Even while attending college at Eastern Michigan, Mike Gouin showed he belonged playing slow pitch with the top players in the 1970s. In fact, Gouin walked away with the MVP honors in the 1970 Men’s Open Slow Pitch National Championship helping Little Caesars win the title. Gouin earned the award by batting .730—second highest in the tourney—with 19 hits in 26 at-bats, driving in 11 runs and hitting six homers. This helped him finish the season with an overall .685 batting average. Four year earlier, Gouin had helped Michael’s Lounge , also from Detroit, win the national title as he batted .500 (12-for-24) and was a first-team All-America. Before his 22-year career (1959-1980) was over, Gouin made All-America two more times: 1967 and 1973. In the latter national tourney, Gouin batted .744 (32-for-43) with seven homers, 22 RBIs and 25 runs scored. Gouin batted .630 with three homers and 14 RBIs in the 1972 national as Caesars dropped to seventh place. Born May 13, 1943 in Wayne, MI, Gouin has served as a player rep and district commissioner for the Detroit ASA. In 1984, he was one of the original members inducted into the Detroit ASA Hall of Fame.
