Bill Buckner obit

Baseball great Bill Buckner dead at 69

He was not on the list.


Bill Buckner, a baseball stalwart who compiled 2,715 hits for five different teams over a 22-year career, died Monday. He was 69.

In a statement to ESPN, Buckner's widow, Jody, said that her husband had suffered from Lewy Body Dementia.

"Bill fought with courage and grit as he did all things in life," Jody Buckner said. "Our hearts are broken but we are at peace knowing he is in the arms of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

A Bay Area native, Bucker broke into the big leagues with the Los Angeles Dodgers, with whom he played the first eight years of his career. Dealt to the Chicago Cubs prior to the 1977 season, Buckner spent his most productive seasons on the North Side of Chicago. He was an All-Star in 1981 and finished in the top 20 of MVP voting four times -- in 1978, 1980, 1981 and 1982.

In May 1984, the Cubs dealt Bucker to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for star closer Dennis Eckersley and utility infielder Mike Brumley. Two and a half years later, Buckner would be front and center for one of the most infamous moments in baseball history.

In Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, the Red Sox held a 5-3 lead over the New York Mets entering the bottom of the 10th inning and were three outs away from claiming their first title since 1918. Red Sox manager John McNamara kept Bucker at first base for the 10th inning, rather than pulling him for defensive replacement Dave Stapleton.

Reliever Calvin Schiraldi retired the first two Mets hitters, then allowed three consecutive singles that cut the Boston lead to 5-4. Bob Stanley relieved Schiraldi and threw a wild pitch that allowed Kevin Mitchell to score the tying run. Three pitches later, Mookie Wilson hit a slow ground ball up the first base line. Buckner hobbled over to play the ball, only to see it skip under his glove and into right field as Ray Knight raced around third to score the winning run for New York.

The Mets won Game 7 two days later and the Red Sox championship drought would continue until 2004. Though his teammates refused to blame Buckner for the error, many Boston fans did and Buckner was released in May 1987.

Buckner played for the California Angels and Kansas City Royals before returning to the Red Sox for the start of the 1990 season. However, injuries and ineffectiveness at the plate led to his release in June of that year. Buckner and his family later moved from Massachusetts to Idaho due to ongoing fan and media criticism of his actions on that October night at Shea Stadium.

Time, a change in the Red Sox ownership and the Red Sox success in the new millennium helped heal the wounds of 1986. Buckner made a triumphant return to Fenway Park in 2008 to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a home opener at which the Red Sox celebrated their second World Series title in four years.

"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," Buckner said at the time. "So, you know, I've done that and I'm over that."

Former Mets and Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine, a teammate of Buckner with the Dodgers, tweeted: "I know I will always remember Billy Buck as a great hitter and a better friend. He deserved better."

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.

In the 1974 episode of the TV series Emergency! entitled “Nagging Suspicion,” Buckner is mentioned as “batting .300” by one of the fire fighters reading the newspaper. The series is set in Los Angeles and at the time Buckner was playing for the Dodgers. Charlie Sheen purchased the "Buckner Ball" at auction in 1992 for $93,000, and for a long time, it resided in the collection of songwriter and Mets fan Seth Swirsky, who refers to it as the "Mookie Ball". The ball was on loan for a time from Swirsky to the Mets to display in their Hall of Fame and Museum, and it was among the most popular artifacts for fans to see. On May 3, 2012, Swirsky sold the ball through Heritage Auctions for $418,250.

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". 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.

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.

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 minors he played for the Odgen Dodgers, Spokane Indians and Albuquerque Dodgers. He also coached the Brockton Red Sox.

Teams

Los Angeles Dodgers (1969–1976)

Chicago Cubs (1977–1984)

Boston Red Sox (1984–1987)

California Angels (1987–1988)

Kansas City Royals (1988–1989)

Boston Red Sox (1990)

Career highlights and awards

All-Star (1981)

NL batting champion (1980)

Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame