On Saturday, June 13th, Giants Great and NL MVP Kevin Mitchell visited Sports Gallery Palo Alto for a special matinee signing appearance.

Kevin Mitchell was a raw baseball talent capable of amazing things on the field. Raised by his grandmother, Kevin used baseball to escape the violent San Diego street gangs of his youth. Originally drafted by the NY Mets, Mitchell played six different positions for the World Champion New York Mets as a rookie in 1986, including 24 games at shortstop, and hit .277 to finish third in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. On July 4, 1987, Kevin was traded from San Diego to San Francisco and belted a pair of homers in his Giants debut. Kevin went on to hit .306 the rest of the season as the Giants won the NL West. However, the 1989 season was the pinnacle of Mitchell's career. After two seasons playing primarily at third base, he had his best season with the Giants in 1989 upon being moved to the outfield. In that season, he had a league-best 125 RBI and 47 home runs, leading the team to the playoffs and winning the National League's Most Valuable Player award, the first by a Giant since Willie McCovey in 1969. He added a .353 average and 2 homers in the NLCS to help the team to its first World Series appearance since 1962. Kevin is also most known for an excellent defensive play, making a running bare-handed catch of a fly ball to deep left field in St. Louis' Busch Stadium off of Ozzie Smith. This remarkable catch is considered by many to be one of the more memorable defensive plays in the history of the game.