David Buckthorpe

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 194 lb.

• Born November 20, 1962 in Melbourne, Victoria Australia

Biographical Information

David Buckthorpe represented the Australian national team in the 1982 Amateur World Series, 1985 Intercontinental Cup and 1988 Olympics.

When the Australian Baseball League formed in 1989-1990, he hit .299/.401/.478 for the Waverley Reds with 31 runs and 30 RBI in 40 games. He was 4th in the new league in RBI and 5th in walks (23). He was named the All-Star second baseman, joining teammate Matthew Sheldon-Collins as the infielders picked, and Waverley won the title. In 1990-1991, he batted .282/.390/.532 with 35 runs in 39 games. He was named the second-team All-Star 2B as Andrew Scott was picked for the first team. He was back with Australia for the 1991 Asian Championship.

Buckthorpe hit .255/.341/.455 in 1991-1992 and .303/.367/.444 in 1992-1993. He then moved on to the Melbourne Monarchs in 1993-1994, when he posted a batting line of .253/.356/.404. He excelled in 1995-1996 at age 33, hitting .321/.423/.648 with 16 HR in 64 games. He was 4th in OBP (between Michael Dunn and Ronny Johnson), 5th in slugging and tied for 5th in dingers. He was named second-team All-Star at 3B, behind Scott Metcalf.

The Melbourne native slipped to .250/.386/.404 in 1996-1997 but his 28 walks did tie Peter Vogler and Nathan Davison for the league lead. In 1997-1998, he hit .268/.383/.451 for Melbourne. He then retired due to off-field work and family needs; at the time, he was the ABL leader in games played.

He had batted .279 in 384 ABL games, with 212 runs and 213 RBI. Though the league was founded when he was already past typical baseball peaks ages, he made numerous leaderboards for the ABL in its original 10-year incarnation: games played (12th), at-bats (1,173, 13th, between Paul Gorman and Peter Hartas), runs (15th), hits (14th, between Gorman and Mark Shipley), RBI (12th, between Craig Watts and Brian Murphy), doubles (73, 8th, between Mat Buckley and Richard Vagg), home runs (16th, between Craig Stone and Gorman), total bases (566, 11th), OBP (16th, between Vogler and Clayton Byrne), walks (181, 5th), steals (47, 12th) and steal percentage (77%, 10th).

In 2009, he was named the All-Victoria 2B for the Diamond Anniversary of the Claxton Shield.

Sources

• Flintoff & Dunn Australian Baseball Almanac
• Baseball Victoria
• Old IBAF website