Player Profile: Danny Boone

I have four cards of Danny Boone. This one is from 1982 Donruss.

Playing career: Danny Boone was a 27-year-old rookie who had a good season for the Padres in 1981, going 1-0 with 2 saves and a 2.84 ERA in 37 games. He struggled in 1982 for the Padres and Astros, and was quickly out of baseball. Later in the 1980s, he started experimenting with a knuckleball in the MSBL and Senior League, and was proficient enough to make a comeback with the Orioles. In 1990 he pitched in four games for the Orioles, eight years after his previous major league appearance. A fuller account of his career can be found at The Greatest 21 Days.

Interesting facts: A 1990 article notes “that his birth certificate actually says ‘Danny’ Boone on it, but both his baseball card and the baseball encyclopedia list him as Daniel Boone.” More recently, Baseball Reference has his name similarly wrong. Boone is a direct descendant of Benjamin Boone, brother of famous pioneer Daniel Boone. Former MLB catcher Bob Boone has stated that his family are also direct relations of Daniel Boone, meaning that Danny is at least distantly related to the famous baseball family.

My memories: I remember seeing his 1990 Score baseball card and being impressed by this guy who came out of nowhere to return to the major leagues, and with a cool family history to boot.

Where he is now: Anyone know where Danny Boone is now?

Google Autocomplete results: He is second when you type Danny Boo, between Danny Boome, a TV chef, and Danny Boone Fish Grease, referring to a singer and his song. Most of the entries on the first page of Google results are for the singer.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Kevin Bootay.