Gift Ngoepe bats for the Toronto Blue Jays during a Major League game. Picture: Getty Images
After making the difficult decision to hang up his bat, groundbreaking baseball player Gift Ngoepe has left the sport with the same lack of fanfare he experienced when he took up the game.
But it is not the first day of his baseball career that will be best remembered, nor his last. It’s everything he achieved in between.
“From me to the game… and everyone along my journey. Thank you. Signing out,” the 33-year-old defensive mildfielder posted on Instagram on Monday, seemingly announcing his retirement from the professional game.
The first African player to enter the hallowed boundaries of the Major League diamond, Ngoepe is recognised as much for his rise from humble beginnings as he is for his ability on the field.
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Born in Limpopo, he moved to Joburg when he was a toddler and lived with his late mother Maureen at the Randburg Mets clubhouse where she worked.
Introduced to baseball at the age of three, Ngoepe showed tremendous progress as he developed through the junior age groups, representing the national senior team for the first time as a teenager in 2007 before signing a pro contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates the following year.
Having spent nearly a decade paying his dues in the minor leagues, Ngoepe’s persistence paid off in 2017 when he made his Major League debut for the Pirates in a game against the Chicago Cubs.
In 2018 he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays, again appearing in the top-flight MLB, before spreading his wings for the rest of his career.
Selling his skills around the world, he went on to turn out for the Sydney Blue Sox in Australia and the Quebec Capitals in Canada, as well as various other Minor League teams in the US.
Building on his legacy, Ngoepe’s younger brother Vincent also signed a deal with the Pirates in 2016 to play in the lower ranks on the US circuit.
