Bill Buckner is known throughout the country by knowledgeable baseball observers as one of the great hitters to play major league baseball. Only 44 players in the history of Major League Baseball have hit safely more times than Bill Buckner. He was the National League batting champion once and the doubles leader in two different seasons. Twice he collected more than 200 hits in a season. His .289 lifetime average included 498 doubles and 174 home runs and 1,208 runs batted in, yet he struck out only once in every 20.7 at bats, the 52nd best record in Major League history. As a baseball player at Napa High School, Buckner gave some indication of things to come by hitting .667 in 1967 and .529 in 1968. His coach, Dale Fisher, predicted great things for Buckner when he was still in high school. Baseball wasn’t the only sport Buckner played well. He was without rival in his day as a pass-catching end, and his name is still in the Napa record books for reception yards in a season (579), career reception yards (963), and most passes received in a career (61). Buckner was named to the Coaches All-American football team two years in a row.
