After calling it a career, seven-year Major League Baseball player Gabe Gross has returned to the Auburn baseball program as one of the team's two undergraduate coaches.
"To have a player that has played at the highest level and been successful for an extended period of time will create instant credibility and knowledge for our players to draw from," said coach John Pawlowski.
Gross committed to Auburn in 1998 to play baseball and football after graduating from Northview High School in Dothan, Ala.
His father, Lee Gross, played football for the Tigers and met Gabe's mother at the University.
"I had an Auburn bloodline, so to speak," Gross said. "My dad played here in the early '70s and met my mom here. It was a place I grew up, from coming to ballgames from time to time.
"I had some other places that I looked at seriously, but when it came down to it, my heart was in Auburn."
Despite starting seven of Auburn's games at quarterback in 1998 and the first game of the 1999 season, Gross said playing two sports wasn't right for him.
"There was an overall-riding theme that I really felt like I needed to pick one sport," Gross said. "And I felt that I had the best chance one day making my living playing baseball."
Gross started in all 58 of Auburn's games in 2001, boasting a .327 batting average and leading the team with 15 home runs, 19 doubles and a .469 on-base percentage.
The season was good enough that the Toronto Blue Jays drafted him 15th overall in the 2001 MLB draft, and he left before finishing his degree.
Gross said throughout his three years in the Blue Jays' minor-league system, he never thought he'd make it to the big leagues--until it happened Aug. 9, 2004.
"I felt that I had the ability to do it, but until you get there, you don't really ever know," Gross said.
He played 40 games that year and 44 in 2005, hitting .209 and .250, respectively.
After being traded to the Milwaukee Brewers prior to the 2006 season, Gross began to shine more as a hitter.
In his first year as a Brewer, he hit .274 with nine home runs, 15 doubles and 38 RBIs.
His numbers were fitting considering the way Gross started the season: a pinch-hit home run.
"That was pretty special," Gross said. "It was really my first chance to stick with a team full time in the big leagues, and for that first at-bat to come up and hit a pinch-hit home run, it's an at-bat I always think about as my best in the big leagues."
After two more seasons with Milwaukee, Gross was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays, where he said he most enjoyed playing.
That 2008 season Gross played a career-high 127 games. He also hit a career-high 13 home runs and helped the team reach the World Series, ultimately losing to the Philadelphia Phillies.
"I really enjoyed my time in Tampa," Gross said. "I got to play on a really, really good baseball team, got to experience a World Series and got to play with some great teammates and a great group of coaches."
After being nontendered by the Rays after the 2009 season, Gross signed a one-year deal with Oakland Athletics, then a minor-league deal with the Seattle Mariners.
However, three days after signing another minor-league contract with the Florida Marlins, Gross decided to retire.
In his major-league career, Gross was a .239 hitter with 40 home runs and 186 RBIs.
"It's really come full circle for me to be back as a coach," Gross said. "At the same time, it's an honor for me to walk out there and put on the Auburn uniform again."
Gross has two more semesters until his management degree is complete, and while he's not sure what he'll do next, he's keeping his options open.
"I'm trying to leave every door, so to speak, wide open," Gross said. "I could definitely see myself coaching. When I get to that point and see what's out in front of me, I'll make a decision on where I go from there."
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