COACHING CAREER
Named a major league coach on Dec 4, 2012...will assist Rays hitting coach Derek Shelton and work with the catchers. Has spent the last five seasons as the Rays minor league catching coordinator...his coaching career at the professional level began in the Rays organization in 2000...served as a hitting coach for Rookie-level Princeton for one season and then held the same post at Class-A Charleston in 2001 and 2002...managed Princeton for five seasons (2003-07). Spent 6 years coaching at the college level: Orange Coast Junior College (1991-92), UCLA (1993), California Baptist (1994) and Cal State Northridge (1998-99)...also managed independent league ball from 1994-97 including one season as a player-manager with the Mobile Bay Sharks of the Texas-Louisiana League.
PLAYING CAREER
Spent 11 seasons in the minors with seven organizations and half of one season (72 days) in the majors when he appeared in 40 games and started 35 for the 1983 Mariners after he was recalled midseason...homered in his first major league game off BOS Bob Ojeda on July 21, 1983...walked 13 times and struck out only 12 times in 111 plate appearances. His last hit in the majors came off current Padres Manager Bud Black, a double on Sep 29 vs. KC...also had a single off 1983 AL Cy Young winner Lamarr Hoyt on Sep 15...caught Jim Beattie's one-hitter on Sep 27 vs. KC in a game that Beattie allowed only one base runner. Career was marred by injury ... underwent one of the early Tommy John surgeries in 1985 performed by Dr. Frank Jobe...missed all of 1986 ... suffered a broken leg in a home plate collision while Triple-A Louisville (Royals) in 1987...eventually had 5 other surgeries: four on his knees and one on his back. At Bolsa Grande (Calif.) High School he was an all-state pitcher but went undrafted...selected by the Mets in the 8th round of the 1978 June Draft out of Orange Coast Junior College...converted to catcher by the Mets and his first spring training pitching staff included future big leaguers Mike Scott, Jeff Reardon, Juan Berenguer and Neil Allen.
PERSONAL
Jamie was born in Oklahoma, but the family moved to California when he was four months old. In a 1990 article, Sports Illustrated likened him to Bull Durham's Crash Davis. Hosted a sports talk show in Mobile, Ala., in 1994-95 and another in Tri-City, Wash., in 1997-98. He and his wife, Lee Ann, live in Hoover, Ala.
