August 19, 1988: Yankees’ Ken Phelps hits walk-off homer in first game against Seattle since Jay Buhner trade

Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller): “What the hell did you trade Jay Buhner for?! He had 30 home runs [sic], over 100 RBIs last year. He’s got a rocket for an arm. You don’t know what the hell you’re doing!!”

George Steinbrenner (Larry David): “Well, Buhner was a good prospect, no question about it. But my baseball people love Ken Phelps’ bat. They kept saying ‘Ken Phelps, Ken Phelps.’”1

On July 21, 1988, the Seattle Mariners shipped 33-year-old slugger Ken Phelps to the New York Yankees for a package of players headlined by 23-year-old prospect Jay Buhner.2 Four weeks later, the Yankees and Mariners met for the first time since the trade in a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium.

During lineup introductions before the opener, Yankees fans—clearly dismayed by the swap—booed Phelps and cheered Buhner.3 When Buhner crushed a tape-measure homer to give the Mariners the lead in the sixth inning, the fans applauded him again. But the much-maligned Phelps keyed a rally with a two-out RBI single in the eighth, and New York tied the game two batters later. In the bottom of the 10th, Phelps slammed a dramatic two-run homer, giving the Yankees a 5-3 victory and silencing his critics.

The 1988 season was tumultuous for both the Yankees and Mariners.

The Yankees were expected to contend for the American League East Division title once again.4 They jumped out to a sizzling 39-21 start under manager Billy Martin, who had been hired by owner George Steinbrenner for the fifth time in October 1987. But the Yankees lost seven of their next eight games to fall out of first place, and Steinbrenner axed Martin on June 23, replacing him with Lou Piniella.5

On July 8, New York sent Buhner, mired in a 1-for-29 slump with 15 strikeouts, to Triple A.6 Neither Martin’s sacking nor the Buhner-for-Phelps trade, 13 days after Buhner’s demotion, made much of a difference, and the Yankees came into their August 19 twin bill against the Mariners in third place with a 65-52 record, 3½ games behind the division-leading Detroit Tigers.

The Mariners had raised expectations in the Pacific Northwest by winning a franchise-best 78 games in 1987 and finishing just seven games behind the eventual World Series champion Minnesota Twins. After a 23-33 start in 1988, the Mariners fired manager Dick Williams and handed the reins to bench coach Jim Snyder. He didn’t fare any better, and with Seattle in last place in late July, general manager Dick Balderson traded away Phelps, his most productive hitter, with an eye to the future.7

Mariners owner George Argyros disagreed with the move and held it up for several days, much to Balderson’s chagrin. The friction between the two men led to Balderson’s firing just six days after the trade was announced.8

The left-handed-hitting Phelps, a Seattle native, was the 12-season-old Mariners’ all-time leader in home runs (105), on-base percentage (.392), and slugging percentage (.521),9 but managers regularly sat him against southpaws.10 Phelps had the misfortune of playing at a time when hitters were largely judged by their batting average, long before the ability to get on base and club extra-base hits was fully appreciated.11 As a result, Phelps made only 1,753 plate appearances in his 5½ seasons in Seattle.

Phelps seemed likely to see even less action in New York, since the only two positions he played were DH and first base and those were occupied by the capable Jack Clark and Don Mattingly. Strangely, Bob E. Quinn Sr.—six weeks into his first GM job at the big-league level—used Buhner to acquire Phelps instead of addressing the Yankees’ starting pitching needs.12

On the morning of August 19, the Mariners were mired in the AL West cellar with a 47-74 record, a whopping 29½ games behind the first-place Oakland Athletics. They sent 24-year-old right-hander Terry Taylor to the mound for his major-league debut.13 Taylor was opposed by veteran lefty John Candelaria, who had signed with the Yankees as a free agent in the offseason. Candelaria had a 13-7 record and a 3.29 ERA.

Taylor was shaky in the first inning, although he escaped a bases-loaded jam—including a two-out walk to fifth-place hitter Phelps—by retiring Mike Pagliarulo on a high fly ball that right fielder Buhner caught on the warning track.14 Taylor quickly settled down and allowed only two Yankees to reach base in the next three innings. Phelps’ third-inning flyout stranded Dave Winfield at second.

Candelaria cruised through the first four innings, allowing only three singles with six strikeouts, two of which were of Buhner.

The teams exchanged runs in the fifth. Seattle scored an unearned run on an RBI single by second baseman Harold Reynolds;15 in the bottom of the inning New York’s Rickey Henderson singled, stole second and third, and scored on Mattingly’s sacrifice fly.16

Seattle DH Darnell Coles reached on a one-out double in the sixth.17 The next batter, Buhner, slammed a Candelaria offering more than 450 feet into the center-field bleachers and according to the New York Daily News, “the crowd cheered the rookie as if he were still wearing pinstripes.”18 He became just the fourth player and the first right-handed batter to reach those seats since the renovation of Yankee Stadium in 1976.19 The mammoth blast gave Seattle a 3-1 lead.

Taylor retired the Yankees in order in the sixth and seventh. He issued a one-out walk to Claudell Washington in the eighth—his fourth free pass of the game—and Snyder called for lefty Bill Wilkinson to face Mattingly. On Wilkinson’s first pitch, Mattingly singled, advancing Washington to third.

Right-handed reliever Mike Jackson got the second out of the inning by striking out Winfield.20 Despite Phelps’ dominance against righties, Jackson remained in the game to pitch to him.21 Phelps came into the game having gone just 8-for-37 (.216) since the trade, and Yankees fans had been getting on him. He lined a single to right field, scoring Washington.

Rookie closer Mike Schooler—Seattle’s fourth pitcher of the inning—surrendered an infield single to Pagliarulo, loading the bases. Schooler’s 0-and-2 breaking ball to Don Slaught was swung on and missed for strike three, but the ball bounced in the dirt and got by rookie catcher Bill McGuire for a wild pitch, scoring Mattingly.22 Schooler ended the inning by getting pinch-hitter Clark to hit a long fly ball that was caught by center fielder Henry Cotto.23 The Mariners and Yankees were tied, 3-3, after eight innings.

Southpaw Dave Righetti replaced Candelaria to start the ninth, and he held the Mariners to an infield single in the next two innings.

With one out in the 10th, Winfield singled off Schooler, bringing Phelps to the plate. He drove a 2-and-2 fastball to deep left field and Mickey Brantley gave chase.24 Brantley leaped and briefly controlled the ball before colliding with the wall; the impact knocked the ball out of his glove and it dropped over the fence for a walk-off, two-run homer.25 It was Phelps’ 18th homer of the season and fourth in 41 at-bats since the trade.26

Yankees fans gave Phelps a standing ovation when he batted for the first time in the second game.27

“It [the game-winning homer] might get that [leather-lunged] fan off my back near the on-deck circle,” Phelps said. “[But] there’s more than one guy on me. He’s the only one I can hear.”28

Phelps made only 127 plate appearances in the 2½ months he was with the Yankees in 1988, hitting just .224. He was productive when given the chance, hitting 10 homers, knocking in 22 runs, and compiling a solid .890 on-base plus slugging percentage.

The Yankees never regained their early-season form and finished in fifth place with an 85-76 record, 3½ games behind the division-winning Boston Red Sox.29

Phelps received even less playing time in 1989. His production dropped off, and on August 30 New York traded him to the Athletics for a minor-league pitcher.30 In 292 at-bats with the Yankees over parts of two seasons, Phelps hit .240 with 17 homers and 51 RBIs.

Buhner, on the other hand, became a star and one of the most popular Mariners in his 14 seasons in Seattle. As of the end of 2025, Buhner ranked third in Mariners franchise history in home runs (307), RBIs (951), and walks (788).31

In 1995 Buhner helped lead the Mariners to the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Seattle had trailed the first-place California Angels by 11½ games on August 24 before going 24-11 the rest of the way to claim its first AL West Division title. Buhner played in all 35 games, hitting .293 with a remarkable 16 homers and 39 RBIs.32 He punctuated his role in the Mariners’ surge by going 11-for-24 (.458) with a homer and three RBIs in Seattle’s thrilling ALDS victory over the Yankees.

Buhner’s performance prompted Larry David, a Yankees fan and co-creator of the hit TV series Seinfeld, to add dialog to an episode of the show mocking Steinbrenner for trading Buhner. The episode originally aired on NBC on January 25, 1996.33 Thirty years later, the enduring popularity of Seinfeld reruns kept the controversial trade in the public consciousness.34

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kurt Blumenau and copy-edited by John Fredland.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, Stathead.com, The Sporting News Baseball Player Contract Cards Collection, the SABR MLB Team Employee Database, and the SABR biographies of Jay Buhner, Lou Piniella, Billy Martin, and George Steinbrenner. Unless otherwise noted, all play-by-play information for this game was taken from the article “Phelps Gets Last Laugh Over Buhner,” in the August 20, 1988, edition of New York Newsday.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA198808191.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1988/B08191NYA1988.htm

Photo credit

Ken Phelps, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Dialog from season 7, episode 12 (“The Caddy”) of the Seinfeld TV show. Buhner hit 40 homers and had 121 RBIs in 1995, the season before the episode was filmed. “Steinbrenner Thinks George Has Died,” Seinfeld TV, https://youtu.be/bMiREYvObFA?si=vMEPPyLHfPKAcwnR&t=162, 5:12, accessed November 25, 2025.

2 The Mariners also received minor-league pitcher Rick Balabon and a player to be named later. In October the Yankees sent Seattle minor-league pitcher Troy Evers to complete the deal.

3 Tom Verducci, “Ex-Yank Looks Right at Home,” New York Newsday, August 20, 1988: 34.

4 Although the Yankees won between 87 and 97 games each season from 1983 to 1987, they had not appeared in the playoffs since 1981. Associated Press, “Red Sox Expected to Make run at Pennant,” Moncton (New Brunswick) Times-Transcript, April 4, 1988: 10; Gannett News Service, “American League East,” Nashville Tennessean, April 4, 1988: F-6.

5 Reasons for Martin’s firing included his mismanagement of New York’s pitching staff and his fight in a topless bar in Arlington, Texas, on May 6. Piniella had managed the Yankees in 1986-87 before becoming the team’s general manager. He quit as GM at the end of May 1988 partly because he did not enjoy being in between Steinbrenner and Martin. Steinbrenner fired Piniella on October 7, 1988. Piniella managed the Cincinnati Reds from 1990 to ’92, the Mariners from 1993 to 2002, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2003-05, and the Chicago Cubs in 2007-10. Tom Verducci, “Mismanagement Puts Martin Out of a Job,” New York Newsday, June 24, 1988: 166; Joe Donnelly, “Quinn’s Lengthy Resume,” New York Newsday, June 9, 1988: 183; Associated Press, “Martin Treated at Hospital After Fight at Topless Bar,” Grand Rapids Press, May 8, 1988: C-5; Associated Press, “Steinbrenner Fires Piniella and Hires Green,” Bridgeport (Connecticut) Post-Telegram, October 8, 1988: 1.

6 Martin chose to open the 1988 season with seven outfielders on his roster, including Buhner. On April 15, Buhner was sent to Triple A after not appearing in any games with New York. He was recalled by the Yankees on May 13, returned to the minors on June 24, recalled on June 30, and demoted again on July 8. His 1-for-29 slump with 15 strikeouts was between June 15 and July 6. In his three stints with the Yankees in 1988, Buhner hit .188 with 3 homers and 13 RBIs in 69 at-bats. Tom Verducci, “Yankees Catch More Flack from Cerone,” New York Newsday, April 5, 1988: 113.

7 At the time of the trade, Phelps was hitting .284 with 14 homers and 32 RBIs in 190 at-bats. His on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) was .982. His adjusted OPS (OPS+) was 170, which meant that his OPS was 70 percent better than league average after adjusting for park effects.

8 Despite spending less than three years as Seattle’s GM, Balderson acquired four key pieces of the division-winning 1995 Mariners during his tenure. Balderson obtained reliever Jeff Nelson from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1986 minor-league draft, Ken Griffey Jr. in the June 1987 draft, Tino Martinez in the June 1988 draft, and Buhner in the July 1988 trade with the Yankees. Associated Press, “Woodward Gets Call to Steer Mariners Back on Course,” Longview (Washington) Daily News, July 28, 1988: D-1.

9 For the on-base and slugging percentage rankings, only players with at least 600 plate appearances with the Mariners were considered. As of the end of 2025, Phelps was second in franchise history in on-base percentage, fourth in slugging percentage, and tied for 15th place in homers with Richie Sexson. Edgar Martínez was the only Seattle Mariner with a higher career on-base percentage (.418).

10 During Phelps’ peak three seasons (1986-88), he had only 116 at-bats against southpaws. He hit 5 homers, knocked in 23 runs, and had an .809 OPS in those at-bats despite batting just .224 against lefties.

11 Not everyone judged Phelps solely by his batting average. Bill James had a chapter in his 1987 Baseball Abstract titled “The Ken Phelps All-Star Team,” in which he listed under-valued players like Phelps. “They are players whose real limitations are exaggerated by baseball insiders, players who get stuck with a label – the label of their limits, the label of the things they can’t do – while those that they can do are overlooked,” wrote James. Bill James, The Bill James Baseball Abstract 1987 (New York: Ballantine Books, 1987), 233.

12 Yankees starters had a 4.55 ERA in 1988, which was third worst in the major leagues. Rick Resnick, “Phelps Dealt to Oakland,” (Passaic) North Jersey Herald & News, August 31, 1989: C-9.

13 Taylor had struggled in the minors with his control. He went 11-9 with a 5.64 ERA and 6.0 walks per nine innings for the Pacific Coast League’s Calgary Cannons in 1988.

14 Jack O’Connell, “Phelps Trades Places; Upstages Jay’s Jolt,” New York Daily News, August 20, 1988: C-20.

15 Mariners shortstop Rey Quiñones had reached on an error by Pagliarulo. Quiñones advanced to second on Henry Cotto’s single and was driven home by Reynolds.

16 The two thefts gave Henderson 70 stolen bases for the season. He finished 1988 with a major-league-leading 93 steals.

17 Coles was acquired by the Mariners in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates hours after the Buhner trade. Seattle gave up right fielder Glenn Wilson in the deal. Coles had also played for the Mariners from 1983 to ’85. Jim Street, “Mariners Trade Wilson, Phelps,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 22, 1988: E-1.

18 Tom Verducci reported that Buhner’s homer traveled 450 feet, while Rick Carpiniello of Gannett News Service estimated the blast at 460 feet. Rick Carpiniello, “Yankees Split a Pair with Mariners,” Norwich (Connecticut) Bulletin, August 20, 1988: D-1; Tom Verducci, “Phelps Gets Last Laugh Over Buhner,” New York Newsday, August 20, 1988: 34; O’Connell, “Phelps Trades Places; Upstages Jay’s Jolt.”

19 The other players to hit a ball into the center-field bleachers since 1976 were Reggie Jackson (1977, 1981), Ken Singleton (1977), and Mike Greenwell (1987). Jackson’s 1977 homer, estimated at 450 feet, was his third of three round-trippers in Game Six of the World Series. Verducci, “Ex-Yank Looks Right at Home.”

20 Snyder was ejected by home-plate umpire Greg Kosc for arguing a check-swing call during Winfield’s at-bat.

21 Phelps had a .987 OPS against righties in 1988.

22 Slaught was safe at first on the play. McGuire had been called up after the Mariners’ backup catcher, Dave Valle, was injured on July 22. He was playing in his fifth career game in the big leagues. Seattle’s regular catcher, Scott Bradley, played in the second game of the doubleheader. Associated Press, “Mariner Moves,” (Port Angeles) Peninsula Daily News, July 31, 1988: B-1.

23 Clark pinch-hit for second baseman Luis Aguayo, who started the game in place of the injured Willie Randolph. Randolph was on the disabled list with a rib injury. Piniella was ejected for arguing balls and strikes during Clark’s at-bat. It was the second ejection of the inning by home-plate umpire Greg Kosc − he tossed only one other person all season. Bill Madden, “Lou-Lou of a Night,” New York Daily News, August 4, 1988: C-26.

24 Mickey’s son, Michael Brantley, went on to become a major-league outfielder from 2009 to 2023. Jim Street, “Moore Fans 16 Yankees as M’s Salvage a Split,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 20, 1988: D-1.

25 O’Connell, “Phelps Trades Places; Upstages Jay’s Jolt”; Moss Klein, “Moore’s 16 Ks Hold Yanks to Split,” Newark Star-Ledger, August 20, 1988: 21.

26 After the first game of the doubleheader, Phelps was hitting .244 with 4 homers and 10 RBIs in 41 at-bats since the trade. His OPS was .905.

27 The Mariners won the second game, 6-1. Buhner went 1-for-3 with an RBI, walk, and strikeout. Phelps went 0-for-3 with a walk and three strikeouts.

28 Verducci, “Phelps Gets Last Laugh Over Buhner.”

29 The Yankees went just 46-55 after their 39-21 start. Seattle finished in last place in the AL West with a 68-93 record, 35½ games behind Oakland. The Red Sox were swept in four games by the Athletics in the ALCS. Oakland lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games.

30 Phelps was traded for minor-league pitcher Scott Holcomb. Oakland mainly used Phelps as a pinch-hitter in September. He made two pinch-hit appearances in the 1989 playoffs, doubling in the ALCS against the Toronto Blue Jays and popping out in the World Series against the San Francisco Giants. Phelps earned a World Series ring when the Athletics swept the Giants in four games. His last season in the big leagues was in 1990. The final round-tripper of Phelps’ career was against the Mariners on April 20, 1990, when he hit a pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to break up Brian Holman’s bid for a perfect game.

31 Ken Griffey Jr. led with 417 home runs, while Edgar Martínez was second with 309 round-trippers. The only Mariners with more RBIs than Buhner were Martínez (1,261) and Griffey Jr. (1,216).

32 Buhner finished fifth in the 1995 AL MVP voting with 120 vote points. Boston’s Mo Vaughn won the award with 308 vote points. The only Mariner with more votes than Buhner was Edgar Martínez, who finished third with 244 vote points.

33 “The Caddy,” IMDB, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697666/, accessed November 25, 2025.

34 “The Rich Eisen Show,” https://www.facebook.com/reel/24067383592903899, July 22, 2025; “Bullpen Banter Baseball,” https://www.tiktok.com/@bullpenbanterbaseball/video/7485926538446179630, March 25, 2025.