Player Profile: Ricky Bones

I have 39 cards of Ricky Bones. This one is from 1995 Collectors Choice SE. 

Playing career: Ricky Bones (pronounced Bonus) pitched eleven seasons in the major leagues, five of them for the Brewers, by far the most of any of the seven teams he pitched for. His best season by far was 1994, when he was an AL All-Star, going 10-9 with a 3.43 ERA. Overall, he was 63-82 with a 4.85 ERA.

My memories: In 1996 the Yankees got Pat Listach and Graeme Lloyd in a trade with the Brewers. It turned out that Listach was hurt so the Brewers threw in Bones too. I remembered him as being a good pitcher so was excited for the Yankees to get him, but even by that time it was pretty clear he had little left. I hadn’t realized he actually stuck around for five more years for various teams.

Where he is now: Bullpen coach for the Mets.

Interesting facts: He is married to former Yankee Ricky Ledee’s cousin.

He was mentioned in the Mitchell report due to taking steroids for a degenerative hip condition.

Google Autocomplete results: He is first when you type Ricky Bon, ahead of Ricky Bobby, a movie character. Another prominent Ricky Bones is an mma fighter (real name Ricky Bonnet).

Coming up next: The next profile will be Jung Bong.