Buckner, who first came up in 1969 as a 19-year-old, hit .314 in 1974, with 182 hits and 31 stolen bases for the National League champs, even getting a little MVP attention when the year was over.
He would go on to have a borderline Hall of Fame 22-year career which included a batting crown in 1980 when he hit .324 while playing for the Chicago Cubs, as well as three 100-RBI seasons, his last two as a member of the Boston Red Sox.
By the time he retired in 1990, becoming one of those rare four-decade players, Buckner finished with a very nice .289 career average, with 2715 hits, 174 homers and a surprising 183 stolen bases over 2517 games and 9397 at-bats.
Extremely underrated career that has been marred by one play, which sadly seems to be the way it goes in professional sports. Sad.
