Gavin Fingleson (born 5 August 1976) is a South African born-

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

switch-hitting former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

player. Primarily a

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

, he has also played

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

, and

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

Early life

Fingelson is Jewish, and was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

."Gavin Fingleson Independent Leagues Statistics & History" , Baseball-Reference.com
/ref> He and his family moved to Australia when he was 11 years old."Gavin Fingleson" , Australian Jews in Sport
/ref> He was named the

Maccabi World Union Maccabi World Union is an international Jewish sports organisation spanning five continents (Africa, North America, South America, Australia, Europe) and more than 50 countries, with some 400,000 members. The Maccabi World Union organises the Macc ...

Australian Sportsman of the Year three times, and was named NSW Jewish Sportsman of the Year six times. He played six years for Ku-Ring-gai Stealers Baseball Club youth teams as a teenager.

College

Fingleson went to

Masada College Masada College is an independent Jewish co-educational day school located in St Ives, on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school consists of an early learning centre, junior school (Kindergarten to Year 6), and ...

, where he played a lot of baseball. He also attended

Southeastern Louisiana University Southeastern Louisiana University (Southeastern) is a public university in Hammond, Louisiana. It was founded in 1925 by Linus A. Sims as Hammond Junior College. Sims succeeded in getting the campus moved to north Hammond in 1928, when it beca ...

Hammond, Louisiana Hammond is the largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States, located east of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge and northwest of New Orleans. Its population was 20,019 in the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, and 21 ...

, playing baseball. There, in 1998 he batted .367/.398/.468, and in 1999 he batted .373/.383/.469, playing

both years.">"Gavin Fingleson" - The Baseball Cube
/ref>

Professional career

Fingleson went into the independent leagues in 1999, where he tied for fifth in the

Texas–Louisiana League The Central Baseball League, formerly the Texas–Louisiana League, was an independent baseball league whose member teams were not affiliated with any Major League Baseball (MLB) franchises. In 1991, potential owners, Dallas businessman Byron ...

with a .350

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 ...

for the

Bayou Bullfrogs In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou () is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They ...

, as he played

second base In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the infield, between second and first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and feet, needs the ability to get rid of the ball quickly, and must ...

and

. In the 1999–2000

International Baseball League of Australia The International Baseball League of Australia was a baseball league which existed from 1999 to 2002. The league was created by David Nilsson after he purchased the rights to the Australian Baseball League in 1999 when it was near financial coll ...

, he hit .386. Had he qualified, he would have led the IBLA in average; he made the All-Star team as the top

. In 2000, Fingleson hit .348 for the

Catskill Cougars The Catskill Cougars were a minor-league baseball team based in Mountaindale, New York, in the state's Catskill Mountains region. The Cougars played in the North Atlantic League in 1996 and the Northeast League (later known as the Canadian Ameri ...

, placing him fourth in the Eastern Division of the Northern League, as he played second base, third base, and shortstop. The Cougars were loaded with Australians as teammates, including Greg Jelks and

Brendan Kingman Brendan Kingman (born 22 May 1973) is an Australian baseball player and coach for the Sydney Blue Sox of the Australian Baseball League. Playing career Kingman was one of the most respected and prolific power hitters in Australia in the 90s a ...

. In the 2000–01 IBLA, he batted .314 to finish fourth in average and third in

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

with 49; only A. J. Zapp, Travis Wilson, and Glenn Williams had better batting averages. He struck out in only nine of his 156

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, ...

s, the lowest rate in the circuit. He again made the league All-Star team at designated hitter. Fingleson hit .298 for the 2001

St. Paul Saints The St. Paul Saints are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and have played their home games at CHS Field since 2015. They previ ...

of the Northern League, playing third base, second base, and shortstop. He then went to the

Taiwan Major League The Taiwan Major League Professional Baseball (TML; ) was a professional baseball league in Taiwan that operated from 1996 to 2003. It was established by TV tycoon Chiu Fu-sheng after a row over the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) ...

to play for the

Chiayi-Tainan Luka The Chiayi-Tainan Luka (嘉南勇士; literally "Chianan Braves") or abbreviated Chianan Luka was a professional baseball team in the Taiwan Major League (TML) that existed from 1997 to 2002. The team's home field included Chiayi County Baseball S ...

, hitting .369 in 26 games. In the

2001 Baseball World Cup The 2001 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 34th international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through the ...

, Fingleson batted .269 as Australia's primary second baseman. After starting the 2002 or for Chiayi, he was released. Fingleson went 12-for-29 with five doubles, three walks, five runs, and seven

RBIs A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

for the

New South Wales Patriots New South Wales Patriots compete in the Claxton Shield baseball championship in Australia. The Patriots were one of the founding teams of the Claxton Shield in 1934 and competed as New South Wales until 1988 when the Claxtion Shield was awarded ...

in the 2004 Claxton Shield. He tied for the most hits and extra-base hits and made the All-Star team at second base. He then signed with the New Haven County Cutters and hit .299 in 37 games. In 2004, he was part of the Australian Olympic baseball team, that won a

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

in the baseball tournament at the Athens Olympics. He ranked among the Olympic leaders in hits with 13, tied with Brett Roneberg for fifth, and RBIs tied with Rodney van Buizen and

Eriel Sánchez Eriel Sánchez León (born April 12, 1975) in (Fomento, Sancti Spiritus). Is a Cuban baseball catcher for Sancti Spíritus of the Cuban National Series. Career Sánchez was part of Cuba's gold medal-winning team at the 2004 Summer Olympics, s ...

for third. He became the first Jewish Australian to win an Olympic medal. That year he also played second base and third base for the New Haven County Cutters of the independent

Northeast League The Northeast League was a professional independent baseball league that operated in the Northeastern United States from 1995 until 1998 and from 2003 until 2004. Between 1999 and 2002, the league was part of the Northern League after the two le ...

, and hit .299. With the Claxton Shield, Fingleson hit .259. He slumped to .231 as Australia's second basemen in the

2005 Baseball World Cup The 2005 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 36th international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through the ...

. During the Claxton Shield 2006 tournament, he batted .391 with six runs in six games. In 2006, he was an infielder for the Australian team at the

World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC), also referred to as the Classic, is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the sport's global governing body, and organized in World Baseball Clas ...

. In the World Baseball Classic, Fingleson went one-for-five. Fellow countryman Andrew Graham was also on the squad. He hit .370 with seven walks in eight games for New South Wales in the

2007 Claxton Shield The 2007 Claxton Shield was the 73rd anniversary of the event, it was held between 19 and 28 January 2007, at Baseball Park in Western Australia, the first to be held outside of Blacktown Baseball Stadium in New South Wales since 2002 when it wa ...

. In the

2007 Baseball World Cup The 2007 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 37th international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through th ...

, he hit .286 with five runs and five RBIs in five games; he played third base and

. In October 2009, he was appointed the fielding coach of the

Sri Lankan Cricket Team The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, (; ) nicknamed The Lions, represents Sri Lanka in men's international cricket. It is a full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test cricket, Test, One-Day International (ODI) and T ...

. In 2012 he was inducted into the Maccabi NSW Hall of Fame. In 2017, at the age of 41 after having been retired for eight years, he played second base for the

Sydney Blue Sox The Sydney Blue Sox are a professional baseball team, and one of six founding teams in the re-formed Australian Baseball League (ABL). The team plays their home games at Blacktown International Sportspark (BISP), one of the two venues used fo ...

of the

Australian Baseball League The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it s ...

, and hit .208 in 14 games.

References

External links

ABL
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fingleson, Gavin 1976 births Living people Australian expatriate baseball players in Taiwan Australian expatriate baseball players in the United States Baseball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Baseball second basemen Baseball shortstops Baseball third basemen Bayou Bullfrogs players Catskill Cougars players Chiayi-Tainan Luka players Jewish Australian sportspeople Jewish baseball players Jewish South African sportspeople Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics New Haven County Cutters players Olympic baseball players for Australia Olympic medalists in baseball Olympic silver medalists for Australia South African emigrants to Australia South African expatriate baseball players in the United States South African expatriate baseball players in Taiwan Southeastern Louisiana Lions baseball players Sportspeople from Johannesburg St. Paul Saints players Sydney Blue Sox players 2001 Baseball World Cup players 2005 Baseball World Cup players 2006 World Baseball Classic players

Early life

College

Professional career

See also

References

External links