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Jesse Lee Barfield (born October 29, 1959) 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 and coach. He played in
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
as a
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 the ...
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) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...
and the
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...
. A two-time Gold Glove Award winner, Barfield was a strong defensive player with a powerful throwing arm that allowed him to lead American League (AL) outfielders five times in assists. He ended his playing career ranked second only to Baseball Hall of Famer Chuck Klein in outfield assists per 1,000 innings. He was also provided strong offense, winning a
Silver Slugger Award The Silver Slugger Award has been awarded annually since 1980 to the best Batting (baseball), offensive player at each Baseball positions, position in both the American League (AL) and the National League (baseball), National League (NL), as determ ...
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 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 h ...
of the
Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...
league. After his playing career, Barfield worked as a major league coach for the
Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...
, Texas Rangers and the
Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...
.


Career


Toronto Blue Jays (1981–1989)

Barfield was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the ninth round (233rd overall) of the 1977 Major League Baseball draft. He made his major league debut on September 3, 1981, going 1-for-4 with one RBI and a stolen base in a 4–3 win against the
Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...
. In the fifth Inning, Barfield recorded an RBI single in off White Sox pitcher Steve Trout for his first career hit and RBI. He appeared in 25 games to close out the season, batting .232 with two home runs and 9 RBI. Barfield became the Blue Jays' starting right fielder the following season, and hit .246 with 18 home runs and 58 RBI in 139 games. On April 25, he hit the first grand slam in Blue Jays franchise history against 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) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...
. After the season, Barfield finished eighth in American League Rookie of the Year voting. In
1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...
, Barfield hit .253 with 27 home runs and 68 RBI in 128 games. The following year, he increased his average to .284 with 14 home runs and 49 RBI in 110 games. 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 n ...
, 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 home runs, 84 RBI, 22 stolen bases, 22 assists and achieved 6.8 Wins Above Replacement. His batting average was a career-high, and he became the first Blue Jays player to hit 20 homers and 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. The winner of the ALCS wins the AL pennant and ...
(ALCS)—Barfield batted .280 with one home run, 4 RBI, and one stolen base in the Blue Jays' seven-game loss to the
Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...
. 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, 35 doubles, and wRC+ (147). His 40 homers led the major leagues and set a team record that lasted one year. Also, Barfield won both a Gold Glove Award and a
Silver Slugger Award The Silver Slugger Award has been awarded annually since 1980 to the best Batting (baseball), offensive player at each Baseball positions, position in both the American League (AL) and the National League (baseball), National League (NL), as determ ...
, 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 137 games. In 1989, he began the season batting just .200 with five home runs (out of 16 total hits) and 11 RBI in 28 games.


New York Yankees (1989–1992)

On April 30, 1989, Barfield was traded to the
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...
for pitcher Al Leiter. Barfield finished the 1989 season with the Yankees, and his average increased slightly to .240, with 18 home runs and 56 RBI in 129 games. In 1990, he hit .246 with 25 home runs and 78 RBI in 153 games, but he never produced quite like the club had hoped. In 1991, Barfield hit just .225, although he produced 17 home runs and 48 RBI in 84 games 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-for-95) with two home runs and 7 RBI in 30 games. He was granted free agency on November 4. While with the Yankees, Barfield was a resident of Tenafly, New Jersey.


Final years

In 1993, Barfield played in Japan 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 h ...
, reuniting with Lloyd Moseby, but he batted just .215 with 26 home runs and 53 RBI in 104 games. Barfield joined the
Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...
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, one in three of Barfield's at bats resulted in a strikeout. Barfield was a career .256 hitter with 241 home runs, 716 RBI, and a 39.4 WAR in 1,428 games. He was inducted in the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990. In 2023, Barfield was elected into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.


Later life

Barfield's 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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...
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 , the team ...
. Another son, Jeremy, was selected by the
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...
during the 2006 draft. Jeremy opted to attend San Jacinto Community College instead and was drafted again in
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by 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 ...
. 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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...
' 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) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...
organization in 2017. On August 22, 2006, the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
reported that 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, Barfield served as a color commentator for Blue Jays games on CBC. Currently, he 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


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barfield, Jesse 1959 births Living people African-American baseball coaches African-American baseball players Albany-Colonie Yankees players 20th-century American sportsmen American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Japan American League All-Stars American League home run champions 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 Sportspeople from Tenafly, New Jersey Seattle Mariners coaches Silver Slugger Award winners Baseball players from Joliet, Illinois Toronto Blue Jays announcers Toronto Blue Jays players Utica Blue Jays players Yomiuri Giants players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen