Otis Bernard Gilkey (born September 24, 1966) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

, and

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

. He is currently a coach for the Palm Beach Cardinals.

Career

Gilkey played basketball at

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

's University City High School and signed a

letter of intent A letter of intent (LOI or LoI, or Letter of Intent) is a document outlining the understanding between two or more parties which they intend to formalize in a legally binding agreement. The concept is similar to a heads of agreement, term she ...

to play

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The University offers over 140 undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, education, Legal education, law, and pharmacy. Drake U ...

. However, fearing that he was not tall enough to be a great basketball player, he chose to sign with the

as an undrafted free agent after graduating from high school in 1984. In 1989, Gilkey led the league with 53 stolen bases and 109 runs while playing for the Double-A

Arkansas Travelers The Arkansas Travelers, known informally as The Travs, are a Minor League Baseball team based in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The Travelers are the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners and play in the Texas League. Hi ...

. In 1990, he led the league with 75 walks while playing with Triple-A Louisville Redbirds and eventually reached the MLB team. In 1991, he was the first rookie to start for the Cardinals on opening day in left field since Hall of Famer

Red Schoendienst Albert Fred "Red" Schoendienst ( ; February 2, 1923 – June 6, 2018) was an American professional baseball second baseman, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB), and is largely known for his coaching, managing, and playing years wi ...

in 1945. In 1992, Gilkey hit .302 in 131 games with the Cardinals. Gilkey batted over .300 twice more during his career. In January 1996, Gilkey was traded by the Cardinals to the

. Gilkey arguably had his strongest season in 1996. His .317 average was eighth in the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

, while his 44 doubles ranked fourth (and also set a Mets single-season record). Gilkey finished fourteenth in National League MVP voting that year. Gilkey and center fielder Lance Johnson formed a formidable offensive one-two punch as outfielders in their first year with the Mets. Gilkey led the league with 18 outfield assists from that year—one of six double-digit assist years in his career, with his career-high being 19 outfield assists in 1993, which tied for the league lead. Gilkey's statistics dropped off substantially the next year, as his batting average fell to .249. In 1998, Gilkey was traded to the

. Gilkey's offensive numbers were less impressive in the latter years of his career and his playing time declined, although he did rebound to hit .294 in 1999. He was released by the Diamondbacks in the middle of the 2000 season and signed with the

as a free agent. Gilkey made the playoffs as a Diamondback in 1999 and in 2001 with the

. Gilkey's career ended after the 2001 season.

Career statistics

In 1239 games over 12 seasons, Gilkey posted a .275

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(1115-for-4061) with 606 runs, 244 doubles, 24 triples, 118

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

, 546 RBI, 115

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out a ...

, 466 walks, 352

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

and .434

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

. Defensively, he recorded an overall .983

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

Personal life

As of 2014, Gilkey was living in St. Louis with his wife, Patrice. They had two sons, Jaelen and Caeven. Jaelen played baseball in

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

at Miles College and Caeven played at High Point University. Gilkey had a small role in the 1997 film ''

Men in Black In popular culture and UFO conspiracy theories, men in black (MIB) are government agents dressed in dark suits, who question, interrogate, harass, and threaten unidentified flying object (UFO) witnesses to keep them silent about what they have ...

''. The climax of the film took place in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

near

Shea Stadium William A. Shea Municipal Stadium ( ), typically shortened to Shea Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City.1964 World's Fair) and was hit on the head by a fly ball.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilkey, Bernard 1966 births Living people Erie Cardinals players Savannah Cardinals players Springfield Cardinals players Arkansas Travelers players Louisville Redbirds players Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball right fielders St. Louis Cardinals players New York Mets players Arizona Diamondbacks players Boston Red Sox players Atlanta Braves players Baseball players from St. Louis African-American baseball players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen