Batting average .234 Role Baseball player Name Kevin Polcovich | Runs scored 55 Runs batted in 35 Education University of Florida | |
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Kevin Michael Polcovich (born June 28, 1970) is a former American professional baseball player who was a utility infielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates in two Major League Baseball seasons during the 1990s.
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Early life
Polcovich was born in Auburn, New York. He attended Auburn High School, and played for the Auburn Maroons baseball team.
Collegiate career
Polcovich received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played shortstop for coach Joe Arnold's Florida Gators baseball team in 1991 and 1992. He participated in the College World Series in 1991, and received All-Southeastern Conference (SEC), SEC All-Tournament, and College World Series All-Tournament honors. Polcovich holds the NCAA D1 fielding assists record with 14.
Professional career
The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Polcovich in the 30th round of the 1992 amateur draft. He made his Major League debut on May 17, 1997.
Polcovich is most remembered for his key role as a member of Pittsburgh's 1997 "Freak Show" team. Prior to the season, new ownership had dismantled the team and launched one of the Pirates frequent rebuilding plans. Opening day payroll for the '97 team was $9,000,000, by far the lowest in the major leagues. Expectations were very low for the Pirates, but perhaps none were lower than for Polcovich, who actually was bagging groceries to help support himself during spring training. When the Pirates' starting shortstop was injured in May, Polcovich got his call-up to the majors and the former bag boy was now the new starting shortstop. He quickly became the anchor of the Pirates infield and helped the team compete for the NL Central Division until the final week of the season (when they were finally eliminated by ultimate division champions, the Houston Astros). Polcovich only played one more year of major league baseball, but his Rocky-like rise from nowhere to help the upstart 1997 Pirates have their most competitive year in the past two decades (as of 2012) against overwhelming odds, remains part of recent Pirate lore.