Jeffrey Wayne King (born December 26, 1964) is a former professional baseball player who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals. He graduated from Rampart High School in Colorado Springs in 1982. He was drafted first overall by Pittsburgh in the 1986 June Amateur Draft after playing college ball at the University of Arkansas.

King was a key part of the Pirates Division Championship teams of 1990, 1991, and 1992, batting 6th right after Barry Bonds, Andy Van Slyke and Bobby Bonilla. He was plagued by back injuries which forced Bonilla to play third base during the 1990 NLCS.

King was then traded after a career-best 1996 season to Kansas City with Jay Bell for Joe Randa. In two full seasons with the Royals, he hit 28 and 24 home runs. King was the Royals regular first baseman at the beginning of the 1999 season, but, bothered by back problems, he abruptly announced his retirement on May 23, 1999, two days after going 1-4 against the Texas Rangers.

King finished his career with a .256 batting average and 154 home runs in 1201 games.

[edit] See also

• List of top 500 Major League Baseball home run hitters

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• The 100 Greatest Royals of All-Time- #69 Jeff King

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