Gary Rajsich

Every little boy wants to follow in his big brother’s footsteps, especially when it comes to sports. One of Gary Rajsich’s three older brothers, lefty pitcher Dave Rajsich, made it to the big leagues for parts of three seasons (1978-80). In the end, Gary outdid Dave, playing one full season in the majors and parts of three others, wearing the uniforms of the New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, and San Francisco Giants from 1982-85. The outfielder/first baseman also spent three years (1986-88) playing for Chunichi in the Japanese Central League, hitting 76 home runs during that tenure.

Gary Louis Rajsich (pronounced RAY-sitch; the name is of Serbian descent) was born on October 28, 1954, in Youngstown, Ohio, to Nick and Mary Rajsich. Nick was employed by the United States Postal Service; Mary was a stay-at-home mother of five sons, of whom Gary was the fourth. Mary had a bad case of asthma, so when a doctor suggested relocating to a more favorable climate, Nick moved the family to Phoenix, Arizona in 1963.1

As a 13-year-old, Rajsich placed third nationally in the Personna Baseball Grand Slam competition, held at Yankee Stadium in September 1968. The event included hitting for distance off a tee, running speed around the bases, and throwing for distance.2 “It was my first time in a big-league stadium, and I was wearing a Yankees jersey,” Rajsich recalled many years later. “How could a 13-year-old not be in awe?”3

In high school, Rajsich, who batted and threw left-handed, was considered one of the best all-around athletes in Arizona, playing football, basketball, and baseball at Central High School in Phoenix. He earned All-State honors his junior year and his senior year in football at defensive back and end, respectively. His Bobcat team won the Class AAA state championship his senior year. On the hardwood, Rajsich played three years and was named the team MVP in his senior year. He played baseball all four years, mostly as a first baseman and outfielder, but did perform on the mound occasionally. Rajsich was named to the All-State baseball team his senior year as an outfielder, after setting a school record for most hits in a season with 33.4

In his senior year in May 1973, Rajsich signed a national letter of intent to attend Arizona State University on a football scholarship. But after seeing that the ASU junior varsity team had a limited role, Rajsich changed direction. In those days, starting out with the JV team was common. “We got knocked around pretty good scrimmaging the varsity, which was about all we did,” Rajsich said in 1978. “I decided there was no point in ruining my chances of playing baseball, so I quit football.”5

Not only was he a superb athlete, he might have been better in the classroom than on the sporting fields. He was a member of the National Honor Society and compiled a grade point average of 4.859 (on a 5.0-point scale). In addition to ASU, Rajsich was contacted by 15 other major universities.6

Rajsich played baseball three years for the Sun Devils. He saw limited action his freshman year, then broke his thumb as a sophomore and had only 13 at-bats. That was followed by just 56 at-bats as a junior. “I was used mostly as a pinch-runner,” he said.7 The team finished third in the College World Series in 1975 and 1976, and the latter squad set an ASU record for wins in a season with 65 that has yet to be topped. To show the caliber of the program and the competition Rajsich faced, his fellow outfielders included Ken Landreaux and Rick Peters. The first baseman was Ken Phelps.

Despite the limited playing time, his ability was noticed. Before the 1976 draft, Rajsich hit a home run and a double off teammate Floyd Bannister in an ASU intrasquad scrimmage. After the game, a Houston Astros “bird-dog” scout, John Miller, asked Rajsich if he would be interested in signing if drafted. “Naturally, I didn’t even have to think,” Rajsich said. “I didn’t care what kind of money they came up with as a signing bonus. I was going.”8

Rajsich was selected in the 11th round (241st overall) by the Astros and was assigned to Covington (Virginia) of the Appalachian League. He got a $5,000 signing bonus from Houston. Rajsich struggled somewhat in rookie ball but did show some pop in his bat with six homers in 244 at-bats. He also showed some speed with 13 steals in 15 attempts, which tied for 10th best in the league.

In 1977, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Rajsich moved up one level to the Class A Florida State League. With the Cocoa Astros, he hit eight homers during the season, but another in an exhibition contest was perhaps the highlight of his year. On July 11, pitching great Bob Feller—who was 58 years old at the time—made an appearance at Cocoa Stadium, throwing pitches to six players in a between-games home run contest. Rajsich was the only player to hit a long ball during the event.9 “It was an unforgettable experience to face a Hall of Fame pitcher, even in a home run derby in Class A ball,” Rajsich said later. “He could still pitch, and he tried his best to hit my bat!”10

The man the Cocoa fans nicknamed “Cowboy” played in 136 games and tied for second-most in the league. Rajsich banged out 19 two-base hits (tied for eighth), eight homers (sixth), and 172 total bases (good for seventh). He also stole 22 bases. Manager Jimmy Johnson said, “He does so many things people don’t notice. He’s my pride and joy.”11

In 1978, Rajsich was learning how to play a new position in spring training after playing mostly first base the previous two seasons. Johnson, who was promoted to Double-A Columbus (Georgia), said, “Rajsich has been having a great spring. But I think he’ll wind up in Double-A so he can play every day and learn to play right field.”12 Rajsich did start at Columbus but was promoted to Triple-A Charleston (West Virginia) in late June after leading Columbus in home runs and RBIs.

Rajsich was sent back to Columbus in mid-August and finished the season there. His totals for the year from both levels included nine home runs and 17 steals, and a slash line of .238/.312/.371.

The 1979 season saw Rajsich back at Double-A Columbus. “I was very disappointed,” he said. “It was very difficult for me.”13 Despite his dismay at not being in Triple-A, Rajsich hit .293/.357/.616 with 14 home runs in 66 games. Out of his 68 hits, an amazing 43 went for extra bases, including 25 doubles and four triples. Rajsich was named to the Southern League All-Star team but didn’t play in the game due to being called up to Triple-A in midseason.

The second half of the season was a major disappointment for Rajsich, who had communication issues with manager Jim Beauchamp in Charleston. “I couldn’t talk to him,” Rajsich said. “I was platooned. I hit .206.”14 Rajsich decided to work harder in the offseason and to help him do that, he bought a pitching machine. He took his machine to the batting cages at Phoenix Junior College, where his wife Linda fed the machine 400-500 times a day, five days a week.15

In 1980, Rajsich played at Triple-A Tucson—the Astros had changed their affiliation in the off-season from Charleston—for the whole year. It was one of his best seasons, but the big club had Art Howe at first base, and José Cruz, César Cedeño, and Terry Puhl in the outfield. Rajsich had a slash line of .321/.435/.575 and hit 21 homers and stole 12 bases. He was named to the Pacific Coast League All-Star team, yet despite finishing in the top five in the league in runs, triples, home runs, RBIs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, and total bases, he was not named the league MVP.

Rajsich played in Mexico that winter under manager Matt Galante but came home after three weeks owing to a case of severe dehydration which caused him to lose nearly 20 pounds.16

The following April, Rajsich was sent to the New York Mets in exchange for John Csefalvay. Bill Wood, Houston’s director of minor league operations, said that the 26-year-old Rajsich and a couple of other players were traded or released to “give younger people an opportunity” at Tucson.17

Rajsich was assigned by the Mets to Triple-A Tidewater in the International League. That was the year the major-league players went on strike for nearly two months and Rajsich took advantage of the big stage and bright lights that the minor leagues were given that summer. Unfortunately, in late June, he suffered a hairline fracture of his right wrist in a home-plate collision. He played for nearly three weeks after the injury and even hit a pair of home runs during that stretch, giving him a total of 24 for the season. In late July, his season ended, but he still managed to hit .277/.352/.613 in 253 at-bats despite missing slightly more than half the season. Rajsich finished fourth in the league in home runs, just ahead of Cal Ripken, Jr., who hit 23. In honor of his tremendous half-season, Rajsich was named to the International League All-Star team.

To make up for time lost to the injury, the Mets sent Rajsich to the Venezuelan winter league. He excelled there, leading the league with 51 RBIs and finishing second with 13 home runs. That put him more securely on the organization’s radar; indeed, Mets general manager Frank Cashen took notice. “He has shown power, and it’s been consistent power over the last three seasons. He certainly is worth our attention.”18 Rajsich also played about 20 games in the Instructional League, giving him a full season of play across the three venues.

Rajsich made the Mets out of spring training in 1982 as a spare outfielder and left-handed pinch-hitter. He made his major-league debut in the Mets’ second game on April 9 in Chicago at Wrigley Field. Rajsich batted for Jesse Orosco in the ninth inning, the Mets trailing the Cubs 5-0. Facing closer Lee Smith, Rajsich hit a tapper back to the mound and was thrown out.

He got his first start three days later against the Cubs in the final game of a four-game series. Batting fifth and playing right field, Rajsich led off the second inning and ripped a double off Cubs pitcher Dickie Noles, his only hit in four trips in the game.

A month later, Rajsich hit his first big-league homer on May 18 off Cincinnati’s Bruce Berenyi. The three-run shot in the fifth inning was the key blow in a 7-4 Mets win. In the top half of that inning, he’d made an outstanding diving catch. “When the ball was hit, I initially thought I had a good chance to catch it, but it was tailing away toward the right-field foul line,” Rajsich recalled. “Once I committed to it and had to lay out for it, I was happy when it landed in my glove. The face full of Shea Stadium grass was worth it!”19

Rajsich played more or less every other day and got into 80 games, including 34 starts, and had 182 plate appearances. He had a slash line of .259/.333/.383 and had eight doubles, three triples, two homers, and 12 RBIs. Lack of success as a pinch-hitter (2-for-35 with five walks) was a drag on his numbers—he performed much better as a starter. The Mets went 65-97 under first-year manager George Bamberger, finishing last in the NL East.

As the calendar flipped to 1983, the Mets’ plan for Rajsich was to use either him or the recently acquired Danny Heep as the left-handed side of a platoon in right field. Just before spring training ended, the club obtained speedy right-handed outfielder Mark Bradley from the Dodgers. Bradley, Rajsich, and Heep were expected to get at-bats before touted prospect Darryl Strawberry was expected to arrive in New York sometime during the season.

But Rajsich hit only .182 (6-for-33) in the spring and Bamberger decided Heep would be the lefty half of the right-field platoon. Rajsich was demoted to Triple-A Tidewater, where he joined Strawberry. “I let them know I was unhappy about this, both Mr. Cashen and Bamberger,” Rajsich said. “I’m terribly disappointed. I don’t think that I got a fair deal.”20

In late June, the Tides played the Mets in an exhibition game; by coincidence, three of the players involved in the spring-training numbers game homered—Strawberry, Heep, and Rajsich—as the Tides won, 6-5.21

During the regular season, Rajsich batted .270/.359/.509 with 28 homers and 83 RBIs for Tidewater. The Tides went on to win the International League playoffs, nabbing the Governor’s Cup. Rajsich batted 9-for-15 (.600) with three home runs and a triple, along with 10 RBIs in the best-of-five championship with Richmond. Those numbers won him the MVP award for the series.

The Tides then bested Denver (American Association) and Portland (Pacific Coast League) in a round-robin format and won the “Triple-A World Series” behind manager Davey Johnson. However, they did so without Rajsich, whom the Mets called up in late September.

Rajsich had a great two weeks for the Mets, batting .333/.400/.500 with 12 hits in 36 at-bats. That included a pair of 3-for-3 performances, giving the New York brass an idea of what he could do if given a chance. But in the off-season, all Rajsich heard were trade rumors. In December, the talk was that he would be heading to the opposite coast to play for the Giants. Then, as spring training began, talks heated up between the Mets and Red Sox, who were looking for a platoon partner at first base with Dave Stapleton.22 But in early April, the Mets sold Rajsich to the St. Louis organization.

Rajsich began the 1984 season at Triple-A Louisville and was hitting .314 with 11 home runs and 36 RBI when St. Louis called him up in late May. During his three-week stint for St. Louis, Rajsich started one game and appeared in six others, hitting just .143 (1-for-7). On June 15, St. Louis infielder David Green came off the disabled list and Rajsich was optioned back to Louisville, where he finished the season. He slashed .286/.359/.575 and hit a career-high 29 home runs while driving in 95. Rajsich placed in the top 10 in doubles, homers, RBIs, slugging percentage, and total bases. Also, perhaps as a sign of respect from opposing managers, he led the American Association with nine intentional walks. In mid-September, the Louisville squad beat Denver four games to one and captured the AAA crown, the first such title for Louisville since 1962.23

The following season was an interesting one for Rajsich. On the first day of February, he was traded, along with David Green, Dave LaPoint, and José Uribe to San Francisco for Jack Clark. Rajsich began the season with the Giants but got off to a slow start, going 0-for-8 in April, all in pinch-hitting appearances. In his defense, he had suffered a broken index finger on his left hand while fielding a hard grounder in spring training.24 Rajsich began playing regularly in early May when Green went into a slump and performed well early, going 5-for 16 (.313) with four RBIs in his first four games. He started a couple more games and then went back to his old role as a pinch-hitter. He went 5-for-16 in five starts at the end of May and then got only seven starts at first base in June. After hitting .118 (4-for-34) from June 1 through July 1, he was sent down to Triple-A Phoenix.

A couple of weeks later, the Giants sold Rajsich’s contract back to Louisville. His combined stats for the two Triple-A teams for the year showed a slash line of .268/.350/.498 across 213 at-bats. He continued to show power, cranking 13 home runs in 59 total games.

In the offseason, the Chunichi Dragons of the Japan Central League bought Rajsich’s contract from St. Louis for $175,000. Rajsich signed a two-year guaranteed deal worth more than $500,000.25

Rajsich slammed 36 homers in 1986, which was tied for third in the league. He had a slash line of .251/.301/.506 in 129 games. In his second season, Rajsich hit 24 home runs in 87 games, and had a better hitting line of .317/.360/.592. That earned him a one-year contract extension worth about $665,000.26 “During my second year I tore some cartilage off my rib cage diving for a ground ball at first,” Rajsich said. “I was having my best season at the time and I tried to play through it, but it was too painful to swing the bat.”27

The slugging first baseman hit 16 home runs and slashed .293/.359/.514 in his third and final season in Japan. Chunichi ran away with the Central League title with a record of 79-46 but lost to the Seibu Lions in the Japan Series, four games to one. “Playing in Japan was a great experience,” Rajsich recalled. “I had some lonely days being the only American on the team, but I liked my coaches and teammates, and learned a lot about the culture through my interpreter.”28

Rajsich thought he was done playing baseball, but the creation of the Senior Professional Baseball Association (SPBA) in the fall of 1989 changed that. Rajsich played for the St. Petersburg Pelicans that winter. He hit six home runs and had 43 RBIs before he left for a job with the Major League Scouting Bureau (MLSB), working in the Pacific Northwest. “It’s hard on me because it almost feels like I’m jumping ship,” Rajsich said. “I’m going to miss these guys, but it’s time to make a career move.”29

The scout/player returned to the SPBA for the 1990-91 season, but after four of the league’s teams folded, the league shut its doors for good on December 28, 1990.

Rajsich has been involved in scouting since then. He worked for the MLSB from 1990-1994 as an amateur scout for Boston (1994-2002), a professional scout for Boston (2003-06), a professional scout for Texas (2006-09), a professional crosschecker for Toronto (2010-11), the amateur scouting director for Baltimore (2012-18), and an amateur scout for Atlanta (since 2019).

A few notables whom Rajsich recommended were catcher Jason Varitek and pitchers Derek Lowe, Jon Lester, and Chris Reitsma. Some key players drafted on Rajsich’s watch were Kevin Gausman, Josh Hader, Trey Mancini, and Grayson Rodriguez.

“Scouting has allowed me to stay in the game,” Rajsich said. “To evaluate and sign players and watch them grow into major-league players is very rewarding.”30

Gary and his wife Linda have two grown sons, Louis and Lee. When not traveling for the Braves, Rajsich and his wife live in the Phoenix area.

Last revised: August 12, 2024

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Gary Rajsich for sharing comments via phone and text conversations, April-May 2024.

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Howard Rosenberg and checked for accuracy by SABR’s fact-checking team.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org.

Notes

1 Mike Sullivan, “The way west proved way best for Redbirds’ slugging Rajsich,” Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), July 8, 1984: C7.

2 “Phoenician Third in Baseball Event,” Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona), September 23, 1968: 29.

3 Author phone conversation with Gary Rajsich, April 25, 2024.

4 Bill Betterton, “Gary Rajsich Top Selection on Prep Baseball All-Stars,” Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, Arizona), June 3, 1973: 1-B.

5 Cecil Darby, “Rajsich Changed Mind on Football,” Columbus (Georgia) Ledger, June 2, 1978: D1.

6 “Rajsich Inks with Arizona State,” Arizona Republic, May 17, 1973: 109.

7 Darby, “Rajsich Changed Mind on Football.”

8 Peter Golenbock, Forever Boys: The Bittersweet World of Major League Baseball as Seen Through the Eyes of the Men Who Played One More Time), (New York: Birch Lane Books, 1991), 274.

9 Eric Girard, “Bob Feller’s a Hit with Any Old Pitch,” Florida Today (Cocoa, Florida), July 12, 1977: 3C.

10 Gary Rajsich, text message with author, April 26, 2024.

11 Eric Girard, “’Cowboy’ Rajsich Earns His Spurs,” Florida Today, August 24, 1977: 2C.

12 Mike Gold, “Coach of the former Cocoa Astros Sees Good Days Ahead in New Job,” Orlando (Florida) Sentinel, March 30, 1978: 12.

13 Golenbock, Forever Boys, 276.

14 Golenbock, Forever Boys, 277.

15 Golenbock, Forever Boys, 277.

16 Gary Rajsich text message with author, April 26, 2024.

17 John O’Rourke, “Dukes Win: Maldonado Goes 4-for-4, with 2 HRs,” Albuquerque Tribune, May 1, 1981: E-1.

18 Marty Noble, “The Other First Baseman on the Mets,” Newsday (Suffolk edition, Melville, New York), March 1, 1982: 62.

19 Gary Rajsich, text message with author, May 24, 2024.

20 Jack Lang, “Mets Demote Bitter Rajsich, Add Bradley,” Daily News (New York, New York), April 11, 1983: 50.

21 “Tides Edge Mets,” Herald-News (Passaic, New Jersey), June 28, 1983: B5.

22 “Gary Rajsich to Red Sox?” Brattleboro (Vermont) Reformer, February 25, 1984: 12.

23 Billy Reed, “No Guests, No Party—But Birds’ Boss Plans Big For ’85,” Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), September 18, 1984: C3.

24 Bob Padecky, “Giants Go Down Fighting in 4-2 Loss,” Sacramento (California) Bee, April 20, 1985: C3.

25 “Former Giant Lands Job with Japanese Ball Club,” Oakland Tribune, November 18, 1985: D5.

26 “Dayett Signs Pact with Japanese Club,” Sioux City (Iowa) Journal, December 5, 1987: C-3.

27 Gary Rajsich, text message with author, May 20, 2024.

28 Gary Rajsich, text message with author, May 20, 2024.

29 Kris Thompson, “Rajsich Leaving Pelicans,” Tampa Tribune, January 12, 1990: 5-C.

30 Gary Rajsich, text message with author, May 30, 2024.