Gary Woods had that dream and is one of the few for whom it became a reality. For certain the thought was in the mind of the young kid who ran the bases and chased flies for Coach Joe Mueller and his San Marcos Royals, and Rusty Fairly’s Vacqueros.
He was All-Channel League in ’70 and ’71, and AllWestern States in ’72 and ’73.
Gary Woods is forever a Major Leaguer and this is how it happened:
• Played professional baseball for 14 years
• National League player for 10 of those years with Oakland, Toronto, Houston and Chicago
• Played in 2 NL Championship Series with Houston and Chicago
• Opening day out-fielder with the expansion Toronto Blue jays
• Led all NL out-fielders in fielding percentage as a Cub in 1983
• Only fielder that year to play in over 100 games without an “E”
• Retired from baseball in 1986
Gary has spent the last 7 years with GTE Mobilnet and is currently the General Manager. Father Joe Woods now lives in Oxnard and still plays softball. His mother lives in Santa Barbara. Both are retired from GTE.
Also being inducted tonight are his wife Susan, daughter Kay, 7, and sons Randy, 11 and Ryan, 16.
That is a major league family!
Hop Studios
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