Bio

Every baseball player hopes to make it “in the Bigs,” but former RCC star BobbyKielty turned hope into reality. A naturally gifted athlete who competed in high school water polo, soccer, baseball and wrestling at Canyon Springs HighSchool, Kielty headed to the University of Southern California in 1994. A year later,he jumped back to Riverside City College, a move that he said “proved to be one of the biggest stepping stones” in his career.

As a Tiger, Kielty matured and excelled as a student-athlete and landed a scholarship t Division 1 University of Mississippi. He quickly built a reputation as a position player, and in 1998 was named Cape Cod Summer League Player of the Year and Baseball America’s Summer College Baseball Player of the Year. His collegiate success propelled him into a 14-year major league career.

Brought up from the minor leagues, he won the Bill Boni Award as a Minnesota Twins rookie, finishing the year with a .291 batting average, 12 HR and 46 RBI in 112 games. In 2003, he was traded mid-season to the Toronto Blue Jays, had a good season, and went on to play for the Oakland A’s from 2004-2007. When he was traded to Boston in2007, he made the Red Sox’s playoff roster and hit .400 with 2 RBIs in the ALCS to help the team advance to the World Series. In his only at-bat against the Colorado Rockies, he homered on the first pitch, becoming the 21st player to hit a pinch-hit home run in the World Series.

Although injuries sidelined his career in the majors, Kielty went on to play another three years in the minor leagues with the Twins, Mets, and Padres. Throughout his career, he displayed what RCC Head Coach Dennis Rogers called “a sense of leadership and passion for self-development and life.” Since 1999, Kielty has been involved as a mentor/coach at RCC, helping Rogers guide the Tigers to multiple state championships.

Bobby Kielty played for the Tigers from 1996 through 1997 before heading to the University of Mississippi. He was named MVP of the Cape Cod League after leading the league in batting average and RBIs. In 1998, he was named Summer Player of the Year by Baseball America and signed with the Minnesota Twins in 1999. Kielty’s professional career lasted 13 years, the last 10 in the big leagues playing for the Twins, Oakland A’s, Redsox, and Indians. In his only at-bat in the World Series, he hit a home run, the gaming winning RBI.