Kelly Robert Downs (born October 25, 1960) 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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Modern professional ...
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
, 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), ...
(MLB) for 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 Y ...
and
Oakland Athletics from 1986 to 1993. He wore uniform number 37 for his seven years with the Giants, and number 31 for his two seasons with the A’s.
Downs won a career high 13 games in 1988 for the Giants and appeared in the
1989 World Series
The 1989 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1989 season. The 86th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Oakland Athletics and the Nat ...
versus the Athletics. He was featured on the cover of ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...
'' on October 30, 1989, carrying his nephew in his arms after the
Loma Prieta earthquake (magnitude 7.1) disrupted Game 3, at
Candlestick Park
Candlestick Park was an outdoor stadium on the West Coast of the United States, located in San Francisco's Bayview Heights area. The stadium was originally the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 ...
.
Downs graduated from
Viewmont High School in 1979.
Viewmont Alumni Hall of Fame
His brother, Dave Downs, pitched briefly for the 1972 Philadelphia Phillies.
References
External links
Major League Baseball pitchers
San Francisco Giants players
Oakland Athletics players
Baseball players from Utah
1960 births
Living people
Oklahoma City 89ers players
Peninsula Pilots players
Phoenix Firebirds players
Portland Beavers players
Salt Lake Buzz players
San Jose Giants players
Spartanburg Phillies players
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