The Top Ten Dodger Villains-10.Jim Eisenreich

Our next top ten will focus on the ten most villainous opposing players of all time. These are the guys that you loved to hate. These were public enemies #1. Enemies of Dodger Blue. The worst of the worst. The bad guys. The guys that ruined Many a Dodger win. Some even ruined entire playoff series, or worse. These are the most loathsome Dodger enemies of all time. Some were hitters, some were pitchers, but all were absolutely horrible. Let’s count them down and remember all of the reasons why we hate their guts. From hell’s heart we stab at thee! I present to you, the number ten Dodger villain of all time, outfielder….

10. Jim Eisenreich.

Jim Eisenreich

Most people would not remember Eisenreich. Unless you’re an obsessive Dodger fanatic like myself, you probably wouldn’t . After all who would ever think that this quiet mild-mannered man could cause the Dodgers and their fans such grief? Believe me this man caused more grief then most players in an entire lifetime. He was the silent killer. His name is hard to spell as well. 

Eisenreich currently age 54, was drafted by the Twins in the sixteenth round of the 1980 draft. Eisenreich was an outfielder, and ended up making his major league debut at age 22 with the Twins. The St. Cloud Minnesota native played 15 years in the majors, from 1982-1998 for five different MLB teams. Eisenreich was mostly a part-time player, outfielder, and pinch-hitter. He became known as a pretty good pinch-hitter, and contact hitter over the years. He finished with a .290 batting average, and 52 career major league home runs.

Eisenreich was most well known for having tourett’s syndrome. He batted left handed and I can still remember his twitching and gyrations while he was at the plate. He was a left handed hitter and stood at the plate with his hands around his chin.

Eisenreich spent the last six years of his career in the National League. The majority of that time with the Phillies. During that span he terrorized Dodger pitching. Just how bad was it? Eisenreich batted .308 (49 for 159) with two home runs at Dodger Stadium, but against the Dodgers, Eisenreich batted over .400. I’m not kidding. Jim hit .405 (83 for 205) with seven home runs, and 46 runs driven in against Dodger pitching in his career. Eisenreich finished with a .620 slugging percentage, and an OPS of 1.087 against the Dodgers. The man killed the Dodgers, nearly every year.

Eisenreich went on to play in two world series with two different clubs. He went 6 for 26 with a home run with the Phillies against Toronto in the 1993 series. Later on he won a ring with the Florida Marlins as he hit his second career World Series home run.

Ironically enough, Eisenreich ended his career as a Dodger. You can’t even make this stuff up if you tried. The Dodgers finally figured hey, if you can’t beat him, acquire him. So the Dodgers acquired Eisenreich as part of the mega trade with the Marlins in May of 1998. Eisenreich was traded to the Dodgers along with Manuel Barrios, Bobby Bonilla, catcher Charles Johnson, and Gary Sheffield for catcher Mike Piazza, and third baseman Todd Zeile. At the time Eisenreich was at the end of his career and only batted .197 in 75 games for the Dodgers in 1998. Eisenreich finished his career with 1,160 hits. That infamous trade will perhaps live forever in history as one of the worst trades of all time.

But that was not because of Jim Eisenreich. Eisenreich went on to do good things once his playing career was over. He later opened up a charity to support children with touretts called the The Jim Eisenreich Foundation. Jim wasn’t flashy or nearly as evil as some of the other players we will be profiling on the countdown. Eisenreich was more of a silent assassin. He quietly went about his business of getting hits against Dodger pitching. I wish him all the best, but I never want to see him again.