Although Kirk Gibson played only one season of baseball at Michigan State, the converted football player didn’t need much time to make an impact that is still felt today. The Spartan baseball program’s Offensive Player of the Year award is named after their 1978 first-team All-American. Gibson hit .390 and slugged .766 in 48 games. His 16 homers and 52 RBI set single-season school records. Before he left, he crushed the longest home run ever hit at Kobs Field in East Lansing (550 feet). That power potential had the Detroit Tigers’ brass salivating as they prepared for the June ’78 draft.
Three days before the draft, Gibson was invited to Tiger Stadium for a round of batting practice. He was given about 10 mins. to show what he could do. Jim Hawkins of the Detroit Free Press reported that Gibson “put on quite a show…and belted ball after ball into the stands”. On draft day, the Tigers got their man with the 12th pick in the 1st round. After 143 games of minor league seasoning at 2 different levels, all under the watchful eye of skipper Jim Leyland, Gibson was called up to the Tigers in September 1979. He’d gotten his first taste of big-league life months earlier in spring training. On his first day in camp in Lakeland FL, Gibson took Dave Rozema, his future brother-in-law, deep during BP. All three of his hits in exhibition games were HRs!
“Rip-Roarin’ Rookie” (1979-80)
Gibson wasn’t so lucky the first time he faced a major league pitcher when it counted. On Sept. 8, 1979 against the Yankees, he pinch-hit with 2 outs and a man on in the bottom of the ninth. The Tigers trailed 5-4, and Gibson represented the potential winning run. New York closer Goose Gossage, a future Hall of Famer, cast an intimidating figure on the mound. He struck out the fearless, but overmatched rookie on 3 pitches to end the game. It was the kind of learning experience that one files away in the back of the mind for future reference (ie., 1984 WS).
In his ninth game, at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium on September 25, 1979, Kirk Gibson led off the top of the 4th against right-hander Steve Stone. The hungry Tiger got a pitch he liked and devoured it! The 400-foot home run to right field, the FIRST of Gibson’s career, tied the game at 1-1. Detroit went on to win, 3-2. Tigers manager Sparky Anderson predicted that Gibson “will be the most exciting player in baseball in 1982”. It wouldn’t be the last time that Sparky raved about his young charge’s future, but Gibson didn’t seem as impressed. He told a United Press International reporter,
“It was just a home run. I didn’t think about it. It does mean something, but it’s not like I said I was going to hit my first home run. I just try my best to help the team.”
The following spring brought a new opportunity, but it also brought higher expectations. Center fielder Ron LeFlore had been traded away, and Anderson made plans to replace him by platooning the left-handed-hitting Gibson and the right-handed-hitting Dave Stegman. Sports Illustrated, sensing a star in the making, put Gibson (described as a “Rip-Roarin’ Rookie”) on the cover of its March 24, 1980 issue. In the article, Anderson shared a vision for his prized pupil that included 450 at-bats and 15 home runs against right-handed pitchers.
