His major league career as a player lasted from 1967 to 1978, most notably with the San Diego Padres and Atlanta Braves.

He spent his entire managerial career with the Toronto Blue Jays, becoming the first African-American manager in Major League Baseball history to win a World Series title.

Gaston later told Toronto Blue Jays broadcasters the name was taken from a Mexican-American wrestler he watched as a young man in Texas.

[1][5] Primarily a center fielder, Gaston began his decade-long playing career in 1967 with the Atlanta Braves, appearing in nine games.

He remained the hitting instructor until May 15 1989, when he took over managerial duties from Jimy Williams, when the team was suffering through an unexpectedly bad start.

He was a soft-spoken and steady influence during years that saw a large group of talented, high-salaried players grace the Blue Jays uniform.

The Blue Jays also retained core All-Stars such as Joe Carter, Devon White, Roberto Alomar, and John Olerud.

Carter credits Gaston for the team's championships: Cito knows how to work with each individual, treating everyone like a human being.

The Blue Jays followed their 1992 success with a repeat victory in the 1993 World Series, an impressive feat, given that the Jays had lost starting position players Manuel Lee, Kelly Gruber, Candy Maldonado and Dave Winfield, starting pitchers Jimmy Key, David Cone and Dave Stieb, relievers Tom Henke and David Wells and bench players Derek Bell and Pat Tabler during the off-season following 1992.

He was criticized for selecting six Blue Jays to the 1993 roster, but was unapologetic, stating all six were World Champions and two were future Hall of Famers.

Gaston's prediction proved correct, as two of those players (Roberto Alomar and Paul Molitor) have been voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

[11] Mussina later claimed that he was simply doing a between-start workout, but some interpreted it as an attempt to force Gaston to put him into the game.

After Major League Baseball solved its labor problems in 1994, Pat Gillick and eventually Paul Beeston left the organization and annual attendance began to drop considerably, but the Blue Jays were still trying to compete in the American League East and in 1997 signed free agent Roger Clemens.

"[13] Gaston had been criticized for not giving playing time to young players such as Shawn Green and Carlos Delgado.

[14] When the team could not stay over the .500 mark, Gaston was fired by Gillick's successor as general manager, Gord Ash.

Sox GM Kenny Williams, who had played under Gaston in Toronto, had him as of two finalists for the job but decided to hire Ozzie Guillén.

[21] Gaston rejoined the team as a hitting coach after the 1999 season under manager Buck Martinez but was not retained after a disappointing 2001 campaign and the sale of the franchise to Rogers Communications.

In 2002, he was hired by the Jays for a third time, as special assistant to president and chief executive officer Paul Godfrey.

It was his first managerial job at the major-league level since being fired by the Blue Jays 11 years earlier, which was unusual for a World Series-winning manager.

[26] On October 3, an online column by Fox Sports baseball writer Ken Rosenthal reported of a mutiny in the Blue Jays' clubhouse against Gaston by his players and some members of his coaching staff.

Later in the month, with the Jays hiring a new general manager in Alex Anthopoulos to replace J.P. Ricciardi, it was announced that Gaston would fulfill the last season of his contract for 2010 while shuffling a few members of his coaching staff (such as firing Arnsberg along with Tenace retiring) before Gaston would become a consultant effective in 2011.

[30] On June 1, Fan 590 broadcaster Mike Wilner had an argument during a media scrum with Gaston about his field level decision making.