Stephen Charles Balboni (/bælˈboʊni/; born January 16, 1957) is an American former Major League Baseball player, who played for 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. He is also known for the "Curse of the Balboni", an idea written about by Rany Jazayerli which said no baseball team with a player hitting more than 36 home runs for that team could win the World Series.[1] Since Balboni was the last player to hit 36 home runs and win a World Series, (1985 Royals), the curse bore his name. The curse ran from 1985 until Luis Gonzalez and the Arizona Diamondbacks won the 2001 World Series.
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.
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 until the Yankees traded him along with Roger Erickson to the Kansas City Royals for Mike Armstrong and Duane Dewey (minor leaguer). He returned to the Yankees for the 1989 and 1990 seasons when the Seattle Mariners traded him to the Yankees for Dana Ridenour (minor leaguer). He was the starting first baseman for the Kansas City Royals from 1984 to mid-1988, when the Seattle Mariners signed him as a free agent. He only played one season in Seattle.
In parts of 11 Major League seasons in which he played in 960 games, Balboni hit 181 home runs and had 495 RBI. He also struck out 856 times. His batting average was .229 (714-for-3120) and his OPS was .743. He homered every 17.2 at-bats and struck out every 3.6 at-bats in the Major Leagues.
In 1985, Balboni led the American League with 166 strikeouts. He also set the single-season home run mark for the Royals with 36.[4] That record stood until Mike Moustakas surpassed it in 2017. However, that year 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 1986). He led American League first basemen with 1686 total chances and 1573 putouts in 1985. He was also the Royals' starting first baseman in the 1985 World Series. Steve batted .320 with 3 RBIs to help the Royals beat the St. Louis Cardinals, four games to three. Balboni contributed a key single in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 6, as the Royals rallied from a 1–0 deficit to win 2–1, and extend the series to seven games. 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 team known as the Royals – The Flor-Mad Royals of Madison, New Jersey.
