By Sam Borsato - @BorsatoSam on Twitter

Former Blue Jays headlining Legends of Sports Gala

Feb 14, 2017 | 3:55 PM

LETHBRIDGE – Two big Toronto Blue Jays names will headline the fourth annual Legends of Sports Gala and Business Leadership Luncheon.
 
Kevin Kvame, Lethbridge Bulls general manager and CEO, made the official announcement Tuesday (Feb. 14) afternoon, in coordination with Under the Lights Sports and Entertainment. He says the event will focus around the 25th anniversary of the team’s first World Series win.
 
Cito Gaston took over the struggling Toronto baseball team as manager part way through the 1989 season. He helped the Jays turn things around to take the AL East title that year, with a 89-73 overall record. Just a few years later, in 1993, the team would win their second straight World Series under his leadership, becoming the first since the Yankees did it back in 1977 and 1978.
 
Gaston stayed with the Jays for 12 total seasons, boasting a career record of 913 wins and 851 losses. He’s since been hailed as Canadian Baseball Man of the Year by Toronto and Montreal baseball writers, and even had his name added to the Jays’ Level of Excellence in Rogers Centre.
 
“We felt that Cito, being the leader of the Blue Jays, he had that calming influence over a very talented group of ball players, and I’m sure he’s going to have some exciting stories to tell,” noted Kvame.
 
Kelly Gruber was announced as the second guest, who spent nine seasons in Toronto beginning in 1984.
 
He’s best known for “the triple play that wasn’t,” during game three of the 1992 World Series. Gruber’s diving tag looked like he had the runner for the third out, but was called safe after all. It would have been only the second triple play in World Series history.
 
He retired from the game with a 117 HR, 443 RBI, and .259 batting average. In Bill James’ New Historical Baseball Abstract, Gruber was named 103rd best third basemen of all time.
 
Tickets are available at Spitz Stadium, online at www.underthelights.ca or by calling 403-320-2025. The dinner is set for March 30 at 6:30 p.m., hosted at the Lethbridge Lodge.
 
Proceeds will benefit the Lethbridge Bulls, Prairie Baseball Academy and Alberta Sport Development Centre – Southwest. The event has raised just under $90,000 for local athletes over the past three years.