During the 2004 and 2007 playoffs, Jerry Hairston Jr. saw what he was missing. Hairston Jr. worked as an analyst.
“Even then, being there, the atmosphere is definitely electric,” he remembers, “and I said, ‘Man, I would love to do this as a player.’ ”
Hairston Jr., the newest Yankees acquisition, never has been to the postseason as a player, despite playing in the majors since 1998 and playing on four other teams before coming to The Bronx. Earlier this season, the Yankees traded for Eric Hinske, who appears headed to the playoffs for the third straight year with his third different team.
Unfortunately for Hairston Jr., he almost has been the anti-Hinske. Hairston Jr. has never been on a team that finished above .500, but it looks like it finally will change.
Though Hairston’s father played in the 1983 ALCS with the White Sox, neither Jerry Jr. nor his younger brother, 29-year-old Scott, have been to the playoffs. Scott had his postseason dream cruelly rejected in 2007 with the Padres.
It was Game 163 — a one-game playoff against the Rockies to determine the NL wild card. In the top of the 13th inning at Coors Field, with Jerry Jr. in attendance, Scott cracked a two-run homer to give the Padres an 8-6 lead.
“He would have been the hero,” Jerry Jr. said. “And then obviously the Rockies came back to win.”
In the bottom of the 13th, closer Trevor Hoffman yielded three runs, giving the Rockies a 9-8 win and blowing the postseason for the Padres and the Hairstons.
“Playing in [the] postseason is something that obviously the Yankees have a historical franchise and they’ve won so many championships,” Jerry Jr. said. “But if you look at the other teams, it’s pretty hard to get to.”
Jerry Jr. — who has played with the Orioles, Cubs, Rangers and Reds — thought his best chance to make the playoffs came with the Cubs in 2005.
“Everything was going great,” he recalled, though the Cubs finished 79-83. “In 2006, we were very, very strong and then Derrek Lee gets hurt, probably the best player in the league at the time. Injuries kind of hurt us in Chicago. Stuff that really manager Dusty Baker couldn’t control. And basically our whole rotation was hurt.”
Mark Prior appeared in just nine games that season, Kerry Wood four and Lee 50. The Cubs finished 66-96, though Jerry Jr. was traded to Texas at the end of May that season. This latest move looks like it’s working out better.