Kelly Gruber

Kelly Wayne Gruber (born February 26, 1962 in Houston, Texas) was a Major League Baseball third baseman.

Early career

Kelly was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 1st round (10th pick) of the 1980 amateur draft but did not see time with the team. On December 5, 1983, the Toronto Blue Jays picked him up in the Rule 5 draft. Kelly saw his first Major League action shortly after, playing in his first game on April 20, 1984. Over the next three seasons, he split time between the Majors and the minors, eventually earning an every day spot in the Toronto line-up by 1987.

Best years

On April 16th, 1989, Kelly Gruber was the first Blue Jay in history to hit for the cycle. Kelly had his best season in 1990, hitting .274 with 31 HRs, 118 RBIs and 14 SBs, winning Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards and ending up fourth in MVP balloting that year. The relationship between Kelly and the team soured over the next few years, however. After the Blue Jays won the World Series in 1992 — thanks in large part to Gruber's game-tying home run in the game 3 of the World Series — Kelly was traded to the California Angels for Luis Sojo. He appeared in interviews to be very bitter about the move, feeling that he deserved better treatment from the team he had been so loyal to. Kelly's career was cut short in 1993 due to a bone spur on his spinal cord. He played 63 games for the Angels. Due to growing threats of paralysis, Kelly had surgery performed on the bone spur that ended his career in 1993. The surgery was successful. In 1997, Gruber attempted a comeback with the Baltimore Orioles. While his performance was good enough to impress coaches and staff with the Orioles, Kelly decided to retire for good due to health-related concerns. Shortly after retirement, Gruber made a failed attempt to take over the production company Rocco's Jobbers by attempting to buy ownership interest from various principals in the company. This take over attempt was blocked by Gruber's former team mate David Wells, who did not think that Gruber's leadership skills would be beneficial to the continued growth of the company. It was thought that this act was motivated partly by the uneasy relationship between Wells and Gruber that dated back to their days as Blue Jay team mates. Today, Kelly Gruber owns and runs a sports marketing firm based in Toronto, Ontario. He is primarily focused on family life, residing in his home state of Texas, however often makes public appearances as a motivational speaker for charitable organizations.

See also

• Hitting for the cycle

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• Short biography