It's sad that Buckner will always be remembered like that. Careerwise, he was a rung or two below being a Hall-of-Famer. I followed the Red Sox daily in 1985 and 1986, and believe me, they won more games with his 213 RBI in those two seasons than they did with Rice's 212 RBI. Not only was he clutch at the plate, he was the best reckless baserunner I have ever seen. You wouldn't believe how many time he ran through a stop sign and the cutoff man would be so dumbfounded to see him advancing that he would throw the ball away. That happened about half a dozen times one year.
Buckner also knew how to play team baseball. I remember that if a ball was in play behind him when he was running the bases, he'd always look to the third base coach for directions instead of looking back, which would have slowed him down, but the numb Red Sox base coaches usually didn't even bother to signal the baserunners.
For those who don't remember or don't remember correctly, 1) Buckner didn't bobble or kick the ground ball. He put his glove where the ball was supposed to bounce but it did not come up, and, 2) the game was already tied before that play happened.
This is from Buckner's Wikipedia entry:
Buckner appeared in all 162 games for the Red Sox in 1985, and batted .299 with sixteen home runs and a career high 110 RBIs in the number two spot in Boston's line-up. Buckner was a prototypical contact hitter, and struck out just 36 times in 718 plate appearances to lead the league in that category (he also led the league in most at bats per strike out in 1980, 1982 & 1986, and placed second in 1979, 1981, 1983 & 1987). In 1985, he also set the Major League record for assists by a first baseman in a season with his 184th assist. His record stood for almost 25 years, in 2009, Albert Pujols broke the record with 185 assists by a first baseman.
In September 1986, Buckner hit .340 with eight home runs and 22 RBIs, while missing just three games in spite of chronic ankle soreness.
Near the end of Buckner's career Jim Dwyer cheap-shotted him by needlessly, deliberately colliding with him at first base which resulted in a hip injury that slowed Buckner up enough that it accelerated his retirement. Buckner has said that until that collision, he was holding up well enough physically to believe he had a shot at accumulating 3,000 hits. If Buckner had made it to 3,000 hits, he might have become the first player to do so but not get into the Hall of Fame.
For right now, my Red Sox pick is Nancy Drew, though Mark Clear was a hoot. He threw frisbees to the plate that simply couldn't be controlled, and I remember that he was up to fifty-something successful steals against at one point.
