Seattle Mariners

Date of birth: January 15, 1956 Goldsboro, NC

High School:  Goldsboro HS (Goldsboro, NC)

College: East Carolina

Nickname: Barnabas. Barnabas is a major New Testament figure whose name literally means “son of encouragement.” Can only speculate that is why they called him that, and being that he became manager, perhaps it is accurate.

First Impression; Truth be told at 8 if the card wasnt someone I readily knew I just looked at the photo and moved on. This was one such card. But the photo is pretty good, at least he was batting and not looking into the stands for his cousin.

Career stats player: Jerry Narron was a rookie for the Yankees in 1979 and had the unfortune of being the first starting catcher for the Yankees after Thurman Munson’s passing. He played a fair amount but the Yankees were on to Rick Cerone the next year as the starter and Narron was dealt  by the New York Yankees with Rick Anderson, Jim Beattie and Juan Beníquez to the Seattle Mariners for Ruppert Jones and Jim Lewis. Hence this card. Overall he was a backup or 2nd catcher getting in 392 games, getting 177 hits and hitting 21 homers and 96 RBI hitting .211.

All Time Stat: His first Major League homer was a solo shot off Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley on 7/1/79.

Career stats manager: 291-341. Narron stuck with baseball and turned it into quite a career in coaching and managing. As a manager he was hired in 2001 after the Rangers fired Johnny Oates. They only gave him the next season as well and the Rangers lost 90 games and he was replaced by Buck Showalter.

He got his second chance with Cincinnati, once again taking over in mid season, this file for Dave Miley. They were 46-46 under Narron the remainder of the year and 80-82 in the next season. They were on a trajectory to break through to be a better team and in 2007 they started 31-51 and Narron was fired and replaced by someone we talked about earlier, Pete Mackanin.

Fun Fact: He has coached for the Orioles, Rangers, Red Sox, Reds, Brewers, Diamondbacks, Reds Sox again, White Sox and most recently the Angels ending in 2025. 25 years of coaching alone. Never coached for any of the teams that he played for until 2024 when he coached the Angels.

Ever a Future Star?  No

Rookie or final card? No, he would get a manager card in 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2007.

Hall of Fame? Number retired? No.

Links to stories including Jerry Narron.