Bill Buckner

At age 18, Buckner made his professional debut playing with the Ogden Dodgers of the Rookie Pioneer league in 1968, hitting .344 with 4 home runs and 44 RBI in 64 games. He was teammates with Valentine and Steve Garvey, who also were playing in their first professional seasons. The manager at Ogden was Tommy Lasorda.[9][10]

In 1969, Buckner played with four Dodger teams, as he advanced quickly in the Dodgers' farm system. He hit .350 with 6 home runs and 36 RBI in 46 games with the Dodgers team in the Arizona Instructional League. He then batted .307 with 7 home runs and 50 RBI with the Class AA Albuquerque Dodgers, and .315 with 2 home runs and 27 RBI in 36 games with the Class AAA Spokane Indians of the Pacific Coast League. While at Spokane, Buckner's manager was once again Lasorda.[9] Buckner was called up to the Dodgers late in the season at age 19, popping up to second base as a pinch hitter for Jim Brewer in the 9th inning of a 4-3 road loss to the San Francisco Giants on September 21 in his only appearance.[11]

Buckner spent April 1970 with the Dodgers, picking up his first hit in a 5-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on April 8, but after batting .121 with no home runs or RBI, he was returned to Triple-A Spokane, where he played 111 games under Lasorda after he was given leave to complete finals at USC. He hit .335 with 3 home runs and 74 RBI, playing alongside Garvey, Valentine, Davey Lopes, Tom Paciorek, Bill Russell, Charlie Hough, and Doyle Alexander, among others. Buckner played most of the 1970 season with a broken jaw and with his jaw wired shut. Spokane finished 94–52, and Buckner was again called up to the Dodgers in September.[12][8] He batted .257 in the final month, with 4 RBI and 5 runs scored.

Buckner earned a starting job with the Dodgers in 1971 as their opening-day right fielder, and hit his first career home run off Don Wilson of the Houston Astros on April 6, providing the only scoring in a 2-0 road win. Buckner also played some first base with the Dodgers, making 87 starts at first in 1973. However, when Steve Garvey emerged as a Gold Glove first baseman and the National League's Most Valuable Player the following season, Buckner was shifted to left field permanently. Buckner played a supporting role in a baseball milestone on April 8, 1974. Playing left field, he climbed the fence in an attempt to catch Hank Aaron's record 715th home run. He also played in his first World Series that year, which the Dodgers lost to the Oakland Athletics in five games; Buckner hit .250 in the Series, including a home run off Catfish Hunter in Game 3, a 3-2 road loss.[13]

In his Dodgers career, Buckner batted .289 with 38 home runs and 277 runs batted in in 773 games.[14]

Buckner batting at Wrigley Field on June 11, 1981

Following the 1976 season, Buckner was traded with Iván DeJesús and Jeff Albert to the Chicago Cubs for Rick Monday and Mike Garman. He had suffered a staph infection in his ankle in 1976, so the Cubs shifted him to first base, the playing position where he remained for the final 14 years of his career.

Whereas early indications seemed to lean toward the Dodgers getting the better end of this deal – with Monday becoming one of the key centerpieces of the Dodgers clubs that went to the 1977 and 1978 World Series – Buckner soon emerged as something of a star for the beleaguered Cubs. On May 17, 1979, in a famous slugfest at Wrigley Field in which the Cubs lost 23-22 to the Philadelphia Phillies, with three homers by Dave Kingman and two by Mike Schmidt, Buckner went 4–for–7 with a grand slam off Tug McGraw and a career-high seven RBI.[15] But when manager Herman Franks resigned late in the season, he made negative comments about several players, including calling Buckner "nuts".[16]

In 1980 Buckner won the NL batting title with a .324 average. He also struck out only 18 times – once every 32 at bats – batting in front of Kingman. Keith Hernandez (.321) and Garry Templeton (.319) finished just behind Buckner in the race for the NL batting title.[17][18] In the strike-interrupted 1981 season, he batted .311 while tying Cecil Cooper for the major league lead with 35 doubles; he was the Cubs' sole representative at the All-Star Game,[19] where he grounded out to first base pinch hitting for Manny Trillo in the 9th inning of a 5-4 NL victory, their 10th consecutive All-Star win. In 1982 Buckner batted over .300 for the fourth time in Chicago, picked up a career-high 201 hits, drove in 105 runs – the first time he had topped 75 – and recorded 159 assists at first base, breaking Mickey Vernon's 1949 major league record of 155. In 1983 he again led the NL with 38 doubles, but saw his batting average drop to .280, his lowest mark in eight years.

During the 1984 season, Buckner saw a loss of playing time at first base to Leon Durham. Because of his lack of playing time, Buckner was at odds with the Cubs management; in protest, he vowed not to shave until he played two games in a row at first base. Buckner finally shaved between games of a doubleheader on May 24, because he found out he was going to be traded the next day to the Boston Red Sox;[20] the Cubs went on to win their division, reaching the postseason for the first time in 39 years. In eight seasons with the Cubs, Buckner hit .300 with 81 home runs, 235 doubles, and 516 RBI in 974 games.[14]

Early in the 1984 season, the Red Sox were in the market for an upgrade at first base. On May 25, they acquired Buckner from the Cubs for Dennis Eckersley and Mike Brumley. The Red Sox were 19–25 and in sixth place in the American League East at the time of the trade, but improved to 67–51 the rest of the way to finish the season in fourth place. On September 21, Buckner enjoyed the first five-hit game of his career in an 8-0 road win over the Baltimore Orioles.

Buckner appeared in all 162 games for the Red Sox in 1985, and batted .299 with 16 home runs while posting career highs with 110 RBI, 201 hits and 46 doubles. He was a prototypical contact hitter, and struck out just 36 times in 719 plate appearances to lead the American League in that category in 1985. (He also led the NL in most at bats per strikeout in 1980, 1982 and 1986, and placed second in 1979, 1981, 1983, and 1987.) In 1985 he also extended his own major league record for assists in a season with 184. The record stood for almost 25 years until the St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols broke Buckner's record with 185 assists in 2009.

On June 5, 1986, Buckner picked up his 1,000th career RBI on a ground out in a 7-5 road loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. On August 21, he again had five hits in a blowout 24-5 road win over the Cleveland Indians. In September, he hit .340 with 8 home runs and 22 RBI, while missing just 3 games in spite of chronic ankle soreness. Dave Stapleton, the Red Sox first baseman prior to the acquisition of Buckner, began seeing more playing time as a late-inning defensive replacement in September and October. Meanwhile, Buckner became the first major league player to wear Nike high-top baseball cleats professionally in an effort to relieve pressure on his ankles. That season, Buckner hit a career-high 18 home runs, drove in more than 100 runs for the second season in a row, and was a key member of the team that won the American League East by 5-1/2 games. He entered Game 5 of the 1986 American League Championship Series batting just .111 in the Series, and was 0–for–3 in the game when he singled to start a ninth-inning rally which was capped off by Dave Henderson's famous home run. He went 3–for–6 in the final 2 games as the Red Sox came back from the brink of elimination to defeat the California Angels and win the American League pennant.

Buckner watches his misplayed ground ball as Mookie Wilson goes to first.

The 1986 Red Sox were leading the heavily favored New York Mets 3 games to 2 in the 1986 World Series when Game 6 went into extra innings. For his part, Buckner was batting just .143 against Mets pitching, and he was 0–for–5 in Game 6. When the Sox scored 2 runs in the top of the tenth, Boston manager John McNamara chose to have Buckner take the field in the bottom of the inning instead of bringing Stapleton in as a defensive replacement for the ailing Buckner, as he had in Games 1, 2, and 5.[21]

With two outs and no one on base, New York struck back with three straight singles off Calvin Schiraldi, and tied the game on a wild pitch by Bob Stanley. Mookie Wilson fouled off several pitches before hitting a slow roller to Buckner at first base. Aware of Wilson's speed, Buckner tried to rush the play. As a result, the ball rolled to the left side of his glove,[22] through his legs, and into shallow right field, allowing Ray Knight to score the winning run from second base.[23] Had Buckner fielded the ball with Wilson safe at first, the score would have remained tied for the next Mets batter. Had Buckner put out Wilson at first base, Game 6 would have gone to an 11th inning.

Boston led Game 7 by a 3–0 score heading into the bottom of the sixth inning when New York rallied again, scoring 3 runs off Bruce Hurst to tie the game, and 3 more off of Schiraldi in the seventh to take a 6–3 lead. Buckner was 2–for–4 in the game, and scored 1 of Boston's 2 runs in the eighth. However, the Mets also scored twice in the eighth and won 8–5, for their second World Series championship in franchise history.

However, many baseball experts have realized that had the right fielder been backing up Buckner on the play, Ray Knight could have been thrown out at the plate. Had the press realized it at the moment (as well as emphasizing the fact that the World Series could not have ended on that play regardless of the outcome), they wouldn't have blasted Buckner and the Red Sox's failure to win the World Series that year would not have been placed on Buckner's shoulder's. [24]

Regardless of any of the other perceived shortcomings that led to Boston's loss in the 1986 World Series, Buckner's error epitomized the "Curse of the Bambino" in the minds of Red Sox fans, and he soon became the scapegoat for a frustrated fan base.[25] Buckner began receiving death threats and was heckled and booed by some of his own home fans, often with the false belief or implication that his play alone could have instantly won the series for the Red Sox.[26] Meanwhile, he was the focal point of derision from the fans of opposing teams on the road—especially when he faced the Mets in spring training of 1987—and during his first regular-season at bat at Yankee Stadium.[27] He made his 2,500th career hit on May 19, an RBI single in a 4-1 road loss to the Kansas City Royals, but the Red Sox released Buckner on July 23 after he recorded a .273 batting average, 2 home runs, and 42 RBI in 75 games.[28]

Upon his release from the Red Sox, Buckner signed with the California Angels. For the remainder of the 1987 season, Buckner batted .306 and drove in 32 runs in 57 games. In 76 total games with the Angels, Buckner hit .288 with 3 home runs and 41 RBI.[14]

At 38 years old, Buckner was released by the Angels on May 9, 1988, just before a road trip that would have brought him to the east coast to face the Yankees and Red Sox. He signed with the Royals shortly after his release and walked into Fenway Park as a player for the opposing team for the first time on July 15. He went 1–for–2 off Roger Clemens with a walk.[29]

In 168 games with the Royals, Buckner hit .239 with 4 home runs and 50 RBI.[14]

Buckner returned to the Red Sox in 1990 as a free agent and received a standing ovation from the crowd during player introductions at the home opener on April 9.[30]

Buckner's last home run was against Kirk McCaskill on April 25, 1990 at Fenway Park, the only inside-the-park home run of his career. Despite being one of the slowest runners in baseball, the 40-year-old Buckner circled the bases in the fourth inning when Angels outfielder Claudell Washington crashed into Fenway's 3-foot high right-field wall and somersaulted into the front row of seats.[31]

His return was short-lived; he retired on June 5 with a .186 batting average, 1 home run, and 3 RBI that season. In 526 career games with Boston, Buckner hit .279 with 48 home runs, 112 doubles, and 324 RBI.[14]

Buckner died on May 27, 2019, of Lewy body dementia at the age of 69.[43] He was surrounded by his family members at the time of his death.[44]

In a statement, Buckner's family said, "Bill fought with courage and grit as he did all things in life. Our hearts are broken but we are at peace knowing he is in the arms of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."[45] Buckner's funeral service was held at Calvary Chapel in Boise, Idaho.[46]