Gary Lynn Hargis (born November 2, 1956) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player who appeared in one

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) game, for the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates.

Biography

Hargis was born in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

in 1956, and his family moved to Lompoc, California, in 1971. He played high school baseball in Lompoc for Cabrillo High School, and at age 17 he was selected by the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in the second round of the 1974 MLB draft. Hargis later stated that he had an athletic scholarship offer from Arizona State, which he considered accepting, but he signed with the Pirates after they increased his

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

. Hargis had a career in Minor League Baseball from 1974 through 1981, with various farm teams of the Pirates, playing five seasons at the Triple-A level. He primarily played as a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

and second baseman, while also making appearances as a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

and

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

. He had a batting average of .273 with 33

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 335

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

(RBIs) in 812 games during his minor-league career. He also played

winter league baseball Winter league baseball is baseball contested in sports leagues during what is generally considered the baseball off-season. Background Annually, the highest level of professional baseball competition, Major League Baseball (MLB), begins with spri ...

during the 1977–78 offseason; while records are lacking, a baseball card features Hargis as a player for Navegantes del Magallanes of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. His baseball career came to an end in the 1982 preseason, when he declined to be traded to the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

organization and was granted his release. Hargis made his lone major-league appearance on September 29, 1979, in a game with playoff implications on the next-to-last day of the regular season, as the Pirates lost to the visiting

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

, 7–6 in 13 innings. In the bottom of the 13th inning, Tim Foli singled with two outs, and Hargis was inserted as a

pinch runner In baseball, a pinch runner is a player substituted for the specific purpose of replacing another player on base. The pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base-running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been sub ...

Dave Parker David Gene Parker (born June 9, 1951), nicknamed "The Cobra," is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right fielder from 1973 to 1991. A seven-time All-Star, Parker won two National League bat ...

then had an infield single, advancing to Hargis to second base. However, Willie Stargell then struck out, ending the game. The Pirates went on to win the

1979 World Series The 1979 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1979 season. The 76th edition of the World Series was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League (NL) champion Pittsburgh Pirates (98–64) and ...

, for which Hargis received an extra $250 . Years later, Hargis spoke about his " cup of coffee" in the major leagues: "You keep thinking, 'Just let me get in one game so my name can get into the book.' When you do, it's just like the movies. Your eyes light up, you never want the night to end. You just want to play ball, like you did when you were a kid."

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hargis, Gary 1956 births Living people Baseball players from Minneapolis People from Lompoc, California Baseball infielders Baseball outfielders Pittsburgh Pirates players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Columbus Clippers players Gulf Coast Pirates players Niagara Falls Pirates players Portland Beavers players Salem Pirates players Shreveport Captains players Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela

Biography

References

Further reading

External links