Bill Buckner

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William Joseph "Bill" Buckner (born December 14, 1949 in Vallejo, California, USA) is a former Major League Baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, California Angels and Kansas City Royals.

Contents 1 Career 2 1986 World Series 3 Retirement and legacy 4 References in popular culture 5 Trivia 6 See also 7 Quotes 8 References 9 External links

[edit] 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 won the National League batting title in 1980 with the Chicago Cubs. He was an All-Star in 1981. 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 1989, and wore a pair in game six of the 1986 World Series.

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 led the league four times in most at bats per strike out (1980, 1982, 1985, 1986), and four times placed second in the category (1979, 1981, 1983, 1987).

As a 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.

[edit] 1986 World Series

On October 25, 1986, the Boston Red Sox faced the New York Mets in game 6 of the World Series. Boston led the best-of-7 series 3 games to 2, and had a two-run lead with two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning. New York came back to tie the game with three straight singles off Calvin Schiraldi and a wild pitch by pitcher Bob Stanley. Mookie Wilson fouled off several pitches before hitting a ground ball to Buckner at first base. The ball bounced 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, forcing a seventh game, which the Mets won two nights later.

Buckner's error capped off a very poor overall Game 6 performance for the first baseman; he went 0-for-5 with runners on in all five at-bats in that game, the only player to do so until the Yankees' Hideki Matsui in the 2005 ALDS.

Buckner has denied any lingering bitterness over his error, 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. In game 5 of the Championship Series when the Red Sox faced elimination, he singled to start their ninth inning rally capped off by Dave Henderson's famous home run.

[edit] Retirement and legacy

After Buckner retired from professional baseball he moved his family to Boise, Idaho, where he invested in real estate: one of the housing subdivisions which he developed is named Fenway Park. He also owns Bill Buckner Motors in Emmett, ID.

The "Buckner Ball" was later auctioned for $93,000. The high bidder was Charlie Sheen. The ball is now in the collection of Seth Swirsky, who refers to it as the "Mookie Ball."

Buckner also played a supporting role in another of baseball's milestones, as the Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder seen climbing the fence in an attempt to catch Hank Aaron's 715th home run on April 8, 1974.

According to some Red Sox players, following their victory in the 2004 World Series, Bill Buckner was one of the first persons called by members of the team.

On June 27, 2006, the Red Sox had a reunion of the 1986 players during the game at Fenway Park. Although Buckner could not attend, fans cheered and applauded when his name was shown on the center-field video board.

[edit] References in popular culture

Boston poet John Hodges wrote a poem titled Forgiving Buckner. The poem starts out, The world is always rolling between our legs..., a clear reference to Buckner's error.

Boston band Slide named their debut album Forgiving Buckner.

In The Simpsons episode, Brother's Little Helper, Bart gives Homer a book, titled Chicken Soup for the Loser, which, according to Bart, inspired Buckner to open a chain of laundromats.

In the film Rounders, as Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) walks into the cardroom where, earlier in the film he had lost $30,000, he says, "I feel like Buckner, walking back into Shea."

In the movie Stuck on You, an obnoxious antagonist yells "Hey boys from Beantown, say hello to Billy Buckner!" The comment immediately triggers a fight.

On Ally McBeal (which takes place in Boston), when Ally was having one of her manic spells, she rattled off a long list of incidents leading to tragedies in her life. One of them was "ground ball towards first base."

The 2005 movie Game 6 is about a playwright who misses opening night of his Broadway play to watch Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.

The Buckner incident was chronicled in an episode of VH1's I Love The 80's. ESPN's Stuart Scott stated that "you can't mention the name Buckner in Boston without seeing a person cringe".

In the movie Celtic Pride Dan Aykroyd's character is trying to stop Damon Wayans' character from escaping and his gun accidentally goes off. When Wayans expresses disbelief, Akroyd replies, "I'll say. That's my Bill Buckner baseball (which he just put a hole in)."

In the liner notes of Denis Leary's No Cure for Cancer CD, Bill Buckner is thanked.

In the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode "Manos: The Hands of Fate", one of the characters mentions The Master's resemblence to Buckner.

It is a joke that the nickname for the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge is "The Bill Buckner Bridge" as cars pass through the bridge's Y-shaped "legs."^[1][2]

In ABC’s “Boston Legal” episode “Live Big” Character Ivan Tiggs says “Bill Buckner” to his fiancé Missy to snap her out of a laughing fit inspired by Shirley Schmidt.

[edit] Trivia

• Buckner was wearing a Chicago Cubs batting glove underneath his fielding mitt when he committed the infamous Game 6 error^[3].

• Buckner also participated in another iconic baseball moment; on Hank Aaron's record-breaking 715th home run, Buckner (playing left field for the Dodgers at the time) could be seen trying to climb over the fence to make the catch.

[edit] See also

• Top 500 home run hitters of all time
• List of major league players with 2,000 hits

[edit] Quotes

"Bill Buckner was more than just a great player. He was a champion warrior." -Ray Knight

[edit] References

1. ^ Fabrizio, Richard (2003-07-27). Company begins Memorial Bridge assessment soon. Portsmouth Herald. Retrieved on 2007-02-06.
2. ^ Pegoraro, Rob (2005-07-11). Fast Forward. The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2007-02-06.
3. ^ - ESPN.com Page 2: Photo reveals double curse in '86

[edit] External links

• The Top 10 Boston Sports Stories
• See a video and the actual ball that went through Buckner's legs on Seth.com
• Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
• Video of the ball going through Buckner's legs in the 1986 World Series
• 1986 World Series Game 6 Re-Enacted in RBI Baseball - A popular viral video depicting Buckner's infamous error using RBI Baseball for video and Vin Scully's original play-by-play for audio.
• The Sporting News' Baseball's 25 Greatest Moments: E-3
• Newsday: The Buckner Ball, August 16, 2006
• Billbuckner.com

Preceded by Dave Parker	National League Batting Champion 1980	Succeeded by Bill Madlock
Preceded by Mike Schmidt	National League Player of the Month August 1982	Succeeded by Claudell Washington