Steve Balboni

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Stephen Charles "Steve" Balboni (pronounced /bælˈboʊ̪ni/; born January 16, 1957) is a retired Major League Baseball player with the New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Kansas City Royals, and Texas Rangers. He was a player with home run power and a tendency to strike out. He was nicknamed "Bye Bye" because of his home run hitting prowess. He was also known by the nickname "Bones", which is a malapropism for Balboni.

[edit] College career

Born in Brockton, Massachusetts, he attended Manchester Memorial High School in Manchester, New Hampshire and Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. He was drafted by the New York Yankees in the fourth round of the free agent draft in 1978. They noted that his tremendous power helped them make the decision to draft him. He was named designated hitter on The Sporting News college All-America team in 1978.

[edit] Minor league career

Balboni played in the minors off and on from 1978 to 1993. In a total of nine seasons in the minors, he hit 239 home runs and drove in 772 runs. He also struck out 930 times. His career minor league batting average was .261. He won the Most Valuable Player award in 1979 with the Fort Lauderdale Yankees of the Florida State League and in 1980 for the Nashville Sounds of the Southern League.

Balboni led the league in home runs six different seasons, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1992 and 1993. He led the league in Runs Batted In in 4 seasons, 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1992. He led the league in strikeouts in 2 seasons, 1979 and 1981. He homered every 14.6 at bats and struck out every 3.8 at bats in the Minors.

[edit] Major league career

Balboni made it to the New York Yankees in 1981. He went on to play in the big leagues through 1990 with a short comeback in 1993. He played for the Yankees from 1981 to 1983 and then in 1989 and 1990. He was the starting first baseman for the Kansas City Royals from 1984 to mid-1988, when they traded him to the Seattle Mariners. He only played in Seattle until the end of that season.

In parts of 11 Major League seasons, Steve hit 181 home runs and had 495 RBI. He also struck out 856 times. His batting average was .229. In 1985, he led the American League with 166 strikeouts. He also set the single season home run mark for the Royals with 36.^[1] That record still stands today. He homered every 17.2 at bats and struck out every 3.6 at bats in the Major Leagues.

The year 1985 turned out to be his best season for many reasons. He had career highs in games played (160), at bats (600), hits (146), runs (74), doubles (28), triples (2), homers (36) and runs batted in (88-tied in 1989). He led American League first basemen with 1686 total chances and 1573 putouts in 1985. He also was the starting first baseman in the 1985 World Series. Steve batted .320 with 3 RBIs in that Series that the Royals won over the St. Louis Cardinals, four games to three. He also demonstrated good glove work in the field, something he was not known for during his career. After retiring, he moved on to another Royals- The Flor-Mad Royals of Madison, New Jersey.

[edit] See also

• Top 500 home run hitters of all time

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• The Curse of the Balboni

[edit] Notes