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William Joseph Buckner (December 14, 1949 – May 27, 2019) was an American first baseman and left fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for five teams from through , most notably the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Boston Red Sox. Beginning his career as an outfielder with the Dodgers, Buckner helped the team to the pennant with a .314 batting average, but a serious ankle injury the next year led to his trade to the Cubs before the season. The Cubs moved him to first base, and he won the National League (NL) batting title with a .324 mark in 1980. He was named to the All-Star team the following year as he led the major leagues in doubles. After setting a major league record for first basemen with 159 assists in , Buckner surpassed that total with 161 in while again leading the NL in doubles. Feuds with team management over a loss of playing time resulted in him being traded to the Red Sox in the middle of the season.
During the season, Buckner started all 162 games and shattered his own record with 184 assists. Toward the end of the season, he was hobbled by leg injuries and struggled throughout the playoffs. His tenth-inning error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series against the New York Mets remains one of the most memorable plays in baseball history; it was long considered part of a curse on the Red Sox that kept them from winning the World Series for 86 years, and led to years of fan anger and public mockery that Buckner handled graciously before being embraced by Red Sox fans again after their 2004 World Series victory.
After spending his last few seasons with the California Angels, Kansas City Royals, and Red Sox, Buckner became the 21st player in major league history to play in four decades. He ended his career with 2,715 hits and 498 doubles, having batted over .300 seven times with three seasons of 100 runs batted in (RBI). Buckner led his league in assists four times, with his 1985 mark remaining the American League (AL) record. He retired with the fourth-most assists by a first baseman (1,351) in major league history despite not playing the position regularly until he was 27 years old. After retiring as a player, Buckner became a real estate developer in Idaho. He coached a number of Minor League Baseball (MiLB) teams before leaving baseball in 2014.
He graduated from Napa High School in 1968 after playing on the school's baseball and football teams. While playing football, he was a two-time All-State receiver and also achieved All-America honors twice.
As a baseball player at Napa High School, Buckner hit .667 in 1967 and .529 in 1968 under coach Dale Fisher. As a football player, Buckner is still in the Napa record lists for reception yards in a season (579), career reception yards (963), and career receptions (61). At first, Buckner contemplated attending Stanford or USC, but he eventually chose professional baseball instead.
Buckner was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second round of the 1968 Major League Baseball draft; his friend Bobby Valentine was the Dodgers' first-round pick. Upon signing with the Dodgers, Buckner was assigned to the Ogden Dodgers of the Pioneer League. He also briefly attended Los Angeles Valley College, USC and Arizona State University. He became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity while a farmhand with the Dodgers, and roomed with Valentine while attending USC after his first professional season.
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. 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.
Buckner spent April 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. He batted .257 in the final month, with 4 RBI and 5 runs scored.
Buckner suffered an injury on April 18 in the 1975 season that saw him flip over when his foot caught under the bag on an attempted slide. He gamely played the rest of the year hurt and had a tendon removed in September and bone chips removed in October. Ultimately, he never fully recovered from the injury, which saw him soak his feet in ice for multiple years before games.
In his Dodgers career, Buckner batted .289 with 38 home runs and 277 runs batted in in 773 games.
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 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. But when manager Herman Franks resigned late in the season, he made negative comments about several players, including calling Buckner "nuts".
In 1980 Buckner won the NL batting title with a .324 average. He also struck out only 18 times – once every 32 – batting in front of Kingman. Keith Hernandez (.321) and Garry Templeton (.319) finished just behind Buckner in the race for the NL batting title. 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, 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 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; 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.
Buckner appeared in all 162 games for the Red Sox in , 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 , and , and placed second in , , , and .) In 1985, he also extended his own major league record for assists in a season with 184.
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 eight home runs and 22 RBI, while missing just three games in spite of chronic ankle soreness. Dave Stapleton, the Red Sox first baseman before the acquisition of Buckner, began seeing more playing time as a late-inning defensive replacement in September and October. 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 games. He entered Game 5 of the 1986 American League Championship Series batting just .111 in the Series, and was zero for three in the game when he singled to start a ninth-inning rally which was capped off by Dave Henderson's famous home run.
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,Gibney, Alex (director, narrator). Simmons, Bill (producer/creator). Buckner, Bill (himself, commentator). "Catching Hell", 30 for 30 series of documentaries. ESPN, 2011. through his legs, and into shallow right field, allowing Ray Knight to score the winning run from second base. 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 Schiraldi in the seventh to take a 6–3 lead. Buckner was two for four in the game, and scored one of Boston's two runs in the eighth. However, the Mets also scored twice in the eighth, and won 8–5 for their second and most recent World Series championship.
In 168 games with the Royals, Buckner hit .239 with four home runs and 50 RBI.
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 three-foot high right-field wall and somersaulted into the front row of seats.
His return was short-lived; he retired on June 5 with a .186 batting average, one home run, and three RBI that season. In 526 career games with Boston, Buckner hit .279 with 48 home runs, 112 doubles, and 324 RBI.
On April 8, , Buckner threw out the first pitch to former teammate Dwight Evans at the Red Sox home opener as they unfurled their 2007 World Series championship banner. He received a two-minute standing ovation from the sell-out crowd. After the game, when asked if he had any second thoughts about appearing at the game, he said, "I really had to forgive, not the fans of Boston, per se, but I would have to say in my heart I had to forgive the media for what they put me and my family through. So, you know, I've done that and I'm over that."
On January 4, 2011, Buckner was named the manager of the Brockton Rox of the Can-Am League. The Rox posted a 51–42 record in 2011, but after the season, the Rox dropped the professional format to join the Futures Collegiate Baseball League.
In December 2011, Buckner became the hitting instructor for the Boise Hawks for the 2012 season. The Hawks were the Chicago Cubs affiliate in the Class A-Short Season Northwest League. "Cubs officially name Buckner as Boise hitting coach" Chicago Tribune – 2011-12-30 "Buckner will serve as Boise Hawks' hitting coach" The Idaho Statesman – 2011-12-31 Buckner announced his retirement from baseball on March 3, 2014. Buckner was inducted into the Napa High School Hall Of Fame in 1997 and the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2010.
Buckner was inducted into the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2008. "Shrine of the Eternals – Inductees" . Baseball Reliquary. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
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." Buckner's funeral service was held at Calvary Chapel in Boise, Idaho.
Buckner made a cameo appearance at the beginning of the sports parody film The Comebacks and was featured in an episode of the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm. He also made a cameo appearance in the pilot episode of the short-lived sitcom Inside Schwartz, advising the title character to "just let it go". In 1995, Buckner appeared along with Michael Jordan, Stan Musial, Willie Mays and Ken Griffey Jr. in a commercial for the shoemaker Nike in which Spike Lee, in character as Mars Blackmon, compares Jordan's baseball skills to Musial, Mays, Griffey and Buckner. The punch line is a visual reference to Buckner's 1986 World Series error. His famous 1986 World Series miscue is also referenced in the films Celtic Pride, Rounders, and Fever Pitch. The play is also referenced in an episode of The Simpsons titled "Brother's Little Helper" and in the musical Johnny Baseball. On October 23, 2008, during former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan's testimony in House hearings on the 2008 financial crisis, Representative John Yarmuth referred to Greenspan as one of "three Bill Buckners". Greenspan Admits Errors to Hostile House Panel, The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 24, 2008 (accessed Oct. 24, 2008) Buckner and Mookie Wilson appeared in an MLB Network commercial for the 2016 postseason, "Catching Up", marking the 30th anniversary of the 1986 World Series and their roles in it.Archived at Ghostarchive and the
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Buckner is mentioned in The Areas of My Expertise in a series of New England sports references. In the book, John Hodgman describes a (fictional) radio personality and recounts the premonition she had regarding Buckner's infamous error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.Hodgman, J: (2006). The Areas of My Expertise, Riverhead, page 96.
The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, in Boston, is colloquially referred to by locals as the Bill Buckner Bridge because traffic goes between the "legs" of the bridge, like Buckner's 1986 World Series fielding error. The nickname is now spoken fondly, since Buckner and Sox fans thought fondly of each other after the 2004 World Series win.
In the season 2, episode 16 episode of Boston Legal, Tom Selleck's fiancée needs to be reminded of a tragedy to break out of uncontrolled laughter. The first time this has to be done he reminds her that Bambi's mother was shot. The second time Selleck simply says, "Bill Buckner."
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