Whatever Happened To

This is our 2nd installment of "whatever happened to...", looking into the lives of various Yankees since their retirement.

Steve Balboni - Was a minor league slugger that never quite made the transition to the bigs while with the Yankees. But after a trade to KC, Balboni won a World Series ring and slugged 140 HRs over a 5 year period. Today, the guy we referred to as "Balbummy" when he wasn't going good, is running a hitting academy in Edison, NJ. You can also catch an interview Gotham Baseball did with him last week.

Matt Nokes - was a phenom when he joined the Detroit Tigers, slugging 32 HRs in 1987. But he only had an average career, which included 4 years (1991-1994) in the Bronx. Nokes topped 20 HRs twice for the Yanks and was on the receiving end of Jim Abbott's no-hitter in Sept., 1993. Today, Nokes is the hitting instructor for the ABD Academy in Corona, California.

Bert Campanaris - In 1983 Campy spent the last of his 19 year big league career in the Bronx. But he had the good fortune to be playing 3rd Base on July 4 of that season when Dave Righetti tossed his no-hitter. Today, Campy is retired in Scottsdale, AZ , Campaneris lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. But he also participates in baseball camps and works with the MLB Players Alumni Association.

Kevin Maas - Was Shane Spencer before Shane Spencer. But Maas never had the success Spencer had and his rookie home run slugging petered out pretty quickly. He now lives in California and coaches his son and daughter's baseball and softball teams.

Doug Drabek - Represents one of the foolish Yankees trades of the 1980s. Drabek was a 155 game winner and nabbed the NL Cy Young award in 1990. Today, Drabek lives in Woodlands, Texas and monitors his son Kyle's progress. The younger Drabek was the 18th overall pick in the 2006 draft by the Philadelphia Phillies.

Mike Aldrete - Played the final 32 games of his 10 year career as a member of the '96 Yankees. He split time between 1B, DH, and the outfield. He earned a WS ring after he appeared in 1 ALCS game and 2 World Series games, with one at-bat. Aldrete is now the hitting coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Randy Velarde - Had 2 stints as a Yankee (1987-1995, 2001), narrowly missing out on a championship both times. Velarde once turned an unassisted triple play, and assisted on the final out in Jim Abbott's no-hitter. Velarde now lives in Midland, TX and unfortunately for him, has his name back on people's minds. Velarde was mentioned in the book, "Game of Shadows", and was also mentioned in the Mitchell Report on performance enhancing drugs. Velarde, Clemens, Knoblauch, Stanton, Pettitte...so that's how they grow 'em bigger in Texas.

Share