Travis Dawkins

{{Short description|American baseball player & coach (born 1979)}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

| name = Travis Dawkins

| image = Gookie.jpg

| caption = Dawkins with the Dayton Dragons in 2009

| position = Shortstop / Coach

| bats = Right

| throws = Right

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1979|5|12}}

| birth_place = Newberry, South Carolina, U.S.

| debutleague = MLB

| debutdate = September 3

| debutyear = 1999

| debutteam = Cincinnati Reds

| finalleague = MLB

| finaldate = July 23

| finalyear = 2003

| finalteam = Kansas City Royals

| statleague = MLB

| stat1label = Batting average

| stat1value = .163

| stat3label = Hits

| stat3value = 16

| stat2label = Runs scored

| stat2value = 8

| teams =

Cincinnati Reds ({{mlby|1999}}–{{mlby|2000}}, {{mlby|2002}})
Kansas City Royals ({{mlby|2003}})

|medaltemplates=

{{Medal|Country|{{bb|USA}}}}

}}

Travis Sentell "Gookie" Dawkins (born May 12, 1979) is an American former professional baseball shortstop and current coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds and Kansas City Royals.

Career

Drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2nd round of the 1997 Major League Baseball Draft, Dawkins would make his Major League Baseball debut with the Reds on September 3, {{mlby|1999}}. His first major league at-bat was on September 4, 1999, at Philadelphia (a game in which the Reds hit nine home runs). Dawkins singled and reached third base on a throwing error. A young Philadelphia Phillies fan seated down the first base line reached over the fence and grabbed the rolling ball during play. The Reds staff later obtained the first major league hit ball for Dawkins by trading with the fan.{{Cite web |title=Peter Gammons |url=https://www.espn.com/gammons/s/update/0212.html |access-date=2022-03-17 |website=www.espn.com}}

Dawkins won an Olympic gold medal in 2000 while playing for the United States baseball team.

Dawkins spent the {{Baseball year|2007}} season playing for the Tacoma Rainiers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, and the Ottawa Lynx, the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. Dawkins was re-signed by the Phillies on December 7, 2007, to a minor league contract.

Dawkins signed with the Chicago White Sox for the {{Baseball year|2008}} season, and was assigned to their Triple-A team, the Charlotte Knights. Dawkins was traded to the Kansas City Royals on June 11, 2008. He re-signed with the White Sox after the season.

He then signed the Reds in the summer of 2010.

In the 2010 offseason, Dawkins signed a minor league contract with the Charlotte Knights.

Dawkins began his professional coaching career in 2015, where he served as the hitting coach for the Arizona League Reds in Goodyear, Arizona.{{Cite web | url=https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-161008286 |title = Marrero returns, welcomes two new coaches}} In 2016, he was named hitting coach for the Cincinnati Reds' Advanced-A Affiliate, the Daytona Tortugas. In 2017, he was promoted to hitting coach of the Reds' Double-A Affiliate, Pensacola Blue Wahoos.[https://redsminorleagues.com/2017/01/21/pensacola-announces-coaching-staff-2017/ Pensacola announces coaching staff for 2017]

In 2018, he was promoted to manager of the Reds' Rookie-level Affiliate Greeneville Reds.[https://www.milb.com/greeneville/news/greeneville-reds-announce-2019-coaching-staff-302510600 GREENEVILLE REDS ANNOUNCE 2019 COACHING STAFF]

In 2020, he was promoted to manager of the Reds' Single-A Affiliate Dayton Dragons.[https://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/former-red-gookie-dawkins-manage-dayton-dragons-next-season/OAKP7Qj0DzBSWy1rvjPKeN/ Former Red ‘Gookie’ Dawkins to manage Dayton Dragons next season]