AtL Sugar Land Space Cowboys

Skeeters Name First Manager

Published on August 11, 2011 under Atlantic League (AtL)
Sugar Land Space Cowboys News Release


SUGAR LAND, Texas --- The Sugar Land Skeeters today announced the hiring of former Major League All-Star Gary Gaetti as the first manager in franchise history. The Skeeters - with Gaetti at the helm - will play its first game at StarTex Power Field in Sugar Land in April, 2012.

Entering his 30th season associated with professional baseball as either a player or coach, Gaetti and his baseball operations staff will build the expansion Skeeters baseball squad from the ground up. With Opening Day at the state-of-the-art StarTex Power Field fewer than nine months away, Gaetti begins his managerial role immediately. The Atlantic League will hold an expansion draft for the Skeeters in early 2012, and details to be announced at a later date.

"We are thrilled to have Gary lead this ball club," said Matt O'Brien, President of the Sugar Land Skeeters. "We are confident that his leadership, Major League experience and impeccable knowledge of the game will represent the club and the community very well. "As a full-time Houston resident, Gary also will play a major role in the ball club's community outreach."

A veteran of 20 Major League seasons, Gaetti welcomes this opportunity.

"I am thrilled to have this opportunity," Gaetti said. "I have always enjoyed the teaching and coaching aspect of the game. There is no better place to do that than right here in Fort Bend County. I'm excited about building winning tradition from day one.

"This will be a tremendous platform for minor league baseball. This is going to be something new and fresh, and the Skeeters will bring a level of excitement to Sugar Land and the Houston area. This will be a real positive for baseball everywhere."

During his Major League career, Gaetti played for six different teams: the Minnesota Twins (1981-90), California Angels (1991-93), Kansas City Royals (1993-95), St. Louis Cardinals (1996-98), Chicago Cubs (1998-99), and Boston Red Sox (2000). The two-time All-Star infielder (1988-89) won four Rawlings Gold Glove Awards (1986-89) and earned a spot on The Sporting News' Silver Slugger Team (1995). In 1987, he was named the American League Championship Series MVP, batting .300 with two home runs and five RBI, as he helped the Twins win their first-ever World Series championship.

Gaetti ranks sixth all-time among third basemen with 360 career home runs, and he is one of 38 players all-time to record 2,200 hits (2,280) and 360 homers. He also moved into the Major League record books on July 17, 1990, when he initiated two triple plays for the Twins vs. Boston at Fenway Park. Following both the 1989 and 1990 seasons, he was named the league's best defensive third baseman by Baseball America.

Gaetti found success in debuts. On Sept. 20, 1981, he became the 47th player to hit a home run in his first Major League at-bat. He also hit two home runs in the first game ever played in the Metrodome (April 6, 1982), and he was the first player ever to hit two home runs in his first two at-bats of postseason play in the 1987 ALCS vs. Detroit.

From July, 2004 to July, 2006, Gaetti served as the Astros full-time hitting coach after serving three seasons in Houston's minor league system. Gaetti was Houston's hitting guru when the Astros played for the 2004 National League pennant and in 2005 when the Astros made their first-ever World Series appearance.

Prior to his stint with the parent club, Gaetti coached the Astros' Triple-A New Orleans Zephyrs for three seasons. Gaetti also spent two seasons (2007-08) for Tampa Bay's Triple-A affiliate Durham Bulls.

Gaetti was selected in the first round (11th overall) by the Minnesota Twins in the June 1979 draft. He attended Lake Land Junior College and Northwest Missouri State University, and he was inducted into the NWMSU Hall of Fame in 2003. After making his professional debut in 1979, he earned Double-A All-Star honors in 1981 and finished fifth in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 1982. He played in all 162 games during the 1984 season, missing only eight innings; he batted a career high .301 in the 1988 campaign; his career-high 35 homers came in 1995 while playing with Kansas City; and he helped the Cardinals to the NLCS in 1996.

Born on August 19, 1958, in Centralia, Ill., Gaetti and his wife, Donna, make their home in Houston with their daughter Gigi. Gaetti has two sons: Joseph and Jacob. Joe Gaetti was selected in the 12th round of the 2003 draft by the Colorado Rockies out of North Carolina State and played in the minor leagues in five different farm systems, including two separate stints with the Twins Double-A club, the New Britain Rock Cats. Joe spent 2010 playing for the Atlantic League's Lancaster Barnstormers.

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