PEORIA, Ariz. – There are two images of the Seattle Mariners’ latest first-base find that just don’t seem right.
Bucky Jacobsen doing social work.
Bucky in a Speedo.
“That was 50 pound ago,” said the man who once was a slender high school swimmer in Hermiston, Ore. “I wouldn’t even try to squeeze into one now.”
The social work?
Before he became a professional baseball player, the big fellow thought that would be a good field of study at Lewis-Clark State in Idaho.
“But then I had an internship and learned there are things about that job that pushed my button,” he said. “When we would have a case of child abuse, I would want to beat the parents. Domestic abuse, I’d want to beat the dude up.”
Okaaay, then.
Thankfully for everyone, Jacobsen is pounding a baseball now and, at 6 feet 4 inches and about 240 pounds, wedging himself into a Seattle Mariners uniform and not a Speedo.
His goal is to continue a seven-year pro career that made him a solid minor league hitter and a cult favorite in the Midwest. Long before the Mariners grabbed him during the offseason with an eye toward planting him at first base in Tacoma, Jacobsen has been the idol of the “Bucky Backers.”
It’s a fan club that began six years ago when a group attending the Kane County Cougars’ game in Geneva, Ill., decided to heckle the right fielder from the visiting Beloit team.
“I hit a two-run double in the first inning, and I hit another one in the second inning,” Jacobsen remembers. “I think they decided it’s pretty hard to heckle this guy because he’s doing pretty good, so they found out my name was Bucky and they started cheering for me.”
It hasn’t stopped.
They showed up at other games in that series, many of them with letters painted on their chests that read B-U-C-K-Y when they lined up. He gave them a thumbs-up, drew some more cheers, and signed autographs for them after the game.
A few weeks later, when Jacobsen was on another road trip and thought the attention had long died, the radio play-by-play announcer for Beloit ordered him up to his hotel room.
“He said, ‘I’ve got to show you something,’” Jacobsen said. “He pulls up this web site called the Bucky Backers.”
Six years later, the Bucky Backers remain firmly behind their man.
The web site (www.buckybackers.com) contains information about Bucky and the group, plus a link to purchase hats, mouse pads, coffee mugs, t-shirts, sweatshirts and even infant clothing. They all are printed with logos dedicated to Bucky, with the 2004 spring training line of merchandise now available.
Jacobsen says he doesn’t make a cent.
“It’s just a bunch of cool people and they do it to pay for their trips,” he said. The Bucky Backers are planning a trip to Peoria later this month. “It’s kind of crazy, but it’s cool. I enjoy the fans. I don’t talk to them any different than someone walking down the street. I don’t feel any different than them. I’m from a small town in Oregon. I’m just lucky enough to play pro ball.”
Jacobsen drew the interest of pro scouts, including the Mariners’, while in college at Lewis-Clark, but the Brewers took him in the seventh round of the 1997 draft. He played six years in the Brewers’ system – including a stint in the Arizona Fall League in ‘99 on the team managed by M’s manager Bob Melvin – with solid but not spectacular offensive numbers.
He signed with the Cardinals before the 2003 season and hammered the ball at Class AA Tennessee, where he batted .298 with a league-best 31 home runs and made the Southern League All-Star team.
Jacobsen, who lived and worked out with a former college teammate in Everett two winters ago, became available again this offseason and the Mariners signed him.
“I think this is the year that I’ll be able to put up even better numbers than I’ve ever put up before, and I’ll be able to do it in my backyard,” he said. “All my friends and family will be able to watch me. I grew up a Mariner fan and now I’m wearing a Mariner uniform. It’s exciting.”
So far in spring training the Mariners haven’t seen enough of Jacobsen to form a solid opinion. Asked his impression of Jacobsen after a few sessions of early morning infield work, Mariners coach Dave Myers had a brief answer.
“Well, he’s big,” Myers said.
Jacobsen is big, indeed, but he wasn’t always that way.
“I was the smallest guy in high school, 4-foot-11 and 90 pounds,” he said. “Then from the end of my sophomore year to the end of my junior year, I grew 13 inches. It was painful, I was so uncoordinated. You know how they say you can’t walk and chew gum at the same time? I really couldn’t. I had size 13 feet when I was 5-foot tall.
“I was trying to play everything but I wasn’t any good at anything,” Jacobsen said.
He didn’t remain a klutz for long.
Jacobsen became a starter on his high school team as a senior, then played for an old youth coach who had taken over the baseball program at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton, Ore. He spent two years there and enrolled at Lewis-Clark, where coach Ed Cheff has won 13 NAIA national championships and turned numerous college players into pros, including a big guy named Bucky.
“Six years later,” Jacobsen said, “I’m sitting in this spot.”
And the Bucky Backers are happy.
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