Jay Buhner

Jay Campbell Buhner (born August 13, 1964), nicknamed "Bone", is a former Major League Baseball right fielder. He was among the most recognizable players of his day, noted for his shaved head, thick goatee, and patch of pine tar on the right hip of his uniform.

Early career

Buhner attended Clear Creek High School in League City, Texas, where he started his baseball career under the coaching of Jim Mallory. He was then drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second round of the 1984 Major League Baseball Draft and was traded shortly thereafter to the New York Yankees. He made his major league debut on September 11, 1987, appearing in seven games that year. He was traded again the next summer, on July 21, 1988, to the Seattle Mariners along with two career minor leaguers (Rich Balabon and Troy Evers) in exchange for Ken Phelps. This trade is often considered one of the Yankees' worst, and one of the Mariners' best.

The trade was once referenced on the television sitcom Seinfeld, in the 1996 episode "The Caddy," in which the Yankees' owner, George Steinbrenner, appears at the home of George Costanza's parents to inform them – mistakenly – that their son is dead. Frank Costanza's only response is "What the hell did you trade Jay Buhner for?! He had 30 home runs, over 100 RBIs last year! He's got a rocket for an arm.... You don't know what the hell you're doing!" The clip was played at Safeco Field when Buhner was inducted into the Mariners' Hall of Fame in 2004. Ironically, the Yankees won the World Series the same year the episode first aired.