Bill Buckner

William Joseph "Bill" Buckner (born December 14, 1949) is a former Major League Baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, California Angels and Kansas City Royals. His playing career lasted over twenty years and he accumulated over 2700 career hits.

Buckner was born in Vallejo, California, United States. He was the second player chosen by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1968 June Draft (after his friend Bobby Valentine was selected first). Before entering MLB, Buckner briefly attended the University of Southern California, where he never played sports; he was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. Buckner played his first major league game in 1969 with the Los Angeles Dodgers (at the age of 19) and his last game in 1990 (at the age of 40) with the Boston Red Sox. He won the National League batting title in 1980 with the Chicago Cubs. He was an All-Star in 1981. Buckner was the first major league player to wear Nike high-top baseball cleats professionally, preceding by a number of years the waves of major leaguers wearing high-tops starting in 1989.

For his entire career, "Billy Buck" was known as one of the more consistent contact hitters in the major leagues: in 2,517 games, Buckner accumulated 2,715 hits and only 453 strikeouts. He led the league four times in most at bats per strike out (1980, 1982, 1985, 1986), and four times placed second in the category (1979, 1981, 1983, 1987).