Bucky Dent

Full Name: Russell Earl Dent	Primary Position: SS
Height/Weight: 5' 9"/170	First Game: June 1, 1973
Birthdate: November 25, 1951	Final Game: September 11, 1984
Birthplace: Savannah, Georgia	MLB Experience: 12 years
Bat/Throw: Right/Right

Biography[]

Russell Earl "Bucky" Dent (b. November 25, 1951), born Russell Earl O'Dey, is an American former Major League Baseball player and manager. He earned two World Series rings as the starting shortstop for the New York Yankees in 1977 and 1978, and was the World Series MVP in 1978. Dent is most famous for his home run in a tie-breaker game against the Boston Red Sox at the end of the 1978 season.

Later known as Bucky (bleeping) Dent by Red Sox fans, Dent was born in Savannah, Georgia, Dent was the sixth pick in the 1970 major league draft. By the age of 21, he was playing shortstop for the Chicago White Sox. He wore uniform number 30 on the White Sox. The pressure of succeeding future Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio at the position was problematic, however, and in 1977 the White Sox traded him to the Yankees for slugger Oscar Gamble, future Cy Young Award winner LaMarr Hoyt, a minor leaguer and $200,000. The Yankees gave him uniform number 20.

Though Dent was not known as a home run hitter - he hit a grand total of 40 in 12 years in the major leagues - his place in the annals of baseball has been secured by his three-run homer which gave the Yankees the go-ahead run in the 1978 AL East division playoff game with their archrivals, the Red Sox. With a fierce wind blowing out to left field, Dent connected with a badly hanging breaking ball pitched by Mike Torrez (who had pitched for the Yankees only the previous season), and hit a pop fly to left that would just clear Fenway Park's Green Monster (310 feet from home plate), giving the Yankees a one-run lead.

Sportscaster Bill White's call of the moment for Yankees flagship WPIX remains one of baseball's most famous:

Deep to left! Yastrzemski will not get it -- it's a home run! A three-run home run for Bucky Dent and the Yankees now lead it by a score of three to two!

The Yankees went on to win the game and the division title, and thus upholding the Sox' Curse of the Bambino. Because of this event, Red Sox fans hold a great deal of animosity towards Dent, and they gave Dent a profane nickname, usually printed for public consumption as "Bucky (Bleeping) Dent."

A 3-time All-Star, Dent would remain the Yankees' shortstop until 1982, when he was traded to the Texas Rangers for outfielder Lee Mazzilli. On the Rangers, his uniform number was 7. Dent would return to the Yankees briefly in 1984 (but not playing a game) before finishing his career that season with the Kansas City Royals, wearing uniform number 21. He retired, having spent his full 12-year playing career in the American League, with a .247 batting average, 40 HRs and 423 RBI.

After retiring as a player, Dent managed in the Yankees' minor league system. He served the Yankees as manager of the big league club for portions of two seasons, compiling a 18-22 record in 1989 and a 18-31 record in 1990. In 1992 George Steinbrenner called upon Dent to help train Derek Jeter, the Yankees' first round pick that year.

Dent once appeared in a commercial for Michelob Light-brand beer with another former baseball player, Marv Throneberry.

Most recently, Dent threw out the first pitch to Yankees great Yogi Berra in the 7th and final game of the 2004 American League Championship Series, which was to end poorly for the Yankees, as they lost to the Boston Red Sox 10-3.

In November of 2005, Dent became the bench coach for the Cincinnati Reds.

Statistics[]

Batting Stats[]

Year	Team		G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	2B	3B	BB	SO	HBP	SH	SB	IBB	GDP
1973	CHI	A	40	117	17	29	0	10	.248	.308	.265	2	0	10	18	1	2	2	0	1
1974	CHI	A	154	496	55	136	5	45	.274	.316	.347	15	3	28	48	3	23	3	0	9
1975	CHI	A	157	602	52	159	3	58	.264	.301	.341	29	4	36	48	0	15	2	3	16
1976	CHI	A	158	562	44	138	2	52	.246	.300	.302	18	4	43	45	2	17	3	3	10
1977	NY	A	158	477	54	118	8	49	.247	.300	.352	18	4	39	28	1	14	1	0	9
1978	NY	A	123	379	40	92	5	40	.243	.286	.317	11	1	23	24	2	6	3	1	10
1979	NY	A	141	431	47	99	2	32	.230	.287	.285	14	2	37	30	1	13	0	1	5
1980	NY	A	141	489	57	128	5	52	.262	.327	.354	26	2	48	37	2	9	0	1	6
1981	NY	A	73	227	20	54	7	27	.238	.300	.379	11	0	19	17	2	8	0	0	1
1982	TEX	A	46	146	16	32	1	14	.219	.280	.301	9	0	13	10	0	3	0	0	2
1982	NY	A	59	160	11	27	0	9	.169	.207	.188	1	1	8	11	0	4	0	0	7
1982	TOT	A	105	306	27	59	1	23	.193	.242	.242	10	1	21	21	0	7	0	0	9
1983	TEX	A	131	417	36	99	2	34	.237	.278	.297	15	2	23	31	1	7	3	0	3
1984	KC	A	11	9	2	3	0	1	.333	.400	.333	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0
Total			1392	4512	451	1114	40	423	.247	.297	.321	169	23	328	349	15	121	17	9	79

Fielding Stats[]

Year	Team		POS	G	GS	INN	PO	A	ERR	DP	AVG
1973	CHI	A	SS	36	35	295.1	51	132	7	22	.963
1973	CHI	A	2B	3	0	8.2	4	2	0	1	1.000
1973	CHI	A	3B	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	.000
1974	CHI	A	SS	154	153	1325	251	499	22	108	.972
1975	CHI	A	SS	157	157	1408.1	279	543	16	105	.981
1976	CHI	A	SS	158	154	1373	279	468	18	96	.976
1977	NY	A	SS	158	153	1317.2	250	434	18	90	.974
1978	NY	A	SS	123	120	1010.2	178	341	10	57	.981
1979	NY	A	SS	141	136	1187.2	219	512	17	107	.977
1980	NY	A	SS	141	141	1248.1	224	489	13	77	.982
1981	NY	A	SS	73	73	632	104	217	10	49	.970
1982	TEX	A	SS	45	44	387	55	146	4	30	.980
1982	NY	A	SS	58	50	444	74	177	10	27	.962
1982	TOT	A	SS	103	94	831	129	323	14	57	.970
1983	TEX	A	DH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1983	TEX	A	SS	129	125	1100.2	150	369	11	71	.979
1984	KC	A	SS	9	2	27	2	5	0	0	1.000
1984	KC	A	3B	2	1	10	2	1	0	0	1.000
Total			2B	3	0	8.2	4	2	0	1	1.000
Total			SS	1382	1343	11756.2	2116	4332	156	839	.976
Total			3B	3	1	12	2	1	0	0	1.000
Total			DH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Career Highlights[]

3 Time All-Star: 1975, 1980, 1981
2 Time World Series Champion: 1977 New York Yankees, 1978 New York Yankees

Transactions[]

Selected by St. Louis Cardinals in the 9th round of the free-agent draft - did not sign (June 5, 1969).
Selected by St. Louis Cardinals in the 1st round (6th pick overall) of the secondary phase of free-agent draft - did not sign (January 17, 1970).
Selected by Chicago White Sox in the 1st round (6th pick overall) of the secondary phase of free-agent draft (June 4, 1970).
Traded by Chicago White Sox to New York Yankees in exchange for Oscar Gamble, LaMarr Hoyt, Bob Polinsky and $200000 (April 5, 1977).
Traded by New York Yankees to Texas Rangers in exchange for Lee Mazzilli (August 8, 1982).
Released by Texas Rangers (April 2, 1984).
Signed by New York Yankees (June 7, 1984).
Released by New York Yankees (July 9, 1984).
Signed by Kansas City Royals (August 16, 1984).
Released by Kansas City Royals (October 10, 1984).

Trivia[]

External links[]

Baseball Library - biography
Bucky Dent's Home Run - an essay on the Baseball Library site
Baseball Almanac

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