Jeffrey Hammonds

He returned to town as a conquering hero, flying in from balmy Phoenix to winter’s chill
for the purpose of inducting his older brother into the Union County Baseball Hall of
Fame, a club he is certain to join in the future. It was clearly not the correct environment
to ask Jeffrey Hammonds any of the tough questions he is sure to face later this spring
and summer, but the writer tried a seemingly innocuous one anyway:

“If the season started tomorrow, would you be ready to go?”. Hammonds rolled his eyes,
smiled and with the quickness in which he attacks a Randy Johnson fastball answered in
a way that quickly moved the conversation onto gentler topics.

“The shoulder feels great I may not be ready to play yet, but the season doesn’t start
tomorrow, so I’m not worried. I will be ready to go April 3(opening day)”. While the
questions from a small group of reporters in the interview room before the dinner went
back to the “What does it mean to induct Reggie” genre the subject of Jeffrey’s health
will encircle him until the season starts.

The Brewers, clearly one of baseball’s low budget teams, broke the bank for Hammonds
after his breakthrough 2000 season with the Colorado Rockies when he hit .335 finishing
fourth in the league in batting. In the surrealistic world of baseball, $21.75 million for
three years barely registers on the Richter scale but Milwaukee should not be confused
with the TV revenue rich Yankees or Mets. The contract included a $1.5 million signing
bonus and salaries of $6 million in 2001, $7 million in 2002 and $7.25 million in 2003
making him the highest paid player in team history.

There was a cacophony of criticism for the signing taking into account the facts that
Hammonds had never played more than 123 games in a season and he had hit 126 points
higher at hitter friendly Coors Field in his great 2000 season. In 2001 Hammonds did
nothing to satisfy his critics, actually emboldening them when his season ended on June 6
with a torn carilage in his right shoulder against one of his former teams, Cincinnati. His final totals of
49 games played ,6 home runs , 21 RBI’s and a .247 batting average clearly were not
what either the Brewers or Hammonds had in mind. His 174 at bats were far short of even
the minimum in incentive bonuses in the contract.

Hammonds could have earned an additional $750,000 in performance bonuses, $150,000
each for 400, 450, 500, 550 and 600 plate appearances, and any bonuses earned also
would be added to the base salaries in the remaining years of the contract. Each bonus
could be earned only once. That meant if he had 600 plate appearances in each season,
he would earn $24 million over three years. So the injury has already cost him at least
$750,000 in incentives.

The unpredictability of injuries that resulted in Reggie’s premature exit from the pros and
has also plagued Jeffrey colored the younger Hammonds’ decision to postpone
professional opportunities to play three years at Stanford.

“I never looked at professional baseball as an option out of high school”, said
Hammonds.
“I knew Reggie had built himself a safety net. Stanford was a great experience but after
three years it was time to move on”.

The experience included playing in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and playing for the
1991 Pan American team as well as making the College All American team three times
which resulted in the Baltimore Orioles making him their top pick in the 1992 draft.

During his nascent professional baseball career Jeffrey Hammonds was fortunate in
playing with baseball’s “Iron Man” Cal Ripken, who mentored him during those first
few years.

He credited Ripken with helping him come back from his first major injury, a torn
Anterior Cruciate Ligament in 1996. “Rip told me you got to get better. Injuries are part
of the game”, said Hammonds.

He was also a teammate of Eric Davis who overcame colon cancer to hit .320 the year
after. Eric said “Don’t feel sorry for me,I’ll be back and he was”.

As he concluded his keynote speech which covered his entire life from the little boy on
the bicycle riding to the high school to watch his big brother play to the rich successful
pro athlete who enters the season with a lot to prove, Hammonds appears poised to
silence his critics.