It’s good to be Bucky Jacobsen these days.
He’s getting married next month and buying a home with some of the money he made in his half-season with the Seattle Mariners.
Friday, he’ll return to his hometown of Hermiston, Ore., where his number – 33 – will be retired at halftime of the football game.
His old college baseball coach, Ed Cheff at Lewis-Clark State in Idaho, has asked Jacobsen to speak with his players. Some of his college teammates who’ve become coaches, including Everett Community College coach Levi Lacey, want Jacobsen to talk with their teams, too.
“It’s nice to be able to stay in touch with my roots and help those who have helped me,” Jacobsen said.
Best part: He’ll do all that, and get himself ready for what he hopes will be a big 2005 season, on two healthy legs.
Jacobsen had surgery to repair cartilage damage in his right knee in September and, after enduring three years of pain in his offseason workouts, he feels good again.
“I’m super excited about next year,” he said. “I’ve had pain that has lingered the last few years, and it’s not there anymore. I think it’s going to come back perfect and feel better than it has in a long time.”
Jacobsen hopes to say the same about his powerful swing and his defense at first base, both of which suffered late this season because of the knee.
After playing 7 minor league seasons without making it to the major leagues, Jacobsen finally got his chance in July when the Mariners called him up. He batted .275 with nine home runs and 28 RBI in 42 games and seemed to prove himself in two key areas – he could adjust to the changing patterns of major league pitchers and he could hit a big-league breaking pitch.
Jacobsen, 29, is pleased at what he accomplished with the Mariners, but he isn’t too hung up on it.
“Every day I think about it and I’m proud of it, but I’m not to the point where I want to start counting my chickens,” he said. “I want there to be eight or 10 more years like that. I want last year to be just the beginning. It was all right getting my foot in the door, but now it’s time to kick it down.”
Having a healthy right leg will certainly help, he says.
Jacobsen hurt the knee when he ran into a tarp while chasing a popup three years ago. He’d had surgery on it, but it continued to bother him.
It got so bad this year that he could barely push off his back leg when he swung the bat. An exam revealed the cartilage damage and he had surgery on Sept. 16.
“When I shifted my weight, it hurt,” he said. “I think I played good defense, but I couldn’t move around as well as I know I can. It got to the point where it affected how much (pregame work) I could do. I couldn’t get out early and work in my defense like I wanted to.”
After six weeks on crutches, doctors cleared Jacobsen on Monday to put all his weight on his right leg and continue building strength in it.
“I’m not at full speed, but I’m at ahead of schedule,” he said. “The best part is that it feels good.”
And when Jacobsen feels good, he figures he will play good.
“If I impressed them with a bum knee,” he said, “then I can’t wait until next year.”
Front-office moves: Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi has added two men to his front office, Dan Evans and John Boles, who worked with him previously with the Dodgers. Both will be special assistants to Bavasi on player personnel matters.
Evans, 44, was the Dodgers’ general manager until 2003 and worked for the Mariners this year on an advisory basis, scouting the California League and the M’s minor league system.
Boles, 56, was the Florida Marlins’ manager from 1999-2001, in addition to six years as a minor league manager in the White Sox and Royals organizations. He was a senior advisor for the Dodgers the last three years.
The Mariners also named Matt Stark as their international scouting supervisor for Mexico. He was hitting coach last season for the Albuquerque Isotopes, the Florida Marlins’ Class AAA affiliate in the Pacific Coast League, working under former Isotopes manager Ron Hassey, who was hired last week as the Mariners’ new bench coach.
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