Jeff Burroughs Stats & Facts
Jeff Burroughs
Position: Outfielder
Bats: Right • Throws: Right 6-1, 200lb (185cm, 90kg)
Born: March 7, 1951 in Long Beach, CA
Draft: Drafted by the Washington Senators in the 1st round (1st) of the 1969 MLB June Amateur Draft from Woodrow Wilson HS (Long Beach, CA).
High School: Woodrow Wilson HS (Long Beach, CA)
Debut: July 20, 1970 (13,030th in major league history) vs. MIL 3 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
Last Game: October 6, 1985 vs. NYY 4 AB, 1 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
Full Name: Jeffrey Alan Burroughs
Pronunciation: \Burrows\ View Player Info from the B-R Bullpen View Player Bio from the SABR BioProject
Relatives: Father of Sean Burroughs
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Notable Events and Chronology
Biography
Burroughs was a top young power hitter, but by his late twenties had declined to the journeyman stage. The nation’s first draft pick in 1969, he joined the Senators at 19. There, he often clashed with manager Ted Williams, though Burroughs later credited Williams for teaching him to concentrate. Burroughs hit 30 homers in 1973, his first season as the Rangers’ regular right fielder. That set the stage for his MVP year in 1974, when he batted .301 with 25 homers and a league-leading 118 RBI. But the south wind at Arlington Stadium gave him fits (he fanned a league-high 155 times in 1976), and he profited from a trade to Atlanta, where he hit 41 homers with 114 RBI in 1977. Defensively, Burroughs was capable but slow. When he announced his goal was to win a Gold Glove, teammate Joe Lovitto said, “You won’t make any errors. You don’t get to a ball until it stops rolling.”
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Factoids, Quotes, Milestones and Odd Facts
Jeff Burroughs
In the first few years after the Senators moved to Texas, Rangers fans had very little to cheer about. Most of the time their team was a laughingstock that more resembled a circus than a ballclub. But first round draft pick Jeff Burroughs gave them something to rally around when he began launching home runs. In his first full season, as a 22-year old, the big, right-handed slugger belted 30 homers. The following season he hit 25 and drove in a league-leading 118 runs, as he won the American League’s Most Valuable Player Award. But after two more productive seasons, the Rangers traded him to Atlanta for five players and $250,000. The deal was financially motivated and unpopular with Texas fans. It was all the more frustrating to Rangers rooters after Burroughs hit 41 homers for his new team. Just 26 years old, Burroughs had nearly 150 home runs to his credit, but his best seasons were behind him. He spent his last few seasons back in the AL as a designated hitter, primarily facing left-handed pitching. After a promising few seasons in his early and mid-20s, Burroughs retired with 240 homers.
Best Season: 1974
Despite playing in a tough hitters park, Burroughs slugged 25 home runs. Despite playing for a team that was unspectacular, hge drove in 118 runs. He also hit .301 with 33 doubles, 84 runs scored, 91 walks, and a .397 on-base percentage. He was just 23 years old and his future seemed very bright. He was named AL MVP.
Post-Season Notes
Finally, in his last season, Burroughs got into the post-season, with the Blue Jays. He got into just one game of the LCS, pinch-hitting. He made an out, and it was the last at-bat of his career.
Biography:
Jeffrey Alan (Jeff) Burroughs (born March 7, 1951 in Long Beach, California) is a former player in Major League Baseball. From 1970 through 1985, he played for the Washington Senators (1970–71), Texas Rangers (1972–76), Atlanta Braves (1977–80), Seattle Mariners (1981), Oakland Athletics (1982–84) and Toronto Blue Jays (1985). Burroughs batted and threw right-handed. He is the father of major league third baseman Sean Burroughs. In a 16-season career, Burroughs posted a .261 batting average with 240 home runs and 882 RBIs in 1689 games.
Burroughs was selected by the Washington Senators in the 1st round (1st pick) of the June 1969 draft. Late in the year, he joined the Senators at age of 19. Considered a “good bat-no field” kind of player, Burroughs was a considerable slugging threat during his playing days. Defensively, he was capable but slow.
In four full seasons with the Texas Rangers, Burroughs averaged 25.5 home runs a year with a high of 30 homers in 1973. His most productive season came in 1974, when he batted .301 with 25 home runs and a league-leading and career-high 118 RBIs and was selected the American League MVP, making him one of only six overall number-one picks to win the MVP title (the others are Chipper Jones, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey, Jr., Joe Mauer and Josh Hamilton) and the first Ranger to win the award. During the 1974 season, Burroughs was at the center of the violent Ten Cent Beer Night debacle in Cleveland, where Burroughs was one of the targets of thrown objects and a few punches by unruly and inebriated Cleveland fans, in a game that was forfeited to Texas.
Burroughs was selected an All-Star in both 1974 with the Rangers and 1978 as a member of the Atlanta Braves, when he entered the All-Star break with a National League leading .324 Batting Average. Burroughs was also named AL Player of the Year and selected as an OF on the AL All-Star team by The Sporting News his MVP season of 1974.
As a member of the Atlanta Braves, in 1977 Burroughs collected 114 RBIs and hit 41 home runs, the latter number surpassed only by Cincinnati Reds outfielder George Foster (52). Burroughs had fans who maintained a large banner below the right field deck titled “Jeff’s Jackpot”, which displayed his home run total for the season plus one.
Late in his career, Burroughs was still a valuable hitter, being used mainly as a DH and pinch hitter. After he retired, Burroughs later coached his son’s Little League team, the Long Beach All-Stars; with Sean as their star player, these teams won the Little League World Series in both 1992 (they actually lost the championship game, but were later awarded the title by forfeit after their opponents were found to have used no fewer than 14 ineligible players) and 1993.
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