Nettles was one of the best defensive third basemen of all time, and despite his relatively low career batting average, he was an excellent offensive contributor, setting an American League record for career home runs by a third baseman. As a part of four pennant-winning Yankee teams, Nettles enjoyed his best season in 1977 when he won the Gold Glove Award and had career-highs in home runs (37) and runs batted in (107) in leading the Yankees to the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.\n', '

Born and raised in San Diego, California. Nettles\' unusual first name derives from his mother\'s dislike of the names Greg and Craig – and her combining the two to produce "Graig." "My dad was away at the war, so he didn\'t have any say." The name also led to confusion for baseball card companies; the error-prone inaugural 1981 Fleer baseball card set includes an error card where his name is spelled "Graig" on the front, and "Craig" on the back.\n', '

Nettles graduated from San Diego High School in 1962 then attended San Diego State College on a basketball scholarship. and played for both the Aztecs\' basketball and baseball teams. In 1964 and 1965, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Alaska Goldpanners of the Alaska Baseball League, helping to lead the team to two league championships.\n', '

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