Jeff King (baseball player)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jeff King

Corner infielder

Born: December 26, 1964 (1964-12-26) (age 43)
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
June 2, 1989 for the Pittsburgh Pirates
Final game
May 21, 1999 for the Kansas City Royals
Career statistics
Batting average	.256
Home runs	154
RBI	709
Teams
Pittsburgh Pirates (1989-1996) Kansas City Royals (1997-1999)
Career highlights and awards
#1 Overall Pick in the 1986 MLB Amateur Player Draft American League Player of the Month: June, 1997

Jeff King (b. December 26, 1964) is a former professional baseball player who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals. He graduated from Rampart High School in Colorado Springs in 1982. He was drafted first overall by Pittsburgh in the 1986 June Amateur Draft after playing college ball at the University of Arkansas.

King was then traded after a career-best 1996 season to Kansas City with Jay Bell for Joe Randa. In two full seasons with the Royals he hit 28 and 24 home runs. King was the Royals regular first baseman at the beginning of the 1999 season, but, plagued by back problems, he abruptly announced his retirement on May 23, 1999, two days after going 1-4 against the Texas Rangers.

King finished his career with a .256 batting average and 154 home runs in 1201 games.

[edit] See also

List of top 500 Major League Baseball home run hitters

[edit] Sources

Preceded by B.J. Surhoff	First overall pick in the MLB Entry Draft 1986	Succeeded by Ken Griffey, Jr.
Preceded by Frank Thomas	American League Player of the Month June, 1997	Succeeded by Tim Salmon

v • d • e

Major League Baseball number one overall draft picks

Monday (1965) • Chilcott (1966) • Blomberg (1967) • Foli (1968) • Burroughs (1969) • Ivie (1970) • Goodwin (1971) • Roberts (1972) • Clyde (1973) • Almon (1974) • Goodwin (1975) • Bannister (1976) • Baines (1977) • Horner (1978) • Chambers (1979) • Strawberry (1980) • Moore (1981) • Dunston (1982) • Belcher (1983) • Abner (1984) • Surhoff (1985) • King (1986) • Griffey, Jr. (1987) • Benes (1988) • McDonald (1989) • Jones (1990) • Taylor (1991) • Nevin (1992) • Rodriguez (1993) • Wilson (1994) • Erstad (1995) • Benson (1996) • Anderson (1997) • Burrell (1998) • Hamilton (1999) • González (2000) • Mauer (2001) • Bullington (2002) • Young (2003) • Bush (2004) • Upton (2005) • Hochevar (2006) • Price (2007) • Beckham (2008)