Kevin Michael Polcovich (born June 28, 1970) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player who was a utility

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

for 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 two

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), ...

seasons during the 1990s.

Early life

Polcovich was born in

Auburn, New York Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States. Located at the north end of Owasco Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in Central New York, the city had a population of 26,866 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city of Cayuga County, the ...

.Baseball-Reference.com, Players
Kevin Polcovich
Retrieved November 29, 2010. He attended Auburn High School, and played for the Auburn Maroons baseball team.

Collegiate career

Polcovich attended

Gulf Coast Community College Gulf Coast State College is a public college in Panama City, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System and offers the Associate of Arts degree, Associate of Science degree, certificates, and as of 2011, bachelor's degrees. History The ...

, and in 1990 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

Hyannis Mets The Hyannis Harbor Hawks, formerly the Hyannis Mets, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Hyannis, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Harbor Hawks play ...

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 ...

. He received an

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United Stat ...

to attend the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

, where he played

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 ...

for coach

Joe Arnold Joseph A. Arnold (born February 26, 1947) is a former American college and professional baseball coach. During his twenty-four seasons as a head coach, Arnold led the college baseball teams at Florida Southern College, the University of Florida, ...

Florida Gators baseball The Florida Gators baseball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of baseball. Florida competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (S ...

team in 1991 and 1992.''2009 Florida Gators Baseball Media Guide''
History
, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 89, 96, 104, 115 (2009). Retrieved November 29, 2010. He participated in the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

in 1991, and received All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC), SEC All-Tournament, and College World Series All-Tournament honors. Polcovich holds the NCAA D1 fielding assists record with 14.''NCAA Baseball Division I Records Through 2014''

NCAA, pp.3. Retrieved May 29, 2015.

Professional career

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Polcovich in the 30th round of the 1992 amateur draft. He made his Major League Baseball, Major League debut on May 17, 1997. Polcovich is most remembered for his key role as a member of Pittsburgh's 1997 "Freak Show" team. Prior to the season, new ownership had dismantled the team and launched one of the Pirates frequent rebuilding plans. Opening day payroll for the '97 team was $9,000,000, by far the lowest in the major leagues. Expectations were very low for the Pirates, but perhaps none were lower than for Polcovich, who was bagging groceries to help support himself during spring training. When the Pirates' starting shortstop was injured in May, Polcovich got his call-up to the majors and the former bag boy was now the new starting shortstop. He quickly became the anchor of the Pirates infield and helped the team compete for the NL Central Division until the final week of the season (when they were finally eliminated by ultimate division champions, the Houston Astros). Polcovich only played one more year of major league baseball, but his Rocky-like rise from nowhere to help the upstart 1997 Pirates have their most competitive year in the past two decades (as of 2012) against overwhelming odds, remains part of recent Pirate lore.

Personal life

Polcovich and his wife, Lisa, have two children, Kaden James and Teagan. Kaden was drafted in the third-round of the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft by the

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 ...

. Kaden is an infielder who attended

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

. Teagan is a volleyball player for

Missouri State University Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university by enr ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polcovich, Kevin 1970 births Living people Sportspeople from Auburn, New York Auburn High School (Auburn, New York) alumni Florida Gators baseball players Hyannis Harbor Hawks players Pittsburgh Pirates players Major League Baseball third basemen Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball shortstops Nashville Sounds players San Angelo Colts players Baseball players from New York (state) American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Augusta Pirates players Calgary Cannons players Carolina Mudcats players Columbus Clippers players Memphis Redbirds players Salem Buccaneers players Anchorage Bucs players