Mid Nineties Mets Outfielder Damon Buford (1995) & His MLB Dad- 1969 Orioles Outfielder: Don Buford

-
Damon Jackson Buford was born on June 12, 1970 in Baltimore Maryland. He is the son of former Baltimore Oriole Don Buford who was just coming off the 1969 World Series loss to the New York Mets when his son was born.

Don Alvin Buford was born on February 2, 1937 in Linden Texas, later moving to the Los Angeles area. He attended USC & played for the USC Trojans as an outfielder, signing with the Chicago White Sox in 1959.

He played for the Chicago White Sox (1963- 1968) as a team mate of ’69 Mets; Tommie Agee, Al Weis & J.C. Martin. The speedy Buford stole 51 bases in 1966, second only to the A's Bert Campaneris. That season he led the league in sac hits (17) & although he batted only .244 he hit 26 doubles, posting a .323 on base%.

In 1967 he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles as part of the deal that sent Hall of Fame shortstop, Luis Aparacio to Chicago. In Baltimore, Buford switched from playing infield to becoming a full time outfielder with the O's. Baltimore had Brooks Robinson at third base, Mark Belanger at short & Davey Johnson at second base.

Buford was part of three straight Orioles World Series teams (1969-1971). They lost to the New York Mets in 1979, beat the Cincinnati Reds in 1970 & then lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1971 in seven games.

In 1969 he batted a career high .291 with 11 HRs 19 stolen bases & a .397 on base %. That season he scored 99 runs for the first of three straight seasons as well as leading the league in caught stealing for the third time.

It was Buford who led off the 1969 World Series with a HR off Tom Seaver & as he rounded the bases told Bud Harrelson “You ain’t seen nothing yet”. Harrelson later said “First game, first pitch, you ain’t seen nothing yet either”.

Buford played for Baltimore from 1968-1972, in his ten year career Don Buford batted .264 with 1203 hits 93 HRs 157 doubles 44 triples 200 stolen bases a .362 on base % & 418 RBIs. Don moved on to play in Japan where he earned the nickname "the greatest leadoff man in the world "as well as winning two best Nine Awards.

Retirement: After his playing career Don Buford was a coach with his old Oriole's team mate Frank Robinson, who managed  with the Orioles, San Francisco Giants & Washington Nationals.

Damon Buford also attended USC playing for the Trojans, as a team mate with future MLB players Bret Boone & Jeff Cirillo. Buford was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the tenth round of the 1990 draft.

He got to the majors in 1993 as a backup outfielder on the Baltimore Orioles batting just .228 in 54 games. He played behind Brady Anderson, Mike Devereaux & Mark McLemore in the new Camden Yards ballpark, where his dad was also the teams coach. He said it was just like being in little league all over again. He spent most of 1994 at AAA batting .270 then hitting .309 to start off the 1995 season.

In Baltimore he struggled again batting just .063 in 24 games before getting traded to the New York Mets along with Alex Ochoa in June 1995 for Bobby Bonilla.

Damon debuted wearing the uniform #2 getting a base hit on July 29th, 1995 at Shea Stadium in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He would have a four game hit streak then hit his first Mets HR on August 11th at the Astrodome in Houston. In the first two weeks of September he got hot getting 17 hits raising his average up to the .200 mark. 

Buford hit three HRs with 9 RBIs in that stretch, including a two HR day at Shea Stadium against the Houston Astros on September 13th. Buford played in 44 games for the ’95 Mets batting .235 with 4 HRs 5 doubles 12 RBIs & seven stolen bases.

That January he was traded to the Texas Rangers for Terrel Lowrey who never played a game for the Mets. Buford spent two years in Texas, he batted batting . 283 in 1996 but when he got the full time role in 1997 he fell off to a .224 average. He was traded to the Boston Red Sox playing there for two seasons as a reserve outfielder, getting to two post seasons there.

He was traded to the Chicago Cubs in December 1999 for Manny Alexander. In 2000 he was the Cubs main centerfielder hitting a career high 15 HRs with 48 RBIs while batting .251.

In his nine year career, he batted .242 with 448 hits, 86 doubles 9 triples 54 HRs 56 stolen bases a .311 on base% & 218 RBIs. Buford was a fine defensive outfielder posting a career .990% in center (24th all time) making 28 assists with 1255 put outs in 624 outfield games.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford
Read more

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lacerations but was coherent. The
Read more

Willie Mays "The Sey Hey Kid #24": The Mets Years (1972 - 1973)

-
Image
By 1972 the Giants franchise was losing money, and owner Horace Stoneham was in debt. He would not be able to pay Mays' his big salary. So, after negotiations with the Mets Willie was traded back to New York for pitcher Charlie Williams & $50,000. At first, he did not know all the details & was upset at the trade. He felt betrayed by the Giants organization after all his years of dedicated service.  He felt a bit better after Stoneman tried to explain that it was done for Mays’ best interests as well as the team’s financial situation. New York Mets owner, Mrs.  Joan Payson was a huge fan of Willie and had tried to purchase his contract years earlier, offering one million dollars, but Stoneham refused the offer.  In 1972 the Mets gave Mays a ten-year contract at $ 175,000 a year, and after retirement $50,000 a year for the rest of his life. They offered him a position as a coach upon his retirement & Mrs. Payson promised to retire his number. Willie’s return to New
Read more

The 1970's Oakland A's Ball Girls- (MLB's First)

-
Image
In the days of the early seventies the Oakland A's won three straight Championships & changed the face of baseball forever.  The team's controversial owner was known to be cheap in paying his star players & known to meddle in the teams on field affairs. He drove managers crazy & even had Dick Williams resign after winning his second straight World Series. But Finley also revolutionized baseball in many other ways. He was instrumental in getting the designated hitter in the American League & have the World Series played at night, so fans could attend after work. He gave his players fancy names like Catfish, Blue Moon & True Blue.  When his star Reggie Jackson refused to shave his beard, he encouraged the whole team to grow facial hair by paying them $200 each.  The A's team even grew their hair long, a sign of the times. But before that baseball players had not had facial or long hair since the 1800's.  He introduced bright colored yello
Read more

Fictional Mets Infielder Chico Escuela ( of SNL) Visits Mets Spring Training (1979)

-
Image
Bill Murray interviews (Garrett Morris) Chico Escuela In March 1979, original Saturday Night Live cast member; Garrett Morris joined the Mets at Miller Huggins Field for Spring Training. At the time the Mets were still holding Spring Training in St. Petersburg Florida.  Morris was filmed being interviewed by his SNL cast mate, Bill Murray as the fictional Mets player: Chico Escuela who wore uniform #5 (cinque).  Escuela was famous for his spoof of the Latin players of the time, who did not speak much English. His famous quote "baseball been berry- berry good to me" began the previous year on SNL's weekend update. Bill Murray & Ed Kranepool It was said during the mock 1979 Spring Training interview, that Chico who was a nine time All Star second baseman, had given up his job at the Weekend Update Sports desk to make a comeback with the Mets at age 41.  Chico had fictionally written a tell all baseball book; "Bad Stuff About the Mets" which tick
Read more