(3) ROD GASPAR INDEX CARD SIGNED 1969 WS CHAMPS NEW YORK METS PSA/DNA CERTIFIED For Sale

(3) ROD GASPAR INDEX CARD SIGNED 1969 WS CHAMPS NEW YORK METS PSA/DNA CERTIFIED

Rodney Earl Gaspar(born April 3, 1946 inLong Beach, California) is a formerMajor League Baseballoutfielder.

Aswitch hitter, Gaspar played for theNew York Mets(1969–70) andSan Diego Padres(1971, 1974).

A former player atLong Beach StateandLong Beach City College, Gaspar played 178 games in his career, 118 of them in his rookie year,1969. He began the year as the Mets’ startingright fielder, then became a utility outfielder (he also playedleftandcenter fieldon occasion) afterRon Swobodabecame the regular right fielder. That year, he hit .228, recorded in 14 of his 17 careerruns batted in, and hit his only Major Leaguehome run, offMike McCormickof theSan Francisco Giantson May 30. He also excelled defensively, leading all Mets outfielders inassistswith 12, and leading the National League indouble playswith six.

That year, Gaspar was a member of theMiracle Metsteam that unexpectedly won theWorld Seriesin five games over theBaltimore Orioles. In Game Four of that Series, Gaspar scored the winning run on a controversial play atShea Stadium. With the score tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the tenth, Gasparpinch-ranforJerry Grote, who had led off the inning with a double. An intentional walk toAl Weisfollowed, after whichJ. C. Martin, pinch-hitting forTom Seaver, bunted to the pitcher. Both runners advanced, and as Martin ran to first,Pete Richert\'s throw hit him on the hand and ricocheted away, the error allowing Gaspar to score the winning run. (Replays would later show that Martin had been running inside the baseline, which could have resulted in him being called out for interference; however, the umpires said they didn’t make the call because they felt Martin didn’tintentionallyinterfere with the play.)

Gaspar\'s son Cade also achieved some measure of distinction as a baseball player. Cade Gaspar played college ball atSaddleback Collegefor two years before becoming a West Coast Conference All-Star withPepperdine Universityin 1994, and the Detroit Tigers selected him with the eighteenth overall pick in the first round of the1994 Major League Baseball Draft. The younger Gaspar played minor league baseball for three years, in the farm systems of the Tigers and theSan Diego Padres