Darrin Jackson

Darrin Jackson has spent more than 40 years in professional baseball, first as a highly respected (and well-traveled) outfielder (1981-99) who overcame cancer and serious illnesses to have a productive career, and then as the longtime analyst for Chicago White Sox television (2000-08) and radio (2009- ) broadcasts. In 2024 Jackson completed his 25th season as a White Sox broadcaster. Only Baseball Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick Award winners Bob Elson, Jack Brickhouse, and Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, along with Jackson’s longtime partner Ed Farmer and Spanish broadcaster Héctor Molina, have spent more seasons broadcasting White Sox games.1

Darrin Jay Jackson was born in Los Angeles on August 22, 1963, to George and Sylvia (Nipper) Jackson. A talented athlete who excelled at both baseball and basketball, George Jackson had been scouted by the New York Giants, who were interested in signing him as a pitcher. Unfortunately for George, he only learned of the Giants’ interest in him after he had enlisted in the Air Force. (He continued to excel at sports while in the service.) Sylvia, an Oklahoma native who had married for the first time at age 16, had four children from her previous two marriages, and two more with George, including Darrin, the baby of the family. The Jacksons separated when Darrin was 2, living on separate coasts: Sylvia in Los Angeles and George in Philadelphia, where he settled after being discharged from the Air Force on a disability. George, who suffered from injuries and alcohol problems and did not work after his discharge, “wasn’t in my life that much,” said Darrin; he and his five siblings (three brothers and two sisters) were primarily raised by Sylvia, who worked as a waitress to support the family.2

When Darrin was 2, Sylvia moved the family from central Los Angeles to the nearby suburb of Culver City. At his mother’s insistence, Darrin began playing Little League baseball, but “I didn’t like it. I stunk. There was just nothing fun about it. Well, after that year of stinking at baseball, I told my mom I didn’t want to play, and she said, ‘It’s too bad. You’re going to go back out and play again next year.’ So I went back out to play, and I got a little better, and (the game) became a little more fun also.” Sylvia, who Jackson said “protected her kids like she was Mama Bear,” collected the baseball from Darrin’s first Little League home run; on it, she wrote, “Keep hitting home runs all the way to the major leagues.” Jackson still has the baseball.3

Jackson played both baseball and basketball at Culver City High; while admitting that he probably had more fun playing basketball, “I could have probably played junior college ball at best and that was it. Baseball was fun and it was also serious. It was business. When you get older, all of a sudden you’re taking it seriously because you’re hoping to play professionally.”4 As a senior, Jackson batted .460, stole 21 bases in 22 attempts, and was named the Most Outstanding Player in the Ocean League. He was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the second round of the June 1981 amateur draft, the 28th overall pick.5

Still only 17, Jackson batted .186 in 62 games for the Cubs’ farm team in the short-season Gulf Coast League in 1981, though with 18 stolen bases. He improved markedly in 1982, batting .276 and stealing 58 bases for Class-A Quad Cities. After moving steadily up the Cubs’ farm system the next few years, Jackson was called to the majors in June of 1985, after Cubs center fielder Bob Dernier went on the disabled list with a foot injury.6 He made his major-league debut on June 17, starting in center field at New York’s Shea Stadium against the Mets’ Ron Darling. He went 0-for-2. The next day, Jackson got his first major-league hit, a seventh-inning single off Mets righty Ed Lynch, a future Jackson teammate who would later become general manager of the Cubs.

Jackson spent only about a week with the 1985 Cubs before returning to the minors. After hitting .267 with 15 home runs for Double-A Pittsfield in 1986 and .274 with 23 homers for Triple-A Iowa in 1987, he came back as a late-season call-up in September of ’87. At that point the 24-year-old outfielder learned that he was dealing with a major medical issue. “I’d just been called to the big leagues in September of 1987 when I found out that I had testicular cancer,” he recalled. “I had to have surgery here in Chicago at Northwestern Hospital, and then I went back to Southern California and had a bigger procedure to follow it up.” During the second surgery, 54 lymph nodes were removed from his chest and stomach. The disease hadn’t spread, but Jackson lost about 25 pounds while recovering. He reported to spring training in a very weakened condition.7 “Don Zimmer, my manager, was awesome,” Jackson recalled. “He knew I was recovering from surgeries and understood that I had a 12-inch scar in the middle of my stomach that probably wasn’t quite healed yet. He was like, ‘Kid, do what you can do. Don’t overdo it.’ The rest was up to me.”8 Jackson came through; when he made the Cubs’ Opening Day roster, he was, according to baseball writer Bob Nightengale, the first player publicly known to have been diagnosed with cancer who was able to return to the major leagues.9

Jackson got into 100 games for the Cubs in 1988, though only 40 of them were as a starter. He batted .266 with six homers in that role, including his first major-league homer on May 21 against Reds lefty Danny Jackson (no relation) at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium. “Danny Jackson was really nasty,” Darrin recalled. “He had great stuff, and he was having a great season [a National League-high 23 wins in 1988]. “I remember he just kept burying these little tight cutters and sliders, down and in, down and in. One of my processes as a hitter is, when you have a really good pitcher that’s doing something to get you out, he’s going to keep doing it. So you better take that away from him and look for that pitch. I stepped in the bucket and crushed it down the left-field line. He stopped throwing me that pitch after that.”10

“D.J.” (as he is popularly known) spent most of the 1989 season in a similar role – part-time outfielder, pinch-hitter, defensive sub. On August 30 the Cubs, who were contending for a playoff berth, traded Jackson, pitcher Calvin Schiraldi, and a player to be named later (Phil Stephenson) to the San Diego Padres for infielder Luis Salazar and outfielder Marvell Wynne. While Jackson missed playing in the postseason – not the first time this would happen to him – he was returning to Southern California, where he’d grown up. With the Padres, Jackson got more of a chance to play regularly – especially in 1991-92, when he hit a total of 38 homers and was a four-plus-win player each year, according to Baseball-Reference WAR. Jackson filed for salary arbitration after the 1992 season; when he won his case and was awarded $2.1 million, the Padres, looking to cut salary, decided to trade him. On March 30, 1993, one week prior to the start of the season, they dealt Jackson to the Toronto Blue Jays for outfielder Derek Bell and minor leaguer Stoney Briggs.11 “We’re losing a first-class person,” said Padres manager Jim Riggleman. “You hate to lose, to me, one of the best players in the league, period,” said Jackson’s Padres teammate and friend Tony Gwynn.”12

Jackson opened the 1993 season as the starting right fielder for the defending World Series champion Blue Jays; however, he was far from healthy. Weakened first by a serious case of the flu and then a bout of food poisoning, he missed the last two weeks of spring training, resulting in a hospital stint as well as considerable weight loss. He felt unfocused, couldn’t concentrate, and couldn’t hit with his usual power. “A month into the season, I’m still weak,” he recalled. “I can’t focus. I don’t feel good. My legs are shaking when I’m in the batter’s box.” He was concerned that his cancer had returned, but testing ruled that out; the Toronto team doctors simply did not know what was wrong with him. “They’re like, this guy’s making excuses,” he said.13 In June, with Jackson batting only .216, the Blue Jays traded him to the New York Mets for shortstop Tony Fernández. When he continued to feel weak and unfocused, more tests were ordered, and finally the cause was discovered: Jackson was suffering from hyperthyroidism, or Graves disease.14 The disease is treatable with medication, and eventually Jackson was able to fully recover. However, 1993 was a lost season: he batted just .209 for the year, including a .195 mark in 31 games with the Mets.

A free agent after the season, Jackson drew considerable interest despite his struggles with the Blue Jays and Mets. Ultimately he signed a one-year, $750,000 contract (plus up to $800,000 for reaching plate-appearance benchmarks) with the White Sox, who had lost power-hitting outfielders Bo Jackson (no relation) and Ellis Burks to free agency over the winter.15 Working with White Sox hitting coach Walt Hriniak, Jackson began using the whole field in 1994 much more than in the past; the result was career highs in batting average (.312) and OPS (.817) for the AL Central-leading White Sox. His previous full-season major-league high in batting average had been .266 for the 1988 Cubs.

Unfortunately, the season ended for Jackson and the White Sox in August, when major-league players went on strike. And despite his overall excellent numbers, Jackson struggled throughout the season with his medical condition. “The trainers and the team doctors were keeping me balanced with my thyroid medications,” he recalled. “It was a constant ‘Go in and then get your blood work done. See that your levels are okay.’ So we kept adjusting my medicine. I can’t focus again. I’m hitting like .351 one minute, down to .310 next minute. Gotta adjust your medicine.’ So it was up and down throughout the year, and then the strike hits.”16

The White Sox hoped to get Jackson to return in 1995,17 but he had a different plan. With the strike still unsettled, he opted to sign a one-year, $3 million contract with the Seibu Lions of Japan’s Pacific League. He was one of several major-league stars – others included Julio Franco, Shane Mack, and Kevin Mitchell – who signed with Japanese teams after the 1994 season.18 “I’m a free agent,” he recalled. “I have nearly seven years in the big leagues now, and I said, ‘I am sick and tired of everything going this way. I’m not doing it anymore.’ I ended up leaving because I was just tired of all the crazy things taking place in my career here.” Jackson wound up playing two seasons in Japan, hitting .289 with 20 home runs in 1995 and .266 with 19 homers in 1996. “I loved it,” he said about the experience. “I’ve always enjoyed traveling abroad, learning new cultures. So that was going to be a new chapter in my life. They treated me like a king over there. I’ve never been treated better.”19

Nonetheless, Jackson opted to return to American baseball after the 1996 season. Several teams expressed interest, including the Pittsburgh Pirates, who were managed by Jackson’s former White Sox skipper, Gene Lamont; the Pirates offered Jackson a major-league contract, with the likelihood that he would be the team’s starting right fielder. But Jackson, who wanted to return to his California roots, instead signed a minor-league contract with the San Francisco Giants for a guaranteed $650,000 (plus incentives) if he made the Opening Day roster.20 According to Jackson, the Giants verbally assured him that he would make their major-league roster no matter what. However, he missed a week of spring training with the flu and got off to a slow start in spring games. That seemed to sour the Giants on Jackson. They attempted to trade him, but when they did not receive an offer they found acceptable, they released him on March 31, the day before the start of the regular season. Jackson, who felt that the Giants had lied to him about making the team, was extremely upset. “They could have released me a week ago, two weeks ago,” he said. “But they kept me until the last minute to serve their purposes, to try and get something for me. They couldn’t, and now I’m in this situation.”21 He later described his experience with the Giants as “my worst chapter in major-league baseball.”22

Released too late to land a major-league job at the start of the ’97 season, Jackson spent some time in extended spring training with the Boston Red Sox, then signed a minor-league deal with the Triple-A Salt Lake Buzz, a Minnesota Twins farm team. The Twins recalled him in mid-May, and Jackson celebrated his return to the majors by getting three hits, including a grand slam, along with six RBIs in his first game.23 After batting .254 with 3 home runs in 49 games with the Twins, he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers on August 30 for a player to be named later (minor-league pitcher Mick Fieldbinder). “I told Minnesota, just trade me,” said Jackson. “You’re not playing me anymore. So get me out of here.”24 Jackson batted .272 in 26 games – 20 of them in the starting lineup – for the Brewers over the remainder of the season, then re-signed with Milwaukee for 1998.

After hitting .240 in 114 games – only 37 as a starter – for the Brewers in ’98, Jackson was ready to retire. The team offered him a position as a minor-league manager or instructor. But at the urging of Chris Singleton, a young outfielder and workout buddy of Jackson’s who had just been traded to the White Sox, he signed a one-year deal with the White Sox.25 Jackson’s .275 average in 75 games for the ’99 White Sox was his major-league best since his .312 mark for the Sox in 1994. His 1999 season highlight came in the season-opening three-game series in Seattle: starting all three games, Jackson went 9-for-13 with two home runs. It was a nice homecoming for D.J., who had developed a good relationship with White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf and general manager Ron Schueler. He was ready to return as a player at age 36 in 2000, but Reinsdorf had a different idea: Tom “Wimpy” Paciorek, the White Sox’ TV analyst since 1988, was leaving, and Reinsdorf offered Jackson a three-year contract to become Hawk Harrelson’s TV partner. Jackson, who admitted that “I didn’t even know that Tom had left,” accepted the challenge.26 He retired from baseball with a .257 career batting average and 80 home runs in 960 games over 12 major-league seasons.

Jackson, who was paired with Harrelson on White Sox television broadcasts from 2000 to 2008, has fond memories of the 2005 championship season. “I don’t look back at that season and think of one particular game,” he said. “What I do think of is a collective group of guys and how unbelievably talented they were. Watching them day in and day out, the consistency from all of those guys was amazing. I kept comparing them to the World Series champion ’93 Blue Jays, who I played for; that Blue Jays team was really good, but when I realized that the White Sox were probably better due to that consistency, I just was blown away. It was fun to watch and talk with Hawk every day about what these guys were doing. It was just something to behold.”27

In 2009 Jackson shifted to radio as the partner of Chicago native and ex-White Sox pitcher Ed Farmer, a fondly remembered and often irreverent pairing that continued until Farmer’s death in April of 2020. “We are best friends,” Jackson said about Farmer in 2019. “I look at us more like brothers. We go at each other all the time, whether it be at work or just in our time away, playing golf, having lunch, whatever. … I think our number-one priority is not only to give you the game and teach it, but also to make it fun. I want to be up here along with Ed and just have a great conversation.”28 Recalling the wide-ranging discussions that he and Farmer often had on the air, Jackson said, “We gave you baseball, but we also gave you a bunch of other stuff. Every now and then, I’d have to hold my phone out and show Ed. ‘Just got a text from Jerry. He said, get back to baseball. Stop talking about that and get back to your jobs.’ So we did.”29 Since Farmer’s death, Jackson has worked with Andy Masur (in 2020), and then with Len Kasper.

Jackson has two children, Adian and Tatum, with his wife, Robin; he also has two (Alexandre and Adrianna) from his previous marriage. “I’m still there [working for the White Sox], Jackson said about his broadcasting career, “but that’s because Jerry Reinsdorf is, you know, a very generous boss. So, 25 years later, I’m still up there.”30

Last revised: March 1, 2025

Sources

In addition to the references cited, the author utilized Retrosheet.com, Baseball-Reference.com, and the 2023 Chicago White Sox Media Guide.

Notes

1 Longest White Sox broadcast tenures compiled from the White Sox chapter in Stuart Shea, Calling the Game: Baseball Broadcasting from 1920 to the Present (Phoenix: Society for American Baseball Research, 2015), 62-80.

2 Author interview with Darrin Jackson, November 18, 2024.

3 “Darrin Jackson reflects on his baseball roots (5/31/19),” Chicago White Sox video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yVk0kO39yQ; accessed November 27, 2024.

4 Jackson interview.

5 Jim Thomas, “Culver’s Jackson Has a Day,” Torrance (California) Daily Breeze, June 9, 1981: 26.

6 Fred Mitchell, “Dernier Set for Surgery; Center-Fielder Called Up,” Chicago Tribune, June 17, 1985: 24.

7 Bob Verdi, “Darrin Jackson Leads Cubs in 1 Category: Courage,” Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1988: 41.

8 Jackson interview.

9 Bob Nightengale, “Jackson to Peers: You Can Beat It,” USA Today Baseball Weekly, March 3-9, 1999: 6.

10 Jackson interview.

11 Buster Olney, “Padres Get Jays’ Bell for Jackson; San Diego Union-Tribune, March 31, 1993: 28.

12 Buster Olney, “Padres React to the Trade,” San Diego Union-Tribune, March 31, 1993: 30.

13 Jackson interview.

14 Tom Friend, “Finally, a Diagnosis; Now, the Road Back,” New York Times, July 27, 1993: B11.

15 Alan Solomon, “Sox Sign Jackson (Darrin, not Bo) for RF,” Chicago Tribune, December 29, 1993: 41.

16 Jackson interview.

17 Joseph A. Reaves, “Sox Ready to Offer Jackson a Deal,” Chicago Tribune, January14, 1995: 49.

18 Merrill Goozner, “Land of the Rising Salary,” Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1995: 214.

19 Jackson interview.

20 Henry Schulman, “Giants Try to Re-Orient Center Field,” San Francisco Examiner, December 21, 1996: 19.

21 Henry Schulman, “Ex-Giant Jackson Takes Release Hard,” San Francisco Examiner, April 1, 1997: 57.

22 Jackson interview.

23 Patrick Reusse, “Stahoviak, Jackson Add Much-Needed Power to Lineup,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, May 17, 1997: 43.

24 Jackson interview.

25 Jackson interview.

26 Ed Sharman, “Jackson’s Best Asset for TV Job: Honesty,” Chicago Tribune, December 3, 1999: 69.

27 Jackson interview.

28 “Darrin Jackson Reflects on His Baseball Roots.”

29 Jackson interview.

30 Jackson interview.