Tom Brunansky
Template:Mlbretired Thomas Andrew Brunansky (born August 20, 1960 in Covina, California), nicknamed "Bruno", is a former right fielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1981 to 1994 for the California Angels, Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, and Milwaukee Brewers.
In a 14-season career, he batted .245 with 271 home runs and 919 RBIs in 1800 games. Brunansky averaged 24 home runs per 162 games. He had 69 life-time stolen bases and 306 doubles. He ended with 1543 career hits in 6289 at bats.
On May 11, 1982, he was traded from the California Angels organization with pitcher Mike Walters for pitcher Doug Corbett and infielder Rob Wilfong to the Minnesota Twins. He was an All-Star in 1985 and was a starter for the World Champion 1987 Minnesota Twins. Just months after playing each other in the World Series, Tom Brunansky was traded in 1988 from the Minnesota Twins to the St. Louis Cardinals for second baseman Tom Herr.
In 1990, he was traded by the Cardinals to the Red Sox for closer Lee Smith. Brunansky played three seasons for the Red Sox, and is best remembered by Boston fans for his diving catch of an Ozzie Guillen line drive in the ninth inning of the season ending game that preserved the Red Sox victory sending them to the playoffs in 1990. At the end of the 1992 season, he became a free agent and signed with the Milwaukee Brewers in January of 1993. After one season in Milwaukee, he was traded back to the Red Sox in June of 1994 for Dave Valle. Brunansky hit poorly in 1994 and retired in August.
Fun fact: Since the Minnesota Twins moved from Washington to Minnesota after the 1960 season, Brunansky is the only Twin in franchise history to hit the rarest of rare - a grand slam, inside-the-park home run. He accomplished this feat on July 19th, 1982 when he did so in the 3rd inning off the Brewer's J. Augustine at the Metrodome. It was his 12th home run of the season. Ironically, all four runs were considered unearned because of two Brewers' fielding errors earlier in the inning. Note: only 40 major league players have hit a grand slam, inside-the-park home run since 1950.
Currently, Brunansky coaches high school baseball in Poway, California.[1]