Saturday, October 17, 2009

WSC Vintage: Buck Weaver

Card #10 - Buck Weaver

In perhaps one of the clearest cases of injustice in the game of baseball, George "Buck" Weaver was lumped in with seven other men and banned from Major League baseball.

On Weaver's play during the 1919 World Series, Ross Tenney of the Cincinnati Post wrote: "Though they are hopeless and heartless, the White Sox have a hero. He is George Weaver, who plays and fights at third base. Day after day Weaver has done his work and smiled. In spite of the certain fate that closed about the hopes of the Sox, Weaver smiled and scrapped. One by one his mates gave up. Weaver continued to grin and fought harder….Weaver's smile never faded. His spirit never waned….The Reds have beaten the spirit out of the Sox all but Weaver. Buck's spirit is untouched. He was ready to die fighting. Buck is Chicago's one big hero; long may he fight and smile."

There is a movement found at clearbuck.com, to help reinstate Buck Weaver into Major League Baseball. While he may never be enshrined in Cooperstown, Buck deserves to be reinstated.

Among the many accomplishments in baseball, an admission from Ty Cobb himself stating that Buck was the only third baseman that he wouldn't attempt to bunt against. That says more about the play of Buck Weaver than any statistic could.

Weaver finished with a .272 career batting average. His stats over his first nine years are nearly identical to Pete Rose. Imagine what Buck could have accomplished on the field had he not been banned. His errorless play, 11 hits and .324 average in the 1919 World Series speak for itself.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

He doesn't look anything like John Cusack.

Steve Gierman said...

Yeah... not so much. That's Hollywood for you.

Rob- AKA "VOTC" said...

So true. No one got a bigger shaft than Buck.

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