Jeff Kunkel
| Jeff Kunkel | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Shortstop | |||
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Born: March 25, 1961 West Palm Beach, Florida |
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| MLB debut | |||
| July 23, 1984, for the Texas Rangers | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| September 14, 1992, for the Chicago Cubs | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .221 | ||
| Home runs | 18 | ||
| Runs batted in | 73 | ||
| Teams | |||
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Jeffrey William Kunkel (born March 25, 1962) is a former shortstop in Major League Baseball with the Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs.
The son of the late American League pitcher and umpire Bill Kunkel, after receiving All-American honors as a shortstop, he was chosen in the first round (3rd overall) of the 1983 Major League Baseball Draft out of Rider University.
Growing up in Leonardo, New Jersey, Kunkel was an all-around athlete who participated in soccer, basketball and baseball during his high school years at Middletown High School South in New Jersey. Selected #74 of the top 100 Jersey Shore athletes of the millennium by the Asbury Park Press in 1999.
Kunkel reached the big leagues quickly, but never developed into a full-time player. The Rangers gave him the opportunity to win the starting shortstop position, but he was always thwarted by his hitting stats and obstacles such as Curtis Wilkerson, Scott Fletcher, Fred Manrique, Gary Green, and Jeff Huson.
Plagued with numerous potential career-ending injuries, Kunkel worked hard to rehabilitate himself to finish an 11-year professional baseball career with 5½ years in the major leagues.
A versatile player with the ability to play 8 of the 9 positions on the field he actually pitched three times in mop-up stints.
Kunkel made his major league debut against the defending world champion Baltimore Orioles at Arlington Stadium on Monday, July 23, 1984. Against O's ace Mike Boddicker, a 20-game winner that season, Kunkel recorded three hits and stole second base. Nevertheless, the Rangers lost the game 9 to 5.
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