Nothing Surprises Jefferson Anymore

Nothing surprises Stan Jefferson anymore.

When you’re with your fourth organization in seven years, when you’re 26 and have bounced between the minors and majors, you may not know what town you’re in, but nothing surprises you.

So when Jefferson returned from running a few errands Wednesday morning in Rochester, N.Y., he wasn’t surprised when there was a message on his phone recorder from Red Wings Manager Greg Biagini.

Catch the next flight to Baltimore, Biagini said. Jefferson walked into the Orioles’ locker room in Memorial Stadium at 4 p.m. and saw a familiar name on the starting lineup card--his own.

Surprised? No.

“I take one day at a time,” Jefferson said.

“He said play hard and hustle,” Jefferson said of his brief meeting with Orioles Manager Frank Robinson. “You know, the basics.”

Jefferson played right field in the Orioles’ 7-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins Wednesday night and went 0 for 4. But he did make a dandy catch of Kirby Puckett’s drive that went in the lights to Jefferson’s right, came out and sliced nastily to his left.

In the last 10 months, Jefferson has been with three organizations. The San Diego Padres traded him last October to the New York Yankees, who traded him to the Orioles three weeks ago for pitcher John Habyan.

In his 16 games with the Orioles’ Rochester, N.Y., farm club, Jefferson batted .234, with one home run and 12 RBI. He replaces outfielder Brady Anderson on the roster.

Anderson, who has back and shoulder problems, has been 6 for 40 since July 4 and had only one hit in his last 18 at bats. Jefferson has an edge over Anderson in at least two respects: He’s healthy and he’s a switch-hitter.

after his junior year at Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Fla., where he batted .408 and led the nation in stolen bases with 67, Jefferson was the New York Mets’ first-round draft choice in 1983.

He was the 20th selection overall, but even then very little surprised him. Not even being drafted so high? “No, I can play,” he said.

Three years later, he was traded to the Padres. He collected only one hit the last three weeks of the 1987 season and wound up at .230. “I flat out stunk,” he conceded.

Still, he was in Manager Larry Bowa’s opening day lineup the following season.

The second day he was on the bench.

“I didn’t comprehend it,” Jefferson said. “I found out later on, Bowa didn’t want me in there in the first place.”

The next stop was New York. Dallas Green was his new manager. Looking back, he considers Bowa “a protege of Dallas, so all I did was go from the frying pan into the fire.”

Beyond that, he refuses to comment on Green. But he does comment on the Yankees, who he said have discouraged some young players by shuttling them back and forth between New York and triple-A Columbus, Ohio.

Jefferson was with the Yankees two different times in April. He was optioned to Columbus for the second time April 29 and was there until dealt to the Orioles last month.

“There are jokes about it--the Columbus Shuttle,” he said. “I wasn’t at all excited to be going to the Yankees. I grew up in New York, and I knew how they were as far as young players were concerned.”

Jefferson was far more excited when he learned he was leaving the Yankees.

“I don’t know if I was stunned,” he said. “I don’t know what I was. I felt pretty good, really. I was happy to get out, to be honest.”