In the initial years of George Steinbrenner’s ownership of the Yankees, things went pretty well. They won the 1977 and ‘78 World Series titles, they won pennants in 1976 and 1981 and made the postseason on several other occasions. While “The Boss’” general personality always made him likely to be a bit of a wild card, those successes probably cemented in him a belief in how the Yankees would win: acquire the biggest names you can at basically every opportunity, and don’t be afraid to have a quick hooks, especially as far as managers go.
Now, despite the ‘81 pennant, the 1980s as a whole showed that to not always be the most prudent way to run a team. The Yankees had so many managers over the course of the decade, with many of them being Billy Martin, and there was a whole host of trades and player moves that were famously Steinbrenner-led and ended poorly. Thanks to pop culture, there’s one that’s probably more famous than the rest.
Jay Campbell Buhner
Born: August 13, 1964 (Louisville, KY)
Yankees Tenure: 1987-88
Born in 1964 in Louisville, Kentucky, Buhner moved to Texas with his family as a teenager. He came from a fairly sporting family, with Jay’s younger brother Shawn also spending six seasons in the Mariners’ organization. After high school, he attended McLennan Community College, where he began to catch scouts eyes. The Braves took Buhner in the ninth round of the 1983 MLB Draft, but he elected not to sign. A couple months later in the January draft — there were two different drafts held at the time — the Pirates selected him in the second round, and this time, Buhner put his name on the dotted line.
Buhner hit very well for Pittsburgh’s Low-A minor league affiliate in 1984, but after the season he was on the move. That December, the Yankees and Pirates made a five-player trade, the headline of which was Dale Berra coming over to New York, joining his father, Yogi, who had taken over as manager ahead of the ‘84 campaign.
Now in the Yankees’ organization, Buhner hit the ground running in a hurry. He put up an OPS of .861 with the Single-A Fort Lauderdale Yankees in 1985, cracking 39 extra-base hits and earning a spot on the Florida State League All-Star team. A broken arm in spring training limited him to just 36 games at the same level the following year, but another good year there saw him promoted all the way up to Triple-A for 1987. With Triple-A Columbus in 1987, Buhner broke out in a big way, leading the International League with 31 home runs. That got him a brief taste of the big leagues as a September call-up, and led to this excerpt from the 1988 Yankees Yearbook (emphasis ours):
In the Bronx, Buhner impressed Yankees followers with his strong arm, good range and quick, powerful swing. Buhner may have a tough time becoming a Yankee regular in 1988, but he is sure to be a prominent fixture in the near future.
Although Buhner would indeed mostly return to the minors for 1988, continued success there helped him get a couple more looks on the big league level in ‘88. In the limited action, he showed some of what was to come. While his numbers on the whole with the Yankees in 1988 aren’t incredible, he had a couple performances like his June 11th game against the Orioles, where he drove home five runs — including a grand slam — in an 8-6 win.
However as the calendar headed towards the trade deadline, the Yankees found themselves in the thick of the AL East race. As he always was, Steinbrenner was antsy for success, especially having not made the playoffs since 1981. Sitting at just one game back through July 19th, two days later, the Yankees made a deal for Mariners slugger Ken Phelps, with Buhner among those the Bombers sent to Seattle.
Quite famously, Buhner became a star for the Mariners. He pretty quickly came around on MLB pitching after getting regular playing time post-trade, putting up a 114 OPS+ with Seattle after the deal. Over the next 13 years, Buhner became a very good middle-order bat for the M’s, hitting over 300 home runs, becoming an All-Star, finishing fifth in AL MVP voting in 1995, winning a Gold Glove in ‘96, and putting up a career 125 OPS+ as a Mariner.
With the emergence of Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, and more, the Mariners went through their golden age in the 1990s, and Buhner was right in the middle of that. Right in the heart of that run was a .458/.500/1.125 performance against the Yankees in the 1995 ALDS. He also had a big hit in the eighth inning in Game 5, as the Mariners rallied to tie the game before eventually winning it in the 11th inning. Buhner and Griffey were also the only Seattle hitters to really show up during their ALCS loss to mighty Cleveland.
Injuries eventually began to get to him in the late ‘90s, leading Buhner to retire after 2001, by which time Ichiro had broken onto the scene and taken his old spot in right. Fittingly, Buhner’s final career homer was an ALCS shot against the Yanks—again reaching the black seats, though New York won that playoff series. The Mariners inducted him into the team’s Hall of Fame in 2004, and while they’ve never officially retired it, no other M’s player has ever worn Buhner’s No. 19 since.
The Yankees had their fair share of success in Buhner’s prime, so it’s not as if the trade kept them from a player that might’ve put them over the top; the biggest issue with it was the return. Despite a low batting average, Phelps was a solid enough hitter for the Yankees (120 OPS+), but he just never really had a positional fit in the Bronx. He was mostly a 1B/DH-type, but at the time of the 1988 trade, the Yankees had both Don Mattingly and Jack Clark filling those roles perfectly well. After just 342 plate appearances, the Yankees ended up trading Phelps to the Oakland Athletics a little more than a year after dealing Buhner for him. Maybe most consequentially, the trade was immortalized in an episode of “Seinfeld:”
There are other Steinbrenner Special(TM) trades from that era that probably had worse consequences, but none of them have the notoriety level of the Jay Buhner one.