Background and career
Kevin Darnell Mitchell (born January 13, 1962) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball from 1984 to 1998. Mitchell was a two-time MLB All-Star and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award and Silver Slugger Award in 1989, when he led the league in home runs and runs batted in.
Mitchell was born and raised in San Diego to Alma Mitchell, who worked as an electrician with the US Navy. Alma separated from Mitchell's father, Earl, when Mitchell was two years old. He was raised by his mother and paternal grandmother, Josie Whitfield, who encouraged his participation in sports. Because Mitchell struggled academically, he attended several high schools in San Diego including Lincoln High School, Clairemont High School and Crawford High School, where he claimed to have played water polo. Although he has been credited with graduating from Clairemont and has claimed to have been a high school football star there, Mitchell only attended the school for two months in 1978. He was reportedly involved in street gangs as a youth, but has claimed he was never himself a member; he also claimed to have been shot three times in his youth. His stepbrother, Donald, was killed in a gang fight. Mitchell reportedly did not play high school baseball. He was signed by the New York Mets as an undrafted free agent following an open tryout at Grossmont College. He was given a $1,500 signing bonus plus $600 monthly in salary.
In Amazin', Peter Golenbock's oral history of the New York Mets, Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter said he gave Mitchell the nickname "World" for his ability to play in the infield and outfield. Carter spoke fondly of Mitchell's talents. Mitchell made his major league debut on September 4, 1984, against the St. Louis Cardinals, appearing as a pinch hitter and flying out in his only plate appearance. He batted .214 with an RBI in seven games to finish the 1984 season. After spending the 1985 season in the minor leagues, Mitchell returned to the Mets in 1986, batting .277 with 12 home runs and 43 RBI in 108 games. In the tenth inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, with the Mets trailing and two outs, Gary Carter singled to keep the game alive. Mitchell was then sent in to pinch hit for Rick Aguilera and also singled, extending the rally. He would eventually score the tying run on Bob Stanley's wild pitch to Mookie Wilson. The Mets went on to win the game and series, giving Mitchell his only World Series ring. In a July 2007 radio interview with San Francisco sports talk radio station KNBR, Mitchell disputed that he was out of uniform at the time, and stated that he never wore a cup, even when playing infield. When asked why he never wore a cup, Mitchell responded, "I couldn’t find one big enough for my junk." The interviewer then commented that maybe the increased mobility helped Mitchell to make the famous 1989 barehanded catch of Ozzie Smith's fly ball. On December 11, 1986, the Mets traded Mitchell, Shawn Abner, Stan Jefferson, Kevin Armstrong, and Kevin Brown to the San Diego Padres for Kevin McReynolds, Gene Walter, and Adam Ging. Mitchell played for the Padres for the first half of 1987, batting .245 with seven home runs and 26 RBI in 62 games.
On July 4, 1987, Mitchell was traded to the San Francisco Giants as part of a multi-player trade that also sent pitchers Dave Dravecky and Craig Lefferts to San Francisco in exchange for third baseman Chris Brown and pitchers Keith Comstock, Mark Davis, and Mark Grant. While Dravecky was initially considered to be the key to the trade for the Giants, it was Mitchell who emerged as a star player. He hit .306 with 15 home runs and 44 RBI in 69 games with the Giants following the trade. In 1988, Mitchell hit .251 with 19 home runs and 80 RBI in 148 games.
Most Valuable Player After two seasons playing primarily at third base, Mitchell had his best season with the Giants in 1989 upon being moved to the outfield. In that season, he batted .291 with a league-best 47 home runs and 125 RBI in 154 games, 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. Mitchell was named to his first All-Star team, and also led the majors in slugging percentage (.635), on-base plus slugging (1.023), total bases (345), and intentional walks (32). In the 1989 postseason, Mitchell posted a .353 average, two home runs and 7 RBI in the NLCS, helping the Giants to their first World Series appearance since 1962. Mitchell hit safely in every game of the 1989 World Series, batting .294 with a home run, two runs scored, and 2 RBI in the Oakland Athletics' four-game sweep.
The barehanded catch Mitchell set the tone for his charmed 1989 season early in the year with a unique defensive play on April 26. Sprinting toward the left field foul line in St. Louis's Busch Stadium, for a ball off the bat of Ozzie Smith, Mitchell realized he had overrun the ball, but was able to reach back and snare the ball with his bare hand.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
