| Jerry Buchek | |
|---|---|
 Buchek in 1965 | |
| Infielder | |
| Born:(1942-05-09)May 9, 1942 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. | |
| Died: January 2, 2019(2019-01-02) (aged 76) Springfield, Missouri, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| June 30, 1961, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 29, 1968, for the New York Mets | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .220 |
| Home runs | 22 |
| Runs batted in | 108 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Gerald Peter Buchek (boo-check; May 9, 1942 – January 2, 2019) was an Americanmiddle infielder andthird baseman who played all or parts of seven seasons inMajor League Baseball (MLB) for theSt. Louis Cardinals andNew York Mets. Buchek threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall and weighed 185 pounds (84 kg).
Born inSt. Louis, Missouri, Buchek signed a $59,000 bonus contract with his hometown Cardinals upon graduation fromMcKinley High School.[1] He began his professional career as an 18-year-old at the highest levels ofminor league baseball, splitting the 1960 season betweenDouble-A andTriple-A. He got his first taste of major league action in June1961 and spent part of1963 with the Cardinals before making the big league roster in1964 and spending five consecutive full seasons in the majors.
In 1964, Buchek played in only 35 games, largely as a backup toshortstopDick Groat andsecond basemanJulián Javier, collecting sixhits in 30at bats. But it was a memorable season, as the Cardinals prevailed in a late-September four-teampennant scramble to win their firstNational League title in 18 years. Then they defeated theNew York Yankees in seven games in the1964 World Series. Buchek appeared as a defensive replacement in four games at second base, and in his loneplate appearance, in Game 6, hesingled offJim Bouton.[2]
Buchek remained with the Cardinals as a backup middle infielder in1965 and1966, appearing in 55 and then 100 games respectively. However, with Groat (thenDal Maxvill) and Javier established as the Redbirds' double-play combination, he did not break into the regular lineup, starting a total of 69 games at shortstop and 20 at second base during those two seasons. On May 12, 1966, he scored the first run ever atBusch Memorial Stadium.[3]
Buchek was traded along withArt Mahaffey andTony Martínez from theCardinals to theMets forEd Bressoud,Danny Napoleon and cash on April 1, 1967.[4] The Mets were seeking a new second baseman after trading four-year veteranRon Hunt to theLos Angeles Dodgers. The Mets'general manager,Bing Devine, had signed Buchek when he was front-office boss of the Cardinals in 1960. In 1967, Buchek started 92 games at second base (along with 14 games atthird base and five atshortstop), and set personal bests ingames played (124), hits (97), home runs (14) andruns batted in (41). Among Mets fans he was known for starting an improbable comeback victory against theAtlanta Braves on July 9, 1967. Down 4–3 in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and nobody on base, Buchek, batting .230, was sent in to pinch hit forBud Harrelson, who already had four hits, including adouble, that game. Buchek hit a home run to tie the game, and the Mets went on to score another run to win 5–4.[5] But in1968, he fell to third on the Mets' second base depth chart, behind bothKen Boswell andPhil Linz, andbatted only .182.
During that off-season, Buchek was traded twice, first back to the Cardinals and then to thePhiladelphia Phillies. He spent 1969 with the Phillies' Triple-AEugene farm club, where he batted .246 in 127 games, then retired from baseball at age 27. For his MLB career, he batted .220 with 259 hits, 35 doubles, 11triples, 22 home runs and 108 runs batted in in 421 games played.
Buchek died on January 2, 2019, inSpringfield, Missouri, at the age of 76.[6]
· Baseball Almanac