John Christopher Gall (born April 2, 1978) is an American former

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), ...

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

who played for the St. Louis Cardinals and Florida Marlins from 2005 to 2007.

College

Gall was born in Stanford, California, and was a successful collegiate player for

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, making his

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

debut as a freshman in . After the 1997 season, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the Orleans Cardinals of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. His best college year was as a sophomore in which he had a team-leading .381 batting average and 63 RBI, with 15

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, second only to former Padres outfielder

Jody Gerut Joseph Diego Gerut (born September 18, 1977) is a former Major League Baseball center fielder who played for several teams between 2003 and 2010. Amateur career A native of Elmhurst, Illinois, Gerut attended Willowbrook High School, and later S ...

on the team. After his excellent junior year in , Gall was selected by the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

in the 50th round of the

1999 Major League Baseball draft The 1999 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, was held on June 2 and 3, 1999. A total of 1474 players were drafted over the course of 50 rounds. First round selections ...

. However, Gall elected to return to college for his senior year, and was eventually selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 11th round of the draft. He played in 3 College World Series and was All-Tournament Team in 1999 while hitting .611. He is the All-Time Pac-12 leader in hits and RBI's.

Professional career

After a season at Single-A ball, Gall played the season for the New Haven Ravens, the Double-A affiliate of the Cardinals at the time. Here he hit 20 home runs and 81 RBI with a .316 batting average. In , Gall spent his first season with the Triple-A

Memphis Redbirds The Memphis Redbirds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in Memphis, Tennessee, and are named for their Major League Baseball affiliate. The Redbir ...

, and collected 16 home runs and 73 RBI with a .312 average, numbers which were improved in , as he added six home runs and eleven RBI to his 2003 totals. On July 26, after a promising start to the season in Memphis, Gall was promoted for the first time to the major league roster, to replace Larry Walker, who was on the

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

. In his debut against the San Diego Padres at

Petco Park Petco Park is a baseball stadium in Downtown San Diego, California. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres, and has also been used as a venue for concerts, soccer, golf, and rugby. The ballpark is located between Se ...

, Gall proceeded to go 2-for-4 with a

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

. He was sent back down to Memphis eight games later on August 9 having collected four

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

, two doubles, and two RBI in his first stint as a major-leaguer. After another call-up, he was placed on the active roster for the 2005 Cardinal's playoff team. On July 17, , the Cardinals released Gall and he signed with the

Lotte Giants The Lotte Giants ( ko, 롯데 자이언츠) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Busan. They are a member of the KBO League. The Lotte Giants are owned by Lotte Corporation, which also owns the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Pro ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. Gall received a World Series ring for his stint with the St Louis Cardinals in 2006. He signed with the Florida Marlins on January 4, . Gall spent much of the year with the Marlins Triple-A affiliate, the Albuquerque Isotopes, with a stint with the Florida Marlins. Gall was named to the United States national baseball team for the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Gall's success in the olympics, most notably for his home run over

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

which helped the United States get to the Bronze Medal round, got recognized by notable people including an appearance on ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicag ...

'', an invitation to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

and serving as a guest of honor for

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Governor,

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...

. In January , Gall signed a minor league contract with the Houston Astros. His last professional season was 2009. Gall also won a Liga del Pacifico Championship for the Venados de Mazatlan in 2005.

Personal life

Gall currently resides in the Bay Area with his family. He is the cousin of former Arizona Diamondbacks and

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

outfielder Eric Byrnes.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gall, John 1978 births Living people Baseball players from California Major League Baseball outfielders New Jersey Cardinals players Peoria Chiefs players New Haven Ravens players Tennessee Smokies players St. Louis Cardinals players Stanford Cardinal baseball players Orleans Firebirds players Florida Marlins players KBO League outfielders American expatriate baseball players in South Korea Lotte Giants players Memphis Redbirds players Albuquerque Isotopes players Baseball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in baseball Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics People from Stanford, California