Athletes - Bill Buckner

Home > Listing Index > Athletes > Bill Buckner

	Athletes - Bill Buckner

William Joseph "Bill" Buckner (born December 14, 1949 in Vallejo, California) is a former Major League Baseball player who, despite an impressive 20-year career, will forever be remembered for a ground ball that rolled between his legs for a costly error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.

Career

Buckner played his first major league game in 1969 with the Los Angeles Dodgers (at the age of 19) and his last game in 1990 (at the age of 40) with the Boston Red Sox. He was an All-Star in 1981. He won the National League batting title in 1980 with the Chicago Cubs. Buckner was the first major league player to wear Nike high-top baseball cleats professionally, preceding by a number of years the waves of major leaguers wearing high-tops starting in the early 1990s, and in fact he was wearing such a pair when he committed his 1986 World Series error.

For his entire career, "Billy Buck" was known as one of the more consistent contact hitters in the major leagues: in 2,517 games, Buckner accumulated 2,715 hits and only 453 strikeouts. He four times led the league in most at bats per strike out (1980, 1982, 1985, 1986), and four times placed second in the category (1979, 1981, 1983, 1987). For his career he averaged 20.7 AB/K (compared to 18.5 for Joe DiMaggio, 10.9 for Ted Williams, 42.7 for Nellie Fox, 44.9 for Lloyd Waner and 46.3 for Tris Speaker).

As a younger player he was a speedy baserunner who twice finished in the top-ten in the league in stolen bases. He twice led the league in doubles.

Originally promoted to the majors as an outfielder, he moved to first base when he joined the Cubs. At that position, he played 1,555 regular season games and made only 128 errors in 13,901 chances, but he will always be remembered for one error he made in the World Series.

1986 World Series

On October 25, 1986, with the Boston Red Sox leading the New York Mets 3-2 in the best-of-7 series, the game was tied in the bottom of the tenth inning. The Red Sox, had taken a two-run lead in the top of the tenth, but the Mets had come back to tie on a wild pitch by pitcher Bob Stanley. Mookie Wilson of the Mets fouled off several pitches before hitting a ground ball to Buckner at first base. The ball took a deadening bounce on the dirt and rolled under Buckner's glove, through his legs and into right field, allowing Ray Knight to score the winning run from second base. It capped an astonishing comeback for the Mets, though it did not (as is often misremembered) end the World Series. The Met victory, in fact, forced a seventh game, which was played two nights later and won by the Mets.

Some observers of the game believe that even if Buckner had cleanly fielded the ball, he still would have been unable to prevent Wilson from reaching first base. Wilson was a very fast runner, while Buckner had lost a large part of his mobility because of a long history of ankle injuries; it is possible that Wilson would have beaten Buckner to first base, which would have extended the inning. (It did not help that Buckner went 0-for-5 with runners on in all five at-bats in that game, being the only player to do so until the Yankees' Hideki Matsui in the ALDS).

Although many factors can be cited as to why the Red Sox lost the 1986 World Series, Buckner's error remains the popular focus of the blame. Moreover, the mistake was added to the lore of the Curse of the Bambino.

According to a popular Bostonian joke, the distraught Buckner threw himself in front of a locomotive in grief after his fielding error. The train passed between his legs. (Or a truck. The same joke had been used in reference to the final game of the NLCS two years earlier, applied to Cubs first baseman Leon Durham after a similar costly error).

"The Bill Buckner Bridge" is also a nickname given to the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge on which cars pass through the bridge's Y-shaped "legs."

Buckner has denied any lingering bitterness over the 1986 Series fiasco, pointing out that he was a key member of the team that year. He hit 8 home runs that September, with 22 RBIs and a .340 average, missing only three games. He drove in over 100 runs for the season.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Bill Buckner ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Bill Buckner; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Athletes - Bill Buckner

Career

1986 World Series

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay