Jesse Lee Barfield (born October 29, 1959) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player and

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. He 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 ...

as an

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In ...

from 1981 to 1992 for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

and the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

. A two-time

Gold Glove Award The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in bo ...

winner, Barfield was a strong defensive player featuring an impressive throwing arm that allowed him to lead the American League (AL) five times in outfielder assists. He ended his playing career ranked second only to

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

member,

Chuck Klein Charles Herbert Klein (October 7, 1904 – March 28, 1958), nicknamed the "Hoosier Hammer", was an American professional baseball outfielder. Klein played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (–, –, –), Chicago Cubs ...

, in outfielder assists per 1,000

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other tea ...

s. He was also provided strong offense, winning a

Silver Slugger Award The Silver Slugger Award has been awarded annually since 1980 to the best offensive player at each position in both the American League and the National League, as determined by the coaches and managers of Major League Baseball. These voters ...

and leading the American League in home runs in 1986, the same year he was named to the American League All-Star team. Injuries prematurely ended Barfield's major league career after just 11 seasons. He played his final season of professional baseball in 1993 with the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

of the

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

league. After his playing career he worked as a major league coach for the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after s ...

, Texas Rangers and the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion ...

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, hitting .232 in just 25 games. He was a regular the following season and hit .246 with 18 home runs and 58 RBI, including the first pinch hit grand slam in Blue Jays 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 RBI. The following year, he increased his average to .284 with 14 home runs and 49 RBI. Barfield combined with George Bell and Lloyd Moseby to form what many analysts considered the best all-around outfields of the 1980s for the Blue Jays. In

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, Barfield batted .289 with an on base percentage of .369 and a slugging percentage of .536, which was 42 percent higher than the league average or adjusted OPS+. He hit for both power and speed, with 27 homers, 22 stolen bases, 22 assists and achieved 6.8

Wins Above Replacement Wins Above Replacement or Wins Above Replacement Player, commonly abbreviated to WAR or WARP, is a non-standardized sabermetric baseball statistic developed to sum up "a player's total contributions to his team". A player's WAR value is claimed to ...

. His batting average was a career-high, and he became the first Blue Jays player to hit 20 homers and

steal Steal may refer to: * Theft, the illegal act of taking another person's property without that person's freely-given consent * The gaining of a stolen base in baseball ** the 2004 ALCS stolen base in Game Four, see Dave Roberts (outfielder) * Steal ...

20 bases in the same season. That season Toronto reached the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. In his only playoff competition—the

American League Championship Series The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the America ...

(ALCS)—Barfield batted .280 with one home run, four RBI, and one stolen base. Despite the Blue Jays' failure to defend their 1985 division title, Barfield enjoyed his best personal season in 1986. He collected career-highs in batting average (.289, tying the previous season), 40 home runs, 108 RBI, 107 runs, 170

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album s ...

, 35

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, and wRC+ (147). His 40 homers led the major leagues and set a team record that lasted one year. Also, Barfield won both a

and a

, and he was 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 RBI. He also won his second Gold Glove that year. The following year, his average dipped to .244 with 18 home runs and 56 RBI. In 1989, he hit just .200 with 5 home runs (out of 16 total hits) and 11 RBI in 28 games before being traded to the New York Yankees for

Al Leiter Alois Terry Leiter (; born October 23, 1965) is an American former professional baseball player and current television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher from to for the New York Yankees, Toronto Blu ...

on April 30.

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 RBI. In 1990, he hit .246 with 25 home runs and 78 RBI, but he never produced quite like the club had hoped. In 1991, he hit just .225, although he produced 17 home runs and 48 RBI 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. While with the Yankees, Barfield was a resident of

Tenafly, New Jersey Tenafly () is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 census the borough had a population of 15,409,

Final years

In 1993, he played in Japan with the

, reuniting with Lloyd Moseby, but he batted just .215 in 114 games before he was released. He joined the

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

Career overview

Throughout his career, Barfield was a free swinger and racked up more than 140 strikeouts in each of five seasons (1985–1987, 1989, and 1990). 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 1,428 games. He was inducted in the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.

Later life

His elder son, Josh, is a former infielder with the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

and

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central division. Since , they have ...

. Another son, Jeremy, was selected by the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major lea ...

during the 2006 draft. Jeremy opted to attend San Jacinto Community College instead and was drafted again in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

by the

Oakland Athletics 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 t ...

. He spent eight seasons in the Athletics' and

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fi ...

' minor league systems and two independent leagues before joining the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

organization in 2017. On August 22, 2006, the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

reported that Jesse Barfield was taken to a hospital after he suffered a head injury when he was allegedly shoved down a flight of lower stairs by his son, Jeremy, during a family argument. The incident also resulted in Jeremy's arrest on a Class A misdemeanor charge of family assault. In 2007 and 2008, Jesse Barfield served as a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main ( play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and ...

for Blue Jays games on CBC. Currently, he works at Competitive Edge Sports in

The Woodlands, Texas The Woodlands is a special-purpose district and census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Texas in the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area. The Woodlands is primarily located in Montgomery County, with p ...

References

External links

Pelota Binaria (Venezuelan Winter League)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barfield, Jesse 1959 births Living people African-American baseball coaches African-American baseball players Albany-Colonie Yankees players American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Japan American League All-Stars American League home run champions Baseball players from Illinois Cardenales de Lara players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Dunedin Blue Jays players Gold Glove Award winners Houston Astros coaches Knoxville Blue Jays players Major League Baseball broadcasters Major League Baseball hitting coaches Major League Baseball right fielders New York Yankees players Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders People from Tenafly, New Jersey Seattle Mariners coaches Silver Slugger Award winners Sportspeople from Joliet, Illinois Toronto Blue Jays announcers Toronto Blue Jays players Utica Blue Jays players Yomiuri Giants players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople