R.I.P. Bill Buckner

Bill Buckner, a terrific contact hitter who won a batting title and never struck out more than twice a game in over 2500 major league games, died of Lewy-Body dementia on May 27th, 2019 in Boise, Idaho. He was 69 years old.

Buckner won the National League batting title while with the Chicago Cubs in 1980, hitting a career high .324. He neither walked nor struck out much–he had 450 walks and 453 strikeouts In 10037 career regular season plate appearances–and had a .321 lifetime on base percentage. Buckner began his big league career with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1969, playing with L.A. through the 1976 season. He was primarily a left fielder for the Dodgers, and had pretty good speed. He hit .314 with 31 stolen bases in 1974, and .301 with 28 stolen bases in 1976.

Buckner was traded to the Chicago Cubs after the 1977 season. With the Cubs, he began splitting time between the outfield and first base, and had some of his best seasons at the plate. He hit over .300 in four of his seven full seasons with the Cubs, including a .306 with 15 homers, 105 RBI, and 15 stolen bases in 1982.

Early in the 1984 season, Buckner was traded to the Boston Red Sox. He played at first base and as a designated hitter for Boston, and drove in a career high 110 runs in 1985. In 1986, Buckner hit a career high 18 homers and drove in 102 runs. The Red Sox won the American League Pennant and played the New York Mets in the World Series.

The Red Sox were up three games to two in Game 6 in New York, which was tied in the bottom of the 10th inning. With two out and a man on second base, the Mets’ Mookie Wilson hit a ground ball along the first base line that went between Buckner’s legs and just under his glove into right field, driving in the winning run. The Mets won game seven and the series two days later.

This error is what all too many people remember about Buckner, and Red Sox fans blamed the first baseman’s error for costing them the World Series. Buckner was not very mobile at that time in his career, with a pair of bad ankles slowing him down. Nonetheless, Boston manager John McNamara did not replace Buckner at first for defensive purposes late in the game-which would be his responsibility and not Buckner’s.

Buckner was released by the Red Sox in July of 1987; he played for the California Angels and Kansas City Royals through 1989 before rejoining the Red Sox in 1990. After playing just 22 games in ’90, he was released.

Buckner was eventually more or less forgiven by Red Sox fans (after the team finally started winning World Series in the 2000s) and he refused to let the moment define him. His overall numbers probably won’t get him in the Hall of Fame, but they are pretty good, including 2715 hits to go with that batting title. Oh, and he had a .992 fielding percentage as a first baseman, too.