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Danilo Tartabull Mora (born October 30, 1962), also known as Danny Tartabull, is a former right fielder in Major League Baseball. Born to Cuban parents in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he is the son of José Tartabull, who played in the major leagues from 1962 to 1970.[1]

[edit] Playing career

Danny played for the Seattle Mariners (1984–86), Kansas City Royals (1987–91), New York Yankees (1992–95), Oakland Athletics (1995), Chicago White Sox (1996) and Philadelphia Phillies (1997). Originally a shortstop, Tartabull broke into the majors for good in 1986 with the Mariners, who moved him to right field after briefly experimenting with him at second base. He responded by hitting .270 with 25 home runs and 96 runs batted in, but his rookie season was overshadowed by those of Wally Joyner and José Canseco. The Mariners traded him to Kansas City for prospects before the start of the 1987 season, where Tartabull avoided the sophomore jinx, improving to .309/34/101. Although sometimes slowed by injuries, Tartabull had five productive seasons with Kansas City, culminating with an All-Star selection in 1991. Tartabull became a free agent after the 1991 season and signed a lucrative deal with the Yankees worth more than $5 million a year, but he never again matched his production in Kansas City.

In July 1995 the Yankees traded Tartabull for Rubén Sierra. Following his trade out of New York, Tartabull expressed his disdain for Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, saying that getting out of New York was like having been "released from jail".^[1] The Athletics in turn traded him to the White Sox the following winter, and Tartabull wound up his 14-year career with the Phillies in 1997, appearing in just three games. (He broke his foot when he fouled a ball off of his toe.)

Tartabull retired following the 1997 season with a career batting average of .273, 262 home runs and 925 runs batted in.

[edit] Controversy

In September 2005 it was reported in The New York Post that Tartabull was being sued by Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida and his wife Chantal Kreviazuk for not paying for the house he agreed to buy from them. In essence, the couple are calling Tartabull a squatter.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Other media

Tartabull made a cameo appearance on TV sitcom Seinfeld as himself in the episodes "The Chaperone" and "The Pledge Drive."

[edit] See also

• Top 500 home run hitters of all time
• Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game
• List of second generation MLB players

[edit] Trivia

• In a 1995 Sporting News article, Tartabull says about the Yankees in 1996, "That team's going to be a disaster next year. You'll see. No one's going to want to play there." As it turned out, the Yankees went on to win the World Series that year.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• Retrosheet