SENATE RESOLUTION

                             8728

By Senators Oke, Rossi, Benton, Brown, Carlson, Costa, Deccio, Eide, Fairley, Finkbeiner, Franklin, Fraser, Gardner, Hale, Hargrove, Haugen, Hewitt, Hochstatter, Honeyford, Horn, Jacobsen, Johnson, Kastama, Keiser, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Long, McAuliffe, McCaslin, McDonald, Morton, Parlette, Poulsen, Prentice, Rasmussen, Regala, Roach, Sheahan, Sheldon, B., Sheldon, T., Shin, Snyder, Spanel, Stevens, Swecker, Thibaudeau, West, Winsley, and Zarelli

     WHEREAS, Jay Campbell Buhner was born in 1964 in Louisville, Kentucky, and eventually gave new meaning to the term Louisville slugger; and

     WHEREAS, Jay Buhner grew up in Texas and began his major league baseball career with the New York Yankees, but soon came to call the state of Washington home; and

     WHEREAS, in 1988, the Yankees made one of the worst trades in their history when they dealt Jay Buhner to the Seattle Mariners for Ken Phelps, a trade that eventually became immortalized on ASeinfeld@ reruns; and

     WHEREAS, Jay Buhner, affectionately nicknamed ABone,@ became a fixture in right field and in the heart of the batting lineup for the Mariners for many seasons, wowing fans with his massive home runs and cannon for an arm; and

     WHEREAS, Jay Buhner became a fan favorite throughout the Northwest as a result of his hard-nosed play, determination, desire, guts and courage; not to mention his shaved head; and

     WHEREAS, Jay Buhner gained even more respect and admiration from fans throughout the region for his willingness to give back to the community through charities and other activities; and

     WHEREAS, Buhner Buzz Cut Night became an annual highlight during the baseball season, drawing thousands of fans to get a buzz and then to get into the game for free; and

     WHEREAS, Jay Buhner showed his leadership and sense of team unity during the Mariners= magical 2001 season by traveling with the team on road trips and sitting in the dugout during all the games, despite missing most of the season with an injury; and

     WHEREAS, Jay Buhner ended his career where he began it, hitting a mammoth home run in hallowed Yankee Stadium to help the Mariners beat the Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series last fall; and

     WHEREAS, Buhner retired last December, ending his fourteen-year career with 310 home runs, 965 runs batted in, 798 runs scored, 1,273 hits and 1,472 games played, nearly all of them with the Mariners;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Washington State Senate honor Jay Buhner on his long and wonderful career with the Seattle Mariners and thank him for giving so much back to the team=s fans and to the community.

I, Tony M. Cook, Secretary of the Senate,

do hereby certify that this is a true and

correct copy of Senate Resolution 8728,

adopted by the Senate January 25, 2002.

TONY M. COOK

Secretary of the Senate