going to be, that was a question,' manager Buck Showalter says. 'I felt confident it was going to materialize, but how was the question.'

When presented with the opportunity to play, Gallego went for the jugular. His timely hitting and flashy play at short and second helped carry the Yankees down the stretch in their attempt to catch the surging Toronto Blue Jays. The 33-year-old hit a career high .283 with 10 home runs and a career best 54 RBIs in just 119 games.

His leadership qualities played a pivotal role in the clubhouse, too. Gallego's teammates respect his seven years spent with the Oakland Athletics, having played in three league championships and a World Series. In their eyes, he had been through the wars.

"Everybody perceives him as a winner, somebody who knows what it takes to win it all,' says catcher Mike Stanley. 'If we have a meeting or whatever, Mike is probably going to speak his mind and have something to say.'

Gallego's game does a lot of talking, too."

-The New York Yankees Official 1994 Yearbook

"In one of his best all-around seasons as a professional, Gallego hit a career high .283 with 10 home runs and a career best 54 RBIs in 119 games. He became invaluable to the Yankees with his ability to play three infield positions. With 55 appearances at shortstop, 52 at second and 27 at third, he became just the second player in Yankee history to play at least 25 games at each of those positions (Gil McDougald 1959).

Gallego saw action in just one of the first 13 games of the season, making a pinch-hit appearance at Cleveland on April 8. He didn't make his first start until April 25 at Seattle when he started at third base for his first appearance at that position since September 25, 1990. On April 27 at California he hit a pair of solo homers off Chuck Finley, the first and only multi-homer game of Mike's career. In April he hit .438 with two home runs and four RBIs in seven games, including one game in three starts at third base and one start at second base.

His playing time increased in May, with Mike hitting .302 with a home run and eight RBIs in 20 games, including 16 starts. He hit safely in a career high 13 straight games from May 29-June 28, a streak interrupted by a left hamstring injury suffered on June 10 at Milwaukee. That injury put Mike on the disabled list from June 11-26. He had hit safely in 10 straight games before the injury. He came off the DL on June 26 and hit safely in three more games. His streak was stopped on June 29 by a 0-for-4 against Detroit, but the next day he began a six-game streak that lasted through July 7.

From May 29-July 7 Gallego hit safely in 19 of 20 games (.333, 13 RBIs). He was hitting .320 with four homers and 17 RBIs in 34 games when he went on the disabled list. He came off the DL on June 26 and hit .271 with six home runs and 37 RBIs in 85 games, starting 81 of the Yankees' last 85 games.

Beginning July 8 he went 8-for-45 (.178) through his next 12 games through July 22, dropping his batting average from .328 to .191. He hit .250 in July, dropping his overall average from .331 to .295.

Mike had a nine-game hitting streak from July 24-August 2. He tied his career high with four RBIs on September 6 at Texas. Through 105 games on September 16 he was hitting .303 but finished the season in a 5-for-43 (.116) skid, dropping his average to a season-ending .283. Mike hit .313 in August and .223 in September and October.

He was second on the team in games at second base (52) behind Pat Kelly (125), at third  (27) behind Wade Boggs (134) and at shortstop (55) behind Spike Owen (96). Gallego started 111 games, including 46 at shortstop, 41 at second and 24 at third, committing six errors at shortstop, five at second base and two at third.

His .283 batting and 54 RBIs were career highs. Mike had six three-hit games along with six infield hits and a bunt single and went 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter. He hit .301 with four home runs and 23 RBIs before the All-Star break and .272 with six homers and 31 RBIs after the break.

Mike hit seven solo home runs, two two-run homers and a three-run homer. He hit .237 with runners in scoring position and went 1-for-15 with the bases loaded. Mike mostly hit No. 8 in the batting order and hit .316 in day games.

He was signed by the Yankees to a three-year contract in January 1992. The contract runs through the 1994 season.

Mike was the A's second-round selection in the June 1981 free-agent draft. He hit .272 in 62 games for Modesto of the California League. In 1982, he played 54 games for West Haven and 44 games for Tacoma, combining to hit .200 with no homers and 16 RBIs.

After two games with Tacoma in 1983, Mike was sent to Albany of the Eastern League. In 90 games at Albany, he hit .223. He spent the entire 1984 season with Tacoma and hit .243 while playing in 101 games.

Mike made the Oakland Opening Day roster in 1985 with a fine spring training but was optioned to Modesto on April 24. He played just six games before returning to the A's for the remainder of the season on May 3. He picked up his first major league hit, a single off Detroit's Bill Scherrer, on August 22 in Oakland. He hit his first major league home run on September 22 at Chicago off Joel Davis.

In 132 games for the AAA Tacoma Tigers in 1986, he hit .275 with 122 hits and 46 RBI. Mike was called up to Oakland on September 2 shortly after Tony Phillips was injured. In 20 games with the A's, he hit .270 (10-for-37) with four RBI. He committed only one error in 76 chances.

Mike opened 1987 on the disabled list with a pulled groin suffered in spring training. After 10 games at Tacoma on a rehab assignment, he returned to Oakland on April 20. He belted his second career home run on May 13 off Ted Higuera of Milwaukee.

A collision with Stan Javier at Texas on June 12 caused Mike to miss six more weeks of the season. When healthy he was the A's utility infielder filling in at second, short and third. His third career homer came on August 6 at Minnesota off Frank Viola. For the season, Mike hit .300 (18-for-60) off left-handed pitchers.

In 1988, his first full major league season, Gallego appeared in all four American League Championship Series games against Boston. He caught the final out in Game 4 to complete the A's sweep. He played in one of the World Series games without an at-bat.

Expected to split time at second base with Tony Phillips in 1989, Gallego was thrust into a starting role at shortstop when Walt Weiss went down with an injury in mid-May. He started 59 of the 65 games that Weiss missed. He hit .277 in the final two months of the season.

Mike started four of the five games of the ALCS against Toronto (two at second, two at short), hitting .273 with an RBI. He contributed a key suicide squeeze bunt in the pennant-clinching Game 5. In the World Series, he made two defensive appearances and pinch-hit once, but did not start.

Mike was the A's second-round selection in the June 1981 free-agent draft. He hit .272 in 62 games for Modesto of the California League. In 1982, he played 54 games for West Haven and 44 games for Tacoma, combining to hit .200 with no homers and 16 RBIs.

After two games with Tacoma in 1983 Mike was sent to Albany of the Eastern League. In 90 games at Albany, he hit .223. He spent the entire 1984 season with Tacoma and hit .243 while playing in 101 games.

Mike made the Oakland Opening Day roster in 1985 with a fine spring training but was optioned to Modesto on April 24. He played just six games before returning to the A's for the remainder of the season on May 3. He picked up his first major league hit, a single off Detroit's Bill Scherrer, on August 22 in Oakland. He hit his first major league home run on September 22 at Chicago off Joel Davis.

In 132 games for the AAA Tacoma Tigers in 1986, he hit .275 with 122 hits and 46 RBI. Mike was called up to Oakland on September 2 shortly after Tony Phillips was injured. In 20 games with the A's, he hit .270 (10-for-37) with four RBI. He committed only one error in 76 chances.

Mike opened 1987 on the disabled list with a pulled groin suffered in spring training. After 10 games at Tacoma on a rehab assignment, he returned to Oakland on April 20. He belted his second career home run on May 13 off Ted Higuera of Milwaukee.

A collision with Stan Javier at Texas on June 12 caused Mike to miss six more weeks of the season. When healthy he was the A's utility infielder filling in at second, short and third. His third career homer came on August 6 at Minnesota off Frank Viola. For the season, Mike hit .300 (18-for-60) off left-handed pitchers.

In 1988, his first full major league season, Gallego appeared in all four American League Championship Series games against Boston. He caught the final out in Game 4 to complete the A's sweep. He played in one of the World Series games without an at-bat.

Expected to split time at second base with Tony Phillips in 1989, Gallego was thrust into a starting role at shortstop when Walt Weiss went down with an injury in mid-May. He started 59 of the 65 games that Weiss missed. He hit .277 in the final two months of the season.

Mike started four of the five games of the ALCS against Toronto (two at second, two at short), hitting .273 with an RBI. He contributed a key suicide squeeze bunt in the pennant-clinching Game 5. In the World Series, he made two defensive appearances and pinch-hit once, but did not start.

Mike put together a fine season in 1990 both in the field and as a clutch hitter. For the year, he played 83 games at second base, 38 at shortstop and 27 at third, playing in 140 games, a career-best at the time.

He started on Opening Day for the first time, at second base. He was Oakland's regular second baseman until the Athletics signed Willie Randolph on May 12. Gallego still found plenty of playing time, filling at second base, shortstop and third base. 

His error on May 19 at Milwaukee was his first after 57 consecutive games at third without an error. Only Bobby Wine has played more games at third (67) without an error. Gallego also had a streak of 70 consecutive games on artificial turf without an error before making two on June 2 at Kansas City. He played in 71 games down the stretch, filling in for the injured Randolph, then for Weiss. He made the first outfield appearance of his career on September 24 at Kansas City, handling one chance flawlessly.

He led the club with 17 sacrifice hits, the best Oakland total since Dwayne Murphy had an A's record 22 in 1980.

In 1991 Gallego had career highs in games (159), at-bats (482), runs (67), hits (119), doubles (15), triples (4), homers (12), RBI (49) and walks (67). Entering the 1991 season, he had totaled only 11 home runs in 1,162 career at-bats.

He hit .248 before the break, .246 after. May was his top month of the season when he hit .286 with two home runs and 13 RBIs. He had a career-high 10-game hitting streak from May 21-31. He capped the streak with his first career grand slam, at Chicago off Ramon Garcia.

Mike received the first intentional walk of his career on June 9 against Boston. He had the first four-hit game of his career on July 16 against Cleveland.

In 1991 he started 126 games at second base in '91, making just seven errors in 619 total chances, good for a .989 fielding percentage (3rd in the league behind Steve Sax and Lou Whitaker). Mike also started 26 games at shortstop but did not make an appearance at third base for the first time in his career.

Gallego was signed as a free agent by the Yankees on January 7, 1992.

It was a year plagued by injury for the veteran middle infielder. Gallego possessed a blistering bat in spring training, hitting .422 before landing on the disabled list on March 28. He bruised his right heel on March 27 against the Mets. He missed the first 35 games of the season.

On May 13, Gallego went to Florida on injury rehab for three games before being activated on May 17. He made his Yankee debut that day against Oakland. 

He hit the first of his three 1992 home runs on May 25 against Milwaukee off Chris Bosio. It was his first-ever Yankee Stadium home run. Mike went 3-for-5 that day, boosting his batting average to what would be a season high of .303. He played 13 games in May, hitting .250 and starting 11 games at shortstop.  He hit .276 through June 20.

Over the next 11 games he hit just .182 (6-for-33). On July 7 in the 5th inning, he was hit by a pitch from Willie Banks, fracturing the ulnar bone above his right wrist. Mike was on the DL from July 8-September 17, missing 64 games.

He was activated on September 18, playing in 14 of the club's final 16 games. He hit .262 in September/October, but .389 (7-for-18) on the final road trip.

Mike had been on the disabled list once in the previous seven seasons. In 1992 he missed 99 games due to injuries. He reached base safely in 37 of 50 (74%) of his starts.

He started 50 games, 37 at second and 13 at shortstop. He made just two errors in 200 chances at second base, four in 71 chances at shortstop. He did not make an error over his final 22 games.

Mike graduated from St. Paul High School (Santa Fe Springs, CA) in 1978. He attended UCLA for three years before being drafted by the A's, majoring in sociology. His UCLA teammates included Matt Young, Tim Leary and Don Slaught.

In Oakland, Mike was involved with both the Children's Cancer Society and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He is now involved in the Caring Team of Athletes.

Following the 1993 season, Mike received the Good Guy Award from both the New York Press Photographers Association and the local chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America."

-1994 New York Yankees Information Guide

Led Pacific Coast League in being hit by pitches (8), 1986.

Tied for American League in sacrifice hits (17), 1990.

-1994 New York Yankees Information Guide

Michael Anthony Gallego "Mike" (IF)     #2

Born October 31, 1960, in Whittier, California, resides in Scottsdale, Arizona. Height: 5-8, Weight: 175. Bats right, throws right.

Married, Caryn (12/12/81), and father of Nicholas (5), Joseph (5) and Allison (3).

Major league service: 8 years, 40 days. Opening Day age: 33. 

-1994 New York Yankees Information Guide