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You Are Here > Baseball-Reference.com > Players > Kirk Gibson

Kirk Gibson
Kirk Harold Gibson

Bats Left, Throws Left
Height 6' 3", Weight 215 lb.
School Michigan State University

Debut September 8, 1979
  vs. NYY 1 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
Final Game August 10, 1995
Born May 28, 1957 in Pontiac, MI

Brother-In-Law of Dave Rozema

Drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 1st round (12th pick) of the 1978 amateur draft. (All Transactions)

 About biographical information
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        #1 is: Kirk Gibson was probably the best clutch hitter in baseball in the 1980's, especially hitting home runs with men on base. Can anyone cite a better clutch player in the 1980's? Reply

Batting  Glossary /
Gamelogs: / Splits: / HR Log / PI Finders:Game / Streak / Event / PI vs. Pitcher
/ Neutralize Stats
 Year Ag Tm  Lg  G   AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR  RBI  SB CS  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG *OPS+  TB   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP 
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
 1979 22 DET AL  12   38    3    9   3  0   1    4   3  3   1   3  .237  .256  .395   71   15   0   0   0   0   0
 1980 23 DET AL  51  175   23   46   2  1   9   16   4  7  10  45  .263  .303  .440  100   77   1   2   0   1   0
 1981 24 DET AL  83  290   41   95  11  3   9   40  17  5  18  64  .328  .369  .479  140  139   1   2   1   2   9 MVP-12
 1982 25 DET AL  69  266   34   74  16  2   8   35   9  7  25  41  .278  .341  .444  114  118   1   1   2   1   2
 1983 26 DET AL 128  401   60   91  12  9  15   51  14  3  53  96  .227  .320  .414  104  166   5   4   3   4   2
 1984 27 DET AL 149  531   92  150  23 10  27   91  29  9  63 103  .282  .363  .516  142  274   3   6   6   8   4 MVP-6
 1985 28 DET AL 154  581   96  167  37  5  29   97  30  4  71 137  .287  .364  .518  140  301   3  10  16   5   5 MVP-18
 1986 29 DET AL 119  441   84  118  11  2  28   86  34  6  68 107  .268  .371  .492  133  217   1   4   4   7   8
 1987 30 DET AL 128  487   95  135  25  3  24   79  26  7  71 117  .277  .372  .489  130  238   1   4   8   5   5
 1988 31 LAD NL 150  542  106  157  28  1  25   76  31  4  73 120  .290  .377  .483  149  262   3   7  14   7   8 SS,MVP-1
 1989 32 LAD NL  71  253   35   54   8  2   9   28  12  3  35  55  .213  .312  .368   96   93   0   2   5   2   5
 1990 33 LAD NL  89  315   59   82  20  0   8   38  26  2  39  65  .260  .345  .400  108  126   0   2   0   3   4
 1991 34 KCR AL 132  462   81  109  17  6  16   55  18  4  69 103  .236  .341  .403  106  186   1   2   3   6   9
 1992 35 PIT NL  16   56    6   11   0  0   2    5   3  1   3  12  .196  .237  .304   53   17   1   0   0   0   1
 1993 36 DET AL 116  403   62  105  18  6  13   62  15  6  44  87  .261  .337  .432  107  174   0   3   4   4   2
 1994 37 DET AL  98  330   71   91  17  2  23   72   4  5  42  69  .276  .358  .548  130  181   2   5   3   3   2
 1995 38 DET AL  70  227   37   59  12  2   9   35   9  2  33  61  .260  .358  .449  109  102   0   2   3   3   6
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
 17 Seasons         5798      1553     54      870     78    1285  .268  .352  .463  123       23  56  72  61  72
               1635       985      260    255      284    718                            2686
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
 162 Game Avg        574   98  154  26  5  25   86  28  8  71 127  .268  .352  .463  123  266   2   6   7   6   7
 Career High    154  581  106  167  37 10  29   97  34  9  73 137  .328  .377  .548  149  301   5  10  16   8   9
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
 Year Ag Tm  Lg  G   AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR  RBI  SB CS  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG *OPS+  TB   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP 
Special Batting  Glossary
 Year Ag Tm  Lg  PA  Outs  RC  RC/27  AIR    BA *lgBA   OBP *lgOBP  SLG *lgSLG  OPS *lgOPS*OPS+ psOPS  SB% 
+--------------+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+----+
 1979 22 DET AL   39   32    4  3.38   104| .237  .273| .256  .338| .395  .414| .651  .752|  71        50%
 1980 23 DET AL  189  139   23  4.47   100| .263  .271| .303  .334| .440  .403| .743  .737| 100        36%
 1981 24 DET AL  313  212   51  6.50    92| .328  .261| .369  .326| .479  .379| .848  .705| 140        77%
 1982 25 DET AL  294  203   40  5.32    98| .278  .264| .341  .328| .444  .402| .785  .730| 114        56%
 1983 26 DET AL  467  324   53  4.42    95| .227  .262| .320  .324| .414  .395| .734  .719| 104        82%
 1984 27 DET AL  611  403   98  6.57    96| .282  .263| .363  .325| .516  .396| .879  .721| 142        76%
 1985 28 DET AL  670  436  110  6.81    98| .287  .260| .364  .326| .518  .404| .882  .730| 140        88%
 1986 29 DET AL  521  342   79  6.24   100| .268  .262| .371  .330| .492  .408| .863  .737| 133        85%
 1987 30 DET AL  568  369   88  6.44   102| .277  .260| .372  .328| .489  .418| .861  .746| 130        78%
 1988 31 LAD NL  632  407   98  6.50    87| .290  .253| .377  .316| .483  .371| .860  .687| 149        88%
 1989 32 LAD NL  292  209   29  3.75    89| .213  .252| .312  .319| .368  .375| .680  .693|  96        80%
 1990 33 LAD NL  359  241   43  4.82    95| .260  .261| .345  .327| .400  .392| .745  .718| 108        92%
 1991 34 KCR AL  540  369   62  4.54    97| .236  .260| .341  .329| .403  .395| .744  .724| 106        81%
 1992 35 PIT NL   60   48    4  2.25    91| .196  .258| .237  .323| .304  .380| .541  .703|  53        75%
 1993 36 DET AL  454  309   58  5.07   102| .261  .265| .337  .336| .432  .406| .769  .742| 107        71%
 1994 37 DET AL  382  253   65  6.94   111| .276  .273| .358  .345| .548  .434| .906  .779| 130        44%
 1995 38 DET AL  265  178   36  5.46   110| .260  .272| .358  .345| .449  .429| .807  .774| 109        81%
+--------------+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+----+
 17 Seasons     6656 4474  941  5.68    98| .268  .262| .352  .328| .463  .400| .815  .728| 123        78%

* indicates the value is park adjusted

Pitch Data Summary (Show or Hide)

Fielding  Glossary / Sort by Position, then Year
 Year Ag Tm  Lg Pos   G     PO    A    E   DP    FP   lgFP  RFg  lgRFg  RF9  lgRF9  LF   CF   RF
+--------------+---+----+------+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+
+---- Fielding Sorted by Year ------+
1979 22 DET AL OF 10 15 0 0 0 1.000 .980 1.50 2.13 7 1 2 1980 23 DET AL OF 49 122 1 1 0 .992 .979 2.51 2.15 0 49 0 DH 1 1981 24 DET AL OF 67 142 1 4 0 .973 .983 2.13 2.16 8 26 37 DH 9 1982 25 DET AL OF 64 167 4 1 3 .994 .982 2.67 2.15 0 64 0 DH 4 1983 26 DET AL DH 66 OF 54 116 2 3 0 .975 .981 2.19 2.16 29 22 4 1984 27 DET AL OF 139 245 4 12 2 .954 .983 1.79 2.17 0 1 140 DH 6 1985 28 DET AL OF 144 286 1 11 0 .963 .982 1.99 2.10 0 20 127 DH 8 1986 29 DET AL OF 114 190 2 2 1 .990 .980 1.68 2.06 0 1 114 DH 4 1987 30 DET AL OF 121 253 6 7 0 .974 .980 2.14 2.00 119 2 0 DH 4 1988 31 LAD NL OF 148 311 6 12 3 .964 .982 2.14 1.98 148 1 0 1989 32 LAD NL OF 70 146 3 3 2 .980 .981 2.13 1.96 62 15 0 1990 33 LAD NL OF 81 191 4 1 1 .995 .981 2.41 2.01 11 70 0 1991 34 KCR AL OF 94 162 3 4 0 .976 .983 1.76 2.03 91 0 3 DH 30 1992 35 PIT NL OF 13 25 1 0 0 1.000 .985 2.00 1.96 0 0 13 1993 36 DET AL DH 76 OF 32 76 0 1 0 .987 .983 2.38 2.09 2 30 0 1994 37 DET AL DH 56 OF 38 76 3 1 0 .988 .983 2.08 2.09 0 23 15 1995 38 DET AL DH 63 OF 1 0 0 0 0 0.00 2.00 0 0 1
+---- Fielding Sorted by Position --+
1980 23 DET AL DH 1 1981 24 DET AL DH 9 1982 25 DET AL DH 4 1983 26 DET AL DH 66 1984 27 DET AL DH 6 1985 28 DET AL DH 8 1986 29 DET AL DH 4 1987 30 DET AL DH 4 1991 34 KCR AL DH 30 1993 36 DET AL DH 76 1994 37 DET AL DH 56 1995 38 DET AL DH 63 1979 22 DET AL OF 10 15 0 0 0 1.000 .980 1.50 2.13 7 1 2 1980 23 DET AL OF 49 122 1 1 0 .992 .979 2.51 2.15 0 49 0 1981 24 DET AL OF 67 142 1 4 0 .973 .983 2.13 2.16 8 26 37 1982 25 DET AL OF 64 167 4 1 3 .994 .982 2.67 2.15 0 64 0 1983 26 DET AL OF 54 116 2 3 0 .975 .981 2.19 2.16 29 22 4 1984 27 DET AL OF 139 245 4 12 2 .954 .983 1.79 2.17 0 1 140 1985 28 DET AL OF 144 286 1 11 0 .963 .982 1.99 2.10 0 20 127 1986 29 DET AL OF 114 190 2 2 1 .990 .980 1.68 2.06 0 1 114 1987 30 DET AL OF 121 253 6 7 0 .974 .980 2.14 2.00 119 2 0 1988 31 LAD NL OF 148 311 6 12 3 .964 .982 2.14 1.98 148 1 0 1989 32 LAD NL OF 70 146 3 3 2 .980 .981 2.13 1.96 62 15 0 1990 33 LAD NL OF 81 191 4 1 1 .995 .981 2.41 2.01 11 70 0 1991 34 KCR AL OF 94 162 3 4 0 .976 .983 1.76 2.03 91 0 3 1992 35 PIT NL OF 13 25 1 0 0 1.000 .985 2.00 1.96 0 0 13 1993 36 DET AL OF 32 76 0 1 0 .987 .983 2.38 2.09 2 30 0 1994 37 DET AL OF 38 76 3 1 0 .988 .983 2.08 2.09 0 23 15 1995 38 DET AL OF 1 0 0 0 0 0.00 2.00 0 0 1
+--------------+---+----+------+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+ Position Total OF 1239 2523 41 63 12 .976 .982 2.07 2.07 477 325 456 DH 327 Games not counted in Overall Total below +--------------+---+----+------+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+ Overall Total 1239 2523 41 63 12 .976 .982 2.07 2.07
Postseason Batting 

 Year   Round Tm  Opp WLser  G   AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   SB CS  SH  SF HBP
+------+-----+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---+--+---+---+---+
 1984   ALCS  DET KCR     W   3  12   2   5  1  0  1   2   2   1  .417  .500  .750   1  0   0   0   0 
        WS    DET SDP     W   5  18   4   6  0  0  2   7   4   4  .333  .478  .667   3  1   0   0   1 
 1987   ALCS  DET MIN     L   5  21   4   6  1  0  1   4   3   8  .286  .375  .476   3  0   0   0   0 
 1988   NLCS  LAD NYM     W   7  26   2   4  0  0  2   6   3   6  .154  .233  .385   2  0   0   1   0 
        WS    LAD OAK     W   1   1   1   1  0  0  1   2   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000   0  0   0   0   0 
+------+-----+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---+--+---+---+---+
  3 Lg Champ Series   2-1  15  59   8  15  2  0  4  12   8  15  .254  .338  .492   6  0   0   1   0 
  2 World Series      2-0   6  19   5   7  0  0  3   9   4   4  .368  .500  .842   3  1   0   0   1 
  5 Postseason Ser    4-1  21  78  13  22  2  0  7  21  12  19  .282  .380  .577   9  1   0   1   1 
+------------------+-----+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---+--+---+---+---+

WLser shows whether the player's team Won or Lost the series.
Appearances on Leaderboards and Awards   Glossary

Awards are Year-League-Award, Stats are Year-Value-Rank, (Pos) for All-Star indicates starter & * indicates they played.

Awards
1984-ALCS MVP
1988-NL-MVP

Silver Sluggers
1988-NL--OF

MVP (YrLg-Rk-Shr)
1981-AL-12-0.10
1984-AL-6-0.24
1985-AL-18-0.02
1988-NL-1-0.81
Car-198-1.17 shares

Batting Average
1981 AL-**.328-3

On-base %
1988 NL-.377-4

Slugging %
1984 AL-.516-6
1985 AL-.518-6
1986 AL-.492-9
1988 NL-.483-9

OPS
1984 AL-.880-10
1985 AL-.882-7
1986 AL-.863-9
1988 NL-.860-4

Runs
1988 NL-106-2

Total Bases
1985 AL-301-6

Doubles
1985 AL-37-7

Triples
1983 AL-9-2
1984 AL-10-3
1993 AL-6-9

Home Runs
1985 AL-29-9
1988 NL-25-7
1994 AL-23-10

Strikeouts
1985 AL-137-4
1988 NL-120-9
Car-1285-98

Stolen Bases
1981 AL-17-8
1984 AL-29-8
1985 AL-30-8
1986 AL-34-4

Adjusted OPS+
1984 AL-142-9
1985 AL-140-7
1986 AL-133-9
1988 NL-149-3

Runs Created
1985 AL-110-7
1988 NL-98-7

Extra-Base Hits
1985 AL-71-3

Times on Base
1988 NL-237-4

Hit By Pitch
1984 AL-8-4
1986 AL-7-9
1988 NL-7-8

Sac. Flies
1985 AL-10-4

Intentional Walks
1985 AL-16-2
1987 AL-8-10
1988 NL-14-7

Power/Speed Number
1981 AL-11.8-4
1983 AL-14.5-10
1984 AL-28.0-1
1985 AL-29.5-2
1986 AL-30.7-2
1987 AL-25.0-4
1988 NL-27.7-3
Car-268.7-32

At Bats per Home Run
1986 AL-15.8-3
1988 NL-21.7-8
1994 AL-14.3-6

Salary
1988 NL-$1,833,333-9

A ** by the stat's value indicates the player had fewer than the required number of at bats or plate appearances for the BA, OBP, SLG or OPS title that year. In order to rank the player, the necessary number of hitless at bats were added to the player's season total. The value printed here is their actual value and not the value used to rank them, therefore some numbers may appear out of order. Requirements to qualify for rate stats.

Gray Ink: Batting - 44 (554) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)
HOF Standards: Batting - 22.2 (521) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 18.5 (815) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Overall Rank in parentheses.

Act.- Denotes rank among active players, Car. - Denotes career rank
Click on the Car, Act or Year to see the career, active, or league leaderboard.


Similar Batters  View in Pop-up

Compare Stats
  1. Ray Lankford (938)
  2. Eric Davis (925)
  3. Bill Nicholson (923)
  4. Raul Mondesi (922)
  5. Ben Oglivie (911)
  6. Larry Doby (910) *
  7. Rick Monday (907)
  8. Reggie Sanders (902)
  9. Bobby Thomson (901)
  10. Jeff Burroughs (897)
Most Similar by Age 

Click on C to compare their stats
Mouse over numbers to view names
  1. Matt Murton (971)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  2. Juan Rivera (977)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  3. Michael Tucker (972)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  4. Ivan Calderon (975)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  5. Bobby Higginson (966)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  6. Reggie Sanders (950)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  7. Tony Conigliaro (946)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  8. Bobby Higginson (943)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  9. Larry Hisle (950)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  10. Reggie Sanders (963)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  11. Reggie Sanders (958)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  12. Carl Everett (941)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  13. Bill Nicholson (925)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  14. Bill Nicholson (930)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  15. Bill Nicholson (923)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C

* - Signifies Hall of Famer
Explanation of Similarity Scores


Transactions 

June 6, 1978: Drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 1st round (12th pick) of the 1978 amateur draft.

November 12, 1985: Granted Free Agency.

January 8, 1986: Signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.

January 22, 1988: Granted Free Agency.

January 29, 1988: Signed as a Free Agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

November 5, 1990: Granted Free Agency.

December 1, 1990: Signed as a Free Agent with the Kansas City Royals.

March 10, 1992: Traded by the Kansas City Royals to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Neal Heaton.

May 5, 1992: Released by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

February 10, 1993: Signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.

November 5, 1993: Granted Free Agency.

February 4, 1994: Signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.

October 28, 1994: Granted Free Agency.

April 7, 1995: Signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.


The transaction information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. Last transaction is September 30, 2006.
Salaries Leaders
1985Detroit Tigers$685,000
1986Detroit Tigers$1,200,000
1987Detroit Tigers$1,335,000
1988Los Angeles Dodgers$1,833,333
1989Los Angeles Dodgers$1,333,333
1990Los Angeles Dodgers$1,333,334
1991Kansas City Royals$1,700,000
1992Pittsburgh Pirates$1,950,000
1993Detroit Tigers$1,100,000
1994Detroit Tigers$1,500,000
1995Detroit Tigers$1,300,000
Career (may be incomplete)$15,270,000

Salary Data (about) courtesy Doug Pappas, member of SABR.
Salaries for mid-season call-ups or traded players may not be shown.
Uniforms 
View Kirk Gibson's uniforms at Dressed to the Nines
a Baseball Hall of Fame on-line exhibit

Other References 
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Viewed 191370 times through August 17, 2007.
Name and misspellings: Kirk kurt Harold Kirk kurt Gibson

Pages Updated through August 16,2007. Pages designed and created by Baseball-Reference part of Sports Reference, Inc. (Copyright ©2000-2007).
Statistics may come from our work, the Baseball Databank, or other sources including SABR.org and RetroSheet.org..

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