Early Career
Buhner was 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 worst made by the Yankees of that period, and one of the best in Mariners history. The trade was once noted humorously on the television program Seinfeld, in the 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. All Mr. Costanza can say 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.
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