It defines his tough exterior. In high school he was hit by a line drive between the eyes, and still put the ball back into play. That was the start of the name “bone”( shortened from “bonehead”).
It defines his hard work ethic as well. He laid it all on the line in every game he played—even when he shouldn’t have. After being out nearly the entire season with an injury to his left arch in 2001, his first day back he slid into the base of the wall trying to catch a foul ball. He also beat out an infield single for a hit. That was “Bone”.
But even bones can break and “the Bone” got broken his share of times. He had four major injuries the past four years. In ’98 he underwent knee and elbow surgery, strained a hamstring in ’99, had his foot problem in 2001 and surgery in December to remove a bone spur from his collarbone. That’s not all. There’s a skeleton in the training room that shows the full extent of his injuries over the years.
He has a “funny bone” about it though. At the April 2 pregame ceremony celebrating his 14 years as a Mariner, he joked, saying to the medical staff and trainers: “enjoy all the extra time you’ll have not working on me.”
One of his first teammates, Harold Reynolds, in a video presentation at the ceremony told why he called him “Bone”. “Not because he did bonehead things, not because he always boned his bats so the ball would carry more, but because he was just out there, he was so different from everybody else.”
Probably most people will remember him as the “Bone” because of his shaved head. Buhner Buzz nights started in 1994 and over 22,000 fans over the years shaved their heads to get into games free.
Maybe not everyone knew about “Bone’s” soft side. At the pregame ceremony, Dan Wilson compared his compassion to the soft inner core (the marrow) of a bone. “Bone” gave many hours to charities, especially the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. His compassion extended to all his teammates as well. If he saw a guy struggling he would encourage him. He would tell stories and make everybody in the clubhouse laugh.
Wait a minute—this is not a eulogy. The “Bone” is still going to be around. At Spring Training Lou Piniella saw to it that he got a locker in the clubhouse, instead of the coaches room (though he was a part time coach) because he wanted him interacting with the players. The front office, coaching staff and players played a little joke on him though. Inside his locker he found a #91 jersey instead of his old #19—a reminder that he’s no longer a player. During the regular season he will do some community relations work, drop in and out of the minor league system to help and do a few special assignments and television broadcasts as a color man.
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