David Leslie Stapleton (born January 16, 1954) is an American former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player who played for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

from 1980 to 1986. Stapleton attended Robertsdale High School then the University of South Alabama.

Professional career

Stapleton grew up on a farm in Loxley, Alabama and attended Robertsdale High School where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and baseball. He played Babe Ruth League baseball during the summers where he caught the attention of the baseball coach at Faulkner Junior College. Stapleton was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the tenth round (231st overall) of the 1975 amateur baseball draft and over the next five years worked his way up the Red Sox

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

system playing for Winter Haven,

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, and Pawtucket. He made his first appearance for the Red Sox on May 30, 1980. During his time with the Red Sox, he primarily served as a

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, basketball, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water ...

, covering first base,

second base In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the infield, between second and first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and feet, needs the ability to get rid of the ball quickly, and must ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

and

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

as well as playing in the

outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In bat and ball games ...

and serving as

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

. In and he served as the team's first baseman, losing the job to Bill Buckner in . From 1984 to 1986, Stapleton only played 82 games for the Red Sox. During Game 6 of the

1986 World Series The 1986 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1986 Major League Baseball season, 1986 season. The 83rd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National Lea ...

, Red Sox manager John McNamara left Buckner in the game rather than replace him with Stapleton for defensive purposes, leading to the Mookie Wilson ground ball that went through Buckner's legs, giving the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

a come-from-behind win in the tenth inning. The Mets went on to win the Series four games to three. After the 1986 season, Stapleton became a free agent and signed with the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

, but was released on March 31, 1987, prior to the start of the regular season. In his career, Stapleton batted .271 (550–2028), with 41 home runs, 224 RBI, 238 runs, 118 doubles, eight triple, six stolen bases, a .310 on-base percentage, and 807 total bases for a .398 slugging average. Stapleton played 7 years in the major leagues (1980–1986) and his batting average decreased every year he played (.321, .285, .264, .247, .231, .227, .128).

References

External links

Box score of his last game
from The Baseball Almanac : {{DEFAULTSORT:Stapleton, Dave 1954 births Living people Baseball players from Alabama Major League Baseball infielders Major League Baseball first basemen Boston Red Sox players Pawtucket Red Sox players South Alabama Jaguars baseball players Sportspeople from Fairhope, Alabama International League MVP award winners Bristol Red Sox players Winter Haven Red Sox players 20th-century American sportsmen Faulkner State Sun Chiefs athletes