Gilbert James McDougald was born on May 19, 1928 in San Francisco and attended Commerce High School and played basketball. After high school, he attended City College and then USF, where he played with the local Bayside Braves. In 1948 he signed with the New York Yankees but played in their minor leagues until 1951. Later that year, in the World Series, he became the first rookie to hit a grand slam home run in the Series. In 1951 he was the League Player of the Year. He was an All-Star for the Yankees five times and led infielders in his League in double plays.Â
His entire major league career from 1951 to 1960, was spent on the New York Yankees. He was a versatile player, playing all the infield positions except first base: 599 games at second base, 508 games at third, and 284 at shortstop. McDougald was given the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, which is awarded annually by the Phi Delta Theta fraternity (to which Gehrig belonged) at Columbia University.
His last appearance was in Game Seven of the 1960 World Series against the Pittsburgh Pirates; as a pinch runner in the top of the ninth, he scored on Yogi Berra's ground ball to tie the game at 9–9. The Pirates, however, won the Series on Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.
McDougald was the head baseball coach at Fordham University from 1970 to 1976. He resigned this position due to his worsening hearing loss, a result of being hit in the head by a line drive during batting practice in 1955. Later he underwent surgery and received a cochlear implant (Wikipedia).
