Mike Bacsik

[William Malone]

Michael James Bacsik was born on April 1, 1952 in Dallas, Texas.

The Texas Rangers signed him as an undrafted free agent in 1973. He made his Major League debut in 1975, and pitched parts of three seasons for the Rangers. Bacsik was 4-4 with a 4.50 ERA for Texas, making three starts and 29 relief appearances. They traded him to the Minnesota Twins after he spent all of 1978 in the minors.

Bacsik made a career high 31 appearances for the Twins in 1979, logging 64.2 innings out of the bullpen. He went 4-2 with a 4.29 ERA, and had seven appearances of three or more innings with no earned runs allowed. Bacsik made just ten appearances for Minnesota in 1980, posting a 4.30 ERA across 23.0 innings.

His son, Michael Joseph Bacsik, pitched seven seasons in the Majors. The younger Mike, who doesn't go by "Jr" due to a different middle name, is most known for being on the mound when Barry Bonds broke the all-time home run record. The older Mike got to face previous record holder Henry Aaron while Aaron was sitting on his final career total of 755 home runs. The two have often joked that if Mike the older had allowed a home run, it would've prevented his son from being a trivia answer.

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