Jeff Reed (baseball)

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Jeffrey Scott Reed (born November 12, 1962 in Joliet, Illinois) is a former Major League Baseball catcher who played for the Minnesota Twins (1984-1986), Montreal Expos (1987-1988), Cincinnati Reds (1988-1992), San Francisco Giants (1993-1995), Colorado Rockies (1996-1998) and Chicago Cubs (1999-2000). He batted left-handed (considered a rarity for catchers) and threw right-handed. He is currently a coach with the Elizabethton Twins.

Reed was the Twins' first-round pick (and 12th overall) in the 1980 amateur draft.

Despite playing for an impressive 17 seasons in the majors, he was usually relegated to a backup role. Reed rarely appeared in more than 100 games per year, thanks largely to his unimpressive .250 lifetime batting average. However, he was widely regarded as a solid defensive backstop -- despite tying a 68-year-old record for catchers with three errors in the seventh inning of a game on July 28, 1987.

Reed secured his spot in baseball history on September 16, 1988, when (while filling in for an injured Bo Diaz), he caught Tom Browning's perfect game in the Cincinnati Reds' 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Riverfront Stadium. In his autobiography, Browning credited Reed as an integral part of the performance. "...He did a phenomenal job, especially considering what was at stake in the later innings," Browning wrote.

During the late innings of Browning's perfect game, Reed had to continually slow down his pitcher. According to Browning's book, Reds manager Pete Rose was worried that his pitcher was working too quickly, which could lead to an errant pitch. At one point in the game, Reed stood up and raised his arms, palms facing out, to signal Browning to slow down.

[edit] Popularity

From 1988 until his career ended, Reed enjoyed a cult following in the town of Scranton, Pennsylvania among young baseball fans. This crazed "fan club" was founded by a young fan, Paul Gerrity, who wanted an alternative hero to the more well known players such as Don Mattingly or Mike Schmidt. Reed was originally chosen due to his obscurity, but is still hugely popular in Scranton to this day. In an odd twist of fate, the final professional team Reed played for before his retirement in 2002 was the AAA Scranton Wilkes Barre Red Barons.

[edit] External links

• Baseball-reference.com - Jeff Reed

[edit] See also

• Montreal Expos all-time roster

[edit] References

• Tom Browning and Dann Stupp (2006). Tom Browning's Tales from the Reds Dugout. Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 1-59670-046-7