Stanley Jefferson (born December 4, 1962) is an American former center and

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

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 ...

who played for 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 ...

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. ...

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 ...

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

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 ...

and

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

from to .Stan Jefferson
- Baseballbiography.com

Early life and education

Jefferson, who grew up in

Co-Op City Co-op City (short for Cooperative City) is a cooperative housing development located in the northeast section of the borough of the Bronx in New York City. It is bounded by Interstate 95 to the southwest, west, and north and the Hutchinson River ...

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

and played many years in the Co-Op City Little League, graduated from Harry S. Truman High School in the Bronx in 1980. He attended Bethune-Cookman College in

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach is a coastal Resort town, resort city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. Located on the East Coast of the United States, its population was 72,647 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Deltona� ...

from 1981 to 1983, and later obtained his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

at Mercy College in

Dobbs Ferry, New York Dobbs Ferry is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 10,875 according to the 2010 United States Census. In 2021, its population rose to an estimated 11,456. The ...

.Coffey, Wayne
Former Met Stanley Jefferson struggles to cope with horror of life as 9/11 cop"
''

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

'', March 9, 2007. Accessed June 18, 2007.

Career

Professional baseball

Jefferson displayed impressive speed and agility and was selected by the

in the first round (20th pick overall) of the free agent draft on June 6, 1983. After playing in the minors for three years, Jefferson played in 14 games for the Mets during the last month of the 1986 season. On December 11, 1986, the Mets traded Jefferson, Kevin Mitchell, Shawn Abner, Kevin Armstrong, and Kevin Brown to the

for Kevin McReynolds, Gene Walter, and Adam Ging. Though he became a regular in the Padres outfield in 1987, he clashed with manager

Larry Bowa Lawrence Robert Bowa (born December 6, 1945) is an American former professional baseball shortstop, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB), who played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and New York Mets. Bowa went on to ...

in May and spent much of the first half on the

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 Major League Baseball season, 2019 season, it was known as the disabl ...

. Jefferson stole 33 bases and batted .230 that year. In 1988, Jefferson performed poorly, batting .144 over 111

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, ...

s. At the end of the season he was traded with Jimmy Jones and Lance McCullers to the

for Jack Clark and Pat Clements. He logged 12 at-bats with the Yankees before being traded to the Orioles in July 1989. For the next year and a half, he played intermittently for the

, and

. Jefferson’s career ended in 1991 after suffering a career ending injury to his Achilles’ tendon. Jefferson later became a coach for Butte Cooper Kings of the Pioneer League. When the player's strike threatened the season, Jefferson became a maligned

replacement player In professional sports, a replacement player is an sportsperson, athlete who is not a member of the league's players association and plays during a labor dispute such as a Strike action, strike or Lockout (industry), lockout, serving as a strikebre ...

for his original team, sharing the outfield with fellow ex-Met Herm Winningham.

NYPD

In 1997, following his professional baseball career, Jefferson joined the

New York City Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

. He was on duty during the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, and worked at

Ground Zero A hypocenter or hypocentre (), also called ground zero or surface zero, is the point on the Earth's surface directly below a nuclear explosion, meteor air burst, or other mid-air explosion. In seismology, the hypocenter of an earthquake is its p ...

after the collapse of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are the hundreds of sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may also refer to: Buildings * World Trade Center (1973–2001), a building complex that was destroyed during the September 11 at ...

. He suffered health problems as a result of his time at Ground Zero, and retired from the NYPD in 2004.

Personal life

Jefferson lives in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and has two grown daughters who live in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. During the peak of his career, Jefferson shied away from the spotlight and preferred a private, low key profile. In 2016, in an interview on SNY, he reflected on his baseball career and his career as an NYPD officer, addressing his experience during the September 11 terrorist attacks. In 2018, Jefferson was recognized for his athletic and heroic contributions by Bethune-Cookman University and was inducted into their Hall of Fame alongside other accomplished alumni.

References

External links

Baseball Almanac
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferson, Stan 1962 births Living people Major League Baseball center fielders New York Mets players San Diego Padres players New York Yankees players Baltimore Orioles players Cleveland Indians players Cincinnati Reds players African-American baseball players Major League Baseball replacement players Little Falls Mets players Lynchburg Mets players Jackson Mets players Bethune–Cookman Wildcats baseball players Tidewater Tides players Las Vegas Stars (baseball) players Columbus Clippers players Rochester Red Wings players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Nashville Sounds players Baseball players from New York City New York City Police Department officers People from Co-op City, Bronx Mercy University alumni 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen