Gary Allenson

Gary Allenson
Gary Allenson with U.S. Navy Captain Kevin O’Flaherty
Catcher
Born: February 4, 1955 (1955-02-04) Culver City, California
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 8, 1979 for the Boston Red Sox
Last MLB appearance
August 23, 1985 for the Toronto Blue Jays
Career statistics
Batting average	.221
Home runs	19
Runs batted in	131
Teams
Boston Red Sox (1979–1984) Toronto Blue Jays (1985)

Gary Martin Allenson (born February 4, 1955, in Culver City, California) is an American minor league baseball manager and a former Major League catcher and coach. He is the 2012 manager of the Aberdeen IronBirds, the Short Season-Class A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles.

Playing career

Nicknamed "Muggsy," Allenson played for the Arizona State Sun Devils baseball team in college. He was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 9th round of the 1976 amateur draft.

Allenson served as a backup catcher in Major League Baseball for the Red Sox (1979–1984) and Toronto Blue Jays (1985). He batted and threw right-handed. In a seven-season career, Allenson posted a .221 batting average with 19 home runs and 131 RBI in 416 games played.

Coaching/managing career

Allenson began his minor league managerial career in 1987 with the Oneonta Yankees of the New York Yankees farm system. Compiling an 89–62 record in two years, he led the team to the New York – Penn League championship in 1988. He returned to the Red Sox organization in 1989, first managing at Lynchburg for two seasons (128–146) and then New Britain for one (47–93). He was promoted to Boston, serving as bullpen coach in 1992 and 1993 and third-base coach in 1994.

He returned to the minors in 1996, managing the Charleston RiverDogs, then a Texas Rangers affiliate, to a 63–78 record. He moved on to the Houston Astros farm system the following year to pilot the Jackson Generals to a 66–73 mark. He spent the next five campaigns in the Milwaukee Brewers organization, the first two leading Louisville, known as the Redbirds in 1998 and the RiverBats in 1999, to a combined 140–148. He was brought up to Milwaukee, where he was the first-base coach in 2000 and the third-base coach in 2001 and 2002.

A 77–57 campaign in 2005 at the helm of the Carolina Mudcats, then a Florida Marlins affiliate, was sandwiched in between two stints in the Baltimore Orioles organization. He piloted the Ottawa Lynx to a 79–65 finish in 2003. After a 31–37 year as skipper of the Bluefield Orioles in 2006, he returned to the International League to manage the Norfolk Tides to a combined 228–254 in a little over 3⅓ seasons. Allenson was promoted to Baltimore as its third-base coach on June 4, 2010, when Juan Samuel was promoted to interim manager upon the firing of Dave Trembley. Allenson returned to manage the Tides in 2011 then was re-assigned to Aberdeen for 2012.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube

Sporting positions
Preceded by John McLaren	Boston Red Sox bullpen coach 1992–1993	Succeeded by John Wathan
Preceded by Rick Burleson	Boston Red Sox Third Base Coach 1994	Succeeded by Dave Oliver
Preceded by Ron Jackson	Milwaukee Brewers First Base Coach 2000	Succeeded by Luis Salazar
Preceded by Chris Speier	Milwaukee Brewers Third Base Coach 2001–2002	Succeeded by Rich Donnelly
Preceded by Juan Samuel	Baltimore Orioles Third Base Coach 2010	Succeeded by John Russell