Ty Gainey

Telmanch Gainey (born December 25, 1960) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros from 1985 to 1987. He also played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Orix BlueWave, and in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) for the Koos Group Whales. After his playing career in Asia, Gainey started giving baseball lessons at the Maplezone Sports Institute in Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania. After being drafted in the second round of the 1979 MLB draft, Gainey was assigned to the Astros Gulf Coast League team. The team featured future Astros star Bill Doran, and Gainey appeared in ten games, and batted .230 in his first year of professional baseball. Gainey would spend the next two seasons bouncing back from rookie league to Single A levels. In 1982, he made it to Double-A, playing for the Columbus Astros, where he played outfield alongside Glenn Davis (who'd later be converted to first base) and Eric Bullock. Over the course of two seasons at the AA level, Gainey had a respectable batting average, but his strength was his speed, as he stole over 60 bases over the course of those two seasons. By 1985, He'd finally made it to the majors, making his debut on April 24th.