The short and amazing Yankee career of Homer Bush
Aug 19, 2018 22:44:52 GMT -5
kaybli and nyborn like this
Post by inger on Aug 19, 2018 22:44:52 GMT -5
A game or two ago I heard Paulie offering a memory of Homer Bush in which he said something like "I just remember that every time Bush would get in a game it seemed he would do something good and we'd win the game. He'd PR and steal second, then steal third and score on a ground out or something and we'd win".
I remembered Bush as a good little utility guy that got traded away after the '98 Championship and had short run as a starting 2B with Toronto.
Here are some facts:
Bush had a cup of coffee with the Yankees in 1997. He went 4 for 11, with four singles for a .364/.364/.364 slash. He never attempted a steal in those games. The Yankees lost the only game he started, and in fact they lost 5 of the first 6 games he appeared in before winning the last 4 in a row. In his only start he went 2 for 4, drove in two runs and scored one...But Paulie was actually referring to 1998.
In 1998 Bush appeared in 45 games for the Yankees, putting up a slash of .380/.421/.465 on 27 for 71 hitting with 3 doubles and one HR. Paul's memory of the stolen base exploits is much greater than the reality, as Bush never attempted more than one steal in any single game and had modest success when he did steal, nabbing 6 and getting caught 3 times. However, the Yankees who compiled a remarkable 114-48 (.704) record in total were an even more remarkable 34-11 (.756) in games that Homer Bush appeared in, so perhaps he did seem to be a bit of a good luck charm for the team. It may be hard to fathom, but the Yankees did lose 6 games in a row that Bush appeared in from August 30 to Sept 16, but they then won his last seven games in the regular season before also winning 4 of the 5 the games Bush appeared in during the post season as he appeared all 5 times as a PR and stole two more bases, scoring one run.
Bush had a final run with the Yankees in 2004 during which he went 0 for 7, dropping his career Yankees slash to .348/.389/.416
After he was traded to the Blue Jays he had one good season in which he hit .320/.353/.421, barely missing qualifying for the batting title that season while successfully stealing 32 out of 40 attempted bags. Hip problems robbed him of the opportunity to extract the most out of his talents after that and he slumped to .215 in 2000. He rallied to a .306 average and 13 steals in about 1/2 of Toronto's games in 2001, but faded quickly thereafter, finishing his career with an impressive .285 career BA, albeit that with a +76 OPS due to his lack of power and patience at the plate.
I kind of had to peek and see what the Yankees record was in those final 9 games in 2004, and it was 6-3, so he still had a bit of magic with him, I would suppose...
I remembered Bush as a good little utility guy that got traded away after the '98 Championship and had short run as a starting 2B with Toronto.
Here are some facts:
Bush had a cup of coffee with the Yankees in 1997. He went 4 for 11, with four singles for a .364/.364/.364 slash. He never attempted a steal in those games. The Yankees lost the only game he started, and in fact they lost 5 of the first 6 games he appeared in before winning the last 4 in a row. In his only start he went 2 for 4, drove in two runs and scored one...But Paulie was actually referring to 1998.
In 1998 Bush appeared in 45 games for the Yankees, putting up a slash of .380/.421/.465 on 27 for 71 hitting with 3 doubles and one HR. Paul's memory of the stolen base exploits is much greater than the reality, as Bush never attempted more than one steal in any single game and had modest success when he did steal, nabbing 6 and getting caught 3 times. However, the Yankees who compiled a remarkable 114-48 (.704) record in total were an even more remarkable 34-11 (.756) in games that Homer Bush appeared in, so perhaps he did seem to be a bit of a good luck charm for the team. It may be hard to fathom, but the Yankees did lose 6 games in a row that Bush appeared in from August 30 to Sept 16, but they then won his last seven games in the regular season before also winning 4 of the 5 the games Bush appeared in during the post season as he appeared all 5 times as a PR and stole two more bases, scoring one run.
Bush had a final run with the Yankees in 2004 during which he went 0 for 7, dropping his career Yankees slash to .348/.389/.416
After he was traded to the Blue Jays he had one good season in which he hit .320/.353/.421, barely missing qualifying for the batting title that season while successfully stealing 32 out of 40 attempted bags. Hip problems robbed him of the opportunity to extract the most out of his talents after that and he slumped to .215 in 2000. He rallied to a .306 average and 13 steals in about 1/2 of Toronto's games in 2001, but faded quickly thereafter, finishing his career with an impressive .285 career BA, albeit that with a +76 OPS due to his lack of power and patience at the plate.
I kind of had to peek and see what the Yankees record was in those final 9 games in 2004, and it was 6-3, so he still had a bit of magic with him, I would suppose...
