Jeffrey Howard Cirillo (born September 23, 1969) is an American former

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. In a 14-season career, Cirillo was a .296

hitter In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher. The three main goals of batters are to become a baserunner, to driv ...

with 112

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 727 RBI in 1617 games. He was named an All-Star in and . He shares the major league record of playing 99 consecutive errorless games at third base with

John Wehner John Paul Wehner (pronounced "Way-ner") (born June 29, 1967) is an American former utility player in Major League Baseball (MLB) and a current broadcaster for the Pittsburgh Pirates. His nickname is "Rock". Career A Pittsburgh native and graduate ...

. He batted and threw

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

Early life

Cirillo was born in Pasadena, California, to Howard Cirillo and Carol Grant. He has one step-brother, Adam Grant, who played baseball at

UCSB The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

. Cirillo attended Providence High School where he excelled in both baseball and basketball. Then, he enrolled at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

after receiving little attention from colleges in his high school years. As a Trojan, he started out as a pitcher; however, he was moved to third base later in his college career. He was a member of the

Phi Kappa Psi Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded by William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore in Widow Letterman's home on the campus of Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pen ...

fraternity there and graduated with a degree in Communications.

Professional career

Cirillo was drafted in the 11th Round by the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

. With the Brewers, Cirillo collected a .300 batting average or better for three seasons, including a career-high .326 in . The same year, he added 198 hits (also a career-high) with 15 home runs and 88 RBI. His most productive season came in 2000 with the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

, when he posted career-highs in RBI (115), runs (111), and doubles (53); finished with 195 hits; and matched his personal-best .326 average. On December 16, 2001, the Rockies traded Cirillo to the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

for

Denny Stark Dennis James Stark (born October 27, 1974) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) right-handed pitcher who played with the Seattle Mariners across two separate stints, as well as for the Colorado Rockies, from 1999 to 2009. Amateur ca ...

Brian Fuentes Brian Christopher Fuentes (; born August 9, 1975) is an American former professional baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Seattle Mariners, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Minnesota Twins, Oakland A ...

, and

José Paniagua José Luis Paniagua Sánchez (born August 20, 1973) is a Dominican former professional baseball relief pitcher. He appeared in Major League Baseball from 1996 through 2003 with the Montreal Expos, Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers, and Chicago Wh ...

. Posting the lowest

BABIP In baseball statistics, batting average on balls in play (abbreviated BABIP) is a measurement of how often batted balls result in hits, excluding home runs. It can be expressed as, "when you hit the ball and it’s not a home run, what’s your ba ...

since his rookie season, he was ineffective with the bat but provided strong defensive contributions while in Seattle, ranked by

UZR Ultimate zone rating (UZR) is a Sabermetrics, sabermetric statistic used to measure fielding. It compares the event that actually happened (hit/out/error) to data on similarly hit balls in the past to determine how much better or worse the fielder d ...

as the second best third baseman in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

in 2002. In 2003, he continued to provide above average defense but again posted the lowest BABIP of his career (.226 compared to a .320 career average). Cirillo was traded to the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

before the season but was inactive most of the year with a wrist injury. He made history by becoming

Randy Johnson Randall David Johnson (born September 10, 1963), nicknamed "The Big Unit", is an American photographer and former professional baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (1988–2009) for six teams, primarily the Seattle M ...

's 4,000th strikeout victim on June 29, 2004. Rejoining the Milwaukee Brewers in , Cirillo saw a resurgence in his stroke while continuing his solid defense posting

wOBA In baseball, wOBA ( /'woʊbə/, or weighted on-base average) is a statistic, based on linear weights, designed to measure a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. It is formed from taking the observed run values of various ...

's of .355 in and .344 in . Cirillo signed a one-year contract with the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

in December . He did not finish the season with the Twins and was claimed off waivers by the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The f ...

on August 3, . Cirillo stated that he would most certainly retire at the end of the 2007 season. He made the first pitching appearance of his career on August 20, 2007, against Milwaukee. He pitched one inning and gave up two walks and no runs while

striking out ''Striking Out'' is an Irish television legal drama series, broadcast on RTÉ, that first aired on 1 January 2017. Produced by Bl!nder F!lms for RTÉ Television, ''Striking Out'' stars Amy Huberman as Dublin-based solicitor Tara Rafferty, who is ...

one player, former Diamondback

Craig Counsell Craig John Counsell (born August 21, 1970) is an American former professional baseball player who is the manager for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Counsell became the Brewers' manager in May 2015; he became the longest-te ...

. "He's way nastier than I thought he would be," said Bill Hall, who worked one of the walks. "I was shocked when I got up there. He's got a

knuckleball A knuckleball or knuckler is a baseball pitch thrown to minimize the spin of the ball in flight, causing an erratic, unpredictable motion. The air flow over a seam of the ball causes the ball to change from laminar to turbulent flow. This chan ...

, a

slider Slider or Sliders may refer to: Arts * K.K. Slider, a fictional character within the ''Animal Crossing'' franchise * '' The Slider'', a 1972 album by T. Rex * ''Sliders'' (TV series), an American science fiction and fantasy television series * ...

, he was throwing some

changeup A changeup is a type of pitch in baseball and fastpitch softball. The changeup is a staple off-speed pitch often used in a pitcher's arsenal, usually thrown to look like a fastball but arriving much more slowly to the plate. Its reduced speed ...

s. Those pitches make 84, 83 ph fastballslook pretty hard. I heard he was a better pitcher in college than he was a hitter." Before the 2007 NLDS, Cirillo held one of baseball's most unwanted records. He had played in 1,617 regular season games but never in the postseason. When his team made the playoffs, the title was passed to

Damion Easley Jacinto Damion Easley (born November 11, 1969) is an American former professional baseball player who is currently an assistant hitting coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). While primarily a second baseman throughou ...

of the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

who finished the 2008 season having played 1,706 straight games without a playoff berth.

Post-playing days

On April 2, 2008, it was announced that Cirillo would join FSN Wisconsin as an analyst for Milwaukee Brewers broadcasts. His first appearance was on April 18, 2008. He worked as a pre/post-game show for two years in 2008 and 2011. Cirillo has worked as a part-time scout with the Arizona Diamondbacks (2009 and 2010). Cirillo was hired by the

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

in 2012 as a scout. Cirillo is a partner in Pacific Baseball Ventures, LLC, which owns the

Walla Walla Sweets The Walla Walla Sweets is an amateur baseball team located in Walla Walla, Washington. They play in the West Coast League The West Coast League (WCL) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 2005, comprising teams fro ...

and the

Yakima Valley Pippins The West Coast League (WCL) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 2005, comprising teams from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alberta. The WCL was previously named the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCCB ...

. Both teams play in the

West Coast League The West Coast League (WCL) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 2005, comprising teams from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alberta. The WCL was previously named the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCCB ...

, a summer collegiate wood-bat league located in

Walla Walla, Washington Walla Walla is a city in Walla Walla County, Washington, where it is the largest city and county seat. It had a population of 34,060 at the 2020 census, estimated to have decreased to 33,927 as of 2021. The population of the city and its two su ...

. Cirillo is also an assistant baseball coach for the Bellevue High School baseball team, where he coaches his sons Cole (class of 2016), Carson (class of 2018), and Connor (class of 2019).

Personal life

Cirillo has three sons with his ex-wife Nancy: Cole (born 1997), Carson (born 1999), and Connor (born 2001). The Cirillo family lived in

Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin Whitefish Bay is a village in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 14,954 at the 2020 census. History In the early 19th century when the first white settlers arrived, the Whitefish Bay area was controlled by Native Am ...

, during Jeff's time on the Milwaukee Brewers. His son, Cole, played football and basketball, as well as participating in track and field events, at Bellevue High School before graduating in 2016. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the

in 2020 and is currently a Management Consulting Associate at KPMG. Carson, a 2018 graduate, played varsity baseball and golf at Bellevue High School, now attending the

University of Puget Sound The University of Puget Sound (UPS or Puget Sound) is a private university in Tacoma, Washington. The university draws approximately 2,600 students from 44 states and 16 countries. It offers 1,200 courses each year in more than 50 traditional an ...

, and Connor, who played basketball and baseball, graduated in 2019 with the intention of attending the

as well.

References

External links