JIM LEFEBVRE

A week or two back, Jeff asked if I would be willing to write an article about Jim Lefebrve, the 1965 Rookie of the year 2^nd baseman.   I jumped on the idea right away, as “Frenchy” was one of my favorite players when he was with the Dodgers.  I thought to myself that this should fairly easy, as there was sure to be much written about Lefebvre.  Surprisingly, however, despite the relative recency of playing for the Dodgers, I was unable to find very much about his background.   Despite that, there is enough to take the time to revisit him and his time with the Dodgers.  

James Kenneth Lefebvre was born on January 7, 1942 in Inglewood, California, the son of legendary coach Benny Lefebvre and Virginia Lefebrve.   Jimmy’s story starts with his father. Benny Lefebrve was a legendary sports figure in the Los Angeles area.  Benny attended Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles, where he was better known for football than baseball. Following graduation, he played semipro football for the Los Angeles Maroons, Los Angeles Spoilers, and Long Beach Longshoremen.   Despite his abilities in football, Benny will always be known for his contributions to baseball.   Benny was head coach of the baseball team at Pepperdine University in 1940 and 1941.  In 1948, Benny became the playground supervisor at Rancho Cienega Playground(now Jackie Robinson Park) in West Los Angeles.   There he coached the Crenshaw Post American Legion team which, in 1951, with a team featuring Billy Consolo, Rene Lachemann and Sparky Anderson, won the National American Legion championship.   In 1954, Benny and his wife started and ran the exclusive Lefebvre Baseball and Summer Camp of Catalina Island.  This camp was attended by many players who went on to the pros. It was the most popular baseball camp in the area, if not the U.S., in 50’s and 60’s.  After the camp shut down, Benny coached baseball at St. Bernard’s High School in Westchester and football at Pius X High School in Downey for many years.   In addition to his coaching, Benny Lefebrve was long known and touted as a guru of hitting and along with tutoring his 3 sons, he also taught Consolo, Anderson, Norm Sherry, Larry Sherry, Don Buford, Marcel Lachemann, and Rene Lachemann.  It’s no coincidence that Anderson, Norm Sherry, and both Lachemanns became big league managers, as they were all schooled in Lefebvre fundamentals.  Benny Lefebrve was also one of the first people to entertain the idea of using a batting tee as a hitting aid.   He developed the Lefebrve Super Tee, which he later sold to Easton Sports.  Batting tees are now used worldwide in baseball hitting instruction, and can be found in many backyards across the United States.  Benny, along with his son Jimmy, also wrote the book, the “Making of a Hitter.”   Most importantly, however, Benny coached his own sons, Jimmy, his twin brother Tip, and Gil.  Although not as acclaimed as Jimmy, Tip and Gil also enjoyed short professional baseball careers.  

Jimmy Lefebrve attributes much of his baseball skill from what he learned at the Baseball Camp from his father.   Lefebvre remembers the lessons and lectures there, and the intense games he and his brothers played in the back yard of their small Hawthorne area farm.

“I couldn’t begin to count the number of pitches Dad threw to us, but it was the long talks that really made an impact,” Lefebvre said.   He added that his father also had a modified Bobby McFerran philosophy, ‘Why worry?’ he’d say. ‘When you’re worrying, you can’t be successful, you can’t be winning. Don’t clutter your brain with negative thinking.’  “He’d always remind us that you have to be consistent, that you have to grind it out daily to be a success.”

Lefebvre attended Morningside High School in Inglewood, California.   That is all I could find on his high school years.  I did discover that in 1961, Jimmy Lefebrve was the visiting team’s bat boy for the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Before he ever coached a player, Lefebvre learned to pack their bags, fold their laundry and shine their shoes.  “Our job was to make those players feel the best they could be, so they could concentrate on baseball,” Lefebvre said.  As a bat boy He learned one rule early.  “Never take a bat out of a player’s hands after they strike out,” Lefebvre said. “If a player struck out, he’d be pretty mad. I just sit and wait.“.  Apparently, he made a good impression while shining the players shoes, because he signed with the Dodgers out of Morningside High School in 1962.

In 1962, Lefebvre started his pro ball in Reno, with a bang, hitting .327, with 39 home runs and 130 RBI.  He sported a .619 slugging percentage and a 1.052 OPS.  He followed that up with two solid, albeit not quite as spectacular seasons at Salem and Spokane.   His 1964 season was interrupted as he spent some time in the army   Despite the interruption to his season, the Dodgers were able to send Lefebrve to the Arizona Instructional League in 1964, where he impressed them enough to give him an invite to spring training on a look-see basis.

Coming into the 1965 season, it was uncertain whether or not Lefebrve would break camp with the big club, as they thought he might need another year of seasoning.   On the other hand, the infield defense was so poor in 1964, they were willing to take a chance with Lefebrve.  His contract was torn up and rewritten when his pre-season play convinced Walter Alston that he could play second base in the majors.

Before his ear and perhaps career got derailed, the usually positive Lefebvre received a very valuable lesson from Sandy Koufax regarding self-pity and finger-pointing: In Lefebvre’s first home opener he faced the great Warren Spahn, the old lefty who was beginning his twenty-first and last major league season.  Lefebvre had a lot of family in the stands.  Being as brash as he was, he figured he’d show the old man a thing or two.  Three strikeouts and one fly ball later, he was back in the locker room, throwing a few bats and hanging his head, when he felt a tap on his shoulder.  

“Kid” Koufax said, “if you can’t take it, get out of here. We don’t want people in here that feel sorry for themselves. You’ve earned the right to wear this uniform. You busted your rear end. You’re a Dodger.   Dodgers don’t hang their heads. They don’t feel sorry for themselves and they don’t point fingers.” 

Lefebvre said that was the day he grew up as a baseball player and truly became a Dodger.  

Koufax’s advice was enough that Lefebvre would go on to be named the 1965 National League Rookie of the Year. He played in 157 games for the Dodgers, hitting .250/.337/.369/.706 with 12 homers and 69 RBI. He tied for club home run lead with 12 and was second by one to teammate Ron Fairly in runs batted in. Lefebvre also had 136 hits and scored 57 runs. His defensive WAR of 1.5 was 10th in the league, so although his offense was average, his stellar defense helped him nab the award. He won the award over Joe Morgan and Frank Linzy He also finished 21st in MVP voting that year.   A good argument could have been made that the award should have gone to Morgan, who had better statistics all across the board.   Lefebvre was the second Los Angeles Dodger to win the award after Frank Howard.   Lefebrve also finished 21^st in the MVP voting.  Lefebrve would also go 4 for 10 in the World Series, as the Dodgers defeated the Minnesota Twins for the championship.

The following year in 1966 was easily Lefebvre’s best, as his numbers would be career-highs essentially all across the board. These are the career-bests he had that season: He hit .274, with 24 home runs, 74 RBI, .460 SLG., and a 126 OPS +.   Now you might think to yourself, what’s so good about 12 and 24 homeruns?  Mind you, in those years, the balls did not fly out of Dodger Stadium like they do now.   In 1965, only 3 Dodgers had more than 10 homeruns (Lefebvre, Fairly and Willie Davis), and non hit more than 12.   In 1966, Lefebvre’s 24 homeruns, were tops on the team, with Lou Johnson’s 17 coming 2^nd.  In 1965, only 2 Dodgers had more than 60 RBI (Fairly and Lefebvre); and in 1966 Lefebvre and Lou Johnson were the only Dodgers with more than 70 RBI.   That helps you better understand Don Drysdale’s quip upon hearing that Sandy Koufax had thrown a no-hitter, “Did we win?”  The Dodgers’ offense for those years could be best described as anemic.   Lefebvre’s presence on the scene offered rays of hope that the future would be better. 

Unfortunately, Lefebvre’s first two seasons would be the peak of his career in Los Angeles, as he struggled to remain healthy and productive over his next six seasons.  From 1967 through 1972 he would average only 102 games a season after averaging 155 his first two seasons.  After hitting 24 home runs in 152 games in 1966, Lefebvre would hit only 38 more over his final 613 games. After two seasons of driving in an average of 72 runs, he only averaged about 43 RBI a year over the rest of his career.   In November of 1972, Lefebvre was released by the Dodgers. That would be the end of his playing career in the United States.  During Lefebvre’s eight years as the Dodgers’ switch-hitting second baseman, he compiled a .251 average, helped form an all-switch-hitting infield with Wes Parker, Maury Wills and Jim Gilliam, played in two World Series and an All-Star game.  

After being released by the Dodgers, Lefebvre played four more years in Japan, where he was exposed to Zen and a more demanding work ethic than even his own and became only the second American, Johnny Logan was the other, to play on a World Series winner and champion of Japan.  He was also the recipient of the largest fine handed out to an American player, when he was fined 10,000 yen for throwing a glove into the dugout after being pulled from the game. 

After ending his playing career, Lefebvre came back to the States and Dodgers, and managed the Dodgers Rookie level affiliate in the Pioneer League.  He then coached under Tommy Lasorda for two years, as the Dodgers hitting coach.   Lefebvre’s time as hitting coach did not end well, as he was fired by Lasorda and replaced with Manny Mota.   Apparently, Lefebvre thought that it would be a good idea to put cameras in centerfield to film the hitters.   Lasorda didn’t like the idea, but Lefebrve had them put up any way and Tommy canned him.   In 1980, Lefebrve was hired as a coach with e Giants.  This led to an infamous fight between Lasorda and Lefebrve in the KNBC studio in Burbank, where they were guests on the same show.   Apparently, the tapings were arranged for separate times so they wouldn’t encounter each other, but according to a LA Times article, “they inadvertently met on an empty sound stage.”   According to Lefebrve, Lasorda lashed out at him verbally. 

“He used four-letter words you wouldn’t believe,” Lefebvre said in a subsequent interview.  “I told him, ‘Tommy, that’s the last time you can say those things to me. I’m not employed by you anymore.’ I started to walk away and he took off his coat and pulled his arm back and I decked him.  I think I split his lip. There was a lot of blood. He said he wanted to keep on going, but someone was holding him back. The only regret I had then was that I knew I’d never be able to wear a Dodger uniform again.”   Lasorda claims he was sucker punched, prompting Lefebvre to say “He’s right.  It was the sucker who got punched.” 

And so Lefebvre’s time associated with the Dodgers came to a rather ignominious end.  I don’t know that I have ever seen him in an old-timers game or award ceremony since then.  In any event, he and Lasorda have not spoken to each other since.

Lefebvre was the San Francisco Giants hitting coach from 1980 to 1982. He worked as San Francisco’s Director of Player Development in 1983 and 1984, then took over as manager of their AAA farm team, the Phoenix Giants in 1985 and 1986.  He then moved across the Bay as a member of the Oakland Athletics staff in 1987 and 1988. 

Lefebvre got his first chance to manage in the majors with the Seattle Mariners in 1989. The Mariner’s record improved in each of his three seasons at the helm.  Despite that, they never finished above fifth place and his contract was not extended after the 1991 season.   In 1992, he became the manager of the Chicago Cubs.   In his two seasons with the Cubbies, the team’s performance also improved each year.  Despite the improvement, Lefebvre was released after the 1993 season.  

Lefebvre returned to Oakland as hitting coach in 1994 and 1995.  He moved on to the Milwaukee Brewers in the same role in 1999 and became interim manager of the team at the end of that season, replacing Phil Garner.   He was not hired for the full time position.   After spending the next two years conducting hitting clinics in Europe, he became a member of the Cincinnati Reds staff in 2002.

Beginning in 2003, Lefebvre managed Chinese teams in the Baseball World Cup, Asian Championship and Asian Games and he led the Chinese team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Lefebvre was China’s manager in the 2008 Olympics, when they went 1-6, with a stunning upset of Taiwan.  Starting in 2006, Lefebvre was a minor league hitting instructor with the San Diego Padres for a short period of time.  

Lefebrve was always known for his intensity.  His twin brother Tip, once said “Jimmy can sit down to talk about hitting for an hour and break into a sweat because he gets so excited.”

Lefebvre attributes his work ethic to his father, Ben.  Much later, in Japan, the great hitter Sadaharu Oh taught him the value of Zen, which extended his father’s lessons.  “Most people look on Zen as a religion, but it’s more a philosophy, a concept of concentration that frees the mind,” said Lefebvre.   “Skill is an act of will,” he said. “You can do anything you set your mind to.”  The Japanese emphasis on detail and team also made a huge impact on Lefebvre. 

“The Japanese say that the nail that sticks up will be hammered down,” he said. “And that’s what they do. If you get too big, if you place yourself ahead of the team, they put you in front of a wall and hammer grounders at you.”

Outside of baseball, Lefebvre had roles on several television shows including M.A.S.H., Gilligan’s Island and Batman.   His role in Batman was of a henchman for the Riddler.  Lefebvre has continued writing instructional books, making “How to Play” videos and, until 2015, ran the “Major League Way” hitting development program for youth.  He also made a DVD series, “Backyard Baseball” which is designed to get youth coaches engaged and young players excited about the game Lefebvre cares so much about.  “One of my goals is to make dad the hero in the backyard,” Lefebvre said.

As far as family, I could find nothing about his wife, but he does have two children, a daughter, Brittany Lefebvre(now Yost), who works as a producer in Christian motion pictures.  His son, Ryan, who was a star player for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, being named the most valuable player in 1993.   He played one-year of minor league baseball for the Indians, and is currently a play by play broadcaster for the Kansas City Royals.   I could find no information about Jim Lefebvre’s wife, or what he is up to currently.  

True Blue LA numbered Lefebvre76^th in its top 100 greatest Dodger players of all-time.   For two years, he was as exciting a player as the Dodgers had back the and, if not for injuries, I believe he would have ranked much higher on that list.   Nevertheless, he is a poster child for the impact that a father can have on a son, if only they take the time to impart the knowledge they have.   Lefebvre was, and shall remain, one of my favorite Dodgers. 

Some Random Thoughts:

●          This past few weeks have reminded me that baseball players are more than just that.  They are human beings first and foremost.   For example, it’s easy to comment on Lux’s struggles this year, they are very evident.   But, I can’t help but wonder how the fact that his hometown of Kenosha was burning up and has been the subject of a week or more of riots and protests.   I don’t know how that has affected his family or friends, but I have no doubt those worries could easily have affected his play. 

●          Same is true for Joc Pederson, who took some time off  due to an undisclosed family matter.   While no information was given by the Dodgers or Pederson about the nature of the family emergency, as Ron Cervanka wrote on another blog,

“most of the speculation and rumor surrounding Pederson’s absence stemmed from the fact that his wife Kelsey recently gave birth to their second child.   As Dodger fans may recall, Pederson himself announced on social media back in April that he and Kelsey were expecting their second child. It was then announced by the Dodgers on September 8 that Joc had been placed on paternity leave when Kelsey gave birth to a baby boy. Simple math tells us that this meant a five to six-month pregnancy which, of course, raises serious health concerns for both Kelsey and the baby.”  

I don’t know if that’s the actual cause of his absence, but if it is, I can certainly understand if his mind isn’t always in the game.  

●          Apparently the hope is that Joe Kelly is saving his fastball for the playoffs.  Perhaps that’s true, but I wouldn’t want curve-ball Joe Kelly anywhere near a high leverage game situation, nor would I want him to be an “opener” in any game.   I sure hope that between now and the end of the playoffs, the 2018 version of Joe Kelly reappears and dominates like there is no tomorrow.

●          Will Smith has become a very nice player for the Dodgers.  Let’s hope he keeps it up through the playoffs.  

●          Edwin Rios has some big time power.   If he ever learns to become a hitter, watch out, I think he could become something special. 

●          To chime in on the Corey Seager vs Francisco Lindor debate, it’s Corey all the way for me.  Presently, Lindor is not worth the assets required to acquire him in trade and, for me, he would only be a Dodgers target in free-agency, if Seager moves on.   As to Fernando Tatis, Jr., he certainly has the potential to be a better shortstop than both Lindor and Seager, but he hasn’t quite got there yet.  Give him a few more years and let’s see where he’s at.