Seattle Mariner Jay Buhner (C) is greeted by his teammates after hitting a two-run home-run off of David Cone in seventh inning play of their game in Seattle, WA 02 August. Joey Cora is on (L). Seattle won 6-3. AFP PHOTO/Dan Levine (Photo by DAN LEVINE / AFP) (Photo by DAN LEVINE/AFP via Getty Images)
This New York Yankees trade went so bad that an iconic scene from Seinfeld was made to honor the massive mistake that was made by the Bronx side.
Oh, what in the world were the New York Yankees thinking here? Over the years, the club has made some regrettable decisions when it comes to risky trades. Is there one that haunts fans more than this one?
Back in 1988, the Yankees made the interesting call in trading Jay Buhner to the Seattle Mariners for Ken Phelps. New York was incredibly high on Phelps and didn’t think losing Buhner would turn out to be too much. Well, the opposite was the case.
New York trading away Jay Buhner has haunted the organization
If only there was a time machine to prevent this from happening. For the Yankees, they watched Buhner go on to have an incredible career with the Seattle Mariners. He’s a legend over in the Pacific Northwest thanks to his rocket for an arm and outstanding ways at the dish.
Buhner’s trade even resulted in one of the best Seinfeld scenes being created. People in New York know all too well about Jerry Stiller playing Frank Costanza and ripping George Steinbrenner for trading Buhner. Keep in mind this came moments after Costanza had been informed by Steinbrenner his son had died. Instead of worrying about that, he was more concerned about Buhner. Goodness.
In his 14 years with Seattle, Buhner went on to hit more than 300 homers and record 965 RBI. Again, Buhner will always be remembered in the Emerald City and he’ll never have to pay for a beer or burger in Washington for life. As for Phelps, well, since it’s the holiday season, we’ll go ahead and just keep it simple in saying things didn’t work out.