Dave McKay

David Lawrence McKay was born March 14, 1950, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Dave played college baseball at Creighton University. The Twins signed McKay as an amateur free agent.

The six-foot-one, 195-pound, McKay played eight seasons in MLB. He played second base, third base, and shortstop. The Toronto Blue Jays selected McKay from the Twins in the 1976 expansion draft. McKay received his most extensive action in 1978 when he tallied 537 plate appearances for the Blue Jays and amassed an OPS+ of 73. He was released by the Blue Jays after 1979. He signed with Oakland and played three more major league seasons.

The switch-hitting McKay hit .229/.281/.281 during his two seasons with the Twins (1975 and 1976). He had two home runs and 24 runs batted in. His OPS+ with the Twins was 61.

Dave McKay started a long coaching career in 1983 as a player/coach at the class-A and triple-A levels of the Oakland organization. In 1984, McKay was promoted to the Oakland A’s major league coaching staff. He would serve on coaching staffs for Tony LaRussa, most often as first base coach, for both Oakland and the St. Louis Cardinals. Since LaRussa retired from the Cardinals in 2011, McKay has continued coaching for other managers and currently serves as first base coach for the Diamondbacks.

• McKay had a home run in his first Major League plate appearance. It came against Vern Ruhle of the Tigers on August 22, 1975. The Twins won 8-4.
• McKay was the only Canadian on the original Blue Jays roster. He was the opening day third baseman.
• Throughout his coaching career, McKay served as first base coach on three World Series championship clubs: the A's in 1989, and the Cardinals in 2006 and 2011.