On a sultry Sunday in St. Louis, Bill Buckner handled the high heat of Al Hrabosky.
Buckner played 22 seasons in the major leagues, primarily as a first baseman, and was a premier hitter, winning a National League batting title in 1980 and generating a career total of 2,715 hits. A left-handed batter with a .289 career average, Buckner never struck out more than 39 times in a season.
Though widely known for an error at first base in the 10th inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series that enabled the Mets to score the winning run against the Red Sox, Buckner played his first 16 seasons in the National League, with the Dodgers and Cubs, and produced 172 hits in 173 career games against the Cardinals.
Perhaps his most prominent at-bat versus the Cardinals came on July 3, 1977, against Hrabosky, the left-handed reliever known as the “Mad Hungarian.”
Pitchers prevail
The game between the Cubs and Cardinals was played on what the Chicago Tribune described as a “hot, humid Mississippi River afternoon” on the steamy artifical turf surface at Busch Memorial Stadium.
Starting pitchers Rick Reuschel of the Cubs and Eric Rasmussen of the Cardinals were in top form.
The game was scoreless when Reuschel was forced to depart with two outs in the seventh inning because of a blister on his pitching hand. Bruce Sutter relieved, walked the first batter he faced, Ken Reitz, loading the bases, and struck out Jerry Mumphrey to end the threat.
In the eighth, Sutter, batting with one out and the bases empty, singled against Rasmussen for his first major-league hit.
“Now that I’ve got my hitting stroke down, anything can happen,” Sutter said.
After Ivan De Jesus popped out to first baseman Keith Hernandez for the second out, Greg Gross singled to right, advancing Sutter to third. According to the Chicago Tribune, Sutter barely beat Reitz’s tag at third and was jolted so hard “the spikes were knocked out of his shoes.”
With Buckner up next, Cardinals manager Vern Rapp called for Hrabosky to relieve Rasmussen.
Fastball hitter
Before delivering a pitch to Buckner, Hrabosky went into his “Mad Hungarian” routine, turning his back on the batter and doing a self-psyching meditation before pounding the ball into his mitt and whirling around to face his foe.
Herman Franks, in his first season as Cubs manager, said to the Associated Press, “I’d never seen that ‘Mad Russian’ act before. That’s got to be embarrasing when it doesn’t work.”
After Hrabosky got ahead on the count, 1-and-2, catcher Ted Simmons went to the mound and urged him to throw a pitch down and away to Buckner, hoping he’d chase it and strike out, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Instead, the ball bounced to the plate and Simmons blocked it to keep Sutter from scoring from third.
Buckner looked for a fastball on the next pitch, got it and lined it into the right-field seats for a three-run home run. The Cubs added a run in the ninth against Rawly Eastwick and won, 4-0. Boxscore
The home run was Buckner’s second of the season.
“Most of my homers this season have gone foul,” he said, “but I was ready for this fastball and got it just right.”
Buckner’s two best seasons against the Cardinals were in 1980 and 1983 with the Cubs. In 1980, he batted .313 versus the Cardinals, with 21 hits in 17 games, and in 1983 his batting average against them was .359, with 28 hits in 18 games.
RetroSimba 
I remember Buckner being a very fast runner early in his career, before a devestating injury.
Good point, thanks. Bill Buckner had 31 stolen bases for the 1974 Dodgers and 28 steals for the 1976 Dodgers. He often batted second in the order for Los Angeles.
I would put Bill Buckner on my all time Cardinal Killer team. we always had a difficult time against him. Never stuck out more than 36 times in a season? Not only do a lot of today’s swing for the fences players have a lot to learn from him, but sadly, so do a lot of today’s swing for the fences hitting instructors. From what I’ve read, his ankle would require around five hours of medical attention before everygame. Too bad he will always be remembered for the error in game 6 of the ’86 WS. His unfortunate mishap covers up the way the Red Sox blew the lead they had. It covers up the fact that even if he had fielded the ball, Wilson probably still would have picked up a single for the simple reason that the Red Sox pitcher faild to cover 1st base. And finally, it covers up the fact that the Red Sox blew a 3-0 lead in game seven. Without the ankle injury he would have been a part of the 3000 hit club and in the HOF.
Thank you for the thoughtful response. Lots of perceptive comments.