Even though the amateur baseball draft in baseball is much more of a crapshoot than its counterparts in basketball and football, when you are the number one pick in the entire draft, you are supposed to be a superstar.  Indiana native Jeff King was just that, the number one pick out of Arkansas in 1985 where he hit .369 with 17 homers and 69 RBI’s when the Bucs selected him over Miami pitcher Greg Swindell. 
    
For years it looked like the 1985 number one pick was going to go down the list with names such as Walt Patalski of the Buffalo Bills, as one of the worst number one picks in professional sports history, then to his credit, King fought back and made himself a quality major leaguer by the mid 90’s.
    
Jeff ascended up the Bucco minor league system and was called to the show in 1989, replacing Sid Bream, when Bream was lost for the season.  He hit only .170 for the season, and took over the starting job at third when Bobby Bonilla went to right field.  King showed some power hitting 14 homers in 1990 during the Pirates first of three consecutive NL Easter Division titles.  His first NLCS was not a positive one as King hit only .100 in the series and had to sit out game 5 with a bad back.  Unfortunately for the young third baseman, Barry Bonds publicly went to the press critizing King for not having the guts to play the game. 
    
As would become a constant irritation during King’s career, Jeff’s back caused him many problems, being put on the DL for more than one occasion.
    
Jeff was named the opening day starter at third, but had to spend two stints on the disabled list for his back, limiting him to only 33 games.  He would have surgery in the off-season to repair a ruptured disk in his back.
    
Hoping to come back strong, King stumbled out of the gate in 1992, hitting only .187 when he was sent back to Buffalo on July 4th.  At this point, King was certainly looking nowhere near the player that the Bucs had envisioned when they picked him in the first round seven years ago.
    
10 days later the Pirates brought him back and Jeff hit a more respectable .268 the rest of the way.  Fortunately for the Arkansas Alumni, better times were soon ahead.
    
King broke out big in 1993 coming within two RBI’s of becoming only the ninth player in major league history to knock in 100 runners without hitting 10 homers as he finished his breakout season with 9 homers and 98 RBI’s, hitting .295.
    
Another Back strain cost Jeff playing time in the strike shortened season of 1994, but he healed enough to get off to a hot start the following season when he was hitting .310 with 6 homers and 34 RBI’s in the first 32 games.  He went on to finish the year with 18 round trippers with 87 RBI’s.  During the year, Jeff became the first Pirate since Jake Stenzel in 1894 to hit two homers in one inning on August 8th.  King would repeat the amazing feat less than a year later on April 30th 1996.  1995 proved to be only a prelude to King’s marquee season of 1996.
    
That year Jeff hit a career high 30 homers, breaking the 100 RBI plateau with 111 while hitting .271.  After a tough beginning, Jeff King had now fought his way up the latter and was becoming a bonafide superstar.
    
Just when he was at the top of the world, financial restraints for the club forced his trade to the Kansas City Royals with Jay Bell for Joe Randa and three Pitchers that included Jeff Wallace.
    
The Marion native continued his hot hitting the next two years, knocking in 112 and 93 runs respectively.  In his first trip back to the ‘Burgh on June 13th, King borrowed a page from Sid Bream and smacked a homer, this time on the first pitch to him.  Fortunately for Pittsburgh, the Bucs won the game 5-3.
    
His third year in Kansas City proved to be his last in the majors as Jeff decide that he just didn’t have the heart to play the game anymore, so he retired at the age of 34 in mid season, rather than take the money the rest of the campaign playing a game he just didn’t want to play anymore.
    
King ended his career the way he had performed on the field, with class every step of the way.  After years of struggling, Jeff finally got the monkey off his back and became a player worthy of a number one selection.