Mark Gubicza
Mark Steven Gubicza (; born August 14, 1962), nicknamed "Gubie", is an American former professional baseball pitcher and sportscaster. Gubicza played for 14 major league seasons with the Kansas City Royals (1984–96) and Anaheim Angels (1997). He is a color commentator for Los Angeles Angels games on Bally Sports West. After being drafted out of William Penn Charter School in the second round of the 1981 Major League Baseball draft and playing three seasons in the minor leagues, Gubicza spent nearly all of his MLB career with the Royals, making all but two of his career appearances with the team. He was a mainstay in the Royals starting rotation for years, earning back-to-back MLB All-Star selections in 1988 and 1989 and making an Opening Day start for the team in 1989. Gubicza played a reduced number of games later in his career due to three arm injuries and a leg injury between 1990 and 1997. He was traded to the Anaheim Angels before the 1997 season and retired after that year. At the time of his retirement, Gubicza held the Royals franchise record for strikeouts with 1,366, was third in wins at 132, and was second in pitching wins above replacement with 38.0. He was inducted into the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame in 2006. Following his playing career, Gubicza became a sportscaster and worked in various roles before joining the Angels broadcast booth on Fox Sports West as a color commentator in 2007. Early life Mark Gubicza was born on August 14, 1962, in Philadelphia. He is the son of Anthony Gubicza Jr., who pitched in the Chicago White Sox organization for three years and later served as a part-time coach for the Villanova Wildcats. Gubicza is of Hungarian and Polish ancestry. Growing up, Gubicza was interested in several sports, including baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and boxing. In Little League, he played shortstop and pitched. In one 17-game stretch in Little League, Gubizca accrued 57 hits. Gubicza attended the William Penn Charter School where he was teammates with eventual professional player Rubén Amaro Jr. Though he grew up in Philadelphia, he idolized Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer. Coming out of high school, Gubicza had collegiate offers from Alabama, Georgia, Duke, and USC, among others. Gubicza and his father were present at Veterans Stadium for game six of the 1980 World Series, witnessing the Philadelphia Phillies win their first championship. Professional career Kansas City Royals 1981–1983: Minor leagues Gubicza was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the second round of the 1981 Major League Baseball draft, the 34th overall pick. He began his professional baseball career at age 18 with the Royals Gold in the Gulf Coast League, where he went 8-1 with a 2.25 earned run average (ERA) and 40 strikeouts in 56 innings. Gubicza played for the Fort Myers Royals in the Florida State Class A League in 1982 and missed most of the season due to injuries. In 1983, he was assigned to the Jacksonville