RIP Bill Buckner - Dead at 69

[Dan Gould]

https://sports.yahoo.com/red-sox-legend-bill-buckner-dies-at-age-69-from-dementia-per-report-175409047.html

I'd say too soon but I had no idea he suffered from dementia, so actually glad to know that whatever he endured, its over now.

Great ballplayer.  And while many cursed him for years after '86, when I finally opened the champagne bottle I had been working on while Game 6 fell apart, me and my neighbor drank a toast to Billy Buck - the Red Sox wouldn't have gotten where they did without him that year.

[Eric]

Wow, seems way too young, both to have passed and to have suffered from dementia.  RIP and condolences to his family, friends and fans.

Edited May 28, 2019 by Eric

[Matthew]

That does seem too young, and the poor guy suffered a lot because of his illness, and of just one play in his career. I was a red-hot Dodger fan back in the day, and remember him with the Dodgers, and he was good, in 108 games when he was 21. Though, in today's game, he would be looked upon as not so good, the wrong kind of stats, but it was a different game back when dinosaurs ruled the earth. RIP to a very good player.

[Dan Gould]

Yeah I called him a great player and was a little surprised to see that for his career his OPS+ was exactly 100. meaning that he was exactly league average.

He didn't get on base that much, and didn't have enough pop to hit many homers, but damn, 2700+ hits is nothing to sneeze at. And he was a doubles machine in his prime, and nearly impossible to strikeout his entire career (never K'd 40 times in a season, never struck out three times in a game - ever. Even Tony Gwynn had that happen once).  So he wasn't much for the walk - strikeout - homer outcome of today, but I'll take Billy Buck in his prime any day of the week.  I bet if he'd come to Boston straight from the Dodgers we'd be talking about the death of a Hall of Famer - he surely could have reached 3000 hits peppering the ball off the Monster from age 27 to 33, instead of 34-37.

 

[Brad]

He had something called Lewy Body Dementia.  See https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lewy-body-dementia/symptoms-causes/syc-20352025

RIP. Only 69. What a shame. 

[sonnymax]

Typical onset of Lewy body dementia is between the ages of 50 and 85. It's a particularly nasty form of dementia, combining many of the symptoms of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. After this kind of long struggle, may his rest be truly peaceful.

Edited May 27, 2019 by sonnymax

[Brad]

Keith Hernández tweeted the following today:

I am so saddened to hear of Bill Buckner’s death at who had been suffering from dementia.  69 years is too young. I know from my mother who also suffered from dementia, that he is in a better place. Bill and I battled to the last day of the 1980 season for the batting title.