[Terry D]

Gary Eugene Krug was born in Garden City, Kansas, and raised in Colorado. As a ballplayer he was sometimes referred to as Gene, sometimes as Gary. Krug was drafted by the Mets in '74 and '75 but declined to sign. He finally signed with the Cubs after completing his education and proceeded to hit well for them in the minors. Krug did not have a lot of home run power but he got enough other long hits to wind up with a minor league slugging percentage of .500. He could be selective at the plate, too, and his OBP in the minors was .400. Krug was a first baseman but I don't know how good he was defensively. He was quite slow (the papers called him 'beefy'). He finally got a major league chance during the 1981 season. The Cubs had a wretched '81, mainly because they had over-invested in past it veterans like Ken Reitz and Bobby Bonds. Krug was one of the young guys they looked at later that year, the others including Scott Fletcher, Pat Tabler, and Mel Hall. The others went on to substantial major league careers, but Krug's career in the big time consisted of just five ABs as a pinch hitter. He did OK, too, going 2 for the 5 for a MLB BA of .400. That was Krug's last year in pro ball, though. He was 26 in 1981, which is not that young for a rookie, and the Cubs had Buckner at first base. Since 1981, Krug has become well known as a baseball image unicorn. I found him in the May 17th edition of the Chicago Tribune (thank you, newspapers.com). The picture ain't great, but it's the first major league shot I've ever seen of him.