New York Yankees

Date of birth: November 25, 1951 Savannah, GA2

High School:  Hialeah High School. Hialeah, FL

College: Miami Dade College

Nickname: Bucky. His name is Russell. Born in Savannah, Georgia, to Denise O’Dey and Russell “Shorty” Stanford, Dent went home from the hospital with his mother’s brother James Earl Dent, and James’ wife, Sarah. Bucky and his half-brother were raised by the Dents, who changed his last name to “Dent”, but his mother would not allow them to legally adopt. He and his half-brother were led to believe the Dents were their biological parents, until he was ten years old. Dent was told the woman he knew as his aunt was in fact his mother. Later in life, he was told the name of his father, whom he then found, thus sparking and developing a relationship.*

First Impression; I think that I am weird in a lot of ways, who isn’t but I think I have names fetish. Bucky Dent, Richard Dent. That’s what I used to think. But he was at the time still a name kids knew from 1978. No matter where you grew up, you knew that clip, they played it a million times.

Career stats player: Buckster was a 3 time All-Star two time World Series champ with the Yankees as well as MVP of one of those World Series. He had some early success with the White Sox finishing 2nd to Mike Hargrove and ahead of George Brett in the 1974 Rookie of the Year voting. The next year he was an All-Star. And then in 1977 he was traded by the Chicago White Sox to the New York Yankees for Bob Polinsky (never higher than AAA), Oscar Gamble, LaMarr Hoyt and $200,000.

I think the trade worked out for all parties. Dent went on to greater fame in NY. Hoyt would win the Cy Young in 1983 and later be dealt for Ozzie Guillen. Gamble was a puzzling one and done with the Sox after hitting .297 with 31 HR and 83 RBI. Perhaps he wanted too much and was granted free agency? This is possible as baseball reference indicates that his salary increased from $100k to $475k in 1978 with San Diego.

All Time Stat: 40 career homers. A Career high of 4 was reached three times.

Career stats manager: 33-45. He was a replacement for Dallas Green in 1989 and quickly fired the following season less than two months into the schedule. “I love Bucky,” George Steinbrenner said. “But he’s the biggest mistake I ever made in that job.” In Steinbrenner fashion he was fired in Boston at Fenway Park.

Fun Fact: In 2003, when the Green Monster seats were added to Fenway Park, Dent attended the first game and sat in a Green Monster seat that was very near to where his 1978 home run landed. No animosity was displayed towards him by Red Sox fans at that game, who were all cordial to him.*

Ever a Future Star?  No

Rookie or final card? No

Hall of Fame? Number retired? N/A

Links to stories including Bucky Dent.

*Wikipedia