Darrell Preston Jackson (born April 3, 1956) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

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. He pitched all or parts of five seasons in the majors, from until , all with the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

Career

Jackson was drafted by the Twins out of high school in

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, but he did not sign with them. Instead, he played college baseball at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

, where he played in the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...

in each of his last three seasons there. In , he was drafted by the Twins in the 9th round of the amateur draft. He made his professional debut in 1978 for the

Orlando Twins Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

of the Southern League, and in his very first start he threw nine innings of no-hit ball against the

Jacksonville Suns The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are located in Jacksonville, Florida, and are named for shrimp caught in the area. The team pla ...

. Unfortunately, the game was tied after nine innings, and Jackson was relieved by fellow future Twin Jeff Holly. Orlando won the game, 1–0, in 12 innings. After just 10 starts in the minors, Jackson was called up to the Twins in June. In 19 games, Jackson went 4–6 with a 4.48 ERA. He did record one

shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

in 1978, on July 7 against the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

. Jackson split between the Twins and their Triple-A farm club, the

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A baseball team nicknamed the ...

. In the majors, he pitched in 24 games (including 8 starts), going 4–4 with a 4.28 ERA. was Jackson's first (and, as it turned out, only) full season in the majors. He set career bests in wins (9), ERA (3.87), and strikeouts (90). On June 21, 1980, Jackson recorded his one and only save at the MLB level. He retired the last batter of the game to preserve a 3-2 victory over the Twins. Jackson spent most of on the sidelines with a shoulder injury, appearing in just 14 games in the majors and 2 at Triple-A. In , the bottom fell out of Jackson's performance, as he went 0–5 and his ERA jumped to a career-worst 6.25. Things were no better in the minors, as he went 1–3 with an even worse ERA of 7.00 in 4 starts. On July 26, the Twins released Jackson, and he never again pitched in organized baseball. Jackson currently runs the 1020 Club, Inc. A nonprofit organization that helps at-risk youth.

References

http://1020clubinc.org

External links

Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Darrell 1956 births Living people African-American baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Arizona State Sun Devils baseball players Baseball players from Los Angeles Leones del Caracas players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Major League Baseball pitchers Mexican League baseball pitchers Minnesota Twins players Orlando Twins players Rieleros de Aguascalientes players Toledo Mud Hens players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen