MARCH 13, 1979 LEMON GELLO CAN SPOIL
Even a Hall of Famer cannot hit a HR every time, but this trade may rank among the worst in the career of Pat Gillick.
Mark Lemongello made his debut today as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. Acquired in an off-season deal for highly coveted catcher Alan Ashby, team management believed that they had found a key component for their starting pitching staff for years to come. The twenty-three-year-old sinkerballer already possessed two successful campaigns for the Houston Astros while winning eighteen games.
Baseball was a game notorious for flakes and the newest Blue Jay ranked with the best of them. His arrival in Toronto came equipped with a reputation for throwing temper tantrums. Lemongello’s most famous of these occurred when he took a bite out of his own shoulder after delivering a poor pitch.
The Blue Jays ignored the suspect reports on his mental well being, but soon figured out that he may be a problem. It took management almost two months after the trade just to get him on the phone and there was uncertainty if he would ever report to the team or not. When cornered by the Toronto media, Lemongello proclaimed that he would never play in that “foreign country”.
Lemongello finally reported but many in organization wished that he had not. His results on the mound were atrocious and by the time he was banished to the minors he sported a 1-9 record with a lofty 6.29 ERA.
His teammates were especially not sad to see him go, as many of them feared for their own safety. They witnessed Lemongello’s unique personality flaws first hand after one of many faulty mound performances. Exiting the game, he calmly took a seat in the dugout as if he did not have a care in the world. Within seconds, the “Weird One” snapped as he proceeded to punch himself repetively in the face. Just as soon as it started, Lemongello returned to a tranquil state, as if nothing had happened at all. It was easily one of the most self-depreciating moments in the history of professional sports.
Mark Yurkin
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