Buddy Biancalana

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

Biography Biancalana was born on February 2, 1960, in Greenbrae, California. Biancalana attended Redwood High School in Larkspur. He had already signed a letter of intent to attend Arizona State University yet changed his mind and signed with the Royals. He met his wife, Sabrina Sojka of Millard, Nebraska, while playing in the minor leagues in Omaha, Nebraska.

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. He batted .188 hitter during the regular season.

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.

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.