Mark Gubicza

American baseball player and analyst

Mark Steven Gubicza ('/ɡ//ʊ//b//ᵻ//z//ə/; born August 14, 1962), nicknamed "Gubie", is an American former professional baseball pitcher and sportscaster. Gubicza played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals (1984–96) and Anaheim Angels (1997). He is a color commentator for Los Angeles Angels games on Bally Sports West. After being drafted out of William Penn Charter School in the second round of the 1981 MLB draft and playing three seasons in the minor leagues, Gubicza spent nearly all of his MLB career with the Royals, making all but two of his career appearances with the team. He was a mainstay in the Royals starting rotation for years, earning back to back MLB All Star selections in 1988 and 1989 and making an Opening Day start for the team in 1989. Gubicza played a reduced number of games later in his career due to three arm injuries and a leg injury between 1990 and 1997. He was traded to the Anaheim Angels before the 1997 season and retired after that year. At the time of his retirement, Gubicza held the Royals franchise record for strikeouts with 1,366, was third in wins at 132, and was second in pitching wins above replacement with 38.0. He was inducted into the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame in 2006. Following his playing career, Gubicza became a sportscaster and worked in various roles before joining the Angels broadcast booth on Fox Sports West as a color commentator in 2007.

Mark Gubicza was born on August 14, 1962, in Philadelphia. He is the son of Anthony Gubicza Jr., who pitched in the Chicago White Sox organization for three years and later served as a part time coach for the Villanova Wildcats. Gubicza is of Hungarian and Polish ancestry. Growing up, Gubicza was interested in several sports, including baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and boxing. In Little League, he played shortstop and pitched. In one 17 game stretch in Little League, Gubizca accrued 57 hits. Though he grew up in Philadelphia, he idolized Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer. Coming out of high school, Gubicza had collegiate offers from Alabama, Georgia, Duke, and USC, among others. Gubicza and his father were present at Veterans Stadium for game six of the 1980 World Series, witnessing the Philadelphia Phillies win their first championship. He began his professional baseball career at age 18 with the Royals Gold in the Gulf Coast League, where he went 8 1 with a 2.25 earned run average (ERA) and 40 strikeouts in 56 innings. Gubicza played for the Fort Myers Royals in the Florida State Class A League in 1982 and missed most of the season due to injuries. In 1983, he was assigned to the Jacksonville Suns, the Royals Double A team in the Southern League, managed by Gene Lamont. Gubicza was 14–12 with a 2.72 ERA and 146 strikeouts in 196 innings.

On April 6, 1984, Gubicza made his major league debut against the Cleveland Indians at Royals Stadium at the age of 21. He pitched 6 innings, gave up 5 hits, 1 run, and struck out 4. Through the first 10 starts of his career, Gubicza posted a 3.14 ERA across 66 innings. He threw his first shutout on May 12 against the Boston Red Sox. Despite Gubicza's pitching stats, he did not accrue many wins as the Royals had trouble providing run support during his starts. Following a 3–0 loss to the Minnesota Twins on June 15 where he pitched 7 1/3 innings and gave up 2 earned runs, Gubicza dropped to a 3–6 record on the season. It was the fourth time that season that the Royals were shut out while Gubicza was pitching and the seventh time that the Royals scored three or fewer runs in one of his starts. By the end of the regular season, Gubicza had a 10–14 record with a 4.05 ERA across 189 innings. The Royals offense provided an average of 4.06 runs per Gubicza start, nearly equal to his ERA. For his sophomore season in 1985, Gubicza joined a five man rotation alongside Bud Black, Danny Jackson, Charlie Leibrandt, and Bret Saberhagen. The rotation posted a combined ERA below 3.00 through April and a combined 3.47 ERA by the end of the regular season, the sixth best in the majors. Gubicza posted similar statistics to his previous season: a 4.06 ERA through 177 1/3 innings worked. His win loss record improved to 14–10 as the Royals were able to provide him with more run support at an average of 4.70 runs per start. Gubicza made his only career postseason appearances during the 1985 American League Championship Series against the Toronto Blue Jays. In game one of the series, Gubicza entered the game as a relief pitcher in the fifth inning following a two inning start by Leibrandt that resulted in five runs being surrendered. Gubicza worked three innings in relief, giving up no hits or runs while striking out two and walking one. In game six of the series, Gubicza was assigned his first postseason start while the Royals were down 3 2 and attempting a return from a 3–1 deficit. He lasted 5 1/3 innings, giving up three runs while accruing two strikeouts and walking three batters. The Royals won the game 5–3, setting them up for a winner take all matchup the following night that they would go on to win. While the Royals advanced to the 1985 World Series, Gubicza did not pitch as the team elected for a four man rotation. Following the 1985 season, the Royals considered trading Gubicza to the San Francisco Giants for Chili Davis in order to bolster the team's offense. Kansas City's front office ultimately decided against it because San Francisco also wanted Darryl Motley and prospect Van Snider, a price that was seen as too high. In 1986, Gubicza was a member of a revised Royals rotation as former starter Bud Black was moved to the bullpen. Gubicza posted a 3.64 ERA across 180 1/3 innings with a 12–6 record, finishing second behind Danny Jackson for the team lead in ERA. Gubicza pitched two shutouts in 1986, first against the Cleveland Indians on May 14 and later against the New York Yankees on August 17.

In 1987, Gubicza made a jump in his innings pitched, working 241 2/3 innings. He posted a 3.98 ERA and a 13–18 record and led the Royals with 166 strikeouts. He struggled at the start of the season and moved to a career 0–7 record in the month of April. Gubicza threw ten complete games and two shutouts, first on June 23 at Oakland and later on September 23 at Seattle. Gubicza was not ready to return to the mound until May 14, 1991, when he made his season debut in Toronto. In his first game since the surgery, he went five innings and surrendered three runs with eight strikeouts and one walk. Gubicza struggled throughout the 1991 season, including a June 26 game against the California Angels where he surrendered six runs and only lasted 2/3 of an inning. Through his first 10 games, Gubicza had a 5.98 ERA and a 4–5 record. By the end of the season, Gubicza accrued a 9–12 record across 133 innings with a 5.68 ERA and 89 strikeouts. Gubicza began a 40 pitch rehab program on July 22, but he failed to complete it as the soreness in his arm lingered. Dr. Lewis Yocum examined Gubicza's arm on August 24 and found that his bursa had healed but he still had weakness in his rotator cuff, keeping him off the mound for another month, therefore ending his season. In 1993, Gubicza started in six of the first seven turns of the rotation but was moved to the bullpen after struggling, including a 1 2/3 inning, 7 run start against the Boston Red Sox on April 8. Through his first seven appearances, he had a 6.55 ERA and an 0–4 record. During his time as a reliever, Gubicza lowered his season ERA to 4.66 while collecting two saves and eight holds across 43 appearances. Gubicza did not pitch again that season. In his 13 seasons with Kansas City, he finished with a 132–135 record, a 3.91 ERA, 327 games started, 42 complete games, 16 shutouts, 2218 2/3 innings pitched, 1366 strikeouts, a 110 ERA+, a 3.67 FIP, and 9.6 SO/9. Gubicza only pitched 4 2/3 innings across two starts that for the Angels, and he gave up 13 earned runs for an ERA of 25.07. On April 11, again pitching against the Indians, Gubicza gave up six runs in the second inning. Following his second start, Gubicza was sent back to Anaheim to receive an MRI on his shoulder. The results were normal but he received a cortisone injection and went on the disabled list. It was later revealed that Gubicza needed arthroscopic surgery for the second time in his career and he missed the remainder of the 1997 season as a result. He was not activated from the disabled list until October. Following the 1997 season, the Angels re signed Gubicza to a minor league contract but released him shortly thereafter. He signed a minor league deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers in January 1998 but announced his retirement the following month, citing his injuries.

Gubicza's early pitching was heavily influenced by his father, who had more time to coach his son due to an injury that prematurely ended his minor league baseball career. By the time he was in high school, Gubicza had learned to pitch with the "drop and drive" form, a pitching mechanic where the pitcher bends their non dominant leg to add momentum to their throw. His usage of the mechanic was specifically based on Tom Seaver, a famous user of the drop and drive. This pitching mechanic helped Gubicza to reach on his fastball and on his curveball in high school. Gubicza has worked for Bally Sports West, formerly known as Fox Sports West, since the mid 2000s. He has primarily served as a color commentator for Angels broadcasts, occasionally providing pre game and post game analysis on Angels Live and formerly for Dodgers Live. In 2007, he was paired with José Mota on 50 Angels telecasts on Fox Sports West/Prime Ticket and KCOP. He also co hosted Angels in the Infield with Bill Macdonald. The Angels announced in 2008 that he would work roughly 75 games on television during that season. Gubizca was slated to work with Rory Markas on Angels broadcasts in 2010 before Markas's sudden death on January 4, 2010. On March 3, 2010, Victor Rojas was named as Markas's replacement, a broadcast partner Gubicza remained with until 2020. In 2021, Gubicza became a permanent fixture of an otherwise rotating broadcast booth that featured Matt Vasgersian as the primary play by play announcer with Daron Sutton (and later Rich Waltz) filling in when Vasgersian had to call games for ESPN or MLB Network. In 2022, Vasgersian remained on the network's primary broadcast team alongside Gubicza and became more available due to his departure from ESPN. Gubicza hosts a weekly segment called "Gubie Tuesdays" that is shown during games between a commercial break and the return to action on the field. In the segment, Gubicza interviews various Angels players with open ended questions about baseball or other lighthearted subjects.

Gubicza became known as a fastball pitcher in part due to his 6 ft 6 in, 215 lb (1.98 m, 97 kg) frame that helped him to develop a velocity above as early as high school. On July 21, 2006, Gubicza was inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame in a pregame ceremony at Kauffman Stadium. Gubicza called his induction a "tremendous honor" and former teammates John Wathan and Jeff Montgomery spoke about his career at the ceremony. Gubicza was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame on January 31, 2010. He was inducted into the National Polish American Sports Hall of Fame on June 16, 2022.

Gubicza met his wife, Lisa, at the wedding of Royals teammate Bret Saberhagen. Gubicza coached eventual MLB outfielder Kevin Pillar. Gubicza's son, Chad, attended Chaminade. Chaminade would sometimes play nearby Calabasas High School, a team that was coached by Gubicza's former Kansas City teammate Bret Saberhagen. Because of his roots in Philadelphia, Gubicza is a fan of the various sports teams of the city. He has attended Philadelphia Eagles games with Angels outfielder Mike Trout, a native of Millville, New Jersey, who also roots for Philadelphia's teams.