Steve Jeltz

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Larry Steven Jeltz (born May 28, 1959 in Paris, France) is a former professional baseball player. He played in parts of eight seasons in Major League Baseball with the Philadelphia Phillies and Kansas City Royals. Jeltz primarily played shortstop and batted .210 in his career.

Jeltz holds the records for most games played, at bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, runs batted in, walks and strikeouts among players born in France. In total, eight major league players were born in France.

He also has one of the highest triples-to-hits ratios in modern baseball history.

On June 8, 1989, Jeltz hit two of his five career home runs in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, despite not even starting the game. A switch-hitter, Jeltz hit one of these homers from the right side of the plate and one from the left side. This was the first time in the history of the Phillies that this feat had been accomplished. It was in this same game that, after the Pirates scored 10 runs in the top of the first, Pirate broadcaster Jim Rooker said on the air, "If we lose this game, I'll walk home." (The Phillies came back to win 15-11, and after the season Rooker conducted a 300-mile charity walk from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.)

It is believed that Mr. Jeltz taught himself to switch-hit at the major league level. This is unusual.

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