Bunting used to be a much, much bigger part of the game of baseball. I know. Weird to think about, right? But it's true. Back then, you'd even see plenty of examples on trading cards.
Bucky Dent: 121 career sacrifice bunts, led A.L. in 1974 with 23.
Brett Butler: 147 career sacrifice bunts, led majors in 1992 with 24.
Ozzie Smith: 214 career sacrifice bunts, led majors in 1978 with 28 and again in 1980 with 23.
It's quite a skill. And to lead your league (or the majors) in sacrifice bunts is quite an achievement. So you'd pretty much expect to see guys like Bucky, Brett, and Ozzie pulling it off on cardboard.
But what about the sluggers? The RBI guys? The home run guys?
Even if you can't imagine a big hitter squaring around and laying down a sacrifice bunt at a pivotal point of the game, there's plenty of evidence on trading cards to show that at one time in history, they did.
Here are 10 cardboard examples that might surprise you, listed in order of the player's slugging percentage. I'll also list some other numbers, including career sacrifice bunts.
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| 1982 Donruss #510, Robin Yount |
Robin Yount
.430 SLG%
251 HR
1,406 RBI
104 career sac bunts
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| 1986 Donruss #180, Harold Baines |
Harold Baines
.465 SLG%
384 HR
1,628 RBI
9 career sac bunts
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| 1989 Donruss #208, Bo Jackson |
Bo Jackson
.474 SLG%
141 HR
415 RBI
2 career sac bunts
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| 1986 Donruss Pop-Up #NNO, Dave Winfield |
Dave Winfield
.475 SLG%
465 HR
1,833 RBI
19 career sac bunts
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| 1989 Fleer Baseball All-Stars #32, Kirby Puckett |
Kirby Puckett
.477 SLG%
207 HR
1,085 RBI
23 career sac bunts
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| 1981 Topps #720, Fred Lynn |
Fred Lynn
.484 SLG%
306 HR
1,111 RBI
25 career sac bunts
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| 1991 Topps Stadium Club #95, Gary Sheffield |
Gary Sheffield
.514 SLG%
509 HR
1,676 RBI
9 career sac bunts
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| 1992 Donruss #286, Edgar Martinez |
Edgar Martinez
.515 SLG%
309 HR
1,261 RBI
10 career sac bunts
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| 1991 Fleer #136, Sammy Sosa |
Sammy Sosa
.534 SLG%
609 HR
1,667 RBI
17 career sac bunts
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| 1992 Leaf #350, Albert Belle |
Albert Belle
.564 SLG%
381 HR
1,239 RBI
4 career sac bunts
The notion that Albert Belle stepped into the batter's box, looked at the third base coach, received the sign for a bunt, and actually agreed to lay one down even once in his career is hard to believe. But it happened. And there's a baseball card to prove it!
A couple of other things stood out to me while I was doing research for this post:
(1) Robin Yount was a heck of an all-around player.
(2) Kirby Puckett had a season-high 8 sacrifice bunts in 1991, a year the Twins took home the World Series Championship. Whatever it takes to get those wins, right?
So maybe
that's how to get bunting back into the modern game. Get some big guys like
Aaron Judge or Pete Alonso to lay down a couple of surprise bunt singles, or a sacrifice bunt that leads to a comeback win.
Here's Juan Pierre to show them how it's done:
What do you readers think about the bunt? Do we need more of it in baseball?
And which slugger in the list above were you the most surprised to see bunting on a baseball card?
Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!
I think if Billy Hamilton had remembered that he knew how to bunt, he would still be on a Major League roster.
ReplyDeleteCould be, Jason! He had some speed, for sure.
DeleteI'm sure I'm wrong... but it seems like the SF Giants bunt at least once a game. Gotta admit... it's a small sample size. I've only seen them play a few times this year.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Sosa's 17 sacrifice bunts is pretty impressive.
Maybe small ball is coming back a little bit? I hope so. As for Sosa's 17 sacrifice bunts, I think most of them came early in his career, before he really turned the power on. Still impressive, though!
DeleteYes, there should definitely be more bunting in the game. The whole reason defensive shifts took over is that they no longer had to worry about a player sacrificing himself to bunt against the shift.
ReplyDeleteI was curious about Winfield, guessed that they mostly occurred when Billy Martin was the manager, but it turns out that wasn't the case. 5 in 1982 when the Yankees were having a bad season after the 1981 World Series which was disastrous for Winfield.
Good research on Winfield, Bo! And yes, I agree with you on having more bunting in the game. Let's see what happens.
DeleteIt's a situational tool. I'd prefer more well-rounded baseball instead of guys swinging for the fences constantly.
ReplyDeleteBut I wanted more steals, I just didn't want the rules to be changed to force it.
Bo seems the most surprising. Tough to focus on the finer points of the game when you're playing football half the time. Or so I would have thought.
Good point about Bo Jackson, Elliptical Man. But like they used to say, "Bo knows". So it would only make sense that he knew how to bunt ;-)
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ReplyDeleteThanks for reading, Mark!
DeleteThat Yount career total is much higher than I would have guessed.
ReplyDeleteI had that same reaction, Jeff!
DeleteNone of those surprised me. I would like to see the big guys lay one down. Heck that would make the highlight reel too. I love for the game to go back to the way it was. Good old hard knock baseball, spikes up!
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Johnny!
DeleteI think with pitchers no longer batting, it no longer makes sense to sacrifice bunt in most cases. I miss that part of the game, but the numbers don't lie. Certainly a guy like Harold Baines or Albert Belle shouldn't have been sacrificing.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, I don't understand why more players didn't bunt for a hit against the shift. Not only do you get a free hit, but if you do it enough they'll stop shifting against you. But the new shift rules render that moot in a lot of cases.
Agreed, Brett It's hard to believe more players didn't lay one down when an entire half of the infield was practically vacant.
DeleteI know he wasn't a slugger but when it comes to bunt cards I always loved 1974 Pete Rose.
ReplyDeleteThat's a classic piece of cardboard, for sure. Captures the action of it. Based on the angle, it looks like Pete might have successfully tapped one down the third base line there.
DeleteWhen MLB initially began the "extra inning guy on second base" gimmick, I was certain bunts would see an increase in that situation. I haven't thought of it since so I don't know if I ended up being right or not.
ReplyDeleteI haven't paid much attention to that either, Matt. Sounds like a pretty good strategy, though!
DeleteFun post! I thought bunting would be the way for hitters to get around all the shifting the last couple of years.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jafronius! I agree, as do some of the other commenters here. It's too bad that strategy wasn't employed a little more.
DeleteBack in the day every player had to know how to bunt even if they'd rarely ever use it, like I don't believe for a second Bo Jackson was intentionally bunting here. ... I don't miss seeing bunts (I'm just glad stolen bases are back), but I do miss seeing bunting on cards.
ReplyDeleteYep, it was just part of batting practice back then. It's really a great skill. Hopefully it follows stolen bases back into the game.
DeleteI haven't seen a current game in at least 5-6 years, but have read about the lack of bunting since, and I just can't imagine a game where bunting is no longer used. It certainly doesn't make me feel like I'm missing anything.
ReplyDeleteSimilar sentiments here, Jon. I've been watching old baseball broadcasts from the 1980s on YouTube lately. It's fun.
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