Jerry Hairston, Jr.

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Jerry Wayne Hairston, Jr. (born May 29, 1976 in Naperville, Illinois) is a Major League Baseball player for the Texas Rangers. His father, Jerry Hairston, and grandfather, Sam Hairston, were also Major League Baseball players, making him the first African American to be a third-generation major-leaguer. He attended Southern Illinois University. His uncle Johnny Hairston and his brother Scott Hairston have also played in the majors, and several other family members played in the minor leagues.

Hairston was drafted in the 11th round of the 1997 amateur draft by the Baltimore Orioles, and made his major league debut with the Orioles on September 11, 1998. In his seven seasons with Baltimore, he played in 558 games, batting .261. He is best known for being traded (along with Oriole prospects Mike Fontenot and David Crouthers) to the Chicago Cubs in the 2005 offseason for Sammy Sosa. During the middle of the 2006 season, Hairston was traded to the Texas Rangers for Phil Nevin. Hairston was released from the Rangers after the 2006 season. On January 5, 2007, the Rangers signed Hairston to a Minor League contract with an invitation to Spring Training. Hairston won a spot on the opening day roster, where he will be playing backup for Kenny Lofton as well as spelling the infielders when needed.

According to Luis Fernando Llosa and L. Jon Wertheim, Jerry Hairston Jr. received Genotropin, human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) and Clomiphene Citrate in 2004. One of Hairston's prescriptions was written by "A. Almarashi." Investigators believe Almarashi is an alias for a Queens, N.Y., doctor stripped of her medical license in 1999. She is awaiting trial on multiple charges after allegedly writing bogus prescriptions for thousands of online customers she never examined. Hairston, a third-generation major leaguer, emphatically denied any connection. "Not one time have I taken steroids or anything like that," he said last Thursday. "I would never do anything like that to jeopardize my career or my family's name."

[edit] Trivia

On the ESPN 2k3 video game for the Playstation 2, when Hairston Jr. would come up to bat, a heckler in the crowd would scream "One Jerry Hairston was enough".
His name came up in a recent steroid bust in Orlando. He and Gary Matthews Jr. are the only current baseball players to be named in the drug bust.