What years did Bill Buckner play?

Bill Buckner played in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1990.

Was Bill Buckner a pitcher?

No. Bill Buckner was a position player (First Baseman).

How many home runs did Bill Buckner hit?

Bill Buckner hit 174 career home runs with 2715 hits.

What was Bill Buckner's career batting average?

Bill Buckner batted .289 over his career, with 2,715 hits in 9,397 at bats.

How many RBI did Bill Buckner have?

Bill Buckner drove in 1,208 runs in his career.

Is Bill Buckner in the Hall of Fame?

No. Bill Buckner has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Bill Buckner

First Baseman · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1969-1990)

Bill Buckner was a first baseman who played in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1990 for 5 teams, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, a span of 22 seasons. In 2,517 career games, he hit .289 with 2,715 hits, 174 home runs, and 1,208 RBI. Bill Buckner was an All-Star. His career PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of offensive impact — is 4,914.

AVG (Batting Average):: Hits divided by at bats. .300 is the traditional mark of an excellent hitter.
HR (Home Runs):: Hits on which the batter circled the bases and scored, almost always by clearing the outfield fence.
RBI (Runs Batted In):: Runs that scored as a direct result of a batter's plate appearance.
OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging):: On-base percentage plus slugging percentage, the quickest single summary of offensive value. .900 or better is star-level.

Data updated September 8, 2026

AVG .289

HR 174

RBI 1,208

H 2,715

OPS .729

PIV 4,914

Position: First Baseman
Bats / Throws: L / L
Height / Weight: 6'0" / 185 lb
Born: 12/14/1949 in Vallejo, CA, USA
Died: 5/27/2019 in Boise, ID, USA
MLB Debut: 1969-09-21
Last Game: 1990-05-30
Awards: All-Star

Full name: William Joseph Buckner

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Career Batting Statistics

Bill Buckner — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
2,517	9,397	1,077	2,715	498	49	174	1,208	183	450	453	.289	.321	.408	.729	4,914

Career AVG .289 vs. league average .257 across their career seasons — +12.3% above league average.

Career OBP .321 vs. league average .323 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career SLG .408 vs. league average .382 across their career seasons — +6.7% above league average.

Career OPS .729 vs. league average .706 across their career seasons — near league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Bill Buckner Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1969	LAN	NL	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1970	LAN	NL	28	68	6	13	3	1	0	4	0	3	7	.191	.253 (-25%)	.325 (-31%)	.385 (-31%)	.711 (-31%)	-347.6
1971	LAN	NL	108	358	37	99	15	1	5	41	4	11	18	.277	.249 (+11%)	.316 (-3%)	.365 (avg)	.682 (-2%)	-143.3
1972	LAN	NL	105	383	47	122	14	3	5	37	10	17	13	.319	.243 (+31%)	.310 (+12%)	.353 (+16%)	.664 (+14%)	876.4
1973	LAN	NL	140	575	68	158	20	0	8	46	12	17	34	.275	.256 (+7%)	.325 (-9%)	.378 (-7%)	.703 (-8%)	-815.8
1974	LAN	NL	145	580	83	182	30	3	7	58	31	30	24	.314	.256 (+22%)	.324 (+8%)	.369 (+12%)	.693 (+10%)	1042.4
1975	LAN	NL	92	288	30	70	11	2	6	31	8	17	15	.243	.257 (-6%)	.327 (-13%)	.374 (-4%)	.701 (-8%)	-446.6
1976	LAN	NL	154	642	76	193	28	4	7	60	28	26	26	.301	.255 (+18%)	.320 (+2%)	.360 (+8%)	.681 (+5%)	452.6
1977	CHN	NL	122	426	40	121	27	0	11	60	7	21	23	.284	.264 (+8%)	.329 (-5%)	.401 (+6%)	.730 (+1%)	-35.3
1978	CHN	NL	117	446	47	144	26	1	5	74	7	18	17	.323	.257 (+25%)	.323 (+7%)	.378 (+11%)	.702 (+9%)	634.5
1979	CHN	NL	149	591	72	168	34	7	14	66	9	30	28	.284	.265 (+7%)	.329 (-3%)	.397 (+10%)	.727 (+4%)	267.1
1980	CHN	NL	145	578	69	187	41	3	10	68	1	30	18	.324	.264 (+22%)	.326 (+8%)	.387 (+18%)	.714 (+13%)	1387.8
1981	CHN	NL	106	421	45	131	35	3	10	75	5	26	16	.311	.255 (+22%)	.320 (+9%)	.368 (+30%)	.688 (+20%)	1386.1
1982	CHN	NL	161	657	93	201	34	5	15	105	15	36	26	.306	.261 (+17%)	.324 (+5%)	.388 (+14%)	.712 (+10%)	1153.5
1983	CHN	NL	153	626	79	175	38	6	16	66	12	25	30	.280	.260 (+7%)	.324 (-5%)	.389 (+12%)	.714 (+4%)	313.4
1984	CHN	NL	21	43	3	9	0	0	0	2	0	1	1	.209	—	—	—	—	0.0
1984	BOS	AL	114	439	51	122	21	2	11	67	2	24	38	.278	.259 (+7%)	.322 (-1%)	.384 (+7%)	.707 (+3%)	0.0
1985	BOS	AL	162	673	89	201	46	3	16	110	18	30	36	.299	.257 (+16%)	.323 (+1%)	.390 (+14%)	.714 (+8%)	821.5
1986	BOS	AL	153	629	73	168	39	2	18	102	6	40	25	.267	.257 (+4%)	.325 (-4%)	.395 (+7%)	.720 (+2%)	4.8
1987	BOS	AL	75	286	23	78	6	1	2	42	1	13	19	.273	.262 (+4%)	.331 (-10%)	.415 (-23%)	.746 (-17%)	-811.2
1987	CAL	AL	57	183	16	56	12	1	3	32	1	9	7	.306	.262 (+16%)	.331 (+2%)	.415 (+4%)	.746 (+3%)	-811.2
1988	CAL	AL	19	43	1	9	0	0	0	9	2	4	0	.209	—	—	—	—	0.0
1988	KCA	AL	89	242	18	62	14	0	3	34	3	13	19	.256	.254 (+1%)	.317 (-9%)	.377 (-7%)	.695 (-8%)	0.0
1989	KCA	AL	79	176	7	38	4	1	1	16	1	6	11	.216	.254 (-15%)	.319 (-25%)	.375 (-29%)	.694 (-27%)	-751.5
1990	BOS	AL	22	43	4	8	0	0	1	3	0	3	2	.186	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 25 seasons			2,517	9,397	1,077	2,715	498	49	174	1,208	183	450	453	.289	—	—	—	—	4,177

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

Bill Buckner — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
23	98	6	20	3	0	1	5	0	8	.204

Playoff Batting by Year

Bill Buckner — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SO	AVG
1986	ALCS	BOS	7	28	3	6	1	0	3	2	.214
1986	WS	BOS	7	32	2	6	0	0	1	3	.188
1974	NLCS	LAN	4	18	0	3	1	0	0	2	.167
1974	WS	LAN	5	20	1	5	1	1	1	1	.250

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (2517 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Bill Buckner — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	1270	4666	571	1385	83	635	.297
Away	1247	4731	506	1330	91	573	.281

Last 10 Games — Batting

Bill Buckner — Last 10 Games — Batting
Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	H	RBI	SO
1990-05-30	BOS	TEX	L	4	1	0	0
1990-05-27	BOS	MIN	L	1	0	0	0
1990-05-25	BOS	MIN	L	1	0	0	0
1990-05-23	BOS	KCR	L	1	0	0	0
1990-05-21	BOS	TEX	W	0	0	0	0
1990-05-20	BOS	MIN	L	1	0	1	0
1990-05-18	BOS	MIN	L	1	0	0	0
1990-05-13	BOS	LAA	L	1	0	0	0
1990-05-04	BOS	OAK	L	3	0	0	1
1990-05-02	BOS	SEA	L	4	1	0	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Bill Buckner — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1B	1555	1505	13901	1351	128	1200
OF	644	607	1225	28	18	3

Season-by-Season Fielding

Bill Buckner — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1970	LAN	1B	1	0	1	0	0	0
1970	LAN	OF	20	16	36	1	0	1
1971	LAN	1B	11	7	70	6	0	4
1971	LAN	OF	86	77	165	5	1	0
1972	LAN	1B	35	31	311	21	3	28
1972	LAN	OF	61	57	123	1	1	0
1973	LAN	1B	93	87	888	50	2	93
1973	LAN	OF	48	44	93	0	1	0
1974	LAN	1B	6	5	49	1	1	2
1974	LAN	OF	137	129	235	4	6	0
1975	LAN	OF	72	67	138	4	2	0
1976	LAN	1B	1	0	0	0	0	0
1976	LAN	OF	153	153	315	7	5	0
1977	CHN	1B	99	98	966	58	10	75
1978	CHN	1B	105	104	1075	83	6	85
1979	CHN	1B	140	140	1258	124	7	118
1980	CHN	1B	94	89	826	73	6	67
1980	CHN	OF	50	49	90	5	2	2
1981	CHN	1B	105	105	996	81	17	92
1982	CHN	1B	161	161	1547	159	12	89
1983	CHN	1B	144	136	1366	161	13	132
1983	CHN	OF	15	13	25	0	0	0
1984	CHN	1B	7	5	66	5	0	5
1984	CHN	OF	2	2	5	1	0	0
1984	BOS	1B	113	113	974	96	15	75
1985	BOS	1B	162	162	1384	184	12	140
1986	BOS	1B	138	138	1067	157	14	104
1987	BOS	1B	74	73	605	58	6	53
1987	CAL	1B	5	5	35	2	0	1
1988	CAL	1B	1	0	1	1	0	1
1988	KCA	1B	21	18	160	12	1	11
1989	KCA	1B	24	20	181	13	3	19
1990	BOS	1B	15	8	75	6	0	6

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Bill Buckner Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
First Base	1556
Left Field	485
Right Field	171
Designated Hitter	125

Awards & Honors

Bill Buckner — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
1986	Player of the Week	Week of 1986-09-12
1982	Player of the Month	August
1982	Player of the Week	Week of 1982-08-20
1981	Player of the Week	Week of 1981-05-01
1981	Player of the Week	Week of 1981-09-11
1977	Player of the Week	Week of 1977-08-19

Salary History

Bill Buckner — Salary History
Year	Team	League	Salary
1989	KCA	AL	$400,000
1988	CAL	AL	$400,000
1987	BOS	AL	$366,667
1987	CAL	AL	$62,500
1986	BOS	AL	$785,000
1985	BOS	AL	$747,500
Total Career Earnings			$2,761,667

Award Voting History

Bill Buckner — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max
1982	Most Valuable Player	NL	10th	38.0	336
1981	Most Valuable Player	NL	10th	35.0	336
1980	Most Valuable Player	NL	14th	11.0	336
1978	Most Valuable Player	NL	17th	8.0	336
1974	Most Valuable Player	NL	25th	1.0	336

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Bill Buckner (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Frequently Asked Questions about Bill Buckner

What years did Bill Buckner play?: Bill Buckner played in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1990.
Was Bill Buckner a pitcher?: No. Bill Buckner was a position player (First Baseman).
How many home runs did Bill Buckner hit?: Bill Buckner hit 174 career home runs with 2715 hits.
What was Bill Buckner's career batting average?: Bill Buckner batted .289 over his career, with 2,715 hits in 9,397 at bats.
How many RBI did Bill Buckner have?: Bill Buckner drove in 1,208 runs in his career.
Is Bill Buckner in the Hall of Fame?: No. Bill Buckner has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.