All You Need to Know About Bill Buckner

Hugh Atkins

I was saddened to see the news of the passing of Bill Buckner on Memorial Day. Buckner played 22 seasons of Major League Baseball, beginning with one at-bat at the end of the season in 1969 with the Los Angeles Dodgers and ending in 1990 with his second tour of duty with the Boston Red Sox. Along the way Buckner also made stops with the Chicago Cubs, California Angels, and Kansas City Royals.

Buckner was not a slugger, but he was a good, steady hitter. His biggest season for home runs was 1986 when he hit 18 for the Red Sox; he finished his career with 174. Buckner drove in more than 100 runs three times, and he won a batting title, hitting .324 with the Cubs in 1980. Contact was Buckner’s game. He never struck out more than 39 times in a season and never walked more than 40.

© T.C.G.

Buckner was a part-time player for the Dodgers in 1970 and ‘71 but became a regular during the 1972 season. He hit .319 that year, .275 in 1973, and .314 in 1974, helping the Dodgers to the World Series. Buckner makes a cameo appearance in baseball history hanging atop the left-field fence in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium as home run number 715 by Henry Aaron sailed into the Braves’ bullpen.

Buckner’s career took a turn for the worse in April of 1975. He hung his spikes on the second-base bag on a steal attempt and shredded his right ankle. Buckner was out of action for almost a month, came back and hobbled through the rest of the season, and finished the year with a .243 batting average. From that point on, Buckner was known for his limp and his high-top cleats.

Buckner bounced back and hit .301 in 1976, but the Dodgers traded him to the Cubs during the offseason for Rick Monday. Buckner had seven good years for the Cubs but was off to a slow start in 1984 when they traded him to the Red Sox for Dennis Eckersley.

Buckner’s first two seasons in Boston were the most productive of his career. In 1985, he hit .299 with 16 home runs and 110 RBIs. The following season, Buckner’s average dropped to .267, but he hit 18 homers and drove in 102 runs. He played in his second World Series that fall, but the team fell one game short, losing to the New York Mets.

The Red Sox traded Buckner to the Angels midway through the 1987 season. He hit .306 for his new team and finished the year with a .286 average with five homes and 74 RBIs. It would be Buckner’s last decent year.

© 2001 FLEER/SKYBOX

The Angels sent Buckner to the Royals during the 1988 season, and by 1990 he was back in Boston for an encore with the Red Sox.

I’m not sure how Buckner’s career stacks up using today’s modern metrics. Since he hit mostly line drives, his launch angle probably wasn’t much to write home about, and his highest WAR (wins above replacement) was 3.7 in 1982. His WAR for 1986, the year he helped the Red Sox make it all the way to Game 7 of the World Series, was -0.3–that’s negative 0.3. How can that be? That makes it look as if the Red Sox would have been better off with Max Patkin, the Clown Prince of Baseball, playing first base for them.

Bill Buckner was a joy to watch. He wrapped up his career with a .289 batting average and 2,715 hits. And at 69 years old, he died way too young.

(All statistics are from baseball-reference.com.)