Jerry Martin (baseball)

Jerry Martin

Outfielder

Born: May 11, 1949 (age 67)
Columbia, South Carolina

Batted: Right

Threw: Right

MLB debut

September 7, 1974, for the Philadelphia Phillies

Last MLB appearance

September 19, 1984, for the New York Mets

MLB statistics

Batting average

.251

Home runs

Runs batted in

345

Teams

Jerry Lindsey Martin (born May 11, 1949) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. On November 17, 1983, Martin and Kansas City Royals teammates Willie Aikens and Willie Wilson received three-month prison terms on misdemeanor cocaine possession charges. They became the first active major leaguers to serve jail time.

Martin was born in Columbia, South Carolina, and attended Furman University in Greenville. He starred in basketball, and was named the All-Southern Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player in 1971 after leading the Furman Paladins to their first conference championship.

Despite his prowess in basketball, he decided to follow his father, Barney Martin, who pitched in the majors with the Cincinnati Reds, as well as his younger brother, Michael, a left handed pitcher selected fifth overall in the 1970 Major League Baseball draft by the Philadelphia Phillies. A year later, Jerry signed with the club as an amateur free agent. Despite having spent three seasons together in the same organization, the brothers were never teammates.

Martin earned Western Carolinas League MVP honors in 1972, when he batted .316 with twelve home runs and 112 runs batted in for the Spartanburg Phillies. Over four seasons in the Phillies' farm system, Martin batted .303 with 43 home runs and 290 RBIs to earn a September call-up to the majors in 1974. Making his major league debut as a late inning defensive replacement for Greg Luzinski on September 7, Martin did not log an at-bat. When given his first major league at bat two days later, he drove in Luzinski with the first run of the Phillies' 2-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

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Wikipedia