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Bill Buckner, RIP

“The dreams are that you’re gonna have a great series and win. The nightmares are that you’re gonna let the winning run score on a ground ball through your legs. Those things happen, you know. I think a lot of it is just fate.” -Bill Buckner, 19 days before Game Six of the 1986 World Series.

Maybe that’s the best explanation. It was just fate…

All baseball fans were saddened to learn the other day of the passing of Bill Buckner at age 69 following battles with dementia. Anyone who saw Bill play for any extended time knew he was a “gamer”:  A terrific hitter who played hurt and played hard. For me, the news was all the more shocking as I just saw him two months ago on March 25 signing autographs at the Cubs-Red Sox spring training game in Arizona. To my recollection, he seemed fine that day.

In the featured photo above, we see Bill Buckner early in his career with the Dodgers with Tommy Lasorda, Steve Garvey, and Bobby Valentine.

Bill was always easily identifiable with his bushy eyebrows and the full mustache that he wore for more of his career. Cub fans like myself can still remember him hobbling along on the base paths with sore ankles that never seemed to heal. How many guys today would still be in the lineup game-after-game? And yet, “Billy Buck” was there, even leading the league in hitting in 1980 with a .324 average in spite of the nagging injury.

Words of praise for Buckner came from all across the baseball world at the time of his passing, including some current members of the Cubs: Wilson Contreras, Albert Almora, and Kris Bryant, all of whom had Buckner as a hitting coach in the early stages of their careers. Contreras elaborated on his feelings for Buckner:

“He meant a whole lot to me. He was a great friend, a great coach. He was sincere and humble. He taught me a lot of things to do with baseball and life. And I appreciated everything he did for me, and he is one of the reasons I am where I am now. I made sure I let him know that every time I saw him. He’s always going to be in my heart and thoughts and hopefully, he’s in a better place now.”

Among the many tributes to Bill was one from Chicago sportswriter Steve Greenberg who grew up watching Buckner play on Chicago’s Northside. Steve got yelled at by his little league coaches for unnecessarily limping down the first base line. “I just couldn’t help it. It was an homage to the coolest Cub of the time, at least in my book, Bill Buckner.”

Bill played 22 seasons (1969-1990) in the majors for the Dodgers, Cubs, Red Sox, Angles, and Royals. Over his career, he hit .289, with 1077 runs, 174 home runs, and 1208 RBIs. He hit over .300 eight times. His 2715 career hits currently rank 66^th all-time and is ahead of many Hall-of-Famers. A great contact hitter, he struck out only 453 times in 10037 plate appearances. From 1977 to 1982, he averaged only 21 strikeouts per season.

I’ve always hated baseball “scapegoats.” To me, baseball is fun, entertainment, pure escapism. Sure we all get emotionally attached to our teams, but you never want to see anyone’s life affected negatively by an incident in a baseball game, either a player or a fan. And yet, we know it happens.  Bill Buckner, as fine a ballplayer as he was, had to live with the stigma of “blowing” Game Six of the 1986 World Series, even though there was another game to follow and there was plenty of blame to go around for the Red Sox loss. It nicely fit the narrative that the Red Sox were “cursed,” and somehow it was Buckner’s fault. Other scapegoats I can think of off the top of my head include Ernie Lombardi (1939), Mickey Owen (1941), Fred Snodgrass (1912), and Fred Merkle (1908), all fine ballplayers largely remembered for one high-profile misplay. And then there’s the tragic story of Steve Bartman.

It’s a testimony to Buckner’s strength of character that he was able to become friends with Mookie Wilson who hit the ball that led to the error. “We developed a friendship that lasted well over 30 years,” Wilson said after hearing of Bill Buckner’s passing. “I felt badly for some of the things he went through. Bill was a great, great baseball player whose legacy should not be defined by one play.”

We can largely blame the media for that, the same Boston media that booed Ted Williams a generation earlier.  Bill was able to overcome and forgive those who unjustly tormented him. He returned to Fenway Park to throw out the first ball of the 2008 season after the Red Sox won the World Series the previous fall. At the time, Bill said:

“In my heart, I had to forgive the media for what they put me and my family through. I’ve done that. I’m over that. I just try to think of the positives, the happy things, the friendships.”

A great ball player, a great human being, Buckner refused to let that moment define him. How many of us would be able to do the same? Bill’s wife Jody told ESPN: “Bill fought with courage and grit as he did all things in life. Our hearts are broken, but we’re at peace knowing he is in the arms of his Lord and Savior.

Rest in Peace, Bill Buckner.

Gary Livacari 

Photo Credits: All from Google search

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