Patrick Franklin Kelly (born October 14, 1967) is a 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), ...

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. ...

who played in the major leagues for nine seasons, seven of them with the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

Life and career

Kelly was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania, and attended

Catasauqua High School Catasauqua High School is a public high school serving grades 9 through 12 in Northampton, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. As of 2021-22, the school had 498 students, according to National Center for Education S ...

.Bradford, Tina
"Yankee Pat Kelly, Bride Celebrate in Bethlehem"
''

The Morning Call ''The Morning Call'' is a daily newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883, it is the second longest continuously published newspaper in the Lehigh Valley, after ''The Express-Times''. In 2020, the newspaper permanently closed its Al ...

'', November 20, 1994, accessed December 31, 2017 He was drafted by the

in the ninth round of the 1988 amateur draft, but did not make his playing debut at the major league level until May 20, 1991, at age 23. In 1995, with the Yankees battling for the AL Wild Card, Kelly hit a crucial two-run home run in the ninth inning against the Blue Jays in Toronto to cap a Yankee rally from a 3–0 deficit in the third to last game of the season. Due to Kelly's go-ahead home run, the Yankees won the game 4–3 and were able to qualify for the playoffs two days later. Kelly played seven seasons with the Yankees (1991–1997), spent 1998 with

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, and spent the first part of the 1999 season with 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 ...

. He played his final MLB game on June 5, 1999, retiring on March 22, 2000. Kelly batted and threw

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

. His career Major League totals were .249

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, 36

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 495 hits in 681 games. Kelly moved to Australia in 2001 and scouted for American baseball teams there. In 2009, he became an assistant coach with the

Australia national baseball team The Australian national baseball team represents Australia in international baseball tournaments and competitions. It is ranked as the top team in Oceania, and is the Oceanian Champion, having been awarded the title in 2007 when New Zealand wi ...

.Lefton, Brad
"In Australia, Two Ex-Yankees Build Future for Baseball"
''The New York Times'', March 7, 2009, accessed December 31, 2017 At the same time, he became the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

for the

Adelaide Bite The Adelaide Giants are a professional baseball team that plays in the Australian Baseball League. They are one of the six foundation franchises of the league, in its first incarnation from 1989 to 1999. The team adopted the name Bite or Adelaid ...

in the

Australian Baseball League The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it sh ...

team. In 1994, Kelly married Rebecca Pontifex of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, Australia, who worked in public relations.

References

External links

1967 births Living people Albany-Colonie Yankees players American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball coaches from Pennsylvania Baseball players from Philadelphia Catasauqua High School alumni Columbus Clippers players Gulf Coast Yankees players Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball shortstops Major League Baseball third basemen New York Yankees players Norwich Navigators players Oneonta Yankees players Prince William Cannons players Sportspeople from Northampton County, Pennsylvania St. Louis Cardinals players Tampa Yankees players Toronto Blue Jays players Somerset Patriots players Syracuse SkyChiefs players West Chester Golden Rams baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Australia {{US-baseball-second-baseman-stub