Former Spartan and Tiger Kirk Gibson Going Into the Michigan Baseball Hall of Fame

Former Michigan State Spartan and Detroit Tiger Kirk Gibson is headed to the Michigan Baseball Hall of Fame. According to the Lansing State Journal, he'll be inducted on June 25th at Cooley Law School Stadium, right before the Lugnuts play the West Michigan Whitecaps. Kirk's son Cam plays for the Whitecaps.

Here's the story.

Kirk played football for the Spartans, and in fact was an All-American wide receiver. He only played one season of baseball at MSU, but did well enough to go in the first round of the pro baseball draft to the Tigers. The St. Louis Cardinals football team also drafted him, but he decided to play pro baseball instead. He spent 17 years in the major leagues.

Kirk Gibson had two of the greatest home runs in World Series history. He was part of the Tigers' team that won the 1984 World Series - putting the World Series away for the Tigers with a three-run homer in the 8th inning.

And in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, playing for the L.A. Dodgers, Kirk had (what I consider) the greatest "at bat" in World Series history. This moment had it all - Vin Scully calling the game, Mike Davis almost getting picked off at first to lose the game, Dennis Eckersley's 80s mustache, (and the classic look when he gives up the home run) and a 6 minute at bat for Kirk Gibson. With a bad knee, a bad hamstring, two strikes on him and two outs in the bottom of the ninth. And the Dodgers down by one.

This video shows every second of the  bottom of the ninth inning - plus the Bob Costas post-game interview with Gibson.

I could watch this forever:

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