Larry Steven Jeltz (born May 28, 1959) is a French-born 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 tea ...

player. He played in parts of eight seasons 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), ...

(MLB) with the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

and

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

. Jeltz primarily played

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

and batted .210 in his career. Jeltz is one of only a handful o
MLB players to have been born in France
and he leads that nation's MLB players in several career statistical categories.

Biography

Jeltz was born in Paris to a military family. When he was young, Jeltz moved with his family to

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...

, where he attended Lawrence High School. He then attended the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

. He set the school's

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

record with 65. Jeltz spent three years in college before he was drafted by the Phillies in the ninth round of the 1980 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut in 1983. On June 8, 1989, Jeltz hit two of his five career home runs in a game against the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

, despite not even starting the game. A switch-hitter, Jeltz hit one of these homers from the right side of the plate and one from the left side. This was the first time in the history of the Phillies that this feat had been accomplished. It was in this same game that, after the Pirates scored 10 runs in the top of the first, Pirate broadcaster

Jim Rooker James Phillip Rooker (born September 23, 1942) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher and broadcaster. A left-hander, Rooker pitched for the Detroit Tigers (1968), Kansas City Royals (1969–1973) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1974–1980). Early ...

said on the air, "If we lose this game, I'll walk back to Pittsburgh." The Phillies came back to win 15-11, and after the season Rooker conducted a 300-mile charity walk from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. In 1990, Jeltz spent his last MLB season with the Kansas City Royals. He did not play much, and Jeltz said that he was distracted by issues facing his brother, who committed suicide in 1991. After retiring as a player, Jeltz became a bail bondsman and bounty hunter, and then he entered the construction business. In 2003, he had surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. Jeltz holds the records for most games played, at bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, runs batted in, walks and strikeouts among players born in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and second in home runs (behind

Bruce Bochy Bruce Douglas Bochy (; born April 16, 1955), nicknamed "Boch" and "Headly", is an American professional baseball manager and former catcher who is the current manager of the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He managed the San Diego ...

). In total, only seven major league players have been born in France .

References

External links

List of players born in France

How to score 10 runs in the first inning and lose
an

SB Nation ''SB Nation'' (an abbreviation for their full name ''SportsBlogs Nation'') is a sports blogging network owned by Vox Media. It was co-founded by Tyler Bleszinski, Markos Moulitsas, and Jerome Armstrong in 2005. The blog from which the network ...

video featuring commentary on Jeltz using the 1989 against the Pirates where Jeltz had two home runs Philadelphia Phillies players Kansas City Royals players Reading Phillies players Portland Beavers players Rochester Red Wings players Syracuse Chiefs players Major League Baseball shortstops 1959 births Living people Major League Baseball players from France Kansas Jayhawks baseball players African-American baseball players Maine Guides players Peninsula Pilots players Spartanburg Phillies players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{Baseball-shortstop-stub