49 Facts About Eric Gagne

Eric Serge Gagne is a Canadian former professional baseball pitcher who played 10 seasons in Major League Baseball, most notably for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Eric Gagne played sparingly in 2005 and 2006 due to injury, undergoing elbow surgery in 2005 and back surgery in 2006.

The Dodgers did not re-sign him after 2006, and Eric Gagne started the 2007 season with the Texas Rangers, where he briefly enjoyed success again as a closer.

Eric Gagne comes from a Quebecois family and grew up in the town of Mascouche, near Montreal.

Eric Gagne eventually became a star with Canada's Junior World Championship teams.

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Eric Gagne was a fan of the Montreal Expos and Montreal Canadiens throughout his childhood.

Eric Gagne eventually became the star pitcher for Seminole's baseball team.

Eric Gagne was a 30th-round draft choice of the Chicago White Sox in 1994 MLB draft, but the following year he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent.

Eric Gagne then pitched in the minor leagues but missed the entire 1997 season due to Tommy John surgery.

Eric Gagne was elected to his first All-Star Game that year, becoming the second player from Quebec to be named an All-Star.

In 2003, as a closer, Eric Gagne was called upon 55 times to save a baseball game and converted every one of them en route to becoming both the first pitcher to record 50 saves in more than one season and the fastest pitcher to ever reach the 100-save plateau.

Eric Gagne's 55 saves in 2003 equalled the National League record set the previous season by John Smoltz.

When Eric Gagne entered a game at Dodger Stadium, usually in the eighth or ninth inning with the Dodgers in the lead, the words "Game Over" would flash across the scoreboard and the PA system would play the song "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses.

Eric Gagne is the only pitcher to win the award while having a losing season.

On June 21,2005, it was announced that Eric Gagne would undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery to repair a sprained ligament in his right elbow.

Eric Gagne was still unable to play for the remainder of the 2005 season.

Eric Gagne expressed hope that an accelerated recovery would allow him to pitch for Canada in the World Baseball Classic in March 2006, but he eventually decided that it was not worth the risk, and to focus on preparing to pitch in the regular season.

Eric Gagne had a poor spring training, allowing five earned runs in only three innings of work.

Eric Gagne started to make his recovery by tossing in three minor league games, two of them on consecutive days, allowing a home run and having one loss.

Eric Gagne said that it would take about a week to recover from the injury, but the Rangers, not taking the risk, placed Gagne on the disabled list with a hip injury.

On July 31,2007, Eric Gagne was traded to the Boston Red Sox for pitcher Kason Gabbard and minor league outfielders David Murphy and Engel Beltre.

Eric Gagne was expected to serve as a setup man for closer Jonathan Papelbon.

Eric Gagne seemed to improve down the stretch and was eventually added to the playoff roster.

In Boston, Eric Gagne wore the number 83, as starting pitcher Curt Schilling already wore Eric Gagne's usual number 38.

On December 9,2007, Eric Gagne reached a preliminary agreement with the Milwaukee Brewers.

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Eric Gagne went back to wearing the number 38 after wearing 83 in Boston.

However, Eric Gagne continued to struggle as the team's closer and ultimately became the set-up man after losing his closer job to the veteran Salomon Torres.

Eric Gagne's struggles continued out of the bullpen and he eventually lost his set-up job to Guillermo Mota.

Eric Gagne finished the season as a middle relief pitcher, a role in which he still struggled.

Eric Gagne finished 2008 with his worst full season in the major leagues: 10 saves in 17 opportunities, an ERA of 5.

Eric Gagne did not convert a save after losing the closer job to Torres.

Eric Gagne was released midway through spring training in part due to a shoulder injury.

Eric Gagne had been highly praised by Capitales manager Michel Laplante for his hard work and mentorship of other pitchers and hitters on the team.

Eric Gagne helped the team win the League Championship in September 2009.

On February 18,2010, Eric Gagne agreed to a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers with an invite to spring training.

On September 5,2016, Eric Gagne pitched for the Ottawa Champions of the Can-Am League, attracting nearly 8,000 fans.

Eric Gagne, who is Canadian and whose native language is French, served as the pitching coach for the France national baseball team during the 2013 World Baseball Classic qualifiers in September 2012.

Eric Gagne rejoined the Texas Rangers organization as a coach in 2018, serving as the pitching coach of the Arizona League Rangers of the rookie-level Arizona League.

In 2019, Eric Gagne was promoted to bullpen coach of the Nashville Sounds of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.

Eric Gagne was released by the Rangers organization following the 2019 season.

On December 13,2007, Eric Gagne was listed in the Mitchell Report — former Senator George Mitchell's report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

Allegedly, Eric Gagne received the drugs from steroids dealer Kirk Radomski.

At first, Radomski said that Eric Gagne obtained them from Dodgers teammate Paul Lo Duca, but then Radomski said in the report that he mailed two shipments of HGH directly to Eric Gagne in 2004.

Eric Gagne declined to meet with Senator Mitchell to respond to the charges before the report was released.

Eric Gagne acknowledged that he has been looked to as a role model, and called himself an example of what one should not do.

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Eric Gagne had an assortment of pitches he used as a reliever but his most commonly used were a four-seam fastball in the mid-to-upper 90s and a Vulcan changeup in the mid 80s.

Eric Gagne featured a two-seam fastball, a slow curveball, and a rarely used slider.

Eric Gagne used this combination of pitches to rack up strikeouts at a very high rate.

Eric Gagne owns the highest percentage of swinging strikes on pitches inside the strike zone.