John Gall (baseball)
| John Gall | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Outfielder / First baseman | |||
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Born: April 2, 1978 Stanford, California | |||
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| MLB debut | |||
| July 26, 2005, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| May 17, 2007, for the Florida Marlins | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .245 | ||
| Home runs | 2 | ||
| Runs batted in | 11 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's baseball | ||
Representing  United States
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| Olympic Games | ||
.svg.png){kind=icon} | 2008 Beijing | Team |
John Christopher Gall (born April 2, 1978 in Stanford, California) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and first baseman.
College
Gall was a successful collegiate player for Stanford University, making his NCAA debut as a sophomore in 1998, a year in which he had a team-leading .381 batting average and 63 RBI, with 15 home runs, second only to current Padres outfielder Jody Gerut on the team. After his excellent junior year in 1999, Gall was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the 50th round of the 1999 Major League Baseball draft. However, Gall elected to return to college for his senior year, and was eventually selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 11th round of the 2000 draft.
Professional career
After a number of seasons at Single-A ball, Gall played the 2002 season for the New Haven Ravens, the Double-A affiliate of the Cardinals at the time. Here he hit 20 home runs and 81 RBI with a .316 batting average. In 2003, Gall spent his first season with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds, and collected 16 home runs and 73 RBI with a .312 average, numbers which were improved in 2004, as he added six home runs and eleven RBI to his 2003 totals.
On July 26, after a promising start to the 2005 season in Memphis, Gall was promoted for the first time to the major league roster, to replace Larry Walker, who was on the disabled list. In his debut against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, Gall proceeded to go 2-for-4 with a double. He was sent back down to Memphis eight games later on August 9 having collected four hits, two doubles, and two RBI in his first stint as a major-leaguer. On July 17, 2006, the Cardinals released Gall and he signed with the Lotte Giants in Korea. He signed with the Florida Marlins on January 4, 2007. Gall spent nearly the entire year with the Marlins Triple-A affiliate, the Albuquerque Isotopes, appearing in only 3 games for the Marlins.
Gall was named to the United States national baseball team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Gall's success in the olympics, most notably for his home run over Taiwan which helped the United States get to the Bronze Medal round, got recognized by notable people including an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, an invitation to the White House and serving as a guest of honor for California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In January 2009, Gall signed a minor league contract with the Houston Astros.[1]
Controversy
Between 2010 and 2012, Gall purchased four apartment buildings in San Francisco: 1005 Market Street, 1049 Market Street, 1067 Market Street, and 501 Hayes Street.
In September 2013, he announced plans to evict nearly every tenant of the seven story apartment building 1049 Market Street in order to convert their apartments into office space. Gall ordered half of the building's tenants to leave by Thanksgiving and ordered the other half of the tenants to leave by Christmas weekend.[2] In conjunction with Gall's other properties on the same block, 1067 Market St and 1005 Market St, the San Francisco Examiner projected that Gall's eviction plan is poised to be one of the largest mass evictions in the city since the famed 9-year International Hotel eviction battle in the 1960s-1970s [3]
Gall claimed to tenants and media that he was being unwillingly forced by the city to evict the residents. However, San Francisco Planning Commission members, San Francisco Department of Building Inspections, Mayor Ed Lee, and Supervisor Jane Kim each stated that Gall's allegation is false. They have repeatedly stated that they are committed to preserving the 1049 Market Street's residential status and to helping Gall avoid undertaking eviction of the residents.[4]
Gall's legal ability to proceed with the plan is now in dispute. On the eviction notices, Gall had cited San Francisco Rent Ordinance Section 37.9(a)(10) as his basis to "permanently remove the premises from housing use." However, on November 8, the San Francisco Planning Department suspended the permit which is his legal basis for undertaking evictions. Gall has submitted an appeal application, seeking to have the demolition permit reinstated. A hearing for that appeal is currently scheduled for January 15, 2014.
Tenants have repeatedly stated that they will continue fighting Gall's evictions. Tenants and housing rights advocates have held public protests calling on Gall to retract the eviction letters. Most are working-class people who had been attracted to affordable micro-efficiency apartments in the United State's most expensive city.[5] In 2013, median rent for a studio apartment in San Francisco is $2,295.[5]
According to NPR, "Ellis Act evictions have increased 170 percent over the past three years. Low- and middle-income tenants are unlikely to find another affordable apartment in San Francisco, where the median monthly rent has risen to about $3,400." [6] According to former mayor Art Agnos, ""The struggle to keep people who make between $60,000 and $150,000 a year is what we're facing in San Francisco. That's who the struggle is for today. Frankly, it's all but over for the poor in this city." [6] Gall's eviction plan for 1049 Market Street has been covered extensively by local, national, and international news media because it is regarded as symbolic of San Francisco's recent combination of rent crisis and eviction crisis.
Personal life
Gall currently resides in the Bay Area with his family. He is the cousin of former Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners outfielder Eric Byrnes, with whom he works out in the offseason, in the Bay Area.
References
- ↑ Alyson Footer (2009-01-05). "Astros ink five to Minor League deals". MLB.com. Retrieved 2009-01-05.
- ↑ https://sites.google.com/site/1049market/fact-check
- ↑ "Market Street building evictions could be largest San Francisco ouster in decades – Neighborhoods – San Francisco – San Francisco Examiner". sfexaminer.com. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
- ↑ "BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News » Mayor Lee, Supervisor Kim, DBI Director Hui Unite to Stop Market Street Evictions". beyondchron.org. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
- 1 2 "Top 10 priciest U.S. cities to rent an apartment – Page 11 – CBS News". cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
- 1 2 "As Rent Soars, Longtime San Francisco Tenants Fight To Stay : NPR". npr.org. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
External links
- ESPN.com Player Page – Career statistics and analysis
- Career statistics and player information from Korea Baseball Organization
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