Gordon Mackenzie

Vocation

Lifestyle

Notable

American professional baseball player, manager, coach and scout, inducted in the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005. He appeared in 11 Major League games played during the final weeks of the 1961 season for the Kansas City Athletics, but collected only three singles and one base on balls in 25 plate appearances and never returned to the big leagues as a player. A catcher during his active career (1956–1966), he threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall and weighed 175 pounds (79 kg). Mackenzie signed with the Athletics after graduating from St. Petersburg High School. He made his MLB debut on 13 August 1961 as a pinch hitter against the Chicago White Sox, and was a starting catcher for five late-season games, but the 1961 audition provided Mackenzie's only big-league playing experience. However, he would manage in minor league baseball for 16 years, and spend eight seasons as a coach at the Major League level for the Kansas City Royals (1980–1981), Chicago Cubs (1982), San Francisco Giants (1986–1988) and Cleveland Indians (1991–1992). He also scouted for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Senators, and was an advance scout for the Indians and Houston Astros. He won the Carolina League championship while managing the Kinston Indians in 1995. He died on 12 August 2014, aged 77, in St. Petersburg, Florida. Link to Wikipedia biography