Robert George Deer (born September 29, 1960) is an American former professional baseball

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

Early life

Deer attended Canyon High School in

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...

and

Fresno City College Fresno City College (FCC or "Fresno City") is a public community college in Fresno, California. It is part of the State Center Community College District within the California Community Colleges system. Fresno City College operates on a semester ...

. During his tenure with the Milwaukee Brewers, he worked for his father's construction firm.

Baseball career

San Francisco Giants (1984–1985)

Deer was drafted by the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yo ...

in the 4th round of the 1978 amateur draft. Deer made his debut on September 4, 1984 at

Candlestick Park Candlestick Park was an outdoor stadium on the West Coast of the United States, located in San Francisco's Bayview Heights area. The stadium was originally the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 ...

against the

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 ...

. As a pinch hitter facing Ted Power in the ninth inning, he flied out to end the game. He played 13 games that year, batting .167 while having three home runs and RBIs, with seven walks and 10 strikeouts. The following year, he played in 78 games, batting .185 while having eight home runs, 20 RBIs, 71 strikeouts, and 23 walks. On December 18, he was traded to 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 ...

for two minor league prospects (Dean Freeland and Eric Plinkington).

Milwaukee Brewers (1986–1990)

With Milwaukee, he had increased playing time. In 1986, he played in 134 games, hitting .232 while posting career highs with 33 home runs and 86 RBIs. He had 72 walks, but struck out 179 times. The following year, he played in 134 games while batting .238 with 28 home runs and 80 RBIs. He had 12 stolen bases and 86 walks, both career highs. The walks helped him post a respectable .360 on-base percentage in 1987, but he also led the majors with 186 strikeouts. On

Easter Sunday Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the ''Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel P ...

, he hit a game-tying home run, helping the Milwaukee Brewers earn their 12th straight win to start the season. The home run was featured on the cover of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...

''.

Detroit Tigers (1991–1993)

After the 1990 season, Deer signed as 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 i ...

with the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

. In 1991, he posted the then-record for lowest qualified

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

in Major League history, going 80-for-448, a .179 average. (

Dan Uggla Daniel Cooley Uggla (born March 11, 1980) is an American former professional baseball second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Florida Marlins, Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants, and Washington Nationals. In 2010, Uggl ...

tied Deer's .179 record in 2013, posting an identical 80-for-448 mark, and Chris Davis broke the record by hitting .168 in 2018.) That season, Deer had 41 extra-base hits and only 39 singles. In 1992, he hit 32 home runs in only 110 games while posting the second-highest batting average of his career (.247).

Boston, Hanshin Tigers, San Diego (1993–1996)

In July 1993, the Tigers traded Deer to the Boston Red Sox. He then spent a year playing for the

Hanshin Tigers The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railway ...

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

. After a year out of baseball, he returned to the majors in 1996, playing 25 games for 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 penn ...

. Deer's final major league appearance was in the bottom of the eighth inning of a Padres-Cardinals game on August 5, 1996, replacing

Greg Vaughn Gregory Lamont Vaughn (born July 3, 1965) is an American former baseball left fielder who played for the Milwaukee Brewers (1989–1996), San Diego Padres (1996–1998), Cincinnati Reds (1999), Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2000–2002) and Colorado ...

in left field. He caught a fly ball to end the inning for the Padres, who lost 8-2.

Coaching

After his retirement, Deer worked as a roving hitting instructor in the San Diego Padres minor league system, and served as the assistant hitting coach for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

from 2012 to 2013.

Legacy

During Deer's major league career, he was known as a quintessential power hitter. He also has gained notoriety in

sabermetrics Sabermetrics, or originally SABRmetrics, is the empirical analysis of baseball, especially baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. Sabermetricians collect and summarize the relevant data from this in-game activity to answer specific que ...

circles due to his propensity for the

Three True Outcomes This is an alphabetical list of selected unofficial and specialized terms, phrases, and other jargon used in baseball, along with their definitions, including illustrative examples for many entries. ...

(defined as a strikeout, home run, or base on balls). The concept, originating in a ''

Baseball Prospectus Baseball Prospectus (BP) is an organization that publishes a website, BaseballProspectus.com, devoted to the sabermetric analysis of baseball. BP has a staff of regular columnists and provides advanced statistics as well as player and team perf ...

'' article in 2000, draws heavily upon Deer's career numbers—49.7% of his career

plate appearance In baseball statistics, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runn ...

s ended in one of the Three True Outcomes. Because of Deer's ability to hit for power (eight straight seasons of 21 or more homers) and draw walks, he remained a productive player despite his low batting average and high strikeout totals, as evidenced by his career 13.7 Wins Above Replacement. Deer held the American League record for strikeouts in a season (186 strikeouts in 1987) until being passed by

Jack Cust John Joseph "Jack" Cust III (born January 7, 1979) is an American former professional baseball designated hitter and outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Baltimore Orioles, San Diego ...

in 2008. He struck out at least 140 times in a season on seven occasions, and averaged a strikeout every 2.75

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 over his career. A 2022 article comparing him to

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

slugger

Joey Gallo Joseph Nicholas Gallo (born November 19, 1993) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, and Los Angele ...

referred to Deer as the oft-mentioned "king of all-or-nothing sluggers."

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deer, Rob 1960 births Living people Detroit Tigers players Milwaukee Brewers players Boston Red Sox players San Francisco Giants players San Diego Padres players Chicago Cubs coaches American expatriate baseball players in Japan Hanshin Tigers players Major League Baseball right fielders Baseball players from California Great Falls Giants players Cedar Rapids Giants players Clinton Giants players Fresno Giants players Shreveport Captains players Phoenix Giants players Vancouver Canadians players Las Vegas Stars (baseball) players