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April 09, 2008

When Jesse Pulled A Pavano In '92

Witnessing Jason Giambi's slow start to this season got me looking backwards...to 1992.

In the Yankees first 30 games that season, Jesse Barfield (played in 27 games and) went 11 for 84 to start the season. That's a batting average of .131 - yikes. All told, in those first 30 games, Barfield posted a BA/OBP/SLG line of .131/.215/.226 (in 93 PA). He would play only 3 more games for the Yankees that season. Actually, the Yankees were looking to dump Barfield and, then in May, according to the Times:

Jesse Barfield hurt more than his left wrist and left elbow when he slipped and fell in his sauna Saturday night. The struggling Barfield damaged his chances of regaining his starting right-field spot and may have hurt any chances the Yankees had of trading him in the near future.

Barfield burned his left wrist and suffered contusions and swelling on his left elbow and wrist in what he described as a bizarre accident at his New Jersey home.

A month later, Barfield, after missing 23 games because of the sauna thing, returned to action on June 17th and reinjured the wrist striking out in his second at-bat in a 4-3 loss to Boston. And, that was the end of his career - at the age of 32.

That whole thing makes the Giambi start this season look not so bad.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at April 9, 2008 10:48 PM

Comments

Speaking of Barfield, I can recall John Sterling saying a few months after the Leither/Barfield trade that it was a "steal for the Yankees."

Apparently, the concept of sample size was lost on him.

Posted by: Rich [TypeKey Profile Page] at April 9, 2008 11:41 PM

Speaking of Barfield, I can recall John Sterling saying a few months after the Leither/Barfield trade that it was a "steal for the Yankees."
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Given that Leiter was on the shelf for a while, it's not surprising that Sterling made that assessment.

IIRC that wrist injury originally happened while he was with the Jays.

Didn't he suffer a broken leg (or foot) as well? I seem to remember him in a cast, either with the Yanks or Astros

Posted by: Raf [TypeKey Profile Page] at April 10, 2008 03:46 AM