May 29 – Happy Birthday Jerry Hairston

I will always be a Jerry Hairston fan. You know why? After the Yankees beat the Phillies in the 2009 World Series, they did not try to re-sign the utility player and he ended up playing with the Padres in 2010. The Yankees had announced they would hand out the team’s 2009 World Series rings during a ceremony before their April 12th afternoon home game against the California Angels. That happened to be an off day for the Padres. Hairston flew all the way from San Diego to New York, paid for his own airline ticket, just so he could get his 2009 World Series ring with the teammates he had won it with. When Jorge Posada saw Hairston come out of the dugout in his street clothes, he asked his ex teammate what he was doing there. When Hairston told him he came to get his ring, Posada asked him “Why?”

Here’s the reason. Up until he joined the Yankees, Hairston had been playing Major League baseball for a dozen seasons and had never even been on a team that reached the postseason. His grandfather, dad, uncle and brother all played big league baseball and only his father, Jerry Sr. ever participated in fall ball and that was just two games worth for a 1983 White Sox team that got knocked out of the ALCS that year by the Orioles. And Jerry Jr. had done more than just play. His pinch-hit single to lead off the bottom of the thirteenth inning in Game 2 against the Angels led to him scoring the winning run in that contest.

So there he was, six months later in his street clothes, back in Yankee Stadium with the Angels again occupying the visitors dugout, patiently waiting to receive the sacred souvenir that no other Hairston had ever claimed. And when Joe Girardi handed him his ring case on that Tuesday afternoon in the Bronx, he opened it up, smiled, said good bye to his ex teammates and took a cab to the airport and got back on a plane for the cross country trip to San Diego, where his new team was playing the following evening. In my opinion, Posada asked Hairston a stupid question that day. He was there to pick up that ring because he had worked all his life to earn the right to be there. Maybe Posada has won too many rings and made too many millions to understand that but I sure do.

Hairston was born on May 29, 1976, in Des Moines, IA. He now plays for the Nationals. 2011 is his 14th big league season and Washington is his seventh big league ball club. He has a .256 lifetime batting average and he currently needs 41 more base hits to reach the 1,000 mark, lifetime. He will again be the first of the five Hairston’s who played Major League ball to accomplish that feat.

Jerry shares today as a birthday with this former Yankee outfielder, this third baseman and this first baseman.

Year Tm G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
2009 NYY 45 93 76 15 18 5 0 2 12 0 11 8 .237 .352 .382 .733
16 Yrs 1367 4803 4238 568 1097 228 22 69 404 147 362 555 .259 .327 .372 .699
BAL (7 yrs) 530 2086 1825 241 477 98 12 26 160 94 162 229 .261 .334 .371 .705
TEX (2 yrs) 136 284 247 39 48 10 1 3 22 7 20 44 .194 .262 .279 .541
LAD (2 yrs) 99 329 293 24 79 15 1 5 32 1 26 32 .270 .334 .379 .713
CHC (2 yrs) 152 522 462 59 116 28 2 4 34 11 35 60 .251 .322 .346 .668
CIN (2 yrs) 166 637 568 94 163 38 3 14 63 22 44 82 .287 .342 .438 .780
SDP (1 yr) 119 476 430 53 105 13 2 10 50 9 31 54 .244 .299 .353 .652
WSN (1 yr) 75 238 213 25 57 11 1 4 24 2 22 30 .268 .342 .385 .727
NYY (1 yr) 45 93 76 15 18 5 0 2 12 0 11 8 .237 .352 .382 .733
MIL (1 yr) 45 138 124 18 34 10 0 1 7 1 11 16 .274 .348 .379 .727
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/29/2013.

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