Remember Me???? Bucky Jacobsen - CBSSports Community
An ode to lumbering minor-league sluggers - Seattle Times
Who should be in the Mariners' "Shrine of the Eternals"? - Seattle Times
Top 11: Most Randomly Awesome Seattle Mariners Of All-Time - Seattle SportsNet
This came across my e-mail the other day.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulmarshphotography/3922177636/
Yup, you read it right. I can't speak for Bucky, but I'm giving up the buckybackers.com website when the URL comes up for renewal in May. The last ten years have been a lot of fun. I'll probably park the site on a subsite somewhere (I'll let you know), and we'll still have this site on blogger should something big comes up. But the $14.95 a year for the domain coupled with the diminishing chance of Bucky's return to professional ball makes it silly to continue.
Anyway thanks to all of you who made this little joke into a lot of fun. It was fun to see Bucky get to the Show; it's too bad he didn't stick longer.
Aaron
I have received a number of e-mails from people around the country wondering where Bucky is and if he's done in baseball. Here's the answer:
Bucky is still up in the Pacific Northwest and is continuing to work out. The hope is to play ball this winter in a Winter League somewhere. As soon as I get more information this fall, I'll pass it along.
From the transaction wire of the Mexian League (translation modified from freetranslation.com):
The Tabasco Olmecas activated Sharnol Adriana to their roster occupying the place of Bucky Jacobsen who was dropped.
It appears Adriana had played for the Dorados de Chihuahua before being released on April 11, 5 days after Bucky signed with Tobasco. In 16 games for the Dorados, Adriana hit .302 with 1 homer, 5 doubles and 7 RBIs.
Well, it was fun while it lasted. Hopefully another team in the league will give Bucky a call.
EDIT/ADDITIONAL NEWS
Bucky's agent e-mailed me and filled in more of the story. The Mexican League isn't where Bucky wants to end up, so he asked for his release to be able to workout back in Seattle and hopefully catch on in Japan or Korea.
Bucky Jacobsen hit his first homerun of the season Sunday. In the top of the first inning with two on, Bucky worked the count to 3 -1. After fouling off two pitches, Bucky hit seventh pitch of the at-bat to left center field for a three-run homer. Bucky went on to walk in the second inning and was intentionally walked in the eighth. He finished the night 1 for 3 with a homer and two walks, 3 RBI and a run scored.
Links: milb.com game log, milb.com GameDay, el Heraldo de Tabasco, TabascoHOY.com (click here for rough translation)
Two interesting notes about Olmecas de Tabasco:
Bucky had a decent night on Friday, going 2 for 4 with 2 singles. While he had yet to hit anything more than a double, it looks like Bucky's getting his legs back under him.
If you are interested in "watching" his games, Minor League Baseball has a gameday feature that allows you to see the game reports in real time. You can review past game logs as well and sometimes get radio broadcasts - it's helpful if you know Spanish. Click on the Olmecas de Tabasco page at www.milb.com for more.
Photo from el Heraldo de Tabasco
Dean Rutz/Seattle Times PhotoWith lots going on, I missed this development: Bucky was playing winter ball in Mexico. It looks like he had been playing with Yaquis de Obregon for 17 games. In those games, he batted .233, had an OBP of .361 and hit 6 homeruns with 14 RBIs. He has evidently left the team and rumor has it is in Japan.
Even though his team fell short in the playoffs, Bucky Jacobsen was named to the 2006 Atlantic League Postseason All-Star Team as the DH. Bucky finished the season with a league leading 89 RBIs, finished third in homeruns (21) and OBP (.410) and fifth in slugging percentage (.506). Bucky joins Mel Stocker as Long Island's representatives on the team.
Heading into the second half of August, Bucky Jacobsen is still near the top of many of the Atlantic League's offensive categories. Going into Friday night's game against Somerset, Bucky was 3rd in league in homeruns at 19, three behind the league leader. He's leading the Atlantic League in RBIs with 76. Bucky is 3rd in on-base percentage (.401) and just out of the top 10 in batting average at .299. Bucky's slugging percentage is up to .550 (2nd in the league) and has a total of 43 extra base hits (3rd place). He's also 6th in doubles at 22.
In terms of where Bucky stands on the team, Bucky leads the Long Island Ducks in all of the above categories in addition to walks (53). He's 2nd in hits (99), and 3rd in runs scored (55).
Here's an article by Mark Herrmann from Saturday's Newsday about the Bucky and the Ducks: There's no 'I' in ducks, just 'us'
After a crazy beginning to the summer, I've finally started to update the backlog of boxscores. I've also (finally) moved articles from the old web design to Blogger, so you should be able to read about the early years of the BuckyBackers. Just click on the the buckybackers.blogspot.com link and look under the Archives. You can access articles all the way back to May 11, 1998.
Bucky Jacobsen, along with six other Long Island Ducks, was named to the Atlantic League's North Division's starting line up. The game is being played in Bridgeport on Wednesday, July 12th, at the Ballpark at Harbor Yard.
Bucky finished the first half of the season leading the Atlantic League with 13 homeruns, 48 RBIs, and 29 extra base hits. He is tied for second with 15 doubles and third in the league with slugging percentage (.529).
League Press Release
Duck's Press Release
Bucky Jacobsen found his form this weekend, hitting two homeruns Monday night with a franchise record seven runs batted in. Both shots are reminiscent of homers we've seen in the past. His three-run shot highlighted the Long Island Ducks third inning, and Bucky added a grand slam in the seventh. The first homerun cleared the 24 foot high second fence in left which stands 350 feet from home plate. The grand slam was to straight center landing more than 400 feet away. Said Ducks' manager Don McCormack, "His ball will go out anywhere when he hits it. Left. Center. Right. The moon. Yellowstone." The Long Island Ducks' website, liducks.com, has audio clips of Bucky's thoughts of his night as well as manager Don McCoramack.
The two homer game follows Bucky's Sunday performance where he hit a double and his first triple of the season.
Bucky Jacobsen hit his first homerun at home for the Long Island Ducks Wednesday night. He went three for five with four runs batted in. Click here to to listen to Bucky's interview on the the Ducks' website, liducks.com. The Ducks dropped the game 13-8 to the Bridgeport Bluefish, but are still a game and half ahead of the Bluefish in the Northern Division of the Atlantic League.
Photo: www.liducks.com
In the following article, Bucky gives his thoughts on being released by the Mariners, and mentions that scouts from the Japanese League will be into see him play.
Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune:
Bucky Jacobsen hasn’t picked up where he left off in Seattle in 2004, when he joined the Mariners in late season with a bang, swatting nine home runs with 28 RBIs in 160 at-bats.
But at least he is playing baseball with a healthy right knee for the first time in three years.
The pride of Hermiston, designated for assignment at the end of last season to give him free-agent status, is playing first base and batting cleanup for the Long Island (N.Y.) Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. After going through a minislump the last week, Jacobsen is batting only .254, with two homers and 11 RBIs and an on-base percentage of .395 through 18 games.
“So far, so good,” says Jacobsen, 30. “The caliber of baseball in this league is a lot better than I thought it would be. I thought it was going to suck a little, but we have 13 players with big-league experience in our club.”
Jacobsen says he’s not bitter about the Mariners giving up on him, but he expected better after providing a breath of fresh air for the fans during a trying 2004 season in Seattle. Two surgeries on his right knee — the second necessary after the first one didn’t get the job done — limited him to a week in Class A and two weeks in Triple-A in the Mariner organization last year.
“I didn’t do enough to ensure a future with the club,” the 6-4, 280-pound Jacobsen says. “I didn’t etch my name in stone. I understand that. But I had done some good stuff for them. They’re the ones who told me to get the first surgery. For them to turn their back on me and say we’re done with you, it made me feel bad a little bit. They washed their hands of me, and now I’m perceived as broken goods.”
Jacobsen’s ultimate goal is a return to the big leagues, but a more realistic one would be for the beefy slugger to play in Japan.
“Some (Japanese) scouts are going to be here to watch me the first week of June,” he says.
Since I often get requests about where to get Bucky Jacobsen baseball cards, I've gotten a rather large lot of Bucky'sbaseball cards to offer up to other Bucky Backers. Check out the cards on the Memoribilia page to see what's available and e-mail me with what you want. I'll send you an invoice for the cards, you pay, and you should have your cards within a week.
You will also find autographed baseballs from an autograph signing Bucky did with Royal Awards in 2004 after he was called up with the Mariners. Each ball is signed by Bucky and comes with a certificate of authenticity (COA). In addition, both the ball and the COA come with destructible holograms that have matching numbers. If you are interested, include that in your e-mail as well.
And as always, you'll find links to BuckyBackers™ t-shirts, etc.
