Don Gullett

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Donald Edward "Don" Gullett (born January 6, 1951 in Lynn, Kentucky) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Cincinnati Reds and New York Yankees from 1970 to 1978.

[edit] High School

Gullett attended McKell High School in South Shore, Kentucky where he was an outstanding three sports athlete in baseball, football, and basketball. As a high school pitcher, he once tossed a perfect game - including striking out 20 of the 21 hitters he faced. Gullett excelled as a high school football player as well once scoring 72 points in a single game. He ran for 11 touchdowns and kicked 6 extra points.

[edit] Pro career

The Reds selected Don Gullett in the first round of the 1969 amateur draft, and he made his big league debut on April 10, 1970.

Gullett played for the Reds from 1970 through the 1976 season. In November of that year, as a free agent, he signed with the New York Yankees. He enjoyed a successful 14-4 season with the Yankees in 1977, but shoulder problems in 1978 signaled the end of his career.

During a relatively brief nine year career, Gullett accumulated 109 wins and posted an impressive 3.11 Earned Run Average (ERA). Playing for only nine seasons, Gullett was a member of six World Series teams (1970, 72, 75, 76, 77, 78), including four consecutive World Champions ('75 and '76 Reds, and '77 and '78 Yankees).

At the plate, Don Gullett posted a respectable (for a pitcher) career batting average of .194. For example, in a 1975 National League Championship Series game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Gullett not only pitched a complete game victory, he also helped himself out by hitting a single, a home run, and collecting 3 RBI.

Gullett was also sometimes used as a pinch runner by the Reds.

After sitting out the 1979 and 1980 seasons due to extensive shoulder and rotator cuff problems, Gullett was released by the Yankees in late 1980.

In 1993, he rejoined the Reds as pitching coach, a post he held until being ousted mid-season in 2005.