Jesse Barfield

Jesse Lee Barfield (born October 29, 1959) is a former Major League Baseball right fielder. He batted and threw right-handed.

Barfield is considered to have had "by far the best outfield arm of the 1980s".^[1] He led American League outfielders in assists for three consecutive years (1985–87). Along with George Bell (LF) and Lloyd Moseby (CF), Barfield starred in what many analysts considered the best all-around outfield of the 1980s with the Toronto Blue Jays.^[2]

Career

Toronto Blue Jays (1981–1989)

Selected by the Blue Jays in the ninth round of the 1977 amateur draft, Barfield debuted in the majors in 1981, where he hit .232 in just 25 games. He was a regular the following season, and hit .246 with 18 home runs and 58 RBIs, including the first pinch hit grand slam in franchise history. He finished eighth in American League Rookie of the Year voting, and solidified himself as a regular in the lineup for years to come.

In 1983, Barfield hit .253 with 27 home runs and 58 RBIs, and the following year, increased his average to .284 with 14 home runs and 49 RBIs. In 1985, he helped Toronto reach the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. He hit a career-high .289 with 27 homers and 84 RBIs that season, and became the first player in franchise history to hit 20 homers and steal 20 bases in the same season.^[3] In his only playoff appearance, Barfield hit .280 with a home run, four RBIs, and a stolen base.

Despite the Blue Jays' failure to defend their division title from the previous year, Barfield enjoyed his best personal season in 1986. He collected career-highs in batting average (.289), RBI (108), runs (107), hits (170) doubles (35), and wRC+ (147). He also hit a career-best 40 home runs, leading the major leagues and setting a team record which lasted one year. In addition, Barfield was awarded the Gold Glove Award, Silver Slugger Award and selected to the American League All-Star team.

The 1987 season saw Barfield play in a career-high 159 games, hitting .263 with 28 home runs and 84 RBIs. He also won his second Gold Glove that year. The following year, his average dipped to .244 with 18 home runs and 56 RBIs. In 1989, he hit just .200 with five home runs (out of 16 total hits) and 11 RBIs in 28 games before being traded to the New York Yankees for Al Leiter on April 30.^[4][5]

New York Yankees (1989–1992)

Barfield finished the 1989 season with the Yankees, and his average increased slightly to .240, with 18 home runs and 56 RBIs. In 1990, he hit .246 with 25 home runs with 78 RBIs, but never produced quite like the club had hoped. In 1991 he hit just .225, although he had 17 home runs and 48 RBIs for a Yankees' team that was one of the worst in recent history.

By 1992, injuries and general ineffectiveness forced his retirement at the age of 32, after he hit just .137 (13 hits in 95 at-bats) in 30 games. He was granted free agency on November 4.^[4]

While with the Yankees, Barfield was a resident of Tenafly, New Jersey. ^[6]

Final years

In 1993, he played in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants, reuniting with Moseby, but batted just .215 in 114 games and was released.

He joined the Houston Astros for spring training in 1994 and was projected to be the opening-day right-fielder, but injuries prevented him from making the ballclub.

Career overview

Throughout his career Barfield was a free swinger and racked up more than 140 strikeouts in five seasons ('85, '86, '87, '89 and '90). For most of his time in the major leagues his productivity overshadowed his strikeouts; however by 1990, 1 in 3 Barfield at bats resulted in a strikeout.

Barfield was a career .256 hitter with 241 home runs, 716 RBI, and 39 WAR in 1428 games. He was inducted in the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.

Later life

His son, Josh, is a second baseman in the Baltimore Orioles organization. He has another son, Jeremy, selected by the New York Mets during the 2006 draft. Jeremy opted to attend San Jacinto Community College instead, and was drafted in 2008 by the Oakland Athletics.

On August 22, 2006 it was reported by the Associated Press that Barfield's younger son, Jeremy Barfield, pushed his father down the stairs, causing Jesse to be hospitalized. The incident also resulted in Jeremy's arrest.^[7]

In 2007 and 2008, Barfield served as a color commentator for Blue Jays games on CBC.

Currently, Jesse Barfield works at Competitive Edge Sports in The Woodlands, Texas.

See also

• List of Major League Baseball career home run leaders
• List of Major League Baseball annual home run leaders

References

1. ↑ James, Bill. The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. The Free Press. 2001. p. 299.
2. ↑ "Was Jesse Barfield One of the Best Outfielders Ever?". Bluebird Banter. Retrieved 2014-08-06. 
3. ↑ Roger Schlueter. "Stat Speak: Tribe kings of 20-20 outfielders". Cleveland Indians. MLB. Retrieved 2014-08-06. 
4. 1 2 "Jesse Barfield Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-08-06. 
5. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/01/sports/leiter-s-great-future-will-be-as-a-jay.html
6. ↑ Rowe, John. "Barfield's Injury Stalls Trade Talk", The Record (Bergen County), May 25, 1992. Accessed October 11, 2015. "Put all those Jesse Barfield trade rumors on hold.... The veteran outfielder told Yankees manager Buck Showalter that he had fallen in the sauna in his Tenafly home on Saturday night.
7. ↑ "Reports: Barfield taken to hospital after fight with son". ESPN.com News Services. August 21, 2006. Retrieved March 10, 2010. 

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)