Here’s
a 1977 “Traded” card for former all-star and batting champ Bill
Buckner, who found himself in the “Windy City” after starting his career
with the Los Angeles Dodgers, although I swear it looks like Tim Blackwell. But the source of this photo swears it is indeed "Billy Buck":
Traded in January, “Billy Buck” went on to have an excellent time as a
Cub, topping .300 four of his seven seasons there, even winning the
National League batting title in 1980 when he hit .324.
It was a big trade that included Ivan DeJesus going to Chicago with Buckner while Rick Monday went West to L.A.
Now I’m not going to talk about “that moment” in 1986 because I feel it
unjustly takes away from a great 22-year career that saw him collect
2715 hits, 498 doubles, over 1000 runs scored and runs batted in with a
.289 lifetime average.
He also topped 100 RBI’s in a season three times, each time with LESS
than 20 home runs, a rare feat in the modern game, while also collecting
200 hits in both the N.L. and A.L. (1982 with the Cubs, 1985 with the
Red Sox).
Not necessarily a borderline Hall of Famer, but if there was such a thing, a “borderline-borderline-HOF’er” at the very least!
For what it’s worth, he is also one of the handful of players whose career spanned four decades: 1960’s-1990’s.
Great player....