Jeff Kunkel

Jeffrey William Kunkel (born March 25, 1961) is an American former shortstop in Major League Baseball with the Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs.

The son of the late American League pitcher and umpire Bill Kunkel, after receiving All-American honors as a shortstop, he was chosen in the first round (3rd overall) of the 1983 Major League Baseball draft out of Rider University.

Growing up in the Leonardo section of Middletown Township, New Jersey, Kunkel was an all-around athlete who participated in soccer, basketball and baseball during his high school years at Middletown High School South in New Jersey. He was selected as #74 of the top 100 Jersey Shore athletes of the millennium by the Asbury Park Press in 1999.

Kunkel reached the big leagues quickly, but never developed into a full-time player. The Rangers gave him the opportunity to win the starting shortstop position, but he was always thwarted by his hitting stats and obstacles such as Curtis Wilkerson, Scott Fletcher, Fred Manrique, Gary Green, and Jeff Huson.

Plagued with numerous potential career-ending injuries, Kunkel worked hard to rehabilitate himself to finish an 11-year professional baseball career with 5½ years in the major leagues.

A versatile player with the ability to play 8 of the 9 positions on the field, he actually pitched three times in mop-up stints.

Kunkel made his major league debut against the defending world champion Baltimore Orioles at Arlington Stadium on Monday, July 23, 1984. Against O's ace Mike Boddicker, a 20-game winner that season, Kunkel recorded three hits and stole second base. Nevertheless, the Rangers lost the game, 9–5.

Kunkel spent the rest of the season alternating with Curtis Wilkerson, but was never able to duplicate the success of his first game. He concluded 1984 with 3 home runs, 7 runs batted in, and a .204 average in 50 games and 142 at-bats.