1992 Profile: Danny Tartabull

"Free agent KC outfielder Tartabull became a Yankee in January with a five-year $ 25.5 million contract after a remarkable offensive season. His .593 slugging percentage led the majors, his 31 homers almost doubled the total of the runnerup on the Royals, Kirk Gibson (16), and his 100 RBIs were 36 more than runner-up Brian McRae's total. Tartabull also led the club in hitting (.316) and on-base percentage (.397) and made his first appearance in the All-Star Game.
He was acquired by the Royals from the Mariners for pitchers Scott Bankhead and Steve Shields and outfielder Mike Kingery prior to the 1987 season. The son of former major league outfielder Jose Tartabull, Danny was born in Miami. He was a third-round pick of the Reds in the 1980 free agent draft."

-Tony DeMarco and Tom Pedulla, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1992 Edition

"There are few players in the majors today who wield as powerful a stick as Danny Tartabull. One man does not make a team, but the former Kansas City Royal will undoubtedly help improve this one.
It was no surprise the 29-year-old right fielder was named the Royals' MVP last season after hitting .316 and collecting 31 HRs and 100 RBI, all team-highs.
While most fans think of Tartabull as a major offensive force, the Yankee free agent is most proud of his improvement on the defensive end.
'I've worked very, very hard to improve myself in the outfield,' Tartabull relates. 'I've made great strides in my defensive game. I think I take more pride in that than in my offensive game.'
Yankee fans can now take great pride in calling Tartabull one of their own."

-The New York Yankees Official 1992 Yearbook

"Tartabull was the top offensive player for the Royals in 1991, leading the club in almost every category. He led the team in batting average (.316, 10th in the American League), home runs (31, tied for 6th in the AL), RBIs (100, tied for 8th in the AL) while finishing second in doubles (35) and walks (65). Tartabull finished ninth in the AL in on-base percentage, tied for sixth in extra-base hits and led the majors in slugging percentage (.593). He also had the third-best RBI ratio (4.8 AB/RBI) and third-best home run ratio (15.6 AB/HR) in the AL.
He became the first Royal to have two 30-home run seasons and the third Royal to produce three 100-RBI seasons. He had a .300-30-100 season for the second time in his career. Danny twice earned Player of the Week honors and was Kansas City's Player of the Month three times (June, July and September).
On June 12 at Baltimore, Danny had a career high six RBIs. He had a season best 12-game hitting streak from June 22-July 3, raising his average from .294 to .319- he went over the .300 mark on June 22 and never dropped below.
Danny belted a career best three home runs in one game on July 6 against Oakland; he also had two two-homer games, June 12 at Baltimore and September 3 at Chicago. He was the Royals' lone representative in the '91 All-Star Game, starting as the designated hitter. He hit his seventh career grand slam on August 14 at Yankee Stadium, off Steve Farr.
He hit .314 with 13 home runs and 35 RBIs at home, .318 with 18 homers and 65 RBIs on the road. Against left-handed pitching he batted .296 with eight home runs and 22 RBIs, against right-handers .325 with 23 homers and 78 RBIs. Tartabull was consistent all season long, hitting .320 with 20 homers and 59 RBIs in the first half, .300-11-41 in the second half. He hit .347 against the East with 13 homers and 51 RBIs. He had four outfield assists for the season, giving him 34 for his career.
Tartabull signed a five-year contract with the Yankees as a free agent on January 6, 1992. The contract extends through the 1996 season.
Selected in the 3rd round of the June 1980 free agent draft, Tartabull hit .299 in 59 games for Billings. With Tampa in 1981, he was named Florida State League Player of the Year. He led the league in batting (.310), doubles (28) and finished fourth in home runs (14), triples (10) and RBIs (81).
Danny was the youngest player in the Eastern League in 1982 at the age of 19. He was among the league leaders in walks (3rd with 89) and home runs (9th with 17). Danny was named the second best prospect in the league and the seventh best prospect in the Reds organization by Baseball America.
In 1983 he was selected by the Mariners from the Reds in the compensation pool draft as compensation to Seattle for the White Sox' signing of free-agent pitcher Floyd Bannister. Tartabull spent the entire 1983 season at AA Chattanooga where he hit .301 with 13 homers and 66 RBIs, finishing second to Ivan Calderon on the team in most major offensive categories, and was named Topps National Association Player of the Month for September.
In 1984, Tartabull was recalled from Salt Lake City on September 6. At the time he was hitting .304 with 13 home runs and 73 RBIs. In his first big league at-bat, September 11 against Texas, he collected his first hit, RBI and game-winning RBI with a pinch-hit run-scoring single with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning off Dave Schmidt.
With Calgary in 1985, Tartabull hit .300 with a league-leading 43 home runs and 109 RBIs. He played in 19 games for Seattle and hit .328. He hit safely in his first three games after his September 1 recall and his only home run came on September 16 at Kansas City off Danny Jackson. He posted an on-base percentage of .406 and a .525 slugging percentage.
Tartabull started on Opening Day for Seattle at second base in 1986. He was hitting .355 with four home runs and 14 RBIs in the season's first eight games. He began feeling weak and his batting average fell to .235, with six homers and 22 RBIs in 31 games, by the time he was sidelined. Danny went 4-for-5 with two triples and two RBIs on May 13 against Milwaukee to raise his batting average 16 points but was placed on the disabled list the next day.
He missed 16 games due to vitamin deficiency anemia. After being reinstated from the DL on May 31, Danny was moved to left field and became the Mariners' regular right fielder on June 23.
Danny finished second on the club in homers (25) and RBIs (96) and hit two grand slams. He placed fourth in the American League Rookie of the Year balloting behind Jose Canseco, Wally Joyner and Mark Eichorn.
He was traded to the Royals in December 1986 with pitcher Rich Luecken for pitchers Scott Bankhead and Steve Shields and outfielder Mike Kingery.
In his initial season for the Royals, Tartabull became only the second player in club history (George Brett, 1985) to compile a .300-30-100 season, finishing the season with a .309 average, 34 home runs and 101 RBIs. 18 of his 34 homers either gave the Royals the lead or tied the score. He led the team in homers, RBIs, total bases (315) and slugging percentage (.541) on his way to being honored as Royal Player of the Year.
Tartabull tied for third in the league in home runs and was ninth in hits and tenth in slugging. His home run total was the most ever by a Royals outfielder, eclipsing Amos Otis who hit 26 in 1973, and he tied for the second highest homer output in club history (Steve Balboni, 36 in 1985, John Mayberry, 34 in 1975).
He slugged his third career grand slam on October 2 against Minnesota off Frank Viola. His 100th RBI of the season came on October 3 off Minnesota's Bert Blyleven.
In 1988 Danny became the third player in Kansas City history (along with Mayberry and Brett) to record back-to-back 100-RBI seasons as he drove in a career best 102. He led the Royals in home runs with 26 and was among the league leaders in homers (tied for 8th) and RBIs (7th). He also tied for eighth in doubles (38) was ninth in slugging percentage and seventh in extra-base hits.
Danny led the league and set a Royals record by belting three grand slams, connecting at Texas on May 15 (off Charlie Hough), against Baltimore on August 11 (off Jay Tibbs) and at Seattle on September 20 off Terry Taylor.
He was selected as the Royals' Player of the Month for September after driving in 21 runs with a .304 average. He notched a career best five RBIs in one game in the September 20 game at Seattle.
Tartabull finished 1989 with a .268 batting average, 18 home runs and 62 RBIs- the homer total was second on the club. He opened the season with a career best 13-game hitting streak, batting .413 during the streak. He logged two stints on the disabled list, once with a bruised left knee and the other with a pulled groin muscle. Danny hit his 100th career home run on July 30 against Baltimore.
Injuries limited Danny to 88 games in 1990, his fewest in the big leagues. He still was able to hit 15 home runs and drive in 60 runs.

He led the club with a .433 batting average in spring training and belted a round-tripper on Opening Day. He suffered a tear of the right plantaris muscle while shagging balls prior to the second game of the season. Danny was placed on the 15-day DL on April 12 and did not return until May 18.
Danny had a season high 12-game hitting streak from June 7-19, raising his average from .132 to .255. He hit his third career inside-the-park home run on June 28 at Seattle off Russ Swan. He tore his left groin muscle on July 13 at Boston and had a second stint on the 15-day DL.
Activated on July 31, Danny socked two home runs in a game for the fifth time in his career on August 4 at Baltimore. He homered on three consecutive days, August 28-30, and matched his career high with five RBIs at Seattle on September 2.
Danny is a 1980 graduate of Carol City High School in Miami. He played on the 1979 American Legion national championship team as well as the gold medal-winning team at the National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs.
Danny is the son of former Kansas City A's and Boston Red Sox outfielder Jose Tartabull and the brother of former Mariners farmhand Jose Tartabull, Jr."

-1992 New York Yankees Information Guide

Led Florida State League third basemen in errors (29), 1981.
Named Florida State League Player of the Year, 1981.
Led Pacific Coast League shortstops in double plays (68), 1984.

Led Pacific Coast League in home runs (43), 1985.

Led Pacific Coast League in runs batted in (109), 1985.

Led Pacific Coast League in slugging percentage (.615), 1985.
Led Pacific Coast League in total bases (291), 1985.
Led Pacific Coast League shortstops in errors (35), 1985.
Named Pacific Coast League Player of the Year, 1985.
Led American League in game-winning RBIs (21), 1987.

Led American League in grand slams (3), 1988.

Named American League Player of the Week, June 10-16, 1991.

Named American League Player of the Week, July 1-7, 1991.

Led American League in slugging percentage (.593), 1991.

-1992 New York Yankees Information Guide

FOR DANNY TARTABULL, DESTINY AWAITED
"Danny Tartabull is not joking when he says that he does not remember his first appearance in a major league baseball stadium.
'I was too young, too small, still in Pampers,' said Tartabull.
He was not lying about the Pampers part.
Tartabull's first baseball uniform had 'Kansas City A's' inscribed across the front. He wore the A's jersey as a toddler in father-son games in Municipal Stadium in K.C., which has since been razed.
Tartabull was born on October 30, 1962, soon after his father, Jose, had completed his rookie season with the K.C. A's.
Danny entered this earth not with a silver spoon in his mouth, but with a bat in his hands. The bat, however, would mint Tartabull gold. He signed a five year $25.5 million contract with the Yankees on January 6.
Tartabull was destined to be a baseball player.
'I've always been in a baseball environment,' he said. 'As far as I can remember I've always been around clubhouses.'
He would travel at times with his father, who later played for the Boston Red Sox and Oakland A's, as a youngster. He said he would be a pest in the clubhouse and often sneaked away with bubble gum.
'I've always had a glove,' Tartabull said. 'I've always had a bat. I've always played the game. That's all I've ever known.'
While he literally came crawling into baseball, the Yankees hope he will be running- or more precisely, trotting around the bases after 30 or more home runs this season.
Tartabull grew up in Miami, a 1980 graduate of Carol City High. He caught the attention of scouts when his 1979 American Legion club won the national championship. He was a member of the gold medalist team at the National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
'You feel like you're on top of the world, that nobody can beat you at that age,' Tartabull said. 'I hope to have a high feeling this year going to post-season play and winning it all.'
He was a third-round pick of the Cincinnati Reds in 1980. The Reds shipped him to Billings, Montana. In 1981, Tartabull's career began to blossom. He led the Florida State League in hitting (.310) and doubles (29). He finished fourth in home runs (14), runs batted in (81) and triples (10). He was named the league's Player of the Year.
The next year, Tartabull was 19, and the youngest player in the Eastern League.
'I felt I should have had an MVP year in '82,' he said. 'I didn't have it and expectations were down.'
Tartabull hit .227, by far his lowest average in a dozen seasons of professional baseball, but he still clubbed 17 homers and drove in 63 runs as a second baseman.
'It was a learning experience. I kept it in the back of my mind. It helped me excel. It made me eager to start the '83 season and do better, which in fact I did.'
Tartabull, however, moved to the Seattle Mariners farm system that year. On January 20, 1983, the Mariners chose Tartabull in the compensation draft pool for losing Floyd Bannister to free agency.
'When they called me I thought they were joking to tell you the truth,' Tartabull said. 'I was expecting to be in the Reds' big league camp in Tampa, but the Reds did not protect me on the 25-man untouchable list.'
The next three seasons Tartabull would hit .301, .304 and .300 at Chattanooga, Salt Lake City and  Calgary, respectively. In 1985, his last year in the minors, he led the Pacific Coast League with 43 home runs.
Tartabull made his major league debut at age 21 on September 11, 1984 for the Mariners.
'My first major league at-bat, I got the game-winning hit,' Tartabull recalled. It was a run-scoring pinch-hit single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning against Texas. That would start a trend. Three of his first four RBI were game-winners. In 1987, with the Kansas City Royals, he would lead the majors with 21 game-winning RBI.
Tartabull's first major league home run was September 22 at Chicago off LaMarr Hoyt, who had won the American League Cy Young Award in 1983.
Tartabull finished fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1986, behind Jose Canseco, Wally Joyner and Mark Eichhorn, but it was his last season with the Mariners.
Seattle dealt Tartabull to the Royals in a five-player trade at the 1986 winter meetings. There is no question who got the better part of the deal. The Mariners received pitchers Scott Bankhead and Steve Shields and outfielder Mike Kingery. The Royals received a power-hitting outfielder, who would hit 124 homers and drive in 425 runs the next five years. In 1987 and 1991, he was selected the Royals' Player of the Year.
Only five players- Tartabull, George Brett, Steve Balboni, Bo Jackson and John Mayberry- have hit 30 or more home runs in a year for the Royals. Tartabull is the only one to do it twice- 31 in '91 and 34 in '87. He joined Mayberry and Brett as the only Royals to drive in 100 runs in back-to-back seasons, 1987-88, and is the only Royal to have two seasons of .300-30-100 (1987 and '91).
Danny was named to the American League All-Star team, as the starting designated hitter, last July. On July 6 he hammered three home runs off Oakland pitching in a game the Royals eventually lost 9-7.
But Tartabull was in his final year with the Royals and would become a free agent after the season and then become a Yankee.
'Actually, I did dream about playing in Yankee Pinstripes as a youngster,' Tartabull said. 'Especially coming from the East Coast everybody dreams of playing for the Yankees, being part of their tradition. I most definitely did.'
That, however, did not appear to be a reality. Several clubs talked to Tartabull, but the Yankees were not among them. The California Angels and Texas Rangers were the finalists for his services.
Then the Yankees belatedly entered the scene with GM Gene Michael and executives Joe Malloy and Hal Steinbrenner flying to Los Angeles to negotiate with Dennis Gilbert, Tartabull's agent.
'It really surprised me,' Tartabull said. 'They were a late entry, a darkhorse, but very persistent. They were wanting to make a deal. It really impressed me. We were down the line with other teams, but I was not ruling anybody out. We wanted to listen to what the Yankees had to offer.'
After receiving a five-year contract from the Yankees, he canceled a trip to Dallas to meet with the Rangers, and a meeting with the Angels, who are within driving distance of Tartabull's southern California home.
'The Yankees just came in and blew us away,' Tartabull said.
He added he never became discouraged as the negotiations seemed to stall with other clubs.
'I was very patient,' he said. 'I knew the right deal for Danny Tartabull would come along.'
Some might suggest the pressure of playing in New York might be a disadvantage. But playing in the spotlight and the media capital could be a perfect fit for Danny Tartabull.
'I think what makes Danny Tartabull tick is pressure,' Tartabull said.'When the pressure is on me I thrive on that. If I go out and play Danny Tartabull baseball and stay within myself, that should be enough.'
He hit .371 last season with runners in scoring position, a prime example that he likes to be at the plate in pressure situations. One of those hits was a grand slam at Yankee Stadium in the 11th inning off Steve Farr, a former and future teammate.
A shortstop in high school, Danny played there in the minors but was switched to second base. He was the Mariners' Opening Day second baseman in 1986. He played a couple of games at third base and a dozen in left field before he was moved to right, which is where he has remained.
'I've worked very, very hard to improve myself in the outfield,' Tartabull said. 'I've made great strides in my defensive game. I think I take more pride in that than in my offensive game.'
The Yankees, however, are paying Tartabull, who is 29, to produce offensively the next five years.
Let's compare Tartabull's 1991 statistics to Bobby Bonilla, a free agent the New York Mets just paid more money to sign.
Tartabull hit .316, 10th highest in the American League. Bonilla hit .302 last year for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Tartabull's .593 slugging percentage was the highest in the majors. Bonilla had a .492 slugging percentage. Tartabull hit 31 home runs, Bonilla 18. Both drove in 100 runs. Tartabull had 69 extra-base hits, one more than Bonilla, although Danny played 25 fewer games because of injuries. Tartabull had an on-base percentage of .397, Bonilla .391. Tartabull totaled 287 bases, Bonilla 284.
'When you look at my numbers and Bonilla's numbers, you see my numbers are far better,' Tartabull said.
But he is not jealous that Bonilla will be paid more.
'Twenty-five point five million dollars is not to laugh at,' Tartabull said. 'I'm very happy. It's very gratifying. I'm very content, satisfied, tickled, a lot of adjectives.'
Playing for five million dollars a year was too farfetched a dream as a teenager.
'I don't think anybody dreamed that could happen at that time,' Tartabull said. 'I don't think three years ago anybody dreamed of making five million dollars. This year I'm going to live it.'
And he believes he is joining a winner.
'I think we- the Yankees- are not far away,' Tartabull said. 'The East is definitely not as strong as the West Division. We're just a couple of moves away. I think we're close.' "

-Alan Eskew, Topeka Capital-Journal (1992 New York Yankees Scorebook & Souvenir Program)