Billy Buckner passed away

[jersey cubs fan]

 

 

He was one of, if not the first cubs player I remember from childhood

[Sammy Sofa]

horsefeathers, dead of dementia at only 69? That's terrible.

[jersey cubs fan]

[Tim]

Well, horsefeathers.

 

Absolutely one of my favorites when I was a kid.

[PackLandVA]

Bill Buckner is and always will be my absolute favorite baseball player. In a time when the Cubs weren't very good, he was a bright spot. I learned to switch hit, fashioning my 'wiffle ball" swing and stance after #22. Even had a black wiffle bat.

 

#22 RIP

[PackLandVA]

Bill Buckner played 22 MLB seasons, and he never walked or struck out more than 40 times in any of them.

[NewUserName]

He was my favorite player until I started reading Bill James. Then I had an irrational dislike for him, but have come back around.

[Stu]

I remember being totally bummed about Bill Madlock being traded away, and then Buckner showed up and quickly filled that void for me. Loved watching him hit -- the crazy thing was he basically never struck out

[Backtobanks]

He was my favorite player until I started reading Bill James. Then I had an irrational dislike for him, but have come back around.

 

 

He was a great player and fun to watch, but the sabermetrics fans weren't kind to him. It also shows how the game has changed - now everybody swings for the fences and and strikes out a ton. As a Cub (7 seasons) he struck out a total of 158 times in almost 4000 PA. Now 158 Ks in 1 season is pretty normal.

[Sammy Sofa]

Whenever I watch baseball with my dad, one of his most common refrains if a Cubs batter has two strikes is how he wants them to, "just make some contact," regardless of whether it's a situation where making a contact out instead of striking out means anything. Some people just still get their back up if a guy strikes out, like that's somehow worse than if he pops out or weakly grounds out.

[Backtobanks]

Whenever I watch baseball with my dad, one of his most common refrains if a Cubs batter has two strikes is how he wants them to, "just make some contact," regardless of whether it's a situation where making a contact out instead of striking out means anything. Some people just still get their back up if a guy strikes out, like that's somehow worse than if he pops out or weakly grounds out.

 

You mentioned popping out or a weak ground ball, but making contact also could be a sacrifice fly, a fielder's choice, or an error all of which are preferable to striking out. Let's not forget that with some crazy winds, a pop out could drop in for a hit.

[cl smooth]

Whenever I watch baseball with my dad, one of his most common refrains if a Cubs batter has two strikes is how he wants them to, "just make some contact," regardless of whether it's a situation where making a contact out instead of striking out means anything. Some people just still get their back up if a guy strikes out, like that's somehow worse than if he pops out or weakly grounds out.

 

my dad would say the same thing. guy strikes out: "he was guessing up there. protect the plate!"

[Bertz]

I had wondered why Buckner had stopped coming through each year to do an inning with Len and JD and sing the stretch.

 

He's so young I never considered anything remotely this bad. Holy hell, poor guy.

[David]

Whenever I watch baseball with my dad, one of his most common refrains if a Cubs batter has two strikes is how he wants them to, "just make some contact," regardless of whether it's a situation where making a contact out instead of striking out means anything. Some people just still get their back up if a guy strikes out, like that's somehow worse than if he pops out or weakly grounds out.

 

You mentioned popping out or a weak ground ball, but making contact also could be a sacrifice fly, a fielder's choice, or an error all of which are preferable to striking out. Let's not forget that with some crazy winds, a pop out could drop in for a hit.

 

or it could be a double play which is twice as bad as striking out...or a triple play which is 3 times as bad!

 

 

just guessing here but i'm pretty sure mojo knew all of those things were also possible when he made his point

[David]

espn's bottom line scroll had his 86 error as the first thing mentioned next to his death announcement. ridiculously shitty.

[Sammy Sofa]

Whenever I watch baseball with my dad, one of his most common refrains if a Cubs batter has two strikes is how he wants them to, "just make some contact," regardless of whether it's a situation where making a contact out instead of striking out means anything. Some people just still get their back up if a guy strikes out, like that's somehow worse than if he pops out or weakly grounds out.

 

You mentioned popping out or a weak ground ball, but making contact also could be a sacrifice fly, a fielder's choice, or an error all of which are preferable to striking out. Let's not forget that with some crazy winds, a pop out could drop in for a hit.

 

or it could be a double play which is twice as bad as striking out...or a triple play which is 3 times as bad!

 

 

just guessing here but i'm pretty sure mojo knew all of those things were also possible when he made his point

 

Right. One would have thought he might have caught this in my post:

 

regardless of whether it's a situation where making a contact out instead of striking out means anything

 

I figured that made it clear I was saying my dad is ridiculously rooting for them to "just make contact" AKA a contact out is better than a strikeout regardless of whether there's anyone on base or not.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Dad's are funny. Mine is steadfast in his belief that momentum is real and losing the first game of a 3-game set means you've basically lost the series. I mean the amount of texts I've gotten from my dad talking about the standings at this point in the season is completely ridiculous. But we've lost all momentum and our division lead is shrinking, he screams. I feel like a dick sometimes when I'm just like calm the F down. You've been watching this game for 30 more years than I have and you should know that standings-watching in May is good for nothing aside from an ulcer. The season is so horsefeathering long. He also doesn't really comprehend how good the division has gotten over the last 3 years. We are so far removed from the division we were able to take to the woodshed in 2016. And that's a good thing, to me. I like that our division is easily the most competitive one in the league. There is tons of talent in this division (6 of the NL top 10 is ludicrous) and when we win it, it will be all the more sweeter.

 

I didn't watch the Cubs in the Buckner era so I apologize if I don't mourn in the same way some of you are, and I hope my rant doesn't offend anyone, being so off-topic.

 

RIP

[Stu]

One of the funniest CYE episodes ever was in NY when Larry David threw Buck a ball and of course he fumbled it.

[Backtobanks]

Whenever I watch baseball with my dad, one of his most common refrains if a Cubs batter has two strikes is how he wants them to, "just make some contact," regardless of whether it's a situation where making a contact out instead of striking out means anything. Some people just still get their back up if a guy strikes out, like that's somehow worse than if he pops out or weakly grounds out.

 

You mentioned popping out or a weak ground ball, but making contact also could be a sacrifice fly, a fielder's choice, or an error all of which are preferable to striking out. Let's not forget that with some crazy winds, a pop out could drop in for a hit.

 

or it could be a double play which is twice as bad as striking out...or a triple play which is 3 times as bad!

 

 

 

 

Making contact has the possibility of something happening (more good than bad) while striking out offers nothing.

[jersey cubs fan]

 

You mentioned popping out or a weak ground ball, but making contact also could be a sacrifice fly, a fielder's choice, or an error all of which are preferable to striking out. Let's not forget that with some crazy winds, a pop out could drop in for a hit.

 

or it could be a double play which is twice as bad as striking out...or a triple play which is 3 times as bad!

 

 

 

 

Making contact has the possibility of something happening (more good than bad) while striking out offers nothing.

You just pretend double plays don't exist.

 

Cool.

[woodchip2153]

 

You mentioned popping out or a weak ground ball, but making contact also could be a sacrifice fly, a fielder's choice, or an error all of which are preferable to striking out. Let's not forget that with some crazy winds, a pop out could drop in for a hit.

 

or it could be a double play which is twice as bad as striking out...or a triple play which is 3 times as bad!

 

 

 

 

Making contact has the possibility of something happening (more good than bad) while striking out offers nothing.

 

What about dropped third strikes? check and mate.

[Stu]

Larry David explaining how he got Buckner on Curb

 

[Sammy Sofa]

 

or it could be a double play which is twice as bad as striking out...or a triple play which is 3 times as bad!

 

 

 

 

Making contact has the possibility of something happening (more good than bad) while striking out offers nothing.

 

What about dropped third strikes? check and mate.

 

BRB; just figured out Backtobanks is my dad.

 

[squally1313]

And of course 'protecting the plate' and 'putting the ball in play' would obviously still mean you would never do something like swing at ball four, which has a (checks notes) 100% success rate of getting on base.

[Backtobanks]

 

or it could be a double play which is twice as bad as striking out...or a triple play which is 3 times as bad!

 

 

 

 

Making contact has the possibility of something happening (more good than bad) while striking out offers nothing.

You just pretend double plays don't exist.

 

Cool.

 

 

As long as you pretend that homers, triples, doubles, singles, errors, fielder's choice, sacrifices, etc. don't exist.