Terry Tiffee

[William Malone]

Terry Ronald Tiffee was born on April 21, 1979 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The Minnesota Twins drafted him in round 26 out of Pratt Community College during the 1999 MLB Draft. He hit consistently well throughout the minors, batting .303 (550-for-1,814) across various levels between 2001 and 2004. This included a .307/.357/.522 slash line at Triple-A in 2004, which earned him a big league opportunity that September.

Tiffee wasted no time making an impact for the Twins. He hit a go-ahead two run double against All-Star closer Francisco Cordero in his Major League debut. The next night, he opened the scoring with an RBI groundout. Minnesota would go onto win that game 2-0. Two days later, the rookie infielder launched a walk-off home run against Dennys Reyes of the Kansas City Royals. This was all part of a 13-2 run by Minneota to open the month of September, which helped them avoid any late season division race drama. Tiffee was 12-for-44 (.273) with two home runs and right RBI for the Twins that month.

Corey Koskie left in free agency that off-season, opening up a hole at third base. Michael Cuddyer won the job in spring training, but Tiffee was still at the big league level as a back-up corner infielder. He often started at third base when the versatile Cuddyer was asked to fill in at a different position. Tiffee went 2-for-4 with a home run and a double in his first start of the 2005 season on April 13th. He drove in two runs during his second start just two days later. Tiffee eventually cooled off, and was demoted to Triple-A in early June with a .194 batting average. The Twins called him back up in late July, but his struggles at the Major League level continued. He hit .207 with 15 RBI across 54 games for the Twins that season.

Minnesota began 2006 with Tiffee in Triple-A. Tiffee was eventually called up in June, batting .244 with two home runs and eight RBI over 20 games with the Twins that year. They released him in the off-season.

He hit .378 with a .978 OPS for the Las Vegas 51s (AAA - Dodgers) in 2008. Major League players were not eligible for the Olympics, so this minor league performance earned him a spot on the United States national team for the Beijing games that summer. Tiffee led Team USA with 12 hits during the Olympics, and six of them went for extra bases. The Americans took home a bronze medal, losing to Cuba in the semifinals before beating Japan in the third place game. Team USA brought Tiffee back for the 2009 Baseball World Cup, where he won gold and was named to the All-Tournament team as the designated hitter.

Tiffee continued to play professionally until 2012, last playing for Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League. As of 2025, he is the head softball coach at Mansfield Legacy High School in Texas.

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