Skip to main content

Sunday School: Phillies History Lesson 72

Greg Gross was an outfielder with the Phillies from 1979-1988. In 1973, Gross began his career with the Houston Astros at the age of 20, appearing in 14 games. The following season, he finished 2nd in National League Rookie of the Year voting to the Cardinals' "Bake" McBride, when Gross batted .314 in 156 games.

Gross's line drive swing did not produce a single homerun in almost 1,400 at bats in the Major Leagues to start his career. Following the 1976 season, Gross was traded to the Cubs for Julio Gonzalez. In 1977, Gross hit a career high 5 homeruns for Chicago. He also produced a .322 average that season, as the team's fourth outfielder.

Prior to the 1979 season, Gross was traded to Philadelphia along with Dave Rader and Manny Trillo for 5 players. Gross quickly became a key contributor for the 3-straight division winning Phillies that season, when he posted a .333 batting average in 111 games. While the outfield was locked in with Greg Luzinski, Garry Maddox and the previously mentioned McBride, who also made his way to the Phillies, Gross' accurate arm and steady offensive production proved quite capable of still earning him some playing time.

In the 1980 League Championship Series, Gross had 3 hits in 4 at bats, including a key bunt single off of Nolan Ryan that loaded the bases for the Phils in the 8th inning of game 5, helping them take the lead.

For the 1983 pennant winning Phillies club, Gross posted a .302 batting average in 136 games. During his 10 seasons with Philadelphia, Gross was a .279 hitter in over 1,000 games played.

As his career progressed, much of Gross's action came one at bat at a time, in the role of a pinch hitter. In his 10 seasons with the Phillies, he became the all-time team pinch hits leader with 117, which is twice as many as the next closest Phillie on the list, Tony Taylor.

In 1989, the final season of his playing career, Gross would rejoin Houston for one final year before retiring from playing.

Gross began his coaching career with the Rockies in 1995, when he was employed as a minor league hitting instructor. In 2001, he returned to the Phillies as their hitting coach for 4 seasons. Gross was then reassigned to coach in the Phillies' minor league system. He returned to the Phillies in 2010, replacing Milt Thompson as the big club's hitting coach.

_____________________________________

Follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE.


BallHype: hype it up!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Eric B Needs to be Cut (and My Name is Rakim)

While the Phillies are on a hot streak this month, one player on the team is not. Eric Bruntlett is 1-for-12 in July. Since the start of May, Bruntlett's apex in batting average has been .167 on June 14th. Bruntlett's ineptitude can be tolerated no longer. Get rid of this guy NOW! Eric B. is the 2009 Endy Chavez. Remember Endy...the guy who in 2005 managed just 2 hits in his final 42 games played as a Phillie? That is about the sort of output the Phillies are getting from Bruntlett, and it's time to fix this void. Julio Lugo was designated for assignment last week by the Red Sox and is expected to become a free agent. The Metropolitans are rumored to be interested. Why wouldn't the Phillies be interested in a guy who could surely outhit Bruntlett? Lugo was hitting .284 through 37 games played this season with Boston. Suspended Lehigh Valley IronPig Pablo Ozuna is eligible to return next Wednesday. Ozuna is batting .294 through 51 games at triple A. Miguel Cairo is also...

Yankees Fans Misled By Pepsi Promotion

**** Today, New York Yankees fans attended a Pepsi promotion in Times Square hoping for chances to win opening day tickets to the new stadium, but the tickets, which were difficult to track down due to poor organization on Pepsi's part, were actually for a game in June. Furthermore, the 250 pairs that were promised were actually only 100 pairs. The fans, who were made to sprint through traffic over multiple city blocks when locations for the promotion changed, quickly turned against the soda brand by pooring out their beverages and chanting anti-Pepsi phrases. Yankees fans are even threatening a boycott of Pepsi. An appearance by Yankee great Goose Gossage could not even settle the angry mob, as he had to be whisked away, as a precaution, according to the Daily News . Ooo , I'd hate to see what "the worst fans in sports" (Philadelphia fans) would have done to their free Pepsi cans and beloved reliever in that situation. Because this happened in a non-Philly city, th...

5th spot, Wall, Old timers, Links

The race for the Phillies' fifth starter spot is still on. While it's not fully fair to compare Grapefruit League stats, when some of the pitchers have had "B game" and scrimmage outings mixed in, Kyle Kendrick and Carlos Carrasco look to be falling behind Chan Ho Park and "Jay" Happ. Happ added to his solid Grapefruit League stats (2.45 ERA, 1.09 WHIP in 4 games) today against the Rays. Pitching coach Rich Dubee had been displeased with Kendrick even before he surrendered 8 earned runs in 3 innings of work yesterday against the Braves. Park has been working on improving his change up, with (Coach) Jamie Moyer. Park noticed Moyer's location control on his change, so he sought out Moyer to teach him the grip and positioning of the ball. Moyer, of course, feels good about helping anyone on the Phils' staff. Park has been coached by greats like Nolan Ryan with the Rangers and Sandy Koufax with the Dodgers, so Moyer is in great company. Park is working h...