John Gibbons

John Michael Gibbons (born June 8, 1962^[1]) is an American former professional baseball player and the current manager of the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). Gibbons briefly played in the Major Leagues as a catcher with the New York Mets, in the mid-1980s.

Early life

Gibbons was born in Great Falls, Montana and raised in San Antonio, Texas, where he attended Douglas MacArthur High School.^[2][3] The son of United States Air Force colonel William Gibbons, he had his first Little League Baseball at-bat while playing in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada, where the family lived temporarily.^[4]

Playing career

After being selected by the New York Mets with the 24th overall pick of the 1980 amateur draft, Gibbons had a very brief 18-game major league playing career as a catcher with the Mets in 1984 and 1986. He was projected to be the Mets' catcher of the future but he batted only .220, with one home run and 2 RBIs (but 16 strikeouts) in 50 at-bats. Injuries also took a toll on him so he retired as a player in 1990. Gibbons served as the Mets' bullpen catcher during the 1986 postseason, in which the Mets won the World Series.^[3][5]

Coaching and managerial career

Minor leagues

Gibbons began his coaching career with the Mets in 1991 as a minor league hitting instructor. In 1994, he joined the Capital City Bombers, the Mets' South Atlantic League franchise, as a coach.

Gibbons began his successful minor-league managing career in the Mets' organization with the Kingsport Mets, guiding them to the Appalachian League championship in 1995. He followed that by guiding the St. Lucie Mets to the Florida State League title the next season. In 1998, he led the Eastern League's Binghamton Mets to the playoffs, and then immediately followed that with three seasons as manager of the Norfolk Tides. He led the Tides to the International League playoffs in 2001.^[6]

Toronto Blue Jays (2002–2008)

Gibbons in 2007 during his first stint with the Blue Jays

Hired by the Toronto Blue Jays' former general manager J. P. Ricciardi in 2002, as a bullpen catcher, Gibbons worked his way up to first base coach in June 2002. Ricciardi was his former roommate in the minor leagues.^[7]

After Ricciardi fired manager Carlos Tosca in 2004, Gibbons was promoted to the manager position. The Blue Jays went 20–30 with Gibbons at the helm. At the end of the 2004 regular season, Gibbons signed a one-year contract as the manager for the 2005 season. This contract was extended for three seasons just a week into the 2005 season. Gibbons went on to lead the Jays to an 80–82 record in his first full season as a big league manager.

Expectations were higher in 2006, after the Blue Jays acquired A.J. Burnett, Troy Glaus, Lyle Overbay, B. J. Ryan, and Bengie Molina. Toronto ended the season in second place in the American League East division with an 87–75 record, one game ahead of the Boston Red Sox. Although they finished 10 games out of first, it was the first time the Jays had finished higher than third since 1993, when they won their second of two consecutive World Series titles.

With the Blue Jays mired in a slump that put them five games below .500, Gibbons was fired on June 20, 2008. He was replaced by former Jays manager Cito Gaston.^[3] He finished with a record of 305 wins and 305 losses.^[8]

Kansas City Royals and San Antonio Missions (2009–2012)

On October 10, 2008, Gibbons was hired as the bench coach by the Kansas City Royals, replacing Dave Owen^[9] who became the third base coach.

Gibbons was hired at the end of the 2011 season to manage the San Diego Padres' Double-A affiliate, the San Antonio Missions.^[10]

Second stint with Toronto (2013–present)

Gibbons in 2014

On November 20, 2012, it was announced that Gibbons was re-hired as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays^[11] on a two–year rolling contract.^[12] Gibbons was named to the 2013 American League All-Star coaching staff by Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland.^[13] The Blue Jays finished the 2013 season with a 74–88 record, putting them last in the AL East.^[8]

In 2014, the Blue Jays were six games up in the AL East title race on June 6, 2014, but posted a 45–54 record from that point on, including a 9–17 record in August. They would finish the season with a record of 83–79,^[8] good enough for third place in the AL East,^[8] and 5 games back of a wild card spot.^[14]

On June 22, 2015, the Blue Jays defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 8–5 for Gibbons' 500th managerial win.^[15] On August 2, Gibbons was ejected for the third time in the 2015 season, for arguing with umpire Jim Wolf. Gibbons returned to the field later in the game during a bench-clearing incident, and was subsequently suspended 1 game.^[16] On September 25, 2015, Gibbons and the Blue Jays ended the team's 22-year playoff drought by clinching a playoff berth.^[17] Five days later, the Blue Jays defeated the Baltimore Orioles 15–2, and clinched the American League East.^[18] On October 14, 2015 the Blue Jays defeated the Texas Rangers to win the American League Division Series after losing the first two games of the series. The Blue Jays moved on to play in their first American League Championship Series since 1993. They would, however, lose the series to the eventual World Series winners, the Kansas City Royals, 4 games to 2.

On April 5, 2016, after a 3–2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays ended on a questionable slide by José Bautista which was ruled as a double play, Gibbons stated, "Maybe we'll come out and wear dresses tomorrow. Maybe that's what everybody's looking for." A day later, after he received criticism for his initial comment, he said that "the world needs to lighten up a little bit".^[19]

On May 17, 2016, Gibbons was suspended three games by Major League Baseball for his role in a benches-clearing incident between the Blue Jays and Texas Rangers on May 15 involving Rangers infielder Rougned Odor and Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista.^[20] On September 11, Gibbons was ejected for the eighth time in the 2016 season, tying the team's single-season record set by Bobby Cox.^[21]

Managerial record

As of the 2016 season

Controversy with players

• On May 28, 2005, Gibbons chastised former Toronto starter Dave Bush in the dugout after the right-hander showed his displeasure on the mound about being removed from a game. The next day Bush was sent to the minor leagues ^[22] and after the season, he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers.
• Gibbons was again involved in controversy in July 2006, after his feud with Shea Hillenbrand came to a head. After the former Blue Jays infielder and designated hitter wrote negative comments about the team on a display board in the Blue Jays clubhouse, Gibbons confronted him in a closed team meeting and allegedly challenged him to a fight.^[23] Hillenbrand was upset about his lack of playing time and that no one in the Blue Jays front office had made an attempt to congratulate him on recently adopting a child. Three days later the Blue Jays traded Hillenbrand, who was hitting .301 at the time, to the San Francisco Giants.^[23] In 2012, after Gibbons was re-hired as the Blue Jays manager, Hillenbrand endorsed the hiring and acknowledged that he, not Gibbons, was at fault for the controversy, saying "I think he handled the situation that we had very professionally and I didn’t handle it professionally at all. I think John’s going to be a great addition to that ball club and he’s a great guy."^[23]
• On August 21, 2006, Gibbons walked to the mound in the third inning to remove pitcher Ted Lilly from Toronto's game against the Oakland Athletics. Visibly frustrated at his own performance (having given up 7 runs in that inning to erase an 8–0 lead), Lilly initially refused to surrender the ball to Gibbons. Words were exchanged and Lilly ultimately left the mound and headed for the clubhouse.^[24] When Gibbons returned to the dugout, he followed Lilly into the clubhouse tunnel where, according to eyewitnesses, he confronted his pitcher regarding his insubordination. The two exchanged shoves, and a number of players and Blue Jays staff rushed in from the dugout to break it up.^[25] During MLB's 2014 winter meetings, Lilly was working as a front-office member of the Chicago Cubs. Signalling that he harbored no hard feelings, Gibbons stuck his head into a Chicago hotel suite filled with media and laughingly called Lilly out.^[26]
• At the beginning of the 2008 season, Gibbons benched Frank Thomas, who had a batting average of .167 after the first 20 games of the season. Thomas, typically a slow starter, was livid over his lack of playing time. He claimed that the Blue Jays were giving him less playing time to prevent him from getting 364 at-bats in the season, which was the required amount for his $10 million 2009 option to become guaranteed. The Blue Jays responded the next day on April 20, 2008, by releasing Thomas. Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi met with Thomas and they agreed that the best thing for the team and for Thomas would be to let him go.^[27]
• After striking out for the second time in three innings in a game against the New York Yankees on August 16, 2016, Blue Jays third baseman and reigning American League MVP Josh Donaldson returned to the dugout and angrily threw his bat against a bat-rack very close to where Gibbons was standing. Gibbons quickly confronted Donaldson, and the pair got into a short argument in an incident that was caught on camera. Blue Jays' players Troy Tulowitzki and Josh Thole stepped in to restrain Donaldson.^[28] The incident, while creating "fabulous talk-show fodder",^[26] was ultimately quickly forgotten. Said Gibbons after the game, "I told him after the first at-bat, get a new bat, that one ain't working. He took the same one up the second time. That didn't work. He chose to break it. So I went down and told him, you should have listened to me. That was basically it."^[28] Donaldson downplayed the altercation as well, saying that Gibbons simply wanted a better smell of a new cologne Donaldson was wearing.^[29]

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Gibbons.

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Toronto Blue Jays page
• John Gibbons addressing a school assembly with a motivational speech