Buddy Biancalana

Roland Americo "Buddy" Biancalana, Jr. (/biˌɑːŋkəˈlɑːnə/; born February 2, 1960) is a retired Major League Baseball (MLB) shortstop. Biancalana played for two teams in his career: the Kansas City Royals (1982–1987) and Houston Astros (1987).

Born in Larkspur, California, Biancalana attended Redwood High School. He played baseball all four of his years at Redwood, 1975 through 1978, garnering local and national honors along the way. In 1977 he was named to the Mythical National Champion Team, a squad composed of the best high school baseball players in America. Biancalana was drafted by the Royals in the first round (25th overall pick) of the 1978 June Regular Phase draft. He made his MLB debut on September 12, 1982, and played his final game on October 4, 1987.

Biancalana was a member of the Royals team that won the World Series in 1985. Although he had only started 35 games all season, manager Dick Howser benched regular shortstop Onix Concepcion in favor of Biancalana on September 20. Biancalana started 13 of the next 15 games as the Royals won the American League West division by one game over the California Angels.

Biancalana was the starting shortstop for the Royals in all 14 post-season games, playing error-free defense in every game, and was an integral part in several run-scoring innings for the Royals in the World Series. He batted .278 in the series with an on-base percentage of .435, both well above his career numbers.

In 1985, during the countdown to Pete Rose breaking Ty Cobb's hits record, David Letterman instituted a Buddy Biancalana countdown calendar. Biancalana later appeared as a guest on Late Night with David Letterman, quipping, "I'm closer to Cobb than you are to Carson." Biancalana finished his big-league career with 113 base hits, over four thousand short of Cobb or Rose.

Biancalana is a former field manager for the Amarillo Dillas of independent United League Baseball, the infield coordinator of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the manager of two South Atlantic League (Class Low A) teams, the Lakewood BlueClaws (affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies) and the Charleston Riverdogs (affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays). He is also the co-author of The 7 Secrets of the World Class Athlete.

In 2009, Biancalana was inducted into the first Redwood High School Athletic Hall of Fame.