USC Baseball’s Jay Jaffe and His Inspirational Streak
How the former Trojan has ‘Fought On’ to play in every alumni game since 1970
USC baseball alum Jay Jaffe may have graduated in 1969, but 46 years later, he is still suiting up for the Trojans.
Jaffe, a longtime successful criminal defense attorney based in Beverly Hills, has returned to play in the annual USC Baseball Alumni Game every year since 1970. He hasn’t missed a single game since his graduation.
“I just love playing baseball,” the former centerfielder said. “I love being in the batter’s box. That’s home for me.”
Jaffe grew up in Los Angeles and patrolled centerfield for the Trojans from 1965 to 1969. He played under the late legendary coach Rod Dedeaux, and was a starter on the 1968 NCAA Championship team. Upon graduation, Jaffe tried out for the San Diego Padres. He was going to be sent to their single-A farm team, but opted to attend Southwestern Law School instead.
Jaffe says his sheer love of baseball is what draws him back year after year to participate in the alumni game.
“Once a year I get four at-bats, and it’s just priceless for me,” said the left-handed-hitting Jaffe, reflecting on his streak. “I started playing this game when I was five years old, and I haven’t stopped since.”
Despite his numerous other accolades, perhaps the most impressive thing about Jaffe is the fact that he hasn’t stopped playing the game of baseball.
At 68 years old, Jaffe—who grew up in Baldwin Hills and attended Fairfax High School—has battled lymphoma three times. He was also diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2009.
Despite his health issues, however, Jaffe has continued to do what he loves. He still works full-time as an attorney, and every year, he still suits up for his customary four at-bats.
No illness can bring him down from the high he feels in the batter’s box.
“Watching Jay step into the box at 68 years old and battle guys who are throwing over 90 miles per hour is pretty inspiring,” said USC baseball Coach Dan Hubbs. “If there was ever anyone to epitomize the phrase ‘Fight On,’ it’s him.”
But it’s not just the illnesses he’s overcome that epitomize him of USC’s trademark phrase. It’s Jaffe’s positive attitude when dealing with adversity — an attitude that he says he learned from Coach Dedeaux.
“With Dedeaux, baseball was a metaphor for life,” Jaffe explained. “‘That’s just the way I like it’ was his famous saying in terms of adversity.”
The moral of Dedeaux’s saying is that in baseball, things happen that are out of your control. So instead of worrying about what you can’t control, focus on what you can do with the given circumstances.
“Rod would say: ‘No matter the weather, no matter if the crowd is hostile, no matter how you’re feeling, always say to yourself, ‘That’s just the way I like it.’”
Jaffe has done exactly that. He has taken Dedeaux’s motto and applied it to every aspect of his life since graduation.
“Being positive and being an optimist are the two greatest lessons Dedeaux taught me,” Jaffe said. “That way of thinking made me realize these illnesses are not a death sentence; they’re a temporary inconvenience. You go on, you fight, and you overcome it.”
“Jay’s been thrown all these obstacles that he can’t control, and he doesn’t sit there and whine about it,” Hubbs said in admiration. “He just figures out a way to get around them and do what he always does.”
At this year’s Trojan Baseball Alumni Game, Jaffe was the first person to arrive. He showed up to Dedeaux Field an hour and a half before the batting cages opened, just so he could “take it all in.”
But when the cages finally opened, Jaffe opted not to participate. “It takes away from the adrenaline of my first at-bat,” he said.
During the game, Jaffe faced a couple of younger pitchers who were throwing well over 90 miles per hour. In one at-bat, he made contact on a couple of foul balls before drawing an eight-pitch walk.
He returned to the dugout saying, “I feel so alive right now!”
In his final at-bat, Jaffe hit a bullet off a 92-mph fastball that lined straight to the second baseman for an out.
Jaffe didn’t record a hit in the game, but he noted with pride that he wasn’t struck out either. Not bad for a 68-year-old cancer survivor living with Parkinson’s.
Not a single one of Jaffe’s former teammates participate in the alumni game anymore. He estimates that most of the alumni who play are between 25 and 45 years of age. As a result, Jaffe has become quite friendly with current USC players and some younger alumni, who admire his attitude and tenacity.
“When I was playing at USC, Jay was the old guy who would always come back for the alumni game,” Hubbs said. “Now that I’m coaching here, Jay is still the old guy coming back for the alumni game!”
“That’s why his story is so inspiring, he finds a way to be back every year.”
“It’s the story of a guy not quitting. It’s the matter of a guy who says, ‘I can still do this,’ and doesn’t let age or illness get in the way of something he wants to do,” said Jaffe’s good friend, Mark Wapnick—a 1969 USC graduate.
“In my mind, that embodies ‘Fight On.’ Everyone always says it, but Jay actually lives it.”
No amount of chemotherapy can keep Jaffe away from the batters box, and no amount of trembling can keep a bat from his clutch. After all, that’s where he feels most at home.
“I want to be buried in that batter’s box,” Jaffe said, “on the right side where the left-handed hitters stand.”
He said with a laugh: “The plaque can read: ‘Jay Jaffe born August 1947, died 0–4.’”
