Kirk Harold Gibson

Kirk Harold Gibson

Michigan State Football, Baseball Player (1975 – 1978)
Detroit Tigers Player (1979 – 1987, 1993 – 1995)
Los Angeles Dodgers Player (1988 – 1990)
Kansas City Royals Player (1991)
Pittsburgh Pirates Player (1992)
Arizona Diamondbacks Manager (2010 – 2014)

Detroit Broadcaster (1998 - 2002, 2015 - present)

Kirk Gibson was born in Pontiac, Michigan and graduated from Waterford Kettering High School. He went on to star in both football and baseball at Michigan State helping to lead the football team to a Big Ten co-championship. He played well enough during his career to earn All-American honors and be drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals (now Arizona Cardinals). While he only played baseball for one season at Michigan State, he performed well enough to be drafted in the first round of the MLB draft by the Detroit Tigers. He would go on to play professional baseball for four teams over 16 seasons, helping to lead both the Tigers and Dodgers to World Series Championships. In the 1988 Dodgers championship season, Gibson won both the NL MVP and Silver Slugger Awards, he had that rare blend of power and speed that led Manager Sparky Anderson to compare him to Mickey Mantle. After his playing days were over Gibson became a coach for several seasons and was named the Manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks from (2010 to 2014). Kirk Gibson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2017, the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994 and was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.