Milwaukee’s Best, Part 1: The 50 Best To Play For Braves, Brewers: 50-41
By Phil Watson
John Jaha, as shown on a 1996 Leaf baseball card.
45. John Jaha, 1B-DH
Brewers 1992-98
John Jaha joined the Brewers’ organization as a 14th-round pick out of Douglas High School in Portland, Ore., in the 1984 amateur draft and spent eight years working his way to the bigs before finally making his debut in July 1992.
Jaha had some big time pop, but also some big time injury troubles. His best season as a Brewer came in 1996, when he hit .300/.398/.543 with 34 homers and 118 RBI in 148 games, but that was one of just two campaigns in seven seasons in Milwaukee in which the right-handed slugger was able to play in at least 100 games.
He tied a Brewers’ single-game record on Sept. 11, 1992, when he stole four bases in a game against the Baltimore Orioles—an oddity for a player who had only 36 career steals in 826 games.
Jaha became a free agent after the 1998 season and signed with the Oakland Athletics in February 1999. He had a monster 1999 season in Oakland before the injury bug struck again and he retired after the 2001 season.
He was ninth in the AL in RBI in 1996 for Milwaukee.
Here are his stats from his seven seasons with the Brewers:
| Year | Age | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 26 | 47 | 152 | 133 | 17 | 30 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 30 | .226 | .291 | .308 | .600 | 70 |
| 1993 | 27 | 153 | 582 | 515 | 78 | 136 | 21 | 0 | 19 | 70 | 13 | 9 | 51 | 109 | .264 | .337 | .416 | .753 | 103 |
| 1994 | 28 | 84 | 338 | 291 | 45 | 70 | 14 | 0 | 12 | 39 | 3 | 3 | 32 | 75 | .241 | .332 | .412 | .745 | 88 |
| 1995 | 29 | 88 | 357 | 316 | 59 | 99 | 20 | 2 | 20 | 65 | 2 | 1 | 36 | 66 | .313 | .389 | .579 | .968 | 144 |
| 1996 | 30 | 148 | 636 | 543 | 108 | 163 | 28 | 1 | 34 | 118 | 3 | 1 | 85 | 118 | .300 | .398 | .543 | .941 | 133 |
| 1997 | 31 | 46 | 192 | 162 | 25 | 40 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 40 | .247 | .354 | .494 | .848 | 118 |
| 1998 | 32 | 73 | 273 | 216 | 29 | 45 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 38 | 1 | 3 | 49 | 66 | .208 | .366 | .343 | .709 | 89 |
| TOTALS | 639 | 2530 | 2176 | 361 | 583 | 99 | 5 | 105 | 366 | 33 | 17 | 290 | 504 | .268 | .361 | .463 | .824 | 113 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/16/2015.
Next: 44. Versatile Brewer From Early 21st Century