The Yankees teams of the 1980s were a relative wasteland in the context of the franchise’s history. They made the playoffs just twice right at the beginning of the decade before falling into an extended stretch of inconsequentiality. However, those opening years of the decade offered a glimmer of hope with a promising crop of prospects emerging on the farm, one of whom was Brian Dayett.
Brian Kelly Dayett Born: January 22, 1957 (New London, CT) Died: September 7, 2025 (Winchester, TN) Yankees Tenure:
1983-84
Dayett was born on January 22, 1957, in New London, CT, and grew up in nearby Deep River. Despite his underwhelming size in high school, Dayett was an accomplished multi-sport athlete, but it was clear that baseball was his future. In the span of two weeks in 1975, Dayett hit for the cycle before tossing a 16-strikeout no-hitter. Following his graduation, he went to play third base for Coach Norm Kaye at St. Leo University in Florida. A year later, the Yankees drafted him in the 16th Round of the 1978 June Amateur Draft.
He was assigned to the Oneonta Yankees of the Low-A New York-Penn League, where he batted .309 with 11 home runs and 22 stolen bases in 68 games in 1978. That year, Dayett played third, first, and even caught 26 games as the organization initially had trouble finding a spot for him defensively. He was called up to the Double-A Nashville Sounds in 1980 where he joined an exciting core of prospects that included Don Mattingly, Steve Balboni, Buck Showalter, Willie McGee, Max Winters, Otis Nixon and Rex Hudler, all playing under the management of Stump Merrill.
Willie McGee was so quick and had such a strong arm. Otis Nixon was a speedster. You knew his speed was going to get him to the big leagues. Mattingly was a self-made player who got himself stronger and a better hitter. He worked very hard everyday with a great work ethic.
In 1981, he was the starting third baseman for Nashville, but found that his hitting was suffering. At the suggestion of coach Ed Napoleon, Dayett began to learn left field, and by 1982 he was a full-time left fielder for Nashville. That season, Dayett earned the Southern League MVP after tying with Balboni for the most home runs in the league with 34, and won the Southern League championship with a two-out, thirteenth-inning walk-off home run with Showalter on base. The following season, he was called up to Triple-A Columbus, where he again won the League MVP after smashing a league-leading 35 home runs. Because of the surprising power generated from his smaller frame, Dayett earned the nickname “Bam-Bam” around this time.
That September when rosters expanded, Dayett got his first call-up to the big leagues. He made his MLB debut on September 11, 1983, against the Orioles pinch-hitting for Omar Moreno, and got a hit in his first big league AB.
Mike Flanagan of the Orioles had an 0-2 count on me. I battled back and got a hit up the middle past Cal Ripken, Jr.
He would go 6-for-29 in eleven games in that cup of coffee. Dayett was poised to break camp with the major league squad in 1984 but suffered a hip-flexor injury at the start of the campaign. Lou Piniella was supposed to retire around that time, but he stuck around for a few months in 1984 until Dayett returned from injury. Piniella was then able to retire and became the Yankees’ hitting coach with Dayett crediting him as a mentor.
Dayett found opportunities hard to come by that season given the outfield logjam of Dave Winfield, Omar Moreno, Steve Kemp, Ken Griffey, Don Baylor and Oscar Gamble. However, he did manage to appear in 64 games and hit his first big league home run on June 22, 1984, again off of Orioles pitcher Mike Flanagan. He finished the year batting .244/.295/.402 with four home runs and 23 RBIs.
That December, Dayett and pitcher Ray Fontenot were traded to the Cubs for for Henry Cotto, Ron Hassey, Rich Bordi and Porfi Altamirano during the Winter Meetings. Injuries again hampered the start of his season, bone spurs in both ankles limiting him to a bench role for the first three months. He hit a pinch-hit grand slam off 20-game winner Tom Browning in May of 1985. He was slated to take over as the Cubs’ starting left fielder in 1987, but they then signed Andre Dawson in free agency, and Dayett was relegated to splitting time with Rafael Palmeiro, Jerry Mumphrey, Bob Dernier and Dave Martinez. All the same, he appeared in a career-high 97 games, slashing .277/.348/.452 with five home runs, three of which came off of Astros pitcher Bob Knepper.
That winter, the Cubs sold Dayett’s contract to the Nippon Ham Fighters of NPB, where he signed a four-year, $3.75 million contract. He knew the general manager of the team, Tak Kojima, from their shared time with the Yankees. Injuries cropped up again in Japan, causing Kojima to lose his job as Dayett was his second American signing to get injured.
Dayett retired from professional baseball following the 1991 season and took several management jobs in independent baseball. Between 2002 and 2014, he served as a minor league hitting coach in the Astros’ and Rangers’ systems, before Parknison’s Disease forced him to retire. He passed away from the disease on September 7, 2025, in his hometown of Winchester, TN, at the age of 68.
Dayett was a promising minor league player whose power tantalized. However, a string of unfortunate injuries in combination with competition for playing time prevented him from ever putting together a consistent stretch of starts, and you wonder if he could have reached his full potential with some better luck.
