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man, he had a well-traveled career during which DAVE GARCIA, whose 65 years
he played for 10 Major League teams. He retired in professional baseball included
from the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970 with 125 a two-year managerial stint with
career home runs and a lifetime batting average the Angels from 1977-78, and
of .272 (1395/5121). four with Cleveland from 1979-
Born Nov. 4, 1933, in Aliquippa, PA, he was given 1982, passed away last May 21 in
the nickname “Tito,” Italian for “little one.” Fran- San Diego at the age of 97. in memoriam
cona was an outstanding high school quarter- The East St. Louis native got his
back but turned down college scholarship offers start in professional baseball as a
to concentrate on baseball. After serving in the minor league infielder in 1939. He spent 15 sea-
Army, he made his Major League debut in 1956 sons over 18 years in the minor leagues, mostly
with the Baltimore Orioles. with the New York Giants. Garcia missed the sea-
After his retirement from baseball, Francona led sons from 1943 to 1945 while serving in the Air
the Beaver County parks and recreation depart- Force during World War II.
ment in Pennsylvania. During his time playing in the minors, Garcia was
OSCAR GAMBLE, a personable a player-manager for the Knoxville Smokies, the
Giants’ Class B farm team in the Tri-State League.
left-handed swinging hitter who He was also a coach for the Minneapolis Millers,
totaled 200 homers in 17 big which was the Giants’ Triple-A team, in 1956.
league seasons, died January 31st
of last year. He was 68. Finally retiring as a player in 1957, Garcia stayed
with the Giants as a scout and also managed the
Gamble played seven of his 17 El Paso Sun Kings, which was the Giants’ Dou-
seasons with the Yankees, who ble-A club.
employed him as a pull hitter
who could platoon or come off Garcia left the Giants organization following the
the bench and take aim at the short right-field 1968 season to join the expansion San Diego Pa-
porch at Yankee Stadium, in 1976 and again from dres as a minor league manager. After waiting
1979-84. 31 years, Garcia finally reached the Majors the
following season as a coach on the Padres staff.
An outfielder and designated hitter, Gamble hit a He spent four seasons with the Padres before re-
career-high 31 home runs for the “South Side Hit- turning to El Paso, which was then home to the
men” White Sox in 1977 and also spent time with Angels’ Double-A club.
the Cubs, Phillies, Indians, Rangers and Padres,
batting .265/.356/.454 with 666 RBIs in 5,197 A return to the Majors followed in 1975, when
plate appearances. Garcia joined the coaching staff of the Cleveland
Indians. He was with the Indians for two seasons
Gamble was famous for his hair, the mass of before joining the Angels staff in 1977.
which could barely be contained by a batting hel-
met, which would invariably come off his head Garcia finally got his break in 1978 at the age of
when he ran the bases. Images of him and his 57 when he was promoted to manager of the An-
large hair are still shown among highlights from gels after Norm Sherry was fired on July 11.
the era on television and in ballparks. His 1976 Garcia’s Angels went 35-46 the rest of the season
Topps baseball card, featuring an airbrushed and were 25-21 the next year when Garcia was
Yankees cap over his Afro, remains among the replaced by Jim Fregosi as manager on June 1,
most memorable and recognizable. Gamble had 1978.
to cut his hair shorter, though, after the Yankees Garcia returned to Cleveland and another mana-
acquired him from the Indians in a trade during gerial opportunity in 1979 when Jeff Torborg was
the 1975-76 offseason, and again after New York fired on July 22. The Indians went 38-28 under
reacquired him from the Rangers in ‘79. Garcia, who was hired as the full-time manager
Scouted by the legendary Buck O’Neil, Gam- following the season. That initial success didn’t
ble was drafted in 1968 by the Cubs, for whom last as the Indians hovered around .500 under
he debuted in 1969. He appeared in 1,584 big Garcia, whose record with the Indians was 247-
league games from 1969-85 and twice ranked in 244. He had an overall managerial record of 307-
the top 10 in slugging in the American League: 311.
in ‘74 for the Indians and ‘77 for the White Sox. As a minor league manager in the Giants, Padres
Gamble was part of the April 1977 trade in which and Angels organizations, Garcia went 890-785
the Yankees sent him and right-hander LaMarr with three league championships.
Hoyt to the White Sox in exchange for shortstop Garcia joined the staff of the Milwaukee Brewers
Bucky Dent. Gamble rejoined the Yankees in a in 1983 and spent two years as a coach before
trade that sent center fielder Mickey Rivers to transitioning back into scouting. He also scouted
Texas, and in ‘81 he followed Reggie Jackson’s for the Kansas City Royals and finished his base-
homer with one of his own, which gave the Yan- ball career in 2002 following a three-year stint on
kees the lead in an eventual 7-3 win in the de- the coaching staff of the Colorado Rockies under
cisive Game 5 of the A.L. Division Series against manager Buddy Bell.
the Brewers. Gamble went 5-for-9 in that series,
hitting a double and two homers. Garcia spent his retirement years living in San Di-
ego and was a regular at Padres games.
Garcia was married to his wife, Carmen, for 52
years until her death in 1994. The couple had two
grandsons playing professional baseball. Greg
Garcia, an infielder with the St. Louis Cardinals,
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