Gary Robert Lavelle (born January 3, 1949) is a retired professional baseball pitcher who played in
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), ...
from 1974 to 1987.
Career
Lavelle grew up in Pennsylvania, where he attended
Liberty High School in
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...
.
Lavelle spent the majority of his Major League career with the
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...
, and also played for the
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...
and
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...
before retiring in 1987. He posted a career high 13 wins in 1978 and accumulated 136 saves in his 13-season career.
Lavelle lives in
Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...
,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
and coaches baseball at the Virginia Beach campus of
Bryant & Stratton College.
Lavelle previously was the head coach at
Greenbrier Christian Academy
Greenbrier Christian Academy (GCA) is a private Christian school located in the Greenbrier section of Chesapeake, Virginia. It was founded in 1983.
History
H. Ron White created GCA after serving in many education positions. After an informal ...
in
Chesapeake, Virginia
Chesapeake is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 249,422, it is the second-most populous independent city in Virginia, tenth-largest in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 90th ...
,
earning his 500th victory in April 2014.
He retired from Greenbrier Christian after the 2016 season.
Personal life
Lavelle became a
born again Christian
Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and sep ...
during his playing career.
See also
*
List of Major League Baseball leaders in games finished
References
External links
, o
Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavelle, Gary
1949 births
Living people
American expatriate baseball players in Canada
Arizona Instructional League Giants players
Baseball coaches from Pennsylvania
Baseball players from Pennsylvania
Amarillo Giants players
Decatur Commodores players
Dunedin Blue Jays players
Liberty High School (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) alumni
Major League Baseball pitchers
Medford Giants players
Minor league baseball coaches
National League All-Stars
Oakland Athletics players
Phoenix Giants players
Salt Lake City Giants players
San Francisco Giants players
Sportspeople from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Sportspeople from Scranton, Pennsylvania
Tigres de Aragua players
American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela
Toronto Blue Jays players
American evangelicals