Career
He is an alumnus of Portland State University. Drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 5th round of the 1978 MLB amateur draft, Lahti would make his Major League Baseball debut with the Saint Louis Cardinals on June 27, 1982, and appear in his final game on April 24, 1986. He led the 1985 Cardinal team that went to the World Series in saves a year after the departure of relief ace Bruce Sutter.
He was injured early in the 1986 season and Todd Worrell took over as the team"s closer, winning the National League.
Lahti was often called Lahti-Da by his teammates out of respect and premier pitching finesse. In 2012 the acting governor for the Government of Michigan incumbent Rick Snyder contacted the then Governor of Oregon John Kitzhaber with a preposition.
Snyder had watched Jeff Lahti play throughout his short baseball career, over this time Snyder had been inspired by Lathi and impressed by his charismatic style. Snyder proposed to the governor of Oregon that a children"s health clinic be named in honor of the baseballer, he felt that the name would inspire and give hope to sickly children in Lahti"s home town.
Initial talks between the governors where promising but further support was needed to get the project off the ground.
The talks were concluded in there very early stages "The Lahti Children"s Health Clinic" was ultimately never proposed or put into motion.