The Great Gregg Jefferies was going to be the next Ty Cobb. You know the player, he hits for a high average, racks in the doubles, and steals a lot of bases. After all, Gregg was named Baseball America’s Minor League player of the Year twice. This was after he won the MVP in the minor leagues in three leagues: Appalachian League, Carolina League, and Texas League. Obviously, expectations for the very visible New York Met rookie were inherent. Before becoming a major league player, baseball fans were induced with stories of the “Phenom Who Practices Batting Underwater” and the “Greatest Minor League Player to possibly ever play!”

Gregg Jefferies had everything you could want in a baseball-card prospect. He was young, talented, and had done everything conceivable in the minors. Everyone knew he had great potential, baseball card and otherwise. As well as being from the hobby happy town of New York, his cards were smoking and it created a new hobby trend to buy 100 count lots of cards (his 1989 Topps first card). His most popular card was the 1988 Fleer rookie.

In 109 major league at bats in 1988, Gregg Jefferies hit .321 with 6 homeruns and 5 stolen bases. Hey, maybe those comparisons to Ty Cobb weren’t so far fetched after all. Twenty-one year old Jefferies had lived up to his advance billing. In his first season in the majors, Jefferies hit .258, 12 HR’s, 21 SB’s, and 56 RBI. Not bad, considering it was a down year in player stats in general. In 1990 (second year), He hit .283, 15 HR’s, 11 SB, and 68 RBI. Could it be that he was just a common ballplayer? In 1991, he hit .272, 9 HR’s, 26 SB, and 62 RBI. These numbers were significant because this was the year that many thought he would challenge for the N.L. MVP; and his numbers were down.

In all Gregg played 14 seasons in the major leagues. His best season was in 1993 where he hit .342, 16 HR’s, 46 SB’s, and had 83 RBI (very Ty Cobb like). Unfortunately, he never had a season like it again. He retired in 2001 with a career .289 batting average. All in all, he was a pretty solid major leaguer during his career always hitting for a good average and keeping the pitchers on their feet on the basepaths. However, he is the perfect example of the super hyped up player who maybe let the hype get the best of him.