John Gibbons

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For the judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Newark, New Jersey lawyer, see John Joseph Gibbons.

John Michael Gibbons, or "Gibby," (born June 8, 1962, in Great Falls, Montana), is the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays in Major League Baseball. [1]

1 Playing Career
2 Bullpen catcher & coach
3 Managerial Career
4 Controversy with his Ballplayers
5 External links

[edit] Playing Career

After being selected by the New York Mets with the 24th 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 batted only .220, with one home run and 2 RBIs (but 16 strikeouts) in 50 at-bats. He retired as a player in 1990.

[edit] Bullpen catcher & coach

Hired by the Blue Jays 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.

[edit] Managerial Career

Eventually Gibbons replaced Carlos Tosca as interim manager, after Tosca was fired in August 2004. The Blue Jays went 20-30 with Gibbons as manager. During the remainder of the season, it was not unusual to see the Blue Jays field as many as 6 rookies per game.

At the end of the 2004 regular season, Gibbons was given a 1-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, BJ Ryan, and Bengie Molina. Toronto ended the season in second place of the American League East division with an 87-75 record, one game ahead of the Boston Red Sox. It marked the first time the Jays had finished higher than third since 1993, when they won their second of two consecutive World Series titles.

Gibbons now holds a 187-187 record as a major league manager.

[edit] Controversy with his Ballplayers

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. [2]. After the season, Bush was traded to the Brewers, where the former 2nd round draft pick became one of their top 3 starting pitchers and doubled the number of wins he had achieved in either season as a Blue Jay. [3]

Gibbons was again involved in controversy in July 2006, after his feud with Blue Jays' DH Shea Hillenbrand came to a head. During a team meeting on July 19th Gibbons reamed out Hillenbrand (calling him a "cancer" and a "coward," and asserting that his teammates were all laughing at him and viewed him "as a joke") and challenged him to a fight, an invitation that the slugger declined. Gibbons told the Blue Jays that if Hillenbrand was not cut or traded from the team, Gibbons would resign. Three days later the Blue Jays traded Hillenbrand, who was hitting .301 at the time, to the Giants.[4]

Gibbons was involved in more controversy on August 21, 2006, when he got into a confrontation with yet another of his players -- Blue Jays pitcher Ted Lilly. After Gibbons walked to the mound to remove Lilly in the third inning of Toronto's game against Oakland and chewed out the pitcher, Lilly at first refused to give him the ball, before ultimately leaving the mound and heading for the clubhouse. [5]When Gibbons returned to the dugout, he followed Lilly into the clubhouse tunnel where, according to eyewitnesses, Gibbons confronted and pushed the pitcher. A fight ensued, and a number of players and Blue Jays staff rushed in from the dugout to break it up.[6]