Edwin Jackson joins 12th MLB team, one away from tying record
It’s always been a fun baseball parlor game to pick out a journeyman and see if your fellow fans can name every team he played for. Octavio Dotel! Mike Morgan! Matt Stairs! Ron Villone!
Your challenge for your pals today should be to list all the teams that have employed Edwin Jackson.
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The 33-year-old is now up to an even dozen teams after Jackson donned a Baltimore Orioles uniform on Wednesday night. Jackson pitched two innings for the O’s in their 9-6 extra-innings win and is expected to serve a variety of roles on Baltimore’s busted-up pitching staff.
Jackson has now pitched for so many teams over the past 15 seasons that he might even have problems naming them all without checking his sizable jersey collection. Twelve teams ties him with Morgan, Stairs and Villone. He’ll tie Dotel for the MLB record if he ever signs with a 13th team.
Here’s Jackson’s full list:
1. Dodgers (2003-05)
2. Rays (2006-08)
3. Tigers (2009)
4. Diamondbacks (2010)
5. White Sox (2010-11)
6. Cardinals (2011)
7. Nationals (2012)
8. Cubs (2013-15)
9. Braves (2015)
10. Marlins (2016)
11. Padres (2016)
12. Orioles (2017)
Jackson’s travels have left him with a relatively interesting career, if not a great stat line (93-114, 4.65 ERA, 90 ERA+). He made his first big-league appearance at age 19 with the Dodgers and was drafted as an outfielder before being converted into a pitcher. He appeared in two World Series with the 2008 Rays and 2011 Cardinals. He made his lone All-Star team with the Tigers in 2009, threw an eight-walk, 149-pitch no-hitter with the Diamondbacks in 2010 and cashed in big when Theo Epstein and the Cubs gave him a four-year deal worth $52 million at the start of 2013.
He’s been traded six times and made almost $80 million over his career. He’s played for both Chicago teams, both Florida teams and both Baltimore and Washington. He’s appeared for a team in every division except the AL West.
If you’re wondering how Jackson keeps getting chances despite stats that have never bowled anyone over, he summed it up best for Baltimore’s beat writers on Wednesday night.
“There’s always a need for pitching,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how a team starts off or how a team is looking in spring training. It’s just one of those positions that always needs to be filled at some point during the season.”
Jackson should know. He’s filled out more rosters than just about everyone.
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