"Quick! Name the only four 1990 Yankees who were with the club in 1986. That would be Don Mattingly, Dave Winfield, Dave Righetti... and Wayne Tolleson, of course. The diminutive switch-hitter is one of the veteran Pinstripers in terms of service. What makes Tolleson so valuable is his hustle and versatility. He can play three infield positions, pinch-run, pinch-hit, steal a base, lay down a key bunt or score from first on a double. Used in the right circumstances, Tolly's all-around skills will help deepen the Yankee bench."
-The New York Yankees Official 1990 Yearbook
"Tolleson started the 1989 season on the 15-day disabled list. He was placed there on March 29 with a pulled right hamstring and remained there until his activation on April 16. He appeared in eight games in April and his single on April 18 at Toronto was his only hit during the month (1-for-14). Tolleson made three starts and was 0-for-3 as a pinch hitter.
He appeared in 16 games in May, including five starts, and had his first multi-hit game on May 4 at Texas, going 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Wayne hit in three straight games from May 15-20 (3-for-13).
In June he again made five starts and appeared in 12 games overall. In his starts, Wayne hit .278 (5-for-18) and had a multi-hit game, June 11 at Boston (first game), going 2-for-3, then hit in three straight from June 15-18 (3-for-8). He appeared in 13 games in July, going 1-for-14, with three starts, all at shortstop. His one hit was timely; on July 30 against the Blue Jays, Wayne broke a 0-for-24 slump as his ninth-inning single drove in Randy Velarde to give the Yanks a 7-6 win.
In August, Wayne made 15 starts, including 10 straight from August 13-22 at third base, and in that span hit .200 (6-for-30). Overall he appeared in 20 games during August and hit .189 (10-for-53). Wayne appeared in 11 games in September and was 2-for-4 with no starts.
Overall, he made 30 starts and hit .211 in that capacity. The breakdown on his starts: second base (1), shortstop (11), third base (18).
He signed a two-year contract in December 1988. The contract runs through the 1990 season.
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. Wayne spent four separate stints on the disabled list in 1988 and played only 21 games all season.
He was placed on the 15-day disabled list on April 4 to open the 1988 season, assigned to Columbus on 20-day rehabilitation on April 16, transferred to the 21-day DL on May 7 and was again assigned to Columbus for 20-day rehabilitation from May 19-29. In six games with the Clippers, Wayne batted .185 (5-for-27) with four runs and an RBI with a stolen base and an error.
Wayne was activated from the 21-day DL on June 10 and made his 1988 debut that day against Baltimore in Yankee Stadium, going 1-for-5 in a start at second base. His double on June 12 against Baltimore was his first extra-base hit since May 27, 1987, going 79 games and 215 at-bats between extra-base hits. He was forced to leave the game on June 19 at Cleveland with a strained left hamstring and was placed on the 15-day DL on June 20.
Up to that point Tolleson had played in eight games, batting .313 (10-for-32) with three runs scored, two doubles and three RBIs while hitting safely in six of those eight games (including four multi-hit games). He was transferred to the 21-day DL on July 1 and was activated on July 14. Tolleson played in one game, July 16 against Chicago, going 0-for-3 with a run scored before straining his left hamstring again, and was placed back on the 15-day DL the following day.
He was transferred to the 21-day DL on July 25 and was activated on August 11. He played three games from August 11-13, going 0-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, before leaving the August 13 game at Minnesota after again straining his left hamstring and was placed back on the 15-day DL for the fourth time on August 14.
Wayne was activated from the disabled list for a fourth and final time on September 11. He played in nine games following that activation, going 5-for-20 (.250) with three runs and an RBI. Wayne started the last six games of the season (four at second base and two at third). In his final game, October 2 at Detroit, he went 3-for-4 with a run scored, Wayne's first three-hit game since July 1, 1987.
He stole his only base of the year on September 27 at Baltimore. He finished the season with a .254 average (15-for-59) with eight runs scored, two doubles and five RBIs.
Tolleson got off to a fast start in 1987, hitting .361 on April 26 after his first 18 games, and as late as May 8 was hitting .300 after his 27th game. He was still hitting as high as .270 on May 27 after 44 games. Wayne slumped after that, hitting just .184 in 77 games for the rest of the season, and finished with a .221 batting average for the year.
He 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 had 15 multi-hit games and had four game-winning RBIs in '87.
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 in his final 27 at-bats (.037), beginning with his last at-bat on August 5. His last plate appearance came on September 11 at Toronto.
Batting right-handed, Tolleson 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.
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 (catcher Bill Lindsey).
In 81 games with the Sox before the trade, he was hitting .250 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 streak, 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 lefty and .282 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. 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.
Wayne finished with a .284 average as a Yankee in 60 games. In those games he hit .283 (36-for-127) lefty and .284 (25-for-88) righty. 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 lefty and .283 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 was selected by the Texas Rangers in the 8th round of the June 1978 free agent draft and hit .269 at Asheville in his first season of pro ball. In 1979 he 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 a nine-game hitting streak. 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 American League (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 AL 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."
-1990 New York Yankees Information Guide
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