Кевин Митчелл: Америкалық бейсболшының өмірі мен мансабы

American baseball player

Kevin Darnell Mitchell (born January 13, 1962) is an American professional baseball left fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball from 1984 to 1998. Mitchell was a two time MLB All Star and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award and Silver Slugger Award in 1989, when he led the league in home runs and runs batted in.

Mitchell was born in San Diego to Alma Mitchell, who worked as an electrician with the US Navy. Alma separated from Mitchell's father, Earl, when Mitchell was two years old. Because Mitchell struggled academically, he attended several high schools in San Diego including Lincoln High School, Clairemont High School and Crawford High School, where he claimed to have played water polo. Although he has been credited with graduating from Clairemont and has claimed to have been a high school football star there, Mitchell only attended the school for two months in 1978. He was reportedly involved in street gangs as a youth, but has claimed he was never himself a member; he also claimed to have been shot three times in his youth. His stepbrother, Donald, was killed in a gang fight. Mitchell reportedly did not play high school baseball. He was signed by the New York Mets as an undrafted free agent following an open tryout at Grossmont College. He was given a $1,500 signing bonus plus $600 monthly in salary.

In Amazin', Peter Golenbock's oral history of the New York Mets, Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter said he gave Mitchell the nickname "World" for his ability to play in the infield and outfield. Carter spoke fondly of Mitchell's talents. In the tenth inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, after Wally Backman and Keith Hernandez had been retired for the first two outs, he was called to pinch hit for reliever Rick Aguilera after Gary Carter, the next hitter after Hernandez, singled. Mitchell, who had already gotten out of his uniform and had on his regular clothes, hurriedly put his uniform back on without his protective cup and went to the plate and singled. He would eventually score the tying run on Bob Stanley's wild pitch to Mookie Wilson. In a July 2007 radio interview with local sports talk radio station KNBR, Mitchell disputed that he was out of uniform at the time, and stated that he never wore a cup, even when playing infield. When asked why he never wore a cup, Mitchell responded, "I couldn’t find one big enough for my junk." The interviewer then commented that maybe the increased mobility helped Mitchell to make the famous 1989 barehanded catch of Ozzie Smith's fly ball. Mitchell played for the Padres for half a season.