“The tendons were fried; they said it was the end of my career,” Gans recalled in a recent interview, sitting on a couch in a dressing room lined with photos of himself and scores of celebrities. “The doctors said if I could walk without limping, that’s all I could ask for.” Gans underwent grueling rehabilitation, then returned to the game in junior college where he had to make a difficult decision between playing for the Chicago White Sox who had drafted him that year or attending Cal Poly San Louis Obsipo. He chose the scholarship at San Luis Obispo which then led to a contract with the Los Angeles Dodger organization. Playing third base for their Double A club, Gans remembers a fateful night in Bellingham, WA. when his manager called him aside and told him the San Diego Padres had bought his contract.

“It looks like they want to bring you right up to the big leagues,” the manager told Gans. The manager asked Gans if he wanted to play that final night with the AA team or sit out the game. Gans elected to play. It would be a life-altering decision.

Gans was switched to first base for what he expected to be his final game in the minors. It would be his final game in professional baseball. “A player ran over my heel with his spikes, severing my Achilles tendon,” Gans recalled. “I was a day away from going to the big leagues.”It was Gans’ second bad break, and dashed any dreams of a pro ball career.