1988 Profile: Wayne Tolleson

"At 5-9 and 160 pounds, Wayne Tolleson is a little guy with big aspirations.
Tolleson came to the Yankees in July 1986, a hopeful solution to their shortstop problems. He got off to a fast start in Pinstripes that year, and began the 1987 campaign as the team's starting shortstop. But the troubles that have seemingly haunted the Yankees in that position for the past [half] decade continued. Hitting as high as .270 in late May and playing stellar defense, Tolleson looked to be the cure at shortstop until suffering an injury to his right shoulder. He struggled through the second half of the season, including a 15-day stint on the DL, and underwent arthroscopic surgery on the shoulder last December.
Tolleson has now recovered and is looking forward to this season. In the past he has played shortstop, second and third for the Yankees, and the little guy is again looking to help the club in a big way in 1988."

-The New York Yankees Official 1988 Yearbook

"Tolleson got off to a fast start in 1987, hitting .361 (22-for-61) on April 26 after his first 18 games, and as late as May 8 was hitting .300 (27-for-90) after his 27th game. He was still hitting as high as .270 (40-for-148) on May 27 after 44 games. Wayne slumped after that, hitting just .184 (37-for-201) in 77 games for the rest of the season, and finished with a .221 batting average (77-for-349) for the year.
He hit safely in seven of his first eight games of the season, going 13-for-29 (.448) with two doubles and nine runs scored, and hit three doubles in a five-game span from April 12-15, accounting for three of the four doubles he hit all season. Wayne hit his only home run (a solo shot) off Mike Morgan at Seattle on May 15 and had a six-game hitting streak from May 20-27, batting .364 (8-for-22) during that span with an RBI in each of the last five games of that streak.
He had just five extra base hits all season (the homer and four doubles), with the last extra base hit coming on May 27 followed by 204 at-bats without an extra base hit. He had three RBIs on June 26 against Boston, matching his single-game career high; he did not, however, have an RBI after July 20, covering 53 at-bats in his final 30 games (20 games with a plate appearance). Wayne scored three runs on June 29 at Toronto and was ejected from a game on June 30 at Toronto.
Wayne had 15 multi-hit games, including three three-hit games in '87: April 8 at Detroit, June 27 against Boston and July 1 at Toronto. He had four game-winning RBIs in '87: May 15 at Seattle (his homer off Morgan), May 23 at California, June 26 against Boston and July 1 at Toronto.
He was suffering from a sore right shoulder during the second half of the season and was placed on the 15-day disabled list on August 20 (retroactive to August 19) because of that injury; at that point he was hitting .224 in 112 games. Wayne was activated from the DL on September 4 and went 1-for-10 in the nine games he played after his activation. He had only one hit (September 7 at Boston) in his final 27 at-bats (.037), beginning with his last at-bat on August 5, and his last plate appearance came on September 11 at Toronto.
Tolleson was consistent from both sides of the plate: batting right-handed he hit .218 (24-for-110) with five RBIs, while batting left-handed he hit .222 (53-for-239) with 17 RBIs. He was successful in five out of eight stolen base attempts.
He played 119 games at shortstop and had a fielding percentage of .970, committing only 15 errors in 498 chances, and was eighth in fielding among American League shortstops playing 100 or more games. Tolleson went 21 games, June 8-30, without committing an error. He made three appearances at third base, including one start on July 1 at Toronto.
Tolleson underwent arthroscopic surgery on December 9 to repair frayed rotator cuff muscles in his right shoulder. The surgery was performed by Dr. James Andrews of the Alabama Sports Medicine Clinic in Birmingham.
In 1986 Tolleson was acquired by the Yankees from the White Sox on July 29 along with Ron Kittle and Joel Skinner in exchange for Ron Hassey, Carlos Martinez and a player to be named later.
In 81 games with the Sox before the trade, he was hitting .250 (65-for-260) with three home runs and 29 RBIs. After going hitless in his first game of the year, he put together a 10-game hitting streak from April 9-19, including two hits apiece in each of the last five games of that steak, batting .395 (15-for-38) in that span with nine RBIs. Tolleson matched his single game career high with three RBIs on April 14 at Detroit. He hit his first home run of the season on April 29 against Baltimore off Scott McGregor, and victimized McGregor again on May 12 at Baltimore for his second homer. He put together another 10-game hitting streak from May 7-17, batting .385 (15-for-39), and hit his third and final homer of the season on June 1 at Toronto off Jimmy Key.
Wayne slumped in June, hitting only .172 (10-for-58) in the month. He hit .224 (32-for-143) lefty and .282 (33-for-117) righty with Chicago. He started 70 games with the White Sox, 60 at third base and 10 at shortstop.
He hit safely in his first nine games as a Yankee, from July 30-August 7, batting .485 (16-for-33) in that span. Wayne tied his single game career high with four hits (4-for-5) on August 2 at Cleveland and scored three runs the following game, August 3 at Cleveland, notching his first and only game winning RBI as a Yankee in '86. Through August 23, after 22 games as a Yankee, he was hitting .338 (27-for-80). Over his next 17 games, from August 24 through September 11, he hit just .143 (8-for-56), dropping his average to .257, his low as a Yankee.
From that point, beginning on September 12, he hit safely in 16 of his final 21 games, batting .329 (26-for-79) in that span with eight runs, four doubles and eight RBIs to finish with a .284 (61-for-215) average as a Yankee in 60 games. In those games he hit .283 (36-for-127) lefty and .284 (25-for-88) righty.
Wayne tied his single-game career high with four hits (4-for-4) on September 13 at Boston, and in the following game, September 14 at Boston, he collected three RBIs. He had 19 multiple hit games, including his two four-hit contests.
Overall in his combined total of 141 games, he hit .265 (126-for-475) with three homers and 43 RBIs. He batted .252 (68-for-270) lefty and .283 (58-for-205) righty. With the Yankees he stole four bases in eight attempts, and for the year was 17-for-27 in stolen base attempts. After joining the Yankees, he played in all but one of the club's remaining 61 games and started 59 times, including 53 starts at shortstop, five at third base and one at second base.
Wayne committed eight errors in 81 games with the White Sox and six errors in 60 games with the Yankees. He went 17 straight games, from August 5 through August 24, without an error and committed just two errors in 35 games from August 5 through September 13. For the season Wayne's overall fielding percentage was .971; with the White Sox it was .960 and with the Yankees it was .979.
In 72 games at third base for Chicago and New York, his fielding percentage was .954. In 74 games at shortstop with those two clubs, his fielding percentage was .981, ranking him fourth among American League shortstops with 10 or more games. Tolleson was the sixth Yankee to start a game at shortstop in 1986.
Tolleson hit .269 at Asheville in his first season of pro ball in 1978, and in 1979 batted .234 for Tulsa in his first year in the AA Texas League. In 1980 he was second in the Texas League with 46 steals (his pro career high) and was named to the league's all-star team. Wayne became a switch-hitter that year.
He hit .261 in 107 games at Wichita in 1981 and made his major league debut in September. Wayne had a fine spring training in 1982 and opened the season with the Rangers. He played sparingly and was optioned to Denver on April 26, then was recalled by Texas on July 23 and went 0-for-23 in his first 12 games.
Wayne started the 1983 season as a utility infielder but became the starting second baseman in late April when a knee injury sidelined Mike Richardt. He was hitting .288 through July 24 but batted just .211 in his last 53 games. He had hitting streaks of 15 and 12 games. Wayne recorded his first major league triple and his first major league home run in the same game - June 11 at Minnesota. He was second on the club with 33 steals and was successful on all eight of his third base steal attempts.
He started the 1984 season well, hitting .297 (22-for-74) in his first 21 games through April 28, but batted just .189 over his final 97 games and slipped to .132 in his last 30 contests, beginning on July 22. Wayne led the Rangers with 22 steals and had two thefts in a game four times. He was successful on 84.6 of his 26 steal attempts, the second best ratio in the AL (20 or more attempts) behind Willie Wilson's 90.3 percent. He also had a .979 fielding percentage (10 errors in 477 total chances) in 109 games at second base.
In his final season with the Rangers in 1985, Wayne topped all Texas regulars with his .313 batting average, the first .300-plus season of his professional career. After hitting .213 in 1984, his 100-point batting average improvement was the most in the major leagues. He finished fifth in the American League among all hitters with 200 or more official trips to the plate.
Wayne hit .333 from the left side in 231 at-bats. He hit .354 at Arlington Stadium and .262 on the road. His best month was April (.385) and his worst month was September/October (.250). Wayne had a 10-game hitting streak, August 30 through September 10, and also had a nine-game streak in late May and early June.
Six of his 18 RBIs were game winners. He tied the Texas club record with two triples in one game, August 11 against Baltimore.
Tolleson appeared in 123 games, 81 at shortstop, 29 at second base and 12 at third base. He was obtained by the White Sox along with Dave Schmidt from the Texas Rangers in November 1985 in exchange for Scott Fletcher, Edwin Correa and Jose Mota.
Born, raised and still residing in Spartanburg, South Carolina, he starred in basketball and football at Spartanburg High and was a prep teammate of NFL quarterback Steve Fuller. Tolleson played baseball and football for four seasons at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. He was named All-America as a wide receiver and led the NCAA in pass receptions as a senior, graduating from Western Carolina in 1978."

-1988 New York Yankees Information Guide