Gregory Dion Jelks (16 August 1961 – 6 January 2017) was an American Australian baseball player who played with the Philadelphia Phillies. He spent the majority of his career in the minor leagues, and was most notable playing with the

Australia national baseball team The Australian national baseball team represents Australia in international baseball tournaments and competitions. It is ranked as the top team in Oceania, and is the Oceanian Champion, having been awarded the title in 2007 when New Zealand wi ...

and the

Perth Heat The Perth Heat is a baseball team in the current Australian Baseball League and a foundation member of the Australian Baseball League. It is now the most successful team in ABL, winning 15 Claxton Shields. Australian Baseball League (1989–19 ...

in the

Australian Baseball League The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it ...

.Flintoff and Dunn – Greg Jelks
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Professional career

Born in

Centre, Alabama Centre is a city in Cherokee County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 3,587. The city is the county seat of Cherokee County. History Cherokee County was created on January 9, 1836, and named for the Cherokee peo ...

, Jelks attended Cherokee County High School (Alabama), where he earned all-state honours in baseball and basketball. He attended

Gadsden State Community College Gadsden State Community College (Gadsden State, Gadsden, or GSCC) is a public community college with campuses in Gadsden, Centre and Anniston, Alabama. The college was founded as a merger between Alabama Technical College (1925), Gadsden State T ...

, where he played both sports for the Cardinals. Then he was signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Philadelphia Phillies in . The following summer Jelks made his debut with the

Bend Phillies The Bend Phillies were a minor league baseball team located in Bend, Oregon. The Phillies were members of the Class A Short Season Northwest League from 1979 to 1986. Prior to 1981 the team was named the Central Oregon Phillies. History Professio ...

of the

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Basebal ...

. The following year, Jelks hit 24 home runs and 75 RBI for the

Spartanburg Spinners The Spartanburg Spinners were a minor league baseball team located in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The team played in the 1983 South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Basebal ...

in A class ball of the

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

. In , Jelks appeared in 123 AAA games for the

Maine Guides The Maine Guides were an American minor league baseball franchise that played in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, between 1984 and 1988. The Triple-A International League (IL) club was named for a classification of registered hunting and wilderness g ...

and that summer, Jelks was promoted to Philadelphia for 10 games, where out of eleven at bats he collected one hit, a double off

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

pitcher

Neal Heaton Neal Heaton (born March 3, 1960) is a former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher who played for the Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, Montreal Expos, Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, and New York Yankees from 1982 ...

. Jelks became a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

again in and was signed by the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

and played for the

Louisville Redbirds Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

. Over the course of eight minor league seasons, Jelks totaled 771 games, 96 home runs, 361 RBI, and a career batting average of .245. During the 1990s, he played professionally in Italy and Australia. In , he started his ABL career with the

and Jelks enjoyed Australia, and decided to live in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, where he earned

dual citizenship Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...

. Apart from a short stint with the Melbourne Reds in 1996, Jelks continued to play for the Heat throughout the ABL, as well as with

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

for the International Baseball League of Australia. He then played with the Australian national team from to . In the

1997 Intercontinental Cup The 1997 Intercontinental Cup was an association football match played on 2 December 1997 between Borussia Dortmund, winners of the 1996–97 UEFA Champions League, and Cruzeiro, winners of the 1997 Copa Libertadores. The match was played at the ...

, Jelks batted .471/.538/1.088 to help Australia win a bronze medal for the first time ever in a global event. He was second in average in the event behind Paul Gonzalez and tied

Orestes Kindelán Orestes Kindelán Olivares (born November 1, 1964) is the most prolific home run hitter in the history of post-revolutionary Cuban baseball, known as "El Cañon de Dos Rios" and one of the offensive stars of the Cuba national baseball team, whi ...

for the home run lead. Jelks was named on the All-Star team of the cup at

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by th ...

. The following year at the

1998 Baseball World Cup The 1998 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 33rd international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through the ...

, he hit .278 as the starting

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

for Australia and helped Australia to silver at the

Haarlem Baseball Week The Haarlem Baseball Week ( nl, Honkbalweek Haarlem, before 2016 known as ) is an international invitation baseball tournament at the in Haarlem, Netherlands. It was first held in and has been held every other year in even-numbered years since ...

. Jelks went on to play in the

1999 Intercontinental Cup The 1999 Intercontinental Cup was an association football match played on 30 November 1999 between Manchester United, winners of the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League, and Palmeiras, winners of the 1999 Copa Libertadores. The match was played at t ...

and

2000 Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

Managerial career

Jelks began his professional managerial career in when he helped coach Australia at the

and started head coaching in 2002 when he took the helm of the

Evansville Otters The Evansville Otters are a professional baseball team based in Evansville, Indiana. They compete in the West Division of the independent Frontier League. Since their establishment in 1995, the Otters have played at historic Bosse Field, which o ...

of the independent

Frontier League The Frontier League is a professional independent baseball league with teams in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Formed in 1993, it is the oldest currently running independent league in the United States. The le ...

. In 2006, he was appointed to a coaching role for the national team at the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Later that year, Greg led the Otters to a championship . The following season, he was hired by the Frontier League as the manager of the fledgling expansion team the Slippery Rock Sliders. The Sliders were a concept team, building off a unique relationship with

Slippery Rock University Slippery Rock University, formally Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania (The Rock or SRU), is a public university in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. SRU is a member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). The university ...

. Following a year of poor fan reception and a last place finish in the league, the Slippery Rock Sliders folded and the franchise became the Midwest Sliders, a travelling team in the league's Eastern Division. Greg Jelks was hired by the

Washington Wild Things The Washington Wild Things are a professional baseball team based in Washington, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The Wild Things are a member of the Frontier League, an independent baseball league which, as of 2020, is an official Partner Le ...

the following December, and began the 2008 season managing his third Frontier League franchise. Jelks was let go by the Wild Things after he did not lead them to the playoffs, and to a 48–48 record.

Death

On a flight en route to Australia from the United States, Jelks fell asleep and could not be woken up, later being pronounced dead on January 6, 2017, aged 55. Jelks became the first MLB player in history to have died in Australia.

References

External links

Slippery Rock Sliders Coach, Greg Jelks – YouTubeJelks obit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jelks, Greg 1961 births 2017 deaths African-American baseball players American emigrants to Australia Baseball players from Alabama Baseball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics People from Cherokee County, Alabama Olympic baseball players of Australia Major League Baseball infielders Philadelphia Phillies players Duluth-Superior Dukes players Catskill Cougars players Perth Heat players Gadsden State Cardinals baseball players Gadsden State Cardinals men's basketball players American expatriate baseball players in Australia 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people Bend Phillies players Louisville Redbirds players Maine Guides players Maine Phillies players Piratas de Campeche players American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Portland Beavers players Reading Phillies players Spartanburg Spinners players African-American baseball coaches Naturalised citizens of Australia Naturalised sports competitors