So, who is Geoff Jenkins? Is it this guy or this guy?
1. Geoff was born on July 21, 1974 in Olympia, WA, the same birth town as former Brewer Dana Eveland. Jenkins' attended Cordova High School in Rancho Cordova, CA (a suburb of Sacramento) where he earned All-State honors in 1991 and '92. This is the same high school attended by former Brewers Chris Bosio and Randy Lerch. Jenkins was actually drafted in the 24th round of the 1992 Amateur Entry Draft by the San Diego Padres. He opted to go to the University of Southern California instead.
2. Between 1993 and 1995, Geoff played college baseball at USC, leading the Trojans to the College World Series in 1995. USC lost the championship game to Mark Kotsay and Cal State-Fullerton, but have a total of 12 national championships. During Jenkins' time at USC, his teammates included Morgan Ensberg, Jacque Jones, and Chad Moeller. In all, 93 Trojans have played in the major leagues. Sal Bando made Jenkins the ninth pick in the 1995 Amateur Baseball Draft. By doing so, he left Matt Morris for the Cardinals and Roy Halladay for the Blue Jays, but at the time, did Bando make the right pick?
3. Jenkins is the only Milwaukee Brewer to hit a home run in his debut game. Some sources say it occurred in his first plate appearance, but it actually came in his third time at the plate. The only other Milwaukee player to do it was Chuck Tanner in 1955 with the Milwaukee Braves.
4. Did you know that Geoff currently holds Brewers' record for the highest slugging percentage in a season (.588, 2000)? Higher than Yount, Thomas, Deer, Vaughn, or Sexson? Yup. Jenkins is actually #100 all-time in career slugging percentage. Just think about that. Could there actually be something to the high leg kick we've been missing all along? Click here and see if you agree.
5. Geoff is one of many who have participated in the Klement's Sausage Race. Others who have donned a casing for the race are Hideo Nomo, Pat Mears, Mark Grace, ESPN Columnist Jim Caple, and former Packer receiver Javon Walker.
So what will be Geoff Jenkins' legacy with the Milwaukee Brewers? Will it end during the season, after the season, or will his tenure continue into 2008 and beyond. Some things to consider are that Geoff hit pretty well last year after his "benching" in 2006. After August 11th, 2006, he hit .345/.468/.621 with 7 home runs and 13 RBI. Jenkins currently ranks in the Brewers' career top-5 in slugging pct., OPS, runs, total bases, doubles, home runs, and RBI. Geoff is top-10 in games, at bats, and hits. Now, obviously, those rankings come when you play for several years, but Geoff has played in exactly the same number of games with Milwaukee as Gorman Thomas. Who do you think is/was better?
Jeff and I talked about the resemblance between Geoff Jenkins and Brett Favre. What's interesting is both Jenkins and Favre broke down and were emotional after their final games of 2006. Yet, as of now, both will be back with their teams in 2007. In doing some searching, I also came across this page where someone also seems to think Ben Sheets looks like Billy Idol.