Mark Gilbert Becomes First Former MLB Player Named An Ambassador
By Phil Watson
Mark Gilbert’s major league baseball career lasted only seven games but it didn’t stop him from making history on Friday thanks to an act of Congress.
Mark Gilbert was never a star when he played in the major leagues.
But he’s batting leadoff on a whole new lineup card now.
Gilbert was confirmed as a U.S. ambassador by the Senate on Friday, becoming the first major league veteran to become an ambassador.
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Gilbert will serve as ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa.
The 58-year-old was nominated by President Obama in October 2013.
Gilbert played with two Hall of Famers during his brief stint in the majors with the Chicago White Sox in 1985 and was managed by another.
Tony La Russa is pretty sure Gilbert’s former teammates won’t use his official title.
"“I think if Mark walks into a clubhouse with his old teammates, I don’t think they’re going to call him ‘Your Excellency,’” La Russa told The Associated Press."
Gilbert was a 14th-round pick of the Chicago Cubs out of Florida State University in the 1978 amateur draft.
He was traded to the Cincinnati Reds as a player to be named later in October 1979 and signed with the White Sox as a minor-league free agent on Christmas Day 1984.
Gilbert played in seven games for the White Sox in 1985, hitting .273/.385/.318 with a double and three RBI.
He spent seven days in the majors, from July 21-27, 1985, and was sent back to Triple-A Buffalo.
A knee injury the next year ended his career.
Among Gilbert’s Hall of Fame teammates for that one week on the South Side were Tom Seaver and Carlton Fisk.
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