Jerry Hairston, Jr.

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Jerry Hairston, Jr. bigraphy, stories - American baseball player

Jerry Hairston, Jr. : biography

May 29, 1976 –

Jerry Wayne Hairston, Jr. (born May 29, 1976) is an African and Mexican-American Major League Baseball utility player currently playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is the grandson of former major leaguer Sam Hairston, the son of former major leaguer Jerry Hairston, Sr., and the brother of current major leaguer Scott Hairston.http://www.redreporter.com/2009/3/16/795418/the-red-report-jerry-hairshttp://www.baseball-almanac.com/family/fam3.shtml

Personal life

Jerry’s brother Scott is also a professional baseball player. Their father Jerry Hairston, Sr. and grandfather Sam Hairston were also major league players, making him the first African American to be a third-generation major-leaguer. Hairston’s heritage is also Mexican American on his mother’s side. His uncle Johnny Hairston also played in the majors. Several other family members have also played in the minor leagues.

He attended Naperville North High School in Naperville, Illinois and Southern Illinois University. Hairston became a Jehovah’s Witness in July 2000.No byline (2001-06-25), . Sports Illustrated. 94 (26):76

Performance-enhancing drugs controversy

According to Luis Fernando Llosa and L. Jon Wertheim, Jerry Hairston Jr. received genotropin, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and clomiphene citrate in 2004. One of Hairston’s prescriptions was written by "A. Almarashi." Investigators believe Almarashi is an alias for a Queens, N.Y., doctor stripped of her medical license in 1999. She is awaiting trial on multiple charges after allegedly writing bogus prescriptions for thousands of online customers she never examined. Hairston denied any connection, stating "Not one time have I taken steroids or anything like that. [ . . . ] I would never do anything like that to jeopardize my career or my family’s name."

On December 13, 2007, he was cited in the Mitchell Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation Into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball.

High School & College

In High School, he was a 2-time All-State selection at Naperville North High School in baseball and an all-area selection in basketball. He was drafted in the 42nd round of the 1995 Major League Baseball Draft by the Baltimore Orioles but chose instead to go to college. Hairston played college ball at Southern Illinois University in 1996 and 1997, where he batted .360 for his career and was the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in 1996. He was later inducted as a member of the Southern Illinois Baseball Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Baltimore Orioles

Hairston was drafted in the 11th round of the 1997 Major League Baseball Draft by the Baltimore Orioles. He made his professional debut in 1997 with the rookie-league Bluefield Orioles, where he hit .330 in 59 games. In 1998, he made a fast rise up the farm system, starting in A with the Frederick Keys, where he played in 80 games and hit .302, then he was promoted to the AA Bowie Baysox, where he hit .326 in 55 games and received a September promotion to the Major Leagues.

He made his major league debut with the Orioles on September 11, 1998 against the Anaheim Angels at second base, he was hitless in three at-bats in that game. He appeared in a total of 7 games in 1998, primarily as a pinch runner or late inning defensive replacement, and did not get a hit in 7 at bats. In 1999 and 2000, he split his time between the AAA Rochester Red Wings and the Orioles. He recorded his first Major League hit on June 27, 1999 off of New York Yankees pitcher Orlando Hernández and his first home run came off of Joey Hamilton of the Toronto Blue Jays on July 1, 1999. He had fairly regular playing time with the Orioles in 2001 and 2002 and was used more as a utility player in 2003 and 2004.

In his seven seasons with Baltimore, he played in 558 games, batting .261.

Chicago Cubs

He was traded (along with Oriole prospects Mike Fontenot and David Crouthers) to the Chicago Cubs in the 2005 offseason for Sammy Sosa. The Cubs attempted to use Hairston as a leadoff man, but he finished the 2005 season with an unremarkable on-base percentage of .336 and stole only 8 bases in 17 attempts. Even though most Cubs fans initially welcomed the dismissal of Sosa—whose performance was on the decline and was seen as a problematic teammate—the poor play of Hairston would eventually cause many fans to sour on this particular trade. In two seasons with the Cubs, he hit .251 in 152 games.