Dick Buckley

Richard D. Buckley

• Bats Unknown, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 195 lb.

• Debut April 20, 1888
• Final Game September 28, 1895
• Born September 21, 1858 in Troy, NY USA
• Died December 12, 1929 in Pittsburgh, PA USA

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Biographical Information

"Buckley was near the end of his playing days but was still recognized throughout baseball as the greatest developer of young pitching talent. The man who guided the early pitching progress of Amos Rusie and Ted Breitenstein caught almost exclusively for Waddell in Columbus." - a biography of Rube Waddell, giving credit to Dick Buckley for working with the young Rube Waddell in 1899

"...a corking good receiver... He was known in the nineties as the "man who made Rusie". He was a fine hustling ballplayer." - from the book The National Game

Dick Buckley played eight seasons in the major leagues, beginning at age 29. His best season with the bat was his first, when he hit .273. Buckley began his major league career as a catcher and third baseman, but as the years went by, he played less and less at third base.

Dick was born in Troy, NY, a hotbed of early baseball. In the two years before he made his major league debut, he played for Syracuse. After his major league days he played for years in the Western League, and also was in the American League during the one year it was a minor league in 1900. He was still playing at age 42. The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract calls him the slowest major league player of the 1880s.