Happy Birthday Josh Towers and Kelly Gruber

by Tom Dakers on Feb 26, 2011 4:57 PM EST in Toronto Blue Jays Birthdays

Two Blue Jay birthdays today: Josh Towers turns 34 today and Kelly Gruber 49.

Towers pitched for us for 5 seasons, winning 37 and losing 42 from 2003 to 2007. His best season was 2005 when he went 13-12 with a 3.71 ERA in 33 starts. Unfortunately the next year wasn't quite as good, 2-10 with a 8.42 ERA. Towers, even at the best of times, gave up a lot of hits and a good number of home runs as well but he kept the walks down. In 2009 he had a couple of appearances for the Yankees.

Kelly Gruber played for us for 9 years, hit 114 home runs, with 443 RBI and a .259/.307/.431 batting line. He had his best season in 1990, hitting 30 home runs, driving in 118 while batting .274/.330/.512. He had good speed and played great defense at third. He was a fan favorite, especially of the female fans. Unfortunately injuries derailed his career right in his prime. There is more about Kelly in the profile we did for him as one of our Top 50 Jays.

Happy birthday to both of them, hope life is good.

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I loved Kelly Gruber

Josh Towers? Not so much. My last memory of Towers was when he was a Yankee and smoked Randy Ruiz in the face.

He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man.

by craig in calgary on Feb 26, 2011 5:01 PM EST via mobile reply actions

I always admired how Towers got by with nothing pitches but pinpoint control. He managed to coax a two year contract out of JP with that one good year. Congratulations to him.

by siggian on Feb 26, 2011 5:23 PM EST reply actions