Ricky Bones

[Michael Trzinski]

Ricardo Bones (pronounced ‘BO-ness’) was born in April 1969 in Salinas, Puerto Rico and was signed as an international free agent in May 1986 by the San Diego Padres. He had success in the lower minors, winning 37 games in three years at the A and Double-A levels. The righty made his big-league debut for the Padres in August 1991 and finished the season with San Diego, making 11 starts and posting a 3.43 FIP. In three of his starts, he allowed zero runs.

The following March, Bones was traded along with Matt Mieske and José Valentin for Gary Sheffield and a minor-league pitcher. The trade sent the unhappy Sheffield to the Padres, where he played only two years before finishing his career with six other teams.

Bones was a mainstay in the Brewers rotation for the next five years, making 137 starts (and 14 relief appearances) in that span. He made the American League All-Star team in 1994 but did not pitch in the game. “It would have been great to get in the game, but I was here. I’ve got my All-Star ring,” Bones said.

Toward the end of the 1996 season, Bones was involved in another interesting trade. He was the PTBNL in a trade with the Yankees that sent shortstop Pat Listach and pitcher Graeme Lloyd to New York in return for pitcher Bob Wickman and outfielder Gerald Williams. Listach was returned to Milwaukee when it was found he had a broken foot.

Bones made only four appearances for the Yankees and was released after the season. He played five more seasons in the majors with four different teams: Cincinnati, Kansas City, Baltimore, and Florida. After making 13 starts combined in 1997 with Cincinnati and Kansas City, Bones became a full-time reliever. In 1998, Bones posted a 157 ERA+ and an ERA of 3.04 in 32 appearances and notched his only major league save for the Royals.

While playing for Florida in May 2000, Bones went on the disabled list due to a back strain…suffered when he turned his head while watching TV in the Marlins clubhouse.

After appearing in a career-high 61 games for Florida in 2001 with an ERA+ of 84, he was released. The Los Angeles Dodgers signed him the following spring and he appeared in 30 games at Triple-A Las Vegas but did not make it back to the majors. In 2003, Bones pitched in three games for Saltillo in the Mexican League but after posting an ERA of 9.45, called it a career.

Bones worked as a pitching coach in the Mets and Blue Jays organizations, and then advanced to the big leagues, serving as the Mets bullpen coach for ten years and then with the Washington Nationals as a bullpen coach starting in 2022 and is still in that position in 2025.

As a pitcher for Milwaukee, Bones posted 47 career wins (tied for 17^th overall), 883 innings (15^th), and 137 starts (15^th).

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