Gary Joseph Gaetti (/ˈɡaɪ.ɛtɪ/, GY-eh-tee; born August 19, 1958), is an American former third baseman in Major League Baseball for the Minnesota Twins (1981–1990), California Angels (1991–1993), Kansas City Royals (1993–1995), St. Louis Cardinals (1996–1998), Chicago Cubs (1998–1999) and Boston Red Sox (2000).

[1] Gaetti played collegiate baseball for Lake Land College in Mattoon, Illinois, and Northwest Missouri State University.

Gaetti helped propel the Twins to the 1987 post-season and their first World Series championship, hitting .257 with 31 home runs and 109 RBI.

He also hit himself into the record books, with home runs in his first two career postseason plate appearances[3] in the American League Championship Series to help the Twins upset the Detroit Tigers.

[4][5] His production at the plate would decline[6] and after hitting only .229 in 1990, Gaetti left the Twins for the Angels as a free agent.

He was almost immediately signed by the Royals, who had lost their projected regular third baseman, Keith Miller, to injury and had been playing rookie Phil Hiatt at third.

Gaetti hit 26 home runs for the Royals in 665 at-bats between 1993 and 1994, splitting time at third with Miller, David Howard, and Terry Shumpert.

[7] Gaetti was used as an emergency relief pitcher by both the Cardinals and the Cubs, retiring with an ERA of 7.71 and one strikeout in three appearances.

[9] After working at Baseball USA in Houston, Texas, in 2011,[10] Gaetti was named the first manager of the Sugar Land Skeeters.

On August 19, 2007, Gaetti's 49th birthday, the Minnesota Twins inducted him into the team's Hall of Fame, while the club simultaneously released a commemorative bobblehead in his honor.