finalyear bats birth_place debutyear finaldate statvalue position finalteam statlabel debutdate birth_date article_title debutteam name throws
1974 switch long beach , california 1969 july 19 .208 1 17 outfielder san diego padres batting average home runs runs batted in april 8 3 april 1946 rod gaspar
 new york mets rod gaspar left
rod gaspar

rodney earl gaspar -lrb- born april 3 , 1946 in long beach , california -rrb- is a former major league baseball outfielder .
a switch hitter , gaspar played for the new york mets -lrb- 1969 -- 70 -rrb- and san diego padres -lrb- 1971 , 1974 -rrb- .
a former player at long beach state and long beach city college , gaspar played 178 games in his career , 118 of them in his rookie year , .
he began the year as the mets ' starting right fielder , then became a utility outfielder -lrb- he also played left and center field on occasion -rrb- after ron swoboda became the regular right fielder .
that year , he hit .228 , recorded in 14 of his 17 career runs batted in , and hit his only major league home run , off mike mccormick of the san francisco giants on may 30 .
he also excelled defensively , leading all mets outfielders in assists with 12 , and leading the national league in double plays with six .
that year , gaspar was a member of the miracle mets team that unexpectedly won the world series in five games over the baltimore orioles .
in game four of that series , gaspar scored the winning run on a controversial play at shea stadium .
with the score tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the tenth , gaspar pinch-ran for jerry grote , who had led off the inning with a double .
an intentional walk to al weis followed , after which j. c. martin , pinch-hitting for tom seaver , bunted to the pitcher .
both runners advanced , and as martin ran to first , pete richert 's throw hit him on the hand and ricocheted away , the error allowing gaspar to score the winning run .
-lrb- replays would later show that martin had been running inside the baseline , which could have resulted in him being called out for interference ; however , the umpires said they did n't make the call because they felt martin did n't `` intentionally '' interfere with the play . -rrb-
gaspar 's son cade also achieved some measure of distinction as a baseball player .
cade gaspar played college ball at saddleback college for two years before becoming a west coast conference all-star with pepperdine university in 1994 , and the detroit tigers selected him with the eighteenth overall pick in the first round of the 1994 major league baseball draft .
the younger gaspar played minor league baseball for three years , in the farm systems of the tigers and the san diego padres .
today , rod gaspar owns an insurance company in mission viejo , california .
-lsb- http://www.rodgasparinsurance.com/]
