Éric Serge Gagné (French pronunciation: [ɡɑɲe]; born January 7, 1976) is a Canadian former professional baseball pitcher who played 10 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), most notably for the Los Angeles Dodgers. After signing with the Dodgers as a free agent in 1995, Gagné began his career as a starting pitcher. After he struggled in that role, the Dodgers converted Gagné from a starter to a reliever, where for three years (2002–2004) he was statistically the most outstanding closer in the league, winning the Cy Young Award in 2003. During that period, he set a major league record by converting 84 consecutive save opportunities.
Gagné played sparingly in 2005 and 2006 due to injury, undergoing elbow surgery in 2005 and back surgery in 2006. The Dodgers did not re-sign him after 2006, and Gagné started the 2007 season with the Texas Rangers, where he briefly enjoyed success again as a closer. However, he was less successful in stints with the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers, and was released after the 2008 season.
In December 2007, days after signing a contract for 2008 with the Milwaukee Brewers, he was linked to baseball's steroids scandal after he was named in the Mitchell Report.
Gagné comes from a Québécois family and grew up in the town of Mascouche, near Montreal. As a child, he played baseball and ice hockey at Montreal's Polyvalente Édouard-Montpetit High School, the same high school Russell Martin attended.
His Little League teams were coached by his father, Richard. He eventually became a star with Canada's Junior World Championship teams. He was a fan of the Montreal Expos and Montreal Canadiens throughout his childhood.
Gagné attended Seminole Junior College in Seminole, Oklahoma. At first, Gagné knew very little English; he became proficient in English by watching American TV while in college, mainly the sitcom Kenan and Kel. He eventually became the star pitcher for Seminole's baseball team.
He was a 30th-round draft choice (845th overall) of the Chicago White Sox in 1994 MLB draft, but the following year he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent. Gagne then pitched in the minor leagues but missed the entire 1997 season due to Tommy John surgery.
Los Angeles Dodgers (1999–2006)
He made his MLB debut on September 7, when he started a game for the Dodgers against the Florida Marlins, working six shutout innings and striking out eight. In his first year in MLB, he appeared in only five games as a starting pitcher, with a 1–1 record and 2.10 ERA. Over his first three seasons, he won eleven games while losing fourteen in 48 games, 38 of them starts.
At the start of the 2002 season, following the retirement of Dodgers closer Jeff Shaw, he was converted from a starting pitcher to a relief pitcher. He picked up his first career save on April 7 against the Colorado Rockies and soon became the National League's leading reliever. He saved 10 consecutive games before he suffered his first blown save on May 7 against the Atlanta Braves. He was elected to his first All-Star Game that year, becoming the second player from Quebec to be named an All-Star (the first being Claude Raymond). In the All-Star Game he served up a two-run homer to Alfonso Soriano in the fifth, allowing the AL to cut the NL lead to 4–2. Overall, he earned 52 saves for the season.
In 2003, as a closer, Gagné converted all 55 save opportunities en route to becoming both the first pitcher to record 50 saves in more than one season and also the fastest pitcher to ever reach the 100-save plateau. His 55 saves in 2003 also equaled the National League record set the previous season by John Smoltz. Between August 26, 2002, and July 5, 2004, he converted 84 consecutive save chances, a major league record. More than half (55%) of the batters he retired during the 2003 season came by strikeout.
When Gagné entered a game at Dodger Stadium, usually in the eighth or ninth inning with the Dodgers in the lead, the words "Game Over" would flash across the scoreboard, and the PA system would play the song "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses.
In addition to his 55 saves, Gagné finished the 2003 season with a 1.20 earned run average and had 137 strikeouts and 20 walks in 82+1⁄3 innings pitched. This translated into 1.66 strikeouts per inning pitched. For his performance, he won the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award and became the first relief pitcher in 11 years to win the Cy Young Award. He and Ferguson Jenkins are the only two Canadian pitchers to win the most prestigious pitching award in baseball. He is the only pitcher to win the award while having a losing season (his record was 2–3). As a result, in the off-season, during contract arbitration he asked for a 14-fold raise from $550,000 to $8 million but settled for $5 million.
His streak finally ended at 84 saves on July 5, 2004, against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ten days later, Gagné collected his 130th save as a Dodger in a 5–2 win over the Diamondbacks at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, Arizona, surpassing Jeff Shaw for the most career saves in team history. Gagné threw three shutout innings during his first appearance in the playoffs that year, but the Dodgers lost the division series 3–1 to the St. Louis Cardinals. Going into the 2007 season, Gagné had converted 161 saves out of 168 save opportunities for a conversion rate of 95.8%.
Before the start of the 2005 season, Gagné and the Dodgers agreed to a two-year, $19 million contract. He sustained several injuries early that year. Although he was still an effective pitcher, 2.70 ERA and 8 for 8 in save opportunities, Gagné was only able to appear in 14 games that season. On June 21, 2005, it was announced that Gagné would undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery to repair a sprained ligament in his right elbow. Recovery would take a year or more; furthermore, a return to major league pitching after a second Tommy John operation (Gagné's first was in 1997) is nearly unheard of, having since been achieved by another Dodger reliever, the Taiwanese left-hander Hong-Chih Kuo. However, as surgeons began to operate, they discovered instead a nerve entrapped by scar tissue and were able to release it with a less invasive procedure. Gagné was still unable to play for the remainder of the 2005 season.
Gagné expressed hope that an accelerated recovery would allow him to pitch for Canada in the World Baseball Classic in March 2006, but he eventually decided that it was not worth the risk, and to focus on preparing to pitch in the regular season.
After some encouraging outings in early spring training, pain in Gagné's pitching elbow forced him to undergo a second surgery, this time to remove entirely the nerve that doctors had previously attempted to stabilize. More recovery time ensued, but Gagné finally pitched in his first regular-season game of 2006 on June 3. He made two appearances for the Dodgers, pitching two scoreless innings and earning one save, but pain from the nerve in his elbow recurred, and he returned to the disabled list on June 12. A further (and apparently unrelated) setback occurred on July 4, when Gagné awoke with intense pain in his back. An examination revealed two herniated discs, and Gagné underwent season-ending back surgery on July 8.
The Dodgers declined to extend Gagné's $12 million contract after the season, making him a free agent. On December 12, 2006, Gagné signed a one-year deal with the Texas Rangers worth $6 million, with a possible $5 million in performance bonuses. Gagné had a poor spring training, allowing five earned runs in only three innings of work. For the third consecutive year, Gagné was placed on the disabled list to start the season to let him recover from his injuries. Gagné started to make his recovery by tossing in three minor league games, two of them on consecutive days, allowing a home run and having one loss. In his last minor league game, Gagné retired all three of the batters he faced, and he was activated on April 13.