John Gibbons

Born in Great Falls, Montana, and raised in San Antonio, Texas, John Gibbons was the son of United States Air Force colonel Williams Gibbons. He had his first Little League Baseball at-bat while playing in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada, where the Gibbons family lived at the time. After being selected by the New York Mets with the 24th overall pick of the 1980 amateur draft, Gibbons had a very brief 18-game stint in the majors as a catcher with the Mets before retiring as a player in 1990. Gibbons went on to be the Mets’ bullpen catcher during the 1986 postseason, in which the Mets won the World Series. In 2003, following a decade of coaching in the minors, the Toronto Blue Jays hired Gibbons – Relatively unknow at the time – to be their bullpen coach. By 2004 he found his way into the manager’s seat, a position he held until 2008. After bouncing around a few different positions, Gibbons had been unable to land himself another bench boss gig. After the 2012 season, the Blue Jays did the unexpected and brought back their former skipper for a second go-around. That second tenure lasted six more seasons, with the team making consecutive trips to the American League Championship Series in 2015 and 2016. Affectionately known by many as “Gibby”, John Gibbons has left his mark on the Blue Jays organization during his two stints spanning over a decade. He ended his Blue Jays career second in both wins and games managed only trailing that of Cito Gaston. His reputation is that he is a true players manager, someone who would go into the trenches for his guys. Gibbons is a passionate, straight-shooting, old-school baseball man – not to mention a leader many of his players adored. “He’s like a second dad,” said Russel Martin, veteran Blue Jays catcher. “You don’t want to disappoint him.”