Jenkins a deserving member of Brewers Walk of Fame
Just over eight years after retiring as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers, Geoff Jenkins is joining the Miller Park Walk of Fame.
Jenkins, who rejoined the Brewers on a $1 contract July 9, 2010 in order to retire as a member of the organization, will be inducted ahead of a game Tuesday against the Washington Nationals.
"It's a really, really cool honor when you get that phone call and they tell you you're the 20th person inducted into their Walk of Fame," Jenkins told MLB.com when the Brewers announced the move back in February. "It's one of those things where it makes you think about all the things you've done and all the people you've met and the journey you took."
And while 19 Milwaukee greats went in ahead of Jenkins, it's hard to argue with his Brewers bona fides.
The Brewers' first-round pick in 1995, Jenkins spent 10 of his 11 major-league seasons in Milwaukee, hitting .275 with 733 RBI and 221 home runs in 1,234 games. Once second only to Hall of Famer Robin Yount on the Brewers' all-time home runs list, Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun have since dropped Jenkins to fourth.
However, he still ranks near the top of the Brewers' offensive leaderboards. Jenkins ranks fifth all-time in slugging percentage (.496), fifth in on-base plus slugging percentage (.843), seventh in games played (1,234), seventh in runs scored (661), sixth in hits (1,221), fifth in total bases (2,188), fifth in doubles (287), fifth in RBI (704) and fifth in extra-base hits (521).
He ranks 11th all-time with 22.1 wins above replacement per baseball-reference, just ahead of Ben Oglivie and behind Jim Ganter.
Despite his success, Jenkins shined in relative obscurity: The Brewers averaged 72 wins per year during his tenure, while Jenkins was selected to the All-Star Game just once, via the league's "Final Vote" promotion in 2003. He made his first postseason appearance in 2008, winning the World Series as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.
