Jeff Burroughs
| Jeff Burroughs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Right fielder / Left fielder | |||
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Born: March 7, 1951 Long Beach, California | |||
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| MLB debut | |||
| July 20, 1970, for the Washington Senators | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| October 6, 1985, for the Toronto Blue Jays | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .261 | ||
| Home runs | 240 | ||
| Runs batted in | 882 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Jeffrey Alan (Jeff) Burroughs (born March 7, 1951) is a former player in Major League Baseball. From 1970 through 1985, he played for the Washington Senators (1970–71), Texas Rangers (1972–76), Atlanta Braves (1977–80), Seattle Mariners (1981), Oakland Athletics (1982–84) and Toronto Blue Jays (1985). Burroughs batted and threw right-handed. He is the father of major league third baseman Sean Burroughs. In a 16-season career, Burroughs posted a .261 batting average with 240 home runs and 882 RBIs in 1689 games.
Career
Burroughs was selected by the Washington Senators with the first overall pick in the June 1969 draft. Late in the year, he joined the Senators at age of 19. Considered a "good bat-no field" kind of player, Burroughs was a considerable slugging threat during his playing days. Defensively, he was capable but slow.
In four full seasons with the Texas Rangers, Burroughs averaged 25.5 home runs a year with a high of 30 homers in 1973. His most productive season came in 1974, when he batted .301 with 25 home runs and a league-leading and career-high 118 RBIs and was selected the American League MVP, making him one of only seven overall number-one picks to win the MVP title (the others are Chipper Jones, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey, Jr., Bryce Harper, Joe Mauer and Josh Hamilton) and the first Ranger to win the award. During the 1974 season, Burroughs was at the center of the violent Ten Cent Beer Night debacle in Cleveland, where Burroughs was one of the targets of thrown objects and a few punches by unruly and inebriated Cleveland fans, in a game that was forfeited to Texas.
Burroughs was selected an All-Star in both 1974 with the Rangers and 1978 as a member of the Atlanta Braves, when he entered the All-Star break with a National League-leading .324 batting average. Burroughs was also named AL Player of the Year and selected as an OF on the AL All-Star team by The Sporting News his MVP season of 1974.
As a member of the Atlanta Braves, in 1977 Burroughs collected 114 RBIs and hit 41 home runs, the latter number surpassed only by Cincinnati Reds outfielder George Foster (52). Burroughs had fans who maintained a large banner below the right field deck titled "Jeff's Jackpot", which displayed his home run total for the season plus one.
Late in his career, Burroughs was still a valuable hitter, being used mainly as a DH and pinch hitter. After he retired, Burroughs later coached his son's Little League team, the Long Beach All-Stars; with Sean as their star player, these teams won the Little League World Series in both 1992 (they actually lost the championship game, but were later awarded the title by forfeit after their opponents were found to have used no fewer than 14 ineligible players) and 1993.
See also
- List of Major League Baseball career home run leaders
- List of second-generation Major League Baseball players
- List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
- profile and chronology Baseball Library