Reggie Jefferson: 1996 (and 1997) - The Guy Who Totally Existed

The New England winter is long, unforgiving, and devoid of ways to fill your time that don’t involve staring unblinkingly and emotionless into the abyss of this futile and pointless folly you call your existence. Plus, you know, it’s slushy and yucky outside. To proactively keep back the misery, I will turn your attention to the sun-drenched, Sox-filled summers of our (faded) youth with the weekly feature One Summer. For the next month, I will look back on tremendous individual seasons from Sox players whose careers were not consistently All-Stat level, but still produced one outstanding summer in Boston. Remember, just by reading it, you’ll be about 5-10 minutes closer to spring. You are welcome.

Today: Reggie Jefferson

Memories & Career

I grew up about 45 minutes outside of Boston, and about 42-44 minutes outside of our current palatial Allston estate. My first and only trip to the old Boston Garden was in 1992 for a performance of Sesame Street on Ice. I have a vague, terrifying recollection of Bert & Ernie dancing to “Hip to be Square.” Larry Bird starred as Snuffleupagus, bringing joy to all the children, and amazingly, also scored 26 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and played lockdown defense on Oscar the Grouch. Man, the guy really did it all, didn’t he?

Snuff & Big B could just not contain Bird & McHale,  especially in figure skates.

I attended my first Celtics game at 17. I attended my only pre-2007 Bruins game in 1999. I went on field trips to the Museum of Science in third grade and the Museum of Art in sixth grade. My first time stepping foot on to the BU campus was for orientation.

Basically, this is a 150 word way of saying what should could have been done in 11 words: As a kid, I did not spend much time in Boston.

Despite my limited and sporadic exposure to the city, however, I did have a few regularly scheduled May-September visits to Boston: From ages 7-16, my dad took me to two to three Sox games a season. For that decade, 1992-2002, Sox games were nearly my sole exposure to Boston. The drive up Route 9, down Brookline Ave towards the stadium were just about the most thrilling moments of my year. I can still vividly recall seeing a MBTA bus covered in ads for the soon-to-air The Chevy Chase Show. Talk about amazing formative experiences, huh?

National Lampoon's Chevy Chase's Talk Show Vacation: Griswold's in Los Angeles

Anyways, my dad would sneak in a Cherry Coke, because for a fat kid, the regular sugary beverages they served at the stadium were just not enough.  We both brought our gloves to the games, and it was not until years later I would realize the pride-swallowing, self-dignity sacrificing act of a man in his early 40’s bringing his glove to the game to make his son happy.  After the lineups were announced, my dad would ask three questions: Who wins? What’s the final score? Who hits a home run? It became cliché and expected, especially when I was surly, miserable 27 year old teen, but it is the kind of cliché and expected that makes you smile when you think of your dad.

On Friday, August 8, 1997, we were in the stands when a bad 56-59 Sox team hosted an even worse 47-64 Royals team. Though it was early August, both teams were well out of the playoff hunt. The Sox would finish 78-84 and the Royals would finish 67-94. In a shit year for both organizations, the Sox could at least cling to the excitement that surrounded Nomar’s ridiculous rookie season.  

Badger has an okay slider, but Skinny Pete has a devastating circle change-up.

On this night, Steve Avery faced off the KC’s wonderfully named Ricky Bones, who I did not remember being a person who existed until about 20 minutes into writing this post. Bones, in addition to sounding like a member of Jesse’s crew on Breaking Bad, pitched 11 seasons for nine different organizations, compiling a 63-82 record and a 4.85 ERA. Not overly impressive, but still better production than Badger or Skinny Pete would have likely given you as fifth starter.  

Ricky Bones with the Brewers, circa mid-1990's. I found one pic of him in a Royals uniform, but these are my favorite baseball uniforms of all-time. 

After the lineups were announced, my dad posed the three questions. Honestly, I have no recollection of who I predicted to win or what the final score would be. But I do remember predicting a Reggie Jefferson home run. Can you guess what happened next? I bet you can. That’s right, I finished my Cherry Coke, Papa Gino’s personal pizza, and French fries before Avery retired the Royals in order in the first. Fat kid power!

Oh, and in the first inning, after a Nomar single, Valentin walk, and Vaughn strikeout, Jefferson hit a 1-0 pitch from Bones over the left centerfield fence.

Actually, that’s a lie. Jefferson did not hit the pitch, as much as he f***ing demolished it. I do not have the exact scientific numbers in front of me, but I believe the ball was over the Monster before most people in the stands even realized it had left Bones’ hand.

Jefferson added a single in the 8-2 Sox victory. He finished 2-4, and raised his average to .364 in the process. He was in the midst of a very impressive two season stretch. Jefferson finished the season at .319, good for eighth in the American League, but a far cry from .364. This game, coincidentally enough, was the high water mark for the Jefferson’s average. So, how did it go just so wrong in a relatively short amount of time?

It was a much covered story in the summer that Jefferson was upset about failing to qualify for the 1996 AL batting crown. With a similar fate playing out in 1997, Jefferson made it known to the press he wanted and deserved more at-bats. His request was granted.

After August 8, Jefferson played in 43 of the remaining 46 games, giving him enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. After reaching .364 on August 8, Jefferson finished the season hitting .230 (38-165). This includes an astonishingly awful 13 game stretch from September 12-24 in which he went 5-55 (.111). To take it a step further, those 13 games included a five game, 0-21 stretch that dropped his already declining average from .341 to .318. Jefferson’s demands for playing time were met, but his average paid the price.*

*My chance to be an ESPN5 "reporter": It was karma! How dare a player value his individual success as much, if not more (gasp!), than he values his crappy team’s success? Outrageous!

While  August and September 1997 were not the peak of his career, it does not change the fact that Reggie Jefferson had a solid, decade-long major league career. Originally from Florida, he was picked out of high school by the Reds in the third round of the 1986 draft. He made his big league debut for Reds in 1991, before being traded to the Indians prior to the 1992 season. He posted a .835 OPS in limited playing time, before playing 113 games in 1993, and hitting .249 with 10 home runs. A few days before Christmas 1993, Jefferson was traded to Seattle for Omar Vizquel. Jefferson broke out with the Mariners during the strike shortened 1994 season, hitting .327 and compiling a .935 OPS. A free agent, Jefferson, who had hit close to .400 in his career as a visitor to Fenway, signed with Sox.

His final career numbers were modest, especially for a man who spent nine seasons in the majors. In 680 games, Jefferson hit 72 home runs and 131 doubles, knocked in 300 runs, stole two bases, and posted a .300/.349/.474 line, with a 112 OPS+. Above average, but unremarkable.

But in 1996 and 1997, Jefferson was one of the best left-handed hitters in baseball.

1996 (and some 1997)

In 1996, Reggie Jefferson hit .347, but will you never seen his name listed among that season’s batting average leaders. Obviously, he was disqualified for taking three Advil before a late-season game against Texas. Or, Jefferson finished the season with 418 plate appearances, 84 less than needed to qualify. It's one of those two, but I'm not sure which one.

If Jefferson had qualified, he would have finished third in the AL. To qualify, a player must average 3.1 plate appearances per game, which works out to 502 for a 162 game season. How the batting final batting race would have looked with a qualified Jefferson:

Alex Rodriguez	.357
Frank Thomas	.349
Reggie Jefferson	.347
Paul Molitor	.344
Chuck Knoblauch	.341
Rusty Greer	.332

*I went six-deep with this list just so I could include Rusty Greer, who should legally change his name to “1990’s MLB Alert!”

Despite not qualifying for the batting title, Jefferson finished with excellent numbers:

.347/.388/.593, 143 OPS+, 30 Doubles, 4 Triples, 19 Home Runs, 74 RBI, 67 Runs Scored

If Jefferson had reached 502 plate appearances, he would have ranked tenth in the league in slugging percentage, one spot ahead of teammate Mo Vaughn.

So, how did Jefferson hit .347 with 19 HR and a 143 OPS+, but not have the necessary amount of plate appearances? Well, without delving deeply into the daily coverage of manager Kevin Kennedy’s personnel decisions, I have to conclude Jefferson was simply a man without a permanent position. Here is a breakdown of Jefferson’s 1996, by games played at each position:

DH: 49

1B: 45

OF: 16

How does the man with .932 OPS not find his way into more games? Well, the AL’s reigning MVP, Vaughn, started 146 games at first base and was even better than he was in 1995 (44 HR, 143 RBI, 207 Hits, .326/.420/.583, 150 OPS+). The team’s regular DH, Jose Canseco, started 84 games at the position and also had a stellar season (28 HR, .289/.400/.589, 146 OPS+). Vaughn also received 14 starts at DH, with starting catcher Mike Stanley getting 10 starts at DH and putting up great numbers (24 HR, .270/.388/.506, 122 OPS+).

Jefferson was a DH/1B on a team stocked full of DH/1B types. When he did play, he was outstanding.

"Whoa, careful with that pitch, buddy, I have to be in uniform for the Worcester Tornadoes in 15 years."

Brief, Wild Tangent Alert:

As you might be able to tell from those individual numbers, the 1996 Sox were an offensive force.

They scored 928 runs, tied for fourth in the American League. Five team-- the Mariners, who led the league with 993, followed by the Indians, Orioles, Sox, and Rangers-- scored more than 900 runs. In 2013, the Sox led the AL with 853 runs scored, with no other team scoring more than 800 runs. In 1996, 12 of 16 AL teams scored more than 853 runs, with the league average being 872 runs scored.

So, with so many offensive weapons, how did the Sox fail to win more than 85 games? Their pitching staff surrendered 921 runs, the third most in the AL. In 2013, the Astros - those horrible, historically awful Astros - surrendered the most runs in the league at 848 and no other team gave up more than 800 runs. And finally, my favorite stat of the post: The 1996 Tigers gave up 1,103 runs! 1,103! They went 53-109. God, the 90’s were great.

Tangent Over.

In 1997, Jefferson qualified for the batting title (524 plate appearances), and hit .319, good for eighth in the league. His overall numbers were remarkably similar to the previous season:

.319/.358/.470, 113 OPS+, 156 Hits, 33 Doubles, 13 HR, 67 RBI, 74 Runs Scored

In 1996 and 1997, Jefferson averaged 16 HR and 30 2B, and posted a .331 average. The numbers are indicative of what he was: a hitter with extra base power, but not much patience, who produced on the inconsistent occasions when he was in the lineup. In clichéd sportswriters speak he was what is known as a “professional hitter.”

What Happened Next

After his excellent 1996-97 run as one of the AL’s best hitters, everything seemed to be pointing to him remaining at that level. After all, he was entering his age 29 season and hitting in the third highest scoring lineup in baseball with Vaughn, Nomar, Valentin, and Troy O’ Leary.  The future seemed promising.  However, due to a mixture of injuries, personality problems, and the emergence of players similar to Jefferson (Brian Daubach and Jose Offerman), he could never find a permanent place in the Sox lineup.  A neck injury cost Jefferson most of 1998, and he was slow to return in 1999. The team won the AL Wild Card in both seasons, but Jefferson, while productive in limited playing time, did not have major roles on those teams. In 1998, he played in only 62 games, but still managed to hit .306 with a .895 OPS. In 1999, he played in 83 games, hitting .277 with .760 OPS, his worst numbers since 1993.

And when the Sox arrived in Cleveland to begin the 1999 ALDS, Jefferson discovered Dan Duquette and Jimy Williams were leaving him off the roster in favor of Lou Merloni. Jefferson, who was 7-16 in his career against Bartolo Colon, Cleveland’s Game 1 starter, was understandably upset. He packed his bags and left the team. The Sox prevailed in five games, and Jefferson was left off the ALCS roster. He did not return to the team, and after the Sox lost to the Yankees in five games, Jefferson became a free agent.  

However, despite being only 31 and owning a career .823 OPS, Jefferson never played another major league game after 1999. In an era when Darren Dreifort signed for 5 years/$55 million and Mike Hampton could get $100 million, Jefferson received no offers. He retired prior to the 2000 season.

Today, Jefferson is the hitting coach for the University of South Florida, which is located in the very western Florida city of Tampa. Legend has it he can still rake to the gap in left-center with the best of them, though. Oh sure, he's 45 years old and has a bit of a hitch in his get-up, but folks 'round these parts reckon he still has that sweet, powerful swing. One of these days I'd like to poke my head down to Tampa, doff my cap to ol' Mr. Sunshine, and see Reggie swing that wooden baseball stick at dusk on a deserted South Florida ball field. Yes sir, I believe that would do me just fine. Why, I could then meet my maker with a smile on my face and a tell a tale 60'6'' long about one of the Lord's greatest creations: Reggie Jefferson swinging a wooden baseball stick from the left-side of the plate as a ball comes towards him, with his main objective to be make contact with said ball to reach base. Why, I can see it now, if I close my eyes and dream big enough. And I hope that day done come soon, because by the looks of the last five or so sentences, I've lost my fucking mind. Be well, everybody. See you next time.