Greg Gross

Gregory Eugene Gross (born August 1, 1952) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and Pinch hitter who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily for the Philadelphia Phillies.

He was previously the Phillies' hitting coach and a former manager for the Reno Aces, the Arizona Diamondbacks' Triple-A affiliate.

The streak tied Jimmy Wynn (1969) for the longest on-base streak in franchise history, a record that stands as of 2022.

On June 4, 1970, Gross was selected by the Houston Astros in the fourth round (79th overall) of the June Baseball draft.

He led the league in hits in 1970 while playing for Covington in the Appalachian League, batting .351.

He also tied for the league lead in double plays by outfielders.

Gross also finished the season with a .393 on-base percentage, giving him one of the highest on-base percentages of any rookie since 1970.

Gross has said he had hoped to be a full-time player for the Phillies in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but the team just had too many other talented outfielders, namely Bake McBride, Greg Luzinski, Garry Maddox, and Lonnie Smith.

In 1971, Gross was promoted to the Columbus Astros of the Southern League, where he played outfield and first base.

In 1972, Gross played most of the season at Columbus, then was promoted to the Oklahoma City 89ers, which was the Astros' AAA farm club.

In 1973, Gross started the season with the Denver Bears, which by that point had become the Astros' new AAA farm club.

The Astros decided to call up Gross late in 1973.

On September 5, 1973, Gross made his MLB debut with the Astros, going 0-for-1 (ground out to third baseman Denis Menke) as a Pinch hitter against pitcher Pedro Borbon, which was the last out of the ninth inning in a game that went extra innings and ended in a 9-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at the Astrodome.

Gross finished the season going 9-for-39, for a .231 average.

In 1974, Gross became the Astros' starting right fielder and leadoff hitter, playing in 156 games and batting .314.

Gross was named The Sporting News' National League Rookie Player of the Year and finished second in the voting for National League Rookie of the Year.

In 1974, Gross also set a major league record for most times caught stealing in a rookie season with 20.

In 1975 and 1976, Gross continued to be a starting outfielder for the Astros, hitting .294 and .286, respectively.

The 1975 season saw him reach base in 52 straight games.

Nearly half of his hits (142) and walks (63) in the season came during the streak, which saw him collect 70 hits and 30 walks from June 25 to August 18.

Gross was traded from the Astros to the Cubs for Julio González at the Winter Meetings on December 8, 1976.

In 1977, Gross hit his first major-league home run, connecting a total of five times while hitting .322 in 115 games.

After a busy 1978 season, Gross was traded by the Cubs on February 23, 1979 to the Philadelphia Phillies with Manny Trillo and Dave Rader for Jerry Martin, Barry Foote, Ted Sizemore, Derek Botelho and Henry Mack.

Gross is perhaps best remembered for his clutch Pinch hitting abilities, particularly during the Phillies' 1980 World Championship run.

He holds the team’s record in career Pinch hits, with 117.

Gross also ranks fifth on MLB’s all-time list in career Pinch hits, with 143.

Gross holds the MLB record for Pinch hit walks with 117.

Born in York, Pennsylvania, Gross graduated from Red Land High School in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania.

Gross established himself as a key platoon outfielder and first baseman for the Phillies, getting to play in the 1980 National League Championship Series (he went 3-for-4—all Pinch hits—with one RBI in four games), the 1980 World Series (0-for-2 in four games), the 1983 NL Championship Series (0-for-5 in four games with a run scored), and in the 1983 World Series (0-for-6 in 2 games).

Gross was an invaluable Pinch hitter.

In 1982, he led the league in Pinch hits with 19.

Gross remained with the Phillies through the 1988 season, in which he hit just .203 in 133 at-bats but posted the unusual statistic of striking out just three times during the entire season.

Over his entire career of 3,745 at-bats, Gross struck out just 250 times.

On April 5, 1989, Gross rejoined the Houston Astros as a free agent, hitting .200 largely in a Pinch-hitting role.

Despite his historic success as a prolific Pinch-hitter, Gross struggled in 1989, hitting just .184 (7-for-38).

"I...didn't figure I should be playing part-time at that point in my career," Gross told the San Diego Union-Tribune in an article that appeared on March 18, 1991.

"But they had those three guys and I knew they should be playing ahead of me. Plus, they were winning and that changes your thinking a lot. Before, I was playing on second-division teams and we were out of it pretty early. But when you get your first taste of winning, when you're in the playoffs and the World Series, you want more of it."

In addition, Gross acknowledged in an interview in 2007 the difficulty of being a starting player when he was neither fast nor a power hitter.

"The cycle that baseball was in back then, with the AstroTurf and everything, centered on the stolen base or the home run, and I did neither of those," Gross told The Patriot-News of Harrisburg in an article that was published on April 8, 2007.

"It was just a matter of survival. You made the best out of it. The big break for me was when I got onto a real good club."