A career reliever, the German-born Lefferts was a set-up man for six years before emerging as the Giants closer in the first half of 1989. After Steve Bedrosian was acquired, the two shared the role. Lefferts pitched 10 shutout innings in the 1984 postseason for the Padres, winning the final two games of the LCS and saving San Diego’s lone victory in the WS, and in 1986 led the ML with 83 appearances (breaking Rollie Fingers‘s Padres record). He was traded to San Francisco in the seven-player, July 4, 1987 deal that also involved Kevin Mitchell and Mark Davis.
