'Buhner Buzz Night' packs park for Bears

Four impromptu barber chairs were set up in Yakima County Stadium late Monday afternoon as some young, old and middle-aged baseball fans had their heads shaved in a promotion touting the visit of former Seattle Mariners right fielder Jay Buhner.

"A lot of these people are die-hard Mariners fans, and it's all about giving back to the community," Buhner said. "I think part of a former player's responsibility is to keep doing things like this, at least a couple of times a year."

The largest crowd of the Yakima Bears' home season turned out to shake hands, get an autograph or rub bald heads with the former All-Star affectionately known to his fans as "Bone" -- and to watch a Northwest League game between the Yakima Bears and Eugene Emeralds.

Buhner spent 14 of his 15 Major League seasons with the Mariners, starting in 1988, when he was acquired from the New York Yankees in a trade for Ken Phelps. The swap worked out so well for the Mariners that it became a topic during an episode of television's "Seinfeld" in the mid-1990s.

Buhner retired after the Mariners' 116-win season in 2001. Along the way, he played in 1,440 regular season games, collected 1,255 hits in 4,922 at-bats, slugged 307 home runs, had 557 extra-base hits, drove in 951 runs, walked 788 times and struck out 1,375 times, finishing in the top five of virtually every offensive category for the franchise.

During a six-year stretch from 1991-97, Buhner hit 224 home runs and drove in 690 runs, including a career-high 138 in 1996.

Almost two hours before Monday night's game in the Class A Short-Season Northwest League, fans arrived to get a glimpse of Buhner -- and they didn't go away disappointed.

Neither did the home team players.

After signing two boxes of baseballs in the Bears business office, and taking the clippers to a middle-aged gentleman, Buhner accompanied his 11-year-old son, Chase, and General Manager K.L. Wombacher into the home clubhouse and introduced himself to the Bears.

He wished them good luck and then went into the cramped manager/coaches room.

"These guys are not affiliated with the Mariners, so I don't know anyone," he said, "but it's still giving back to the community and the state of Washington. It's good to do something to help out."

His help was appreciated.

Monday night's sellout was the second of the season, and just the third in franchise history. The first sellout was last season when Edgar Martinez, another Mariners' legend, visited for a night.

"Bringing a Mariners legend to Yakima is huge," Wombacher said. "It's a smaller community, and doing something like this gets people excited. That's what we need to do as a franchise, give people a reason to have pride.

"I had heard great things about Jay, how great he is with the fans. He loves the game of baseball and gets it. He knows he has to give back. As he told some people today, they paid his salary and built his house."

Yakima is located about 120 miles southeast of Seattle, and the Bears are the short-season affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. But, judging from the various t-shirts and baseball caps being worn, this also is Mariners country.

And Buhner has been a statewide favorite for more than 15 years.

Even Wombacher considers himself a huge Buhner fan -- and a former Buhner Buzz participant.

"I grew up in Tacoma and knew how important he was to the Mariners, and how popular he was with the fans," he said. "When I was 18, a few of my friends decided to go to a Mariners game on Buhner Buzz night and we stood in line."

It was the first -- and only -- time Wombacher submitted to a buzz.

It was his idea to invite Buhner to Yakima and have another Buhner Buzz night. Heads in the Northwest have been basically full of hair since August 2004, when Buhner was inducted into the franchise's Hall of Fame following a 14-year Major League career and a ceremonial Buhner Buzz Night was held.

"We brought Edgar here last year, and it was the biggest promotion we ever did," Wombacher said. "We felt so good about it that we wanted to do something for an encore, and Jay was right there with Edgar as one of the most popular players in Mariners history.

"It was a natural, and this will be our biggest crowd of the season."

After throwing the ceremonial first pitch -- a surprisingly fast fastball -- Buhner promised the crowd that he would sign autographs to everyone who wanted one. He wrote his name almost 3,000 times.

For free.

"I've never charged for an autograph in my life," he said. "I never liked that sort of stuff."

Buhner was asked about his Minor League career, which started on May 28, 1984, two days after he signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who selected him in the second round of the secondary phase of the January draft.

"I remember the first couple of days being hectic," he said. "I was assigned to Watertown, N.Y., and we had a couple of days to find a place to live. I was 19 years old and away from home (Texas) for the first time.

"It was pretty interesting and I ended up sharing a place with five other guys."

Buhner had a good season, leading the New York-Penn League in home runs, RBIs and outfield assists. He returned home in August and his career with the Pirates ended on Dec. 20 -- the day he was traded to the Yankees, along with Dale Berra and Alfonso Polido, for Steve Kemp, Tim Foli and cash.

"I got into the Yankees system and won at every level," he said. "That's where the winning attitude started."

He said the low-minor ballparks were decent, but didn't have scoreboards like the one at Yakima, which showed highlights of Buhner's career with the Mariners between innings.

As he looked back at his own beginning, he thought about his own Minor League experience.

"The bus rides weren't bad, and I remember staying in some shady hotels and eating at places semi-close to the ballpark," he said. "We were getting paid peanuts, but I got a signing bonus, so was able help out other guys who were having trouble making ends meet."

And he's still helping out.

Just making it to Yakima was a challenge. Buhner was in Southern California on Sunday for his oldest son, Gunner's, Pony League game. He flew back to Seattle Sunday night, finally getting to sleep around 3 a.m. and was up early Monday morning for the trip to Yakima.

"His agent called about two weeks ago and asked if we could postpone this," Wombacher said, "but we had already sold about 2,500 tickets and couldn't change it. Jay is a man of his word, and here he is."

And still as bald-headed as ever.