Return of the Jays

After four nights in the woods, I’m back in civilization, or the 3.2 percent version that passes for it in Salt Lake City… anyway, as it’s September 1, Roster Expansion Day, I just wanted to note the return of the best baseball player ever named Jay, the Seattle Mariners’ Jay Buhner. Buhner has been sidelined for the entirety of Seattle’s impressive season with foot problems, but as a man who was around for the franchise’s lean years, he certainly deserves a taste of the glory.

Buhner was acquired from the New York Yankees in 1988 in a trade for the immortal Ken Phelps. Phelps hit 17 home runs for the Yanks over parts of two seasons; Buhner’s second on Seattle’s all-time home run list with 305 and counting. Typical of the Yanks’ decision making during the Dark Ages.

I’ve been doing a little bit of research on ballplayers named Jay. There have been 36 ballplayers with the first name Jay to have played in the bigs, and most of them have done so in my lifetime–an exciting demographic trend to someone who never met another person with the same name until after college. Buhner is the best of the lot, with Jay Bell a respectable second. Jay Witasick continues Jay Tessmer’s tradition of lousy Yankee pitchers bearing my name. Jay Payton, whose strike zone is ranges from Hoboken to Fire Island, is yet another black mark against the name. I’ll have a more extensive report on the Jays of the majors in the near future. I know you’re all dying for it.