No game until February 24th, so let’s remember a forgotten Yankee: Steve Balboni

> “I’ll never forget my first spring training, all the great players, Mickey Rivers, Goose Gossage, Graig Nettles, Willie Randolph, Bucky Dent. I learned a lot. The Yankee organization was a winning organization. They stressed winning right from the start.”

Everybody loves a big man, and they didn’t come much bigger than [Steve “Bye Bye” Balboni](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41A2rIVHd7L._SL500_.jpg). The beefy 6’3″ New Englander, was born in Massachusetts on January 16, 1957, and raised in New Hampshire. He graduated from Memorial High School in Manchester, where he also played football and threw shotput for the track team, and grew up a Red Sox fan — though he said he became a “Red Sox hater” after the Yankees drafted him.

He went south after high school to Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. There he was a star at Eckerd — a two-time All-American and the MVP of the 1977 All-Star Game for the collegiate Cape Cod League — the Yankees took “Bones” with the last pick in the 2nd round (\#52 overall) of the 1978 draft. Cal Ripken Jr. went four spots ahead of him to the Baltimore Orioles.

Balboni’s minor league career didn’t get off to a great start. He hit just .205/.292/.250 in 176 at-bats in A-ball in 1978. The following year he repeated the level and hit .252/.346/.452, leading the league with 26 home runs and 91 runs batted in, and was named a Florida State League All-Star. In 1980 he was promoted to Double-A and crushed it, hitting .301/.399/.553 with a league-leading 34 home runs and 122 RBIs, and was named the Yankee Minor League Player of the Year.

That got him promoted to Columbus in 1981, where he hit .247/.337/.532 and for the third straight year led his league in home runs (33) and RBIs (98). He also had a brief cup of coffee in the majors, getting into four games. In his first major league at-bat, he somehow hit a triple… one of only 11 in his career. (He said he hit the ball to the fence in left-center, 430′ from home plate. He believes it would have been a home run in any other park.)

But Balboni had some competition in the system. That same year, Don Mattingly — a 19th round draft pick taken the year after Balboni was taken, but four years younger because he came straight out of high school — had hit .316/.384/.433 in Double-A. Having hit .349/.444/.488 in 1979 and .358/.422/.498 in 1980, Mattingly was coming on quickly. That October’s *Baseball America* had him as the fourth-best prospect in all of baseball… No. 1 was Cal Ripken and No. 3 was Darryl Strawberry. (I can’t find out who No. 2 was, but apparently he didn’t make it!)

Balboni and Mattingly both opened the 1982 season in Triple-A Columbus, with Balboni usually at first base and Mattingly in the outfield. A month into the season, Balboni got the call to the Show and got off to a hot start, going 2-for-4 in his first game. Six days later, he had three hits, including his first major league home run, in a 6-4 win over the Oakland A’s. But even with a number of Yankees on the Disabled List, Balboni’s playing time was sporadic, and on June 1st he was hitting just .214 with that one home run in 28 at-bats. He had a brief second call-up in July, then came up for good when rosters expanded in September. That month he hit just .169/.213/.225 in 71 at-bats, with 22 strikeouts in 20 games. Mattingly, meanwhile, had another great year in Columbus, hitting .315/.378/.437.

The torch was officially passed in 1983. Mattingly killed it in Columbus — .340/.437/.598 in 159 ABs — and in June was called back up to the Show for good. He hit .283/.333/.409 in the bigs that year. Balboni, on the other hand, hit .233/.295/.430 in the majors and .274/.373/.574 in Triple-A. He was stuck with the “Quad-A” player label and the Yankees were ready to move on.

The Yankees had signed 34-year-old designated hitter Don Baylor to a four-year contract prior to the 1983 season, so with Mattingly entrenched at first base there was nowhere to put Balboni, except on the trade block. After the 1983 season, the Yankees dealt him to the Royals along with Roger Erickson for veteran reliever Mike Armstrong and catching prospect Duane Dewey. Armstrong posted a 4.06 ERA in three injury-plagued seasons for the Yankees, while Dewey never made it to the majors. (Erickson, a former Twins starter, never pitched for the Royals.)

It was in Kansas City where Balboni’s career really blossomed. In four and a half seasons, the big man hit .230/.294/.459 with 119 home runs, 318 runs batted in, and 568 strikeouts in 566 games. Low BA, high strikeout sluggers are all the rage now but the 1980s there was something fun about having a big beefy guy with a mustache blasting home runs with the skinny fast-twitch types like Eric Davis and Darryl Strawberry.

The highlight came in 1985, when he hit .243/.307/.477 (with a league-leading 166 Ks) in 600 AB, but his 36 home runs that year set a Royals franchise record that would stand for *32 years* until Mike Moustakas broke it with 38 home runs in 2017. To put that in context, Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record stood for 34 years.

In addition, the Royals won their first World Series that year, Balboni hitting .320 with 3 RBI in 25 AB. That’s one of the world’s greatest tragedies: Balboni has a World Series ring, and Don Mattingly doesn’t.

In 1988, after going 9-for-63 (.143 BA) over the first two months of the season, Balboni was released by the Royals. He signed with the Mariners and hit a respectable .251/.298/.480 in 350 ABs, with 21 home runs and 61 RBIs, splitting time at DH with future Yankee and [Frank Costanza nemesis](https://youtu.be/cUwSxqnRW-8?si=NUcqBs-4HqcmAPcF) Ken Phelps.

In spring training 1989, the Yankees said hello again to Bye Bye, getting him from the Mariners for minor league pitcher Dana Ridenour (who would never make it to the Show). The Yankees wanted Balboni to platoon at DH with… Ken Phelps, who had been acquired the previous season from the Mariners for you-know-who.

Balboni would spend the next two seasons in New York, hitting .216/.294/.435 with 34 HR and 93 RBI in 226 games. Released prior to the start of the 1991 season, he would spend the next three seasons hitting dongs for the Oklahoma City 89ers, the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate, leading the league in home runs in 1992 and 1993. The Rangers called him up when rosters expanded and he got to take one final bow in the bigs, going 3-for-4 with — naturally — a strikeout. His final plate appearance was a bloop single to right off Stan Belinda.

After his playing days were over, Balboni was a scout for the San Francisco Giants when their GM was Brian Sabean — who played with Balboni on the Eckerd College baseball team. Sabean now serves as an executive adviser to Yankee GM Brian Cashman.

**Balboni Bullets:**

* Balboni told [Royals Review](https://www.royalsreview.com/2021/12/7/22807721/a-chat-with-former-royals-slugger-steve-balboni) in 2021 that he got the nickname “Bye Bye” as a sophomore in Eckerd College. It caught on in the bigs because Phil Rizzuto started using it during Yankee broadcasts!

* The 6’3″ Balboni had a listed weight of 225 pounds, but Thomas Boswell in the *Washington Post* said he was 250 pounds in 1982, and — like most of us — he only got bigger as he got older.

* Balboni wore five different numbers in his five seasons with the Yankees: \#36, \#66, and \#28 in his first go-round between 1981 and 1983, and \#50 and \#45 in his second between 1989 and 1990. It would appear \#45 is his favorite, as he also wore it in four seasons with the Royals and in his one season with the Mariners. \#45 is currently worn by Gerrit Cole, but before him it was worn by another Balboni’ish slugger, Luke Voit, as well as Cecil Fielder. Other Yankees who wore \#45 include Chasen Shreve (2015-2018), Carl Pavano (2005-2008), Chili Davis (1998-1999), Danny Tartabull (1992-1995), Dennis Rasmussen (1984-1987), Rudy May (1980-1983), Stan Bahnsen (1966-1971), and Rollie Sheldon (1961-1965).

* As noted above, Cal Ripken Jr. was gone at \#48 before the Yankees picked Balboni at \#52 in 1978, but the Yankees had three chances at him. We took [Previously Forgotten Yankee Rex Hudler](https://np.reddit.com/r/NYYankees/comments/pgi1fv/no_game_today_so_lets_remember_a_guy_maybe_you/) at \#18, outfielder Matt Winters at \#24, and pitcher Brian Ryder at \#26. Winters only had 107 at-bats in the majors, at age 29 with the Royals in 1989; Ryder was traded to the Reds for Ken Griffey Sr. but never made it to the Show.

* Balboni’s trade to the Royals was later protested by George Steinbrenner, who claimed the Royals knew pitcher Mike Armstrong had an injured elbow when they dealt him. The right-handed reliever had thrown 215.1 innings in 110 games over two seasons for the Royals before being dealt, and after being acquired by the Yankees in December came to spring training with a sore arm. He wouldn’t make his Yankee debut until June 16, and in his three seasons with the Yankees would pitch just 77.2 innings. Steinbrenner, after telling [*The New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/29/sports/robertson-sent-to-minors.html) that Royals owner Ewing Kauffman “will make it right,” filed a formal complaint with Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, but no action was ever taken.

* Two years earlier, Steinbrenner had lodged the same complaint when the Yankees traded outfield prospect Willie McGee to the St. Louis Cardinals for pitcher Bob Sykes. The 27-year-old lefty showed up at Yankee spring training with a sore shoulder and never recovered, getting released by New York without ever pitching in pinstripes. McGee, meanwhile, was a Rookie of the Year candidate. Steinbrenner claimed the Cardinals knew that Sykes was “damaged goods” and demanded compensation, and eventually the two teams worked out another trade where the Yankees acquired Stan Javier and [previously forgotten Yankee Bobby Meacham](https://np.reddit.com/r/NYYankees/comments/14jlq31/no_game_today_so_lets_remember_a_forgotten_yankee/) for three low-level prospects who never made it.

* Balboni had one career stolen base. It came with the Royals… against the Yankees! He stole second as part of a double steal (with Frank White stealing third) on [July 23, 1985](https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA198507230.shtml). The Yankee pitcher was Brian Fisher and the catcher was Ron Hassey. The Royals won the game, 5-2.

* As if Mattingly wasn’t enough competition for Balboni, the Yankees had another first baseman in the system coming on strong: 18-year-old Fred McGriff hit .272/.413/.456 in Rookie ball in 1982. In one of the worst deals in Yankee history, we traded him along with Dave Collins and Mike Morgan to the Toronto Blue Jays for 33-year-old reliever Dale Murray and infield prospect Tom Dodd. Murray had a 4.73 ERA in 120 innings across two and a half seasons for the Yankees (-0.7 bWAR); Dodd’s only MLB experience was 13 at-bats for the Orioles in 1986. You know about the Crime Dog, but Morgan also went on to have a pretty good career, earning 26.2 bWAR across 22 seasons. Collins, a veteran outfielder, had a post-trade value of 7.0 bWAR across eight seasons for five different teams.

* Manchester’s Memorial High School, home of the Crusaders, graduated Balboni and three other major leaguers: Mike Flanagan, an 18-year veteran who won the A.L. Cy Young with the Orioles in 1979; Don Florence, a lefty reliever who had 12 innings with the Mets in 1995; and Chris Lambert, who pitched 33 innings with the Tigers and Orioles between 2008 and 2009.

* Balboni was the starting first baseman on the Eckerd College’s 1977 baseball team that went to the Division II World Series. He was an ABCA First Team All-American that year and set the school and conference record for most home runs in a season with 26. He also has the school’s career record in home runs (47), single-season record in RBIs (77), and ranks second in career extra base hits, slugging percentage, and RBIs. In 1978, he was a Third Team All-American and the designated hitter on *The Sporting News* college All-America team.

* Bill Livesey, the coach at Eckerd College while Balboni played there, later became a Yankee scout, then director of scouting. Under his tenure the Yankees developed Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada. Brian Cashman called Livesey “the architect behind the architect.”

* While at Eckerd, Balboni played two seasons in the Cape Cod League and was named MVP in the league’s 1977 All-Star Game, played at Fenway Park, when he hit two home runs over the Green Monster. That season he led the league with 13 home runs and 36 RBIs and was named league MVP, then hit six home runs and had 16 RBIs in the Cape Cod League playoffs.

* He is one of three Eckerd alumni to have played in the majors, and oddly enough all three have played for the Yankees! The other two Tritons are Joe Lefebvre and Jim Mecir. Lefebvre, like Balboni, was a New Hampshire kid who went to Eckerd and was drafted by the Yankees; they were teammates in 1976 and 1977. After hitting .227/.345/.407 (108 OPS+) in 178 PAs for the Yankees in 1980, Lefebvre was traded to the Phillies with outfielder Ruppert Jones and pitchers Tim Lollar and Chris Welsh for centerfielder Jerry Mumphrey and pitcher John Pacella. Mecir was a kid from Long Island taken in the 3rd round of the 1991 draft by the Mariners and traded to the Yankees as part of the deal that brought Tino Martinez and Jeff Nelson to the Yankees prior to the 1996 season. He went 1-5 with 5.47 ERA and 1.500 WHIP in 74.0 innings with the Yankees, then at the end of the 1997 season, he was traded to the Boston Red Sox to complete an earlier trade for Mike Stanley. All three are members of the [Eckerd College Athletics Hall of Fame](https://eckerdtritons.com/sports/2018/1/26/eckerd-athletics-hall-of-fame.aspx), as is Brian Sabean.

* Balboni also is a member of the [Sunshine State Conference Hall of Fame](https://sunshinestateconference.com/hof.aspx), the [Cape Cod League Hall of Fame](https://capecodbaseball.org/news/hofnews/?article_id=220), and the [International League Hall of Fame](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_League_Hall_of_Fame).

* In 2000, ESPN.com columnist Rany Jazayerli came up with [The Curse of the Balboni](http://static.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2000/2000/1025/838203.html), which stated that no team with a player who hits more home runs than Balboni’s 36 in 1985 has ever won a World Series. The Curse held for 19 years, until it was broken by Boston’s Manny Ramirez (43 HRs) and David Ortiz (41 HRs) in 2004. Those damn Red Sox ended every curse that year apparently.

Happy birthday, Bye Bye!