Graig Nettles

Lore & Background

Nettles is regarded as one of the best defensive third basemen of all time, winning Gold Glove Awards in 1977 and 1978. Despite his relatively low career batting average, he was a clutch offensive contributor, particularly with runners in scoring position. His 68.0 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is the highest among all players with a batting average of .250 or lower. Nettles was a six-time All-Star player. As a part of four pennant-winning Yankee teams, Nettles enjoyed his best season in 1977 when he won the Gold Glove Award and had career-highs in home runs (37) and runs batted in (107) in leading the Yankees to the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Reader's Guide

Nettles was born and raised in San Diego, California. He graduated from San Diego High School in 1962, then attended San Diego State College on a basketball scholarship, where he played for both the Aztecs' basketball and baseball teams. In 1964 and 1965, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Alaska Goldpanners. The Minnesota Twins drafted Nettles in the fourth round (79th overall) of the 1965 Major League Baseball draft.

He made his MLB debut with the Twins on September 6, 1967. On December 10, 1969, the Twins traded Nettles with Dean Chance, Ted Uhlaender, and a player to be named later to the Cleveland Indians for Luis Tiant and Stan Williams. After three seasons with the Indians, Nettles was acquired by the New York Yankees on November 27, 1972. Nettles was named the AL player of the month for April 1974, as he set the AL record for home runs in a month with 11.

On September 14, 1974, Nettles and his brother Jim homered in the same game. Nettles began the 1975 season batting .287 with 14 home runs and 56 RBI in 86 games. He was named the starting third baseman for the AL in the 1975 MLB All-Star Game. During a brawl against the Boston Red Sox on May 20, 1976, Nettles broke Bill Lee's collarbone.

For the season, he batted .254 with an AL-leading 32 home runs and 93 RBI. In 1977, he picked up his first Gold Glove Award and set career-highs with 37 homers and 107 RBI. The following season, Nettles earned his second Gold Glove. In July 1980, Nettles hit his 267th career home run, the most among AL third basemen.

He was limited to 89 games in 1980 because of hepatitis. Before the 1982 season, the Yankees named Nettles their team captain. On March 30, 1984, the Yankees traded Nettles to the San Diego Padres. Nettles was involved in the 1984 "San Diego Padres–Atlanta Braves Beanball Game".

The Padres declined to offer Nettles a contract after the 1986 season. He signed with the Braves for the 1987 season. The Montreal Expos purchased Nettles' contract on March 24, 1988. In his 22-season career, Nettles hit .248 with 390 home runs and 1,314 RBI in 2,700 games. After retiring, Nettles coached for the Yankees (1991) and Padres (1995).