Jeffrey Hoke Brantley (born September 5, 1963) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weat ...

who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

(MLB) for 14 seasons, from to . Brantley currently is a broadcaster for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

Early career

Brantley lettered in three sports at W. A. Berry High School (which was replaced by Hoover High School). Brantley also was the quarterback on Berry state championship football team. Brantley played college baseball at

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

, where he was a teammate of

Will Clark William Nuschler Clark Jr. (born March 13, 1964) is an American professional baseball first baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1986 through 2000. He played for the San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles ...

Rafael Palmeiro Rafael Palmeiro Corrales (born September 24, 1964) is a Cuban-American former Major League Baseball first baseman and left fielder. Palmeiro was an All-American at Mississippi State University before being drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1985. ...

and Bobby Thigpen on a Bulldogs team that participated in the 1985 College World Series. He is the co-holder of the SEC record for career wins by a pitcher with 45, along with University of South Carolina and

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

pitcher Kip Bouknight.

Major league career

Brantley played for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yo ...

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

and

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

, all of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

, and the Texas Rangers of the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league b ...

. He was a member of the 1989 Giants that defeated the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

to win the National League pennant and eventually lost to the

Oakland A's The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

in the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...

. In the World Series, he pitched in three games with an ERA of 4.15. Brantley was an All-Star in , finishing the season with a 5-3 record and a 1.56 ERA. He led the National League in with 44 saves. In 2010, he was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

Broadcasting career

Brantley was a color commentator for ''

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

'' broadcasts of

games and an in-studio contributor for '' Baseball Tonight'' from 2002 through 2006. In 2007, he joined the radio broadcast team of the Cincinnati Reds on the

Cincinnati Reds Radio Network The Cincinnati Reds Radio Network is an American radio network composed of 69 radio stations which carry English-language coverage of the Cincinnati Reds, a professional baseball team in Major League Baseball (MLB). Cincinnati station WLW (700&n ...

, led by flagship station WLW, joining

Marty Brennaman Franchester Martin Brennaman (born July 28, 1942) is an American retired sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the play-by-play voice of Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds on the Cincinnati Reds Radio Network. Known for his opin ...

and

Thom Brennaman Thomas Wade Brennaman (born September 12, 1963) is an American television sportscaster. He is the son of former Cincinnati Reds radio sportscaster Marty Brennaman. Broadcasting career After graduating in 1982 from Cincinnati's Anderson High Sch ...

and the

FSN Ohio Bally Sports Ohio is an American regional sports network owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group and is operated as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of sports events in the state of Ohio, with a focus on professio ...

television broadcast team with Chris Welsh and George Grande.

Personal

Brantley and his wife, Ashley have two children, while he also has two children from a previous marriage. Brantley is a devout Christian. While with the Giants, Brantley and teammates

Scott Garrelts Scott William Garrelts (born October 30, 1961) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the San Francisco Giants from 1982 to 1991. Garrelts's best year as a Giant came during the 1989 season, when he went 14-5 with a 2.28 ERA, ...

, Atlee Hammaker and Dave Dravecky became known as the "God Squad" because of their strong Christian faith. Foregoing the hard-partying lifestyle of many of their teammates, they preferred to hold Bible studies in their hotel rooms while on the road.

References

External links