Jeffrey Eugene Tam (born August 19, 1970) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player. He played in

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), ...

as a right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

from 1998 to 2003 for 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 ...

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

, Oakland Athletics and the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Early years and college career

Tam attended

Eau Gallie High School Eau Gallie High School is located at 1400 Commodore Blvd in the Eau Gallie area of Melbourne, Florida. It is one of four public high schools in Melbourne, along with Melbourne High School, Palm Bay High School, and West Shore Junior/Senior High ...

Melbourne, Florida Melbourne is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is located southeast of Orlando. As of th2020 Decennial Census there was a population of 84,678. The municipality is the second-largest in the county by both size and population. ...

where he played second base and was a teammate of

draft pick Mark Fuller. In 1991, Tam led the Florida Space Coast Baseball League ( Stan Musial Division) in hits and

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

while playing for the Melbourne Bombers. He then played college baseball for the

Florida State Seminoles baseball The Florida State Seminoles baseball team represents Florida State University (variously Florida State or FSU) in the sport of college baseball. Florida State competes in NCAA Division I, and the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference ...

team under head coach Mike Martin, before being signed as an undrafted free agent by the

in the 1993 MLB Draft.

Professional career

Tam made his Major League debut with the Mets in 1998 at the age of 27. He later pitched from 1999 through 2003 for the

, Oakland Athletics and

. In a six-year career, Tam posted a 7-14 record with a 3.91

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

and seven saves in 251 relief appearances. His most productive season came in 2000, when he appeared in 72 games and had a career-best ERA of 2.63. This time he was the top set-up man on an Oakland A's team that advanced to the playoffs. Tam was a replacement player during the

1994 Major League Baseball strike File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

. As a result, he was barred from membership in the

Major League Baseball Players Association The Major League Baseball Players Association (or MLBPA) is the union representing all current Major League Baseball players. All players, managers, coaches, and athletic trainers who hold or have held a signed contract with a Major League cl ...

. Tam last played professionally for the

Bridgeport Bluefish The Bridgeport Bluefish were an American minor league baseball team based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The team was a member of the Liberty Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which was not affiliated with Major League Baseba ...

of the independent Atlantic League in 2008. In 2012, Tam was hired by

Eastern Florida State College Eastern Florida State College, formerly Brevard Community College, is a public college in Brevard County, Florida. It is a member of the Florida College System and has campuses in Cocoa, Melbourne, Palm Bay, and Titusville, as well as a Virt ...

as head coach of its baseball team and director of its new intramural athletics program. Previously, Tam worked as pitching coach and chief assistant coach under Ernie Rosseau in 2011 and served as interim head coach after Rosseau retirement.Jeff Tam New Baseball Coach and Intramural Director
''Eastern Florida State College website''. Retrieved on December 5, 2016.

Personal life

Tam married Monica Oberle right after he got out of college and joined the MLB, in 2000 Tam had a daughter named Darian Tam, then in 2006 Tam had a daughter named Addison Tam. Tam and Monica are still together, and one child is in college while the other attends high school.

Sources

External links

*, o

o
Pelota Binaria
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tam, Jeff 1970 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Atlantic League Road Warriors players Binghamton Mets players Bridgeport Bluefish players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Capital City Bombers players Caribes de Anzoátegui players Cleveland Indians players Florida State Seminoles baseball players Gulf Coast Mets players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball replacement players Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela New York Mets players Norfolk Tides players Oakland Athletics players Palm Springs Chill players Pastora de los Llanos players Sportspeople from Melbourne, Florida Pittsfield Mets players Sacramento River Cats players Baseball players from Fullerton, California St. Lucie Mets players Syracuse SkyChiefs players Toronto Blue Jays players