I’m pretty sure that Jeff Juden has been called plenty throughout his eight year Major League career.But given his outward appearance (an imposing 6’8” and close to 270 pounds), I am sure one name was never thrown at the hard throwing righty…“Forrest Gump”.
Juden looks nothing like Tom Hanks’ titular character from the 1994 film, and while the only comparisons I could come up with was one being born during the Richard Nixon administration and other had a fictional meeting with the embattled president…it is still kinda easy to draw some similarities.
On the baseball field that is.
Juden played for eight teams in eight years and along the way, crossed paths with some of the game's best, most colorful and controversial players.
He appeared in a World Series Game Seven and is the only pitcher to share something in common with sluggers Sammy Sosa, Frank Thomas and Hall of Famer Eddie Murray.
Recently I had a chance to catch up with Juden to talk about his storybook past, present and future.