Former ML Southpaw Paul Gibson: Instructor and Dad

David Rawnsley

One of the benefits of working in baseball is the opportunity to meet and get to know a large number and variety of former Major League players. Some come through Perfect Game as coaches or instructors, others as fathers of young prospects.

Former big league southpaw Paul Gibson fits both roles. As the founder and director of All Pro Sports Academy of Bellfort, New York, Gibson has had numerous players play in Perfect Game/WWBA events and has even helped Perfect Game run events in the Northeast. One of those players is his high school junior son, Glenn, a promising left handed pitching prospect ranked 188th nationally in the 2006 class.

All Pro Sports Academy was founded by Gibson in 1995 and has grown to include over 2,000 young players in their summer programs. According to Gibson, his highly trained staff gives over 15,000 individual lessons per year.

Says Gibson, "When my career was winding down, I started planning on developing a program like this. Lots of my teammates were headed in the same direction. We loved the game and wanted to stay in it and we also wanted to stay close to home."

In talking to Gibson and looking over the All Pro Sports Academy web site (http://www.allprosportsacademy.com), you get the strong sense that Gibson's philosophy extends well beyond teaching pitching mechanics and swing planes. The two catch phrases of the Academy seem to be:

"Work Hard, Have Fun, Gain Confidence"

"Solid Baseball Fundamentals, Positive Environment, Safe Atmosphere, Short Drills with Fun in Mind"

"We're not just here to teach Baseball," explains Gibson. "We're here to promote education and we're here to have fun. We really place a priority on each kid's education. Every one of our instructors makes sure to ask about their players school work and makes sure that we create a fun, positive learning environment that will hopefully extend beyond the baseball field.

"My dad, who was a semi-pro player, taught me right from the beginning that guys who were the best players were the ones who enjoyed playing it the most. I kept seeing that all through my professional career up to the very best players in the game."

Gibson was originally drafted in the third round as an 18 year old high school senior out of Southampton, New York by the Cincinnati Reds. He was released by the Reds in 1981, signed by Detroit Tigers, drafted in the minor league Rule 5 draft by the Minnesota Twins, then later released again and resigned with the Tigers. In all, it took Gibson 10 years in the minor leagues before he made his big league debut with the Tigers on April 8, 1988.

"Being a left handed pitcher is obviously a big advantage to hanging around for 10 years in the minors," says Gibson about his long trek to the big leagues. "But I also never lost my love for playing the game. As long as I was healthy and could afford to play, I was going to. I also admit that I was driven by something many veteran minor league players also think about. I didn't want to turn on the TV one day and see a lesser player pitching in the Majors when I had hung it up."

Gibson pitched in 40 games as a rookie, putting up a career low 2.93 ERA in 92 innings as a middle reliever. In 1989, he started 13 games en route to a career high 132 innings. In 1990 and 1991, Gibson teamed with Mike Henneman to form the Tigers lefty/right closing team and picked up all 11 of his career saves during that period.

"That was typical Sparky Anderson (the Tigers famed manager) for you," notes Gibson. "He took a guy who had a grand total of zero career saves in his long professional career and made him the co-closer. Roles were very important to Sparky and he wanted to have someone in every slot."

Anderson was also well noted, even for his days of managing the Big Red Machine in Cincinnati, for getting full use out of his bullpen. Gibson averaged over 104 innings a season for four years in Detroit.

"It wasn't uncommon for Sparky to get me up in the first or second inning, maybe a couple of other times during the middle innings, then bring me in late in the game. You got your work in, believe me."

When asked about some of the players he played with and respected most as teammates, the names roll off Gibson's tongue pretty easily. "Mattingly, Boggs......Jimmy Key with the Yankees. Alan Trammell, Darrell Evans, Tom Brookins with the Tigers. Trammell is the Poster Boy for what the ideal Major League player is. He will get every once of ability from his players with the Tigers. These players all played the game for the pure enjoyment of it."

While with Detroit, Gibson was teammates with Perfect Game West Coast Supervisor Doug Baker. Gibson's take on Baker: "Doug had an ability that you almost never see in a Major League player. He could poke fun at himself as a player and make everyone around him laugh. Doug was a great teammate who knew his limitations as a player, understood his role and made the most out of his given talent."

After leaving Detroit, Gibson went on to pitch 2 seasons each with both the New York Mets and New York Yankees, along with minor league stints with Toronto, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh. For a New York native, the chance to pitch for his home town teams was something extra special.

"I grew up as a huge Yankees fan, although Tom Seaver was my favorite player. Even though George (Steinbrenner) fired (released) me twice, I'm still way behind Billy Martin's record. Seriously, there isn't a better organization in the world to play for. It goes beyond putting on the pin stripes, stepping on the Yankee Stadium field and seeing the monuments and all that. The Yankees just treat people great from the top to the bottom of the organization.

"The major disappointment in my career, though, was 1994 and the World Series being canceled. I was with the Yankees and we had a great team that year."

Gibson has another son who is a left handed pitcher. His eldest son, Paul Jr., is a 5-9 sophomore reliever at Quinnipiac University. He was All-State his junior and senior baseball seasons at Central Moriches HS (NY) and was also All-Conference and All-County in soccer.

The better known son to Perfect Game scouts, though, is 6-3 junior Glenn, who has pitched in numerous WWBA events, pitched last month at the Pitcher/Catcher Indoor Showcase in Cedar Rapids and who will be pitching at the Perfect Game National Showcase in Atlanta June 17-19.

Glenn has the classic projectable young pitcher's build, smooth pitching mechanics and an easy arm action. He has always had an excellent change up and above average pitchability but showed at the Indoor Showcase that his velocity is starting to come around when he hit 86 mph and had more power to his curveball. Glenn should keep improving and could become one of the top southpaws in the 2006 class.

When asked to compare himself at the same age with his younger son, Gibson said, "Well, he's obviously already 3" taller than me and more physically built, and if he's throwing 86 mph, then he throws harder than I did at the same age, too. The real difference between us, though, is the opportunities that players like Glenn get.

"Back when I was in high school, all we had was local baseball. Not only does Glenn have the chance to compete against players from around the country through Perfect Game and World Wood Bat Association events, he and his peers have so many things at their disposal that we didn't have; advanced strength and conditioning programs, better and more accessible coaching, all the information you can get on the internet.....this list goes on and on.

"I'm definitely not one of these types who say that the players were better when I played than they are now. We had great players then, obviously, but no where near the quantity of talented players that you see at the same level now."

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