(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Chicago Cubs)
IN MEMORIAM
...Bill Buckner...
(1949 - 2019)
(© Photo: Chicago Cubs) |
 Former Major League-veteran Bill Buckner passed away
Nederlands
 BOISE, Idaho (USA) -
Former first baseman and outfielder Bill Buckner, who played in the Major League for 22 seasons for five clubs, passed away on Monday (May 27) at the age of 69 after a battle with Lewy Body Dementia.
William Joseph Buckner was born on December 14, 1949 in Vallejo, California.
In his 22-year Major League-career, Bill Buckner played for Los Angeles Dodgers (1969-1976), Chicago Cubs (1977-1984), Boston Red Sox (1984-1987), California Angels (1987-1988), Kansas City Royals (1988-1989) and again Boston (1990).
In his long and productive career, Buckner collected 2,715 basehits, including 174 homeruns.
He played in 2,517 games, batted .289, scored 1,077 runs and batted in 1,208.
Buckner won the American League-batting title in 1980, hitting .324.
In 1981, Buckner played in the All Star Game.
Despite having a successful career, Buckner will mostly be remembered by many for his error during the 1986 World Series.
That year, Boston Red Sox played against New York Mets in the Championship Final and was leading 3-2 after five games.
In Game 6, at Shea Stadium in New York, Boston was one out away from victory and winning the World Series for the first time in 68 years.
In the top of the 10th, Boston scored twice to take a 5-3 lead.
In the bottom of the 10th, the first two Mets-batters were retired.
Gary Carter and pinch-hitter Kevin Mitchell then singled.
Next batter Ray Knight then got to an 0-2 count, meaning Boston was one strike away from the win.
But Knight singled to bring in Carter.
With Mitchell on third base and Knight on first, Mookie Wilson was the next batter and Bob Stanley took over the pitching.
He got to 2-2 count and so, Boston again was one stike away from victory.
Stanley then threw a wild pitch that enabled Mitchell to score the tying run, while Knight moved to second base.
On Stanley's tenth pitch to Wilson, the batter hit a a slow roller towards Bill Buckner, who was the first baseman for Boston.
The veteran player moved to the foul line to field the ball, but it went through his legs.
Knight scored from second base and New York won the game, 6-5.
The next day, New York Mets won 8-5 to win the World Series.
That year, New York was managed by Davey Johnson, who in 2003 was a member of the coaching-staff of the Netherlands National Baseball Team.
With Boston's loss, the famous 'Curse of the Bambino' continued.
Boston finally won the World Series again in 2004 for the first time since 1918.
Bill Buckner was drafted in 1968 by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
After making his debut in the Rookie League in 1968, he quickly promoted.
In 1969, Buckner played in Double-A and Triple-A, then made his Major League-debut in September of that year.
As a player of Los Angeles, Buckner also was involved in another historical moment.
On April 8, 1974, he played in leftfield and then tried to catch a ball hit by Hank Aaron of Atlanta Braves.
The ball was out of his reach and went over the fence for Aaron's record-setting 715th homerun, which broke the all-time record of legendary Babe Ruth.
After the 1976 season, Buckner was traded to Chicago Cubs.
There, he moved from the outfield to play at first base, which then became his main position for the remainder of his career.
In May 1984, Chicago traded Buckner to Boston Red Sox.
In 1985, Buckner played in all 162 regular season-games for Boston, hitting .299 with 16 homeruns and 110 runs batted in.
Buckner was a solid contact hitter and difficult to strikeout.
He led the league or was second in fewest strikeouts in eight times.
In July 1987, Buckner was released by Boston.
He then was signed by California Angels for whom he played the remainder of the 1987 season.
In May 1988, Buckner was released again, but then signed with Kansas City Royals.
Buckner became a Free Agent after the 1989 season.
At age 40, he returned to Boston Red Sox where he played in his last Major League-season in 1990.
On Opening Day 1990, Buckner received a standing ovation from the Red Sox-fans, who four years early had been very angry because of his error.
Buckner, who had ankle problems since surgeries in 1975 and 1976, hit an inside-the-park-homerun for Boston on April 25, 1990.
That also was the last homerun in his career.
Buckner retired on June 5, 1990.
After having retired, Bill Buckner, who was a beloved player and teammate, worked for the player development staff of Chicago Cubs.
In 2011, he was the Manager of Brockton Rox in the independent Can-Am League.
The following year, Buckner was the Hitting Instructor of Boise Hawks, the Single-A team of Colorado Rockies, which played in his home-town Boise.
He retired from baseball in March 2014.
(May 27)
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