Gary Roenicke

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Gary Steven Roenicke (born in Covina, California on December 5, 1954) was an outfielder for the Montreal Expos (1976), Baltimore Orioles (1978-85), New York Yankees (1986) and Atlanta Braves (1987-88).

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[edit] Early career

He was originally drafted by the Montreal Expos as the eight pick of the first round of the Amateur Draft in 1973. He showed promise in his young career, earning the MVP Award in the Eastern League (U.S. baseball) in 1975. A year later, he made his career debut for the Montreal Expos, hitting .222 in 29 games with two home runs and five runs batted in.

[edit] Oriole career

In 1977, Roenicke was traded with Joe Kerrigan and Don Stanhouse to the Baltimore Orioles for Rudy May, Randy Miller, and Bryn Smith.

Roenicke only appeared in 27 games in his first season with the Orioles in '78. A year later, in his first full season, he had perhaps the best season of his 12-year career, appearing in 133 games and hitting .261 with 25 home runs and 64 runs batted in. He even made the top ten in at-bats per home run with the exciting statistic of 15.0 per. The next year, he had visibly regressed from his promising '79 season, appearing in nearly 20 games less and only hitting .239 with 10 home runs 28 runs batted in. A year later he had a better year, hitting .269, but his power numbers were still significantly down, slugging only .384, whereas he had slugged .508 in his rookie season. In 1982, he hit .270 with a slugging percentage of .499 in 137 games.

[edit] Decline

Roenicke never did establish numbers like the 1982 season or rookie season. A year later, both his average and slugging were down and after two more mediocre years, the Orioles traded him to the New York Yankees for Rex Hudler. On the Yankees, his role was limited to a bench player and his power was down (he only hit three home runs). He signed as a free agent in 1986 by the Atlanta Braves for nearly half the amount of money he had been making ($380,000). He continued his career on the bench, this year doing better in the power department, hitting nine home runs. The next year, he hit only .228 with a .298 slugging percentage, the worst of his career. He was released mid-way through the season by the Braves on July 26, 1988 and retired.

[edit] Retirement

Roenicke is currently an advisor for the Western Canadian Baseball League, as well as a scout for the Orioles. His brother, Ron Roenicke, had an eight-year career as an outfielder in the 1980s while his son Josh, is a member of both the UCLA football and baseball teams as a wide receiver and outfielder. On the UCLA Bruins, Roenicke had the second-highest on-base percentage, third-highest batting average and compiled a perfect fielding percentage.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Baltimore Orioles 1983 World Series roster