2008 Woodie Awards
Major League Bearcat
Former Northwest baseball player Gary Gaetti reflects on college, championships and professional playing career
Dominic Genetti
Issue date: 8/28/08 Section: Dominic's Fun Facts
Twenty big league seasons. A four-time gold glove winner. A World Series champion.
He is one accomplished ballplayer, but before he made it to the majors, Gary Gaetti was hitting home runs and grabbing ground balls in Maryville.
Gaetti was a Northwest Bearcat.
"It was really the only college that recruited me for baseball, Illinois State asked me about football," Gaetti said.
Today, he is the hitting coach for North Carolina's Durham Bulls, Triple-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays, but during his playing career, the tall and stocky Gaetti was an all-star third baseman and heavy hitter with a mullet-style haircut.
Raised in Centralia, Ill., about an hour from St. Louis, Gaetti played his freshman year at Northwest before returning to Illinois to attended Lake Land Junior College. He returned to Northwest his junior year.
"I guess it was normal college life," he said. "We went to plenty of fraternity parties, that was kind of the thing to do. On Sundays, you had to go to (Clarinda, Iowa) if you wanted a 'cold one.'"
Other hangouts included Pagliai's Pizza and a restaurant called The Hitching Post, but most important was life on the diamond.
He hit the longest home run in Northwest history.
It was a towering blast measuring 505 feet, but Gaetti never knew he did it until Northwest Athletic Direct Bob Boerigter mentioned the milestone at his induction to the "M Club," Northwest's athletic hall of fame, in 2003.
"I guess it's a good story, I don't really remember that," Gaetti said with a big grin. "We had the kind of team where if you didn't run hard wherever you went, you were going to sit down on the bench."
After his junior year, Gaetti was going to stay in Maryville. He had a job lined up, planned to take summer courses and was going to play baseball for a summer league team, but his plans and life changed with one phone call.
"I remember getting a phone call from my wife when I was working one night and she said 'You were drafted by the Twins'," he said boasting a smile. "I was excited, wasn't for sure what was going to happen."
He is one accomplished ballplayer, but before he made it to the majors, Gary Gaetti was hitting home runs and grabbing ground balls in Maryville.
Gaetti was a Northwest Bearcat.
"It was really the only college that recruited me for baseball, Illinois State asked me about football," Gaetti said.
Today, he is the hitting coach for North Carolina's Durham Bulls, Triple-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays, but during his playing career, the tall and stocky Gaetti was an all-star third baseman and heavy hitter with a mullet-style haircut.
Raised in Centralia, Ill., about an hour from St. Louis, Gaetti played his freshman year at Northwest before returning to Illinois to attended Lake Land Junior College. He returned to Northwest his junior year.
"I guess it was normal college life," he said. "We went to plenty of fraternity parties, that was kind of the thing to do. On Sundays, you had to go to (Clarinda, Iowa) if you wanted a 'cold one.'"
Other hangouts included Pagliai's Pizza and a restaurant called The Hitching Post, but most important was life on the diamond.
He hit the longest home run in Northwest history.
It was a towering blast measuring 505 feet, but Gaetti never knew he did it until Northwest Athletic Direct Bob Boerigter mentioned the milestone at his induction to the "M Club," Northwest's athletic hall of fame, in 2003.
"I guess it's a good story, I don't really remember that," Gaetti said with a big grin. "We had the kind of team where if you didn't run hard wherever you went, you were going to sit down on the bench."
After his junior year, Gaetti was going to stay in Maryville. He had a job lined up, planned to take summer courses and was going to play baseball for a summer league team, but his plans and life changed with one phone call.
"I remember getting a phone call from my wife when I was working one night and she said 'You were drafted by the Twins'," he said boasting a smile. "I was excited, wasn't for sure what was going to happen."
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