Townsend: Former major-leaguer Mark Gilbert approved as U.S. ambassador

From Mark Townsend at Yahoo! Sports on December 13, 2014:

The name Mark Gilbert may not be familiar to most baseball fans, but the former Chicago White Sox outfielder is primed to do something no other former player has done before.

On Friday, the U.S. Senate voted to approve Gilbert’s nomination to serve as a U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, which will make him the first major league veteran to serve in that capacity, according to State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf’s research.

Gilbert, who earned a finance degree from Florida State University, was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1978. He also spent time in the Cincinnati Reds‘ system before moving on to the White Sox, where he debuted under Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa in 1985.

Read the full article here: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/former-major-leaguer-mark-gilbert-approved-as-us-ambassador-092419675.html



Originally published: December 15, 2014. Last Updated: December 15, 2014.