Jeffrey Eugene Tam (born August 19, 1970) 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 ...

player. He played in

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as a right-handed

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from 1998 to 2003 for the

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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 , the team ...

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 ...

and 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) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

Early years and college career

Tam attended

Eau Gallie High School Eau Gallie High School is located at 1400 Commodore Blvd in the Eau Gallie area of Melbourne, Florida. It is one of four public high schools in Melbourne, along with Melbourne High School, Palm Bay High School, and West Shore Junior/Senior Hi ...

Melbourne, Florida Melbourne ( ) is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is located southeast of Orlando, Florida, Orlando along Florida's Space Coast, named because of the region's proximity to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. The city ...

where he played second base and was a teammate of

draft pick Mark Fuller. In 1991, Tam led the Florida Space Coast Baseball League (

Stan Musial Stanley Frank Musial (; born Stanislaw Franciszek Musial; November 21, 1920 – January 19, 2013), nicknamed "Stan the Man", was an American baseball outfielder and first baseman. Widely considered to be one of the greatest and most consistent ...

Division) in

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and

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

while playing for the Melbourne Bombers. He then played college baseball for the

Florida State Seminoles baseball The Florida State Seminoles baseball team represents Florida State University (variously Florida State or FSU) in the sport of college baseball. Florida State competes in NCAA Division I, and the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference ...

team under head coach Mike Martin, before being signed as an undrafted free agent by the

in the 1993 MLB Draft.

Professional career

Tam made his Major League debut with the Mets in 1998 at the age of 27. He later pitched from 1999 through 2003 for the

and

. In a six-year career, Tam posted a 7-14 record with a 3.91

ERA An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...

and seven saves in 251 relief appearances. His most productive season came in 2000, when he appeared in 72 games and had a career-best ERA of 2.63. This time he was the top set-up man on an Oakland A's team that advanced to the playoffs. Tam was a replacement player during the

1994 Major League Baseball strike The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitting ...

. As a result, he was barred from membership in the

Major League Baseball Players Association The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) is the labor union representing all current Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) players. All players, managers, coaches, and athletic trainers who hold or have held ...

. Tam last played professionally for the

Bridgeport Bluefish The Bridgeport Bluefish were an American minor league baseball team based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The team was a member of the Liberty Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which was not affiliated with Major League Baseb ...

of the independent

Atlantic League The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, and the headquarters are loc ...

in 2008. In 2012, Tam was hired by

Eastern Florida State College Eastern Florida State College (EFSC) is a public college based in Cocoa, Florida. It is a member of the Florida College System and has additional campuses in Melbourne, Florida, Melbourne, Palm Bay, Florida, Palm Bay, and Titusville, Florida, Ti ...

as head coach of its baseball team and director of its new intramural athletics program. Previously, Tam worked as pitching coach and chief assistant coach under Ernie Rosseau in 2011 and served as interim head coach after Rosseau retirement.Jeff Tam New Baseball Coach and Intramural Director
''Eastern Florida State College website''. Retrieved on December 5, 2016.

Personal life

Tam married Monica Oberle right after he got out of college. In 2000 they had a daughter named Darian; in 2006 they had a daughter named Addison.

Sources

External links

*, o

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tam, Jeff 1970 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Atlantic League Road Warriors players Binghamton Mets players Bridgeport Bluefish players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Capital City Bombers players Caribes de Anzoátegui players Cleveland Indians players Florida State Seminoles baseball players Gulf Coast Mets players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball replacement players Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela New York Mets players Norfolk Tides players Oakland Athletics players Palm Springs Chill players Pastora de los Llanos players Sportspeople from Melbourne, Florida Pittsfield Mets players Sacramento River Cats players Baseball players from Fullerton, California St. Lucie Mets players Syracuse SkyChiefs players Toronto Blue Jays players