Stanley Jefferson (born December 4, 1962) is a former center and

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 ...

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), ...

who played 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 ...

, San Diego Padres,

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

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 F ...

and

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

from to .Stan Jefferson
- Baseballbiography.com

Childhood and education

Jefferson, who grew up in Co-Op City in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

and played many years in the Co-Op City Little League, graduated from Harry S. Truman High School in 1980, and attended Bethune-Cookman College in

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...

from 1981 to 1983. He later obtained his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

at Mercy College in

Dobbs Ferry, New York Dobbs Ferry is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 10,875 according to the 2010 United States Census. In 2019, its population rose to an estimated 11,027. The village of Dobbs Ferry is located in, and is a p ...

.Coffey, Wayne
Former Met Stanley Jefferson struggles to cope with horror of life as 9/11 cop"
''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'', March 9, 2007. Accessed June 18, 2007.

Baseball career

Jefferson displayed impressive speed and agility and was selected by the New York Mets organization in the first round (20th pick overall) of the free agent draft on June 6, 1983.Stan Jefferson - Ultimate Met Database
/ref> After playing in the minors for three years, Jefferson played in 14 games for the Mets during the last month of the 1986 season before he was sent to the San Diego Padres in the nine-player

Kevin McReynolds Walter Kevin McReynolds (born October 16, 1959) is an American former baseball player who was an outfielder with a 12-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1983 to 1994. A two-time All-America from the University of Arkansas, he played ...

- Kevin Mitchell deal at the end of the year. Though he became a regular in the Padres outfield in 1987, he clashed with manager Larry Bowa in May and spent much of the first half on the

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

. Jefferson stole 33 bases and batted .230 that year. In 1988, Jefferson performed poorly, batting .144 over 111

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s. At the end of the season he was traded with Jimmy Jones and

Lance McCullers Lance Graye McCullers Sr. (born March 8, 1964) is an American former professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club syst ...

to the New York Yankees for Jack Clark and

Pat Clements Patrick Brian Clements (born February 2, 1962) is a retired professional baseball player who played eight seasons for the California Angels, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, and Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball. ...

. He logged 12 at-bats with the Yankees before being traded to the Orioles in July 1989. For the next year and a half, he played intermittently for the Orioles, Indians, and Reds. Jefferson’s career ended in 1991 after suffering a career ending injury to his Achilles’ tendon. Jefferson later became a coach for the Pioneer League Butte Copper Kings. When the player's strike threatened the season, Jefferson became a much-maligned replacement player for his original team, sharing the outfield with fellow ex-Met Herm Winningham.

NYPD career

In 1997, with his baseball career over, Jefferson joined the

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

. He was on duty during the

September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

, and worked at

Ground Zero In relation to nuclear explosions and other large bombs, ground zero (also called surface zero) is the point on the Earth's surface closest to a detonation. In the case of an explosion above the ground, ''ground zero'' is the point on the ground ...

after the collapse of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

. He suffered health problems as a result of his time at Ground Zero, and retired from the NYPD in 2004.

Personal life

Jefferson lives in Florida. He has two grown daughters who live in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. During the peak of his career Jefferson shied away from the spotlight and preferred a private, low key profile. In 2016, in an interview on SNY, he reflected on his baseball career and his career as an NYPD officer, addressing his experience during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In 2018, Jefferson was recognized for his athletic and heroic contributions by Bethune-Cookman University and was inducted into their Hall of Fame alongside other accomplished alumni.

References

External links

Baseball Almanac
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferson, Stan 1962 births Living people Major League Baseball center fielders New York Mets players San Diego Padres players New York Yankees players Baltimore Orioles players Cleveland Indians players Cincinnati Reds players African-American baseball players Major League Baseball replacement players Little Falls Mets players Lynchburg Mets players Jackson Mets players Bethune–Cookman Wildcats baseball players Tidewater Tides players Las Vegas Stars (baseball) players Columbus Clippers players Rochester Red Wings players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Nashville Sounds players Baseball players from New York City New York City Police Department officers People from Co-op City, Bronx Mercy College (New York) alumni 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople