DeWayne Allison Buice (born August 20, 1957) is a former professional

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

. Buice played two seasons for the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

and half a season for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He officially announced his retirement and played in his final game on June 27, 1989, but he continued to make appearances in the minor leagues into the 2000s, exclusively for teams in which he had an ownership stake. Buice is one of six pitchers in the Angels' 60-year history to strike out at least 100 batters in a season without starting a game (109 in 1987). The others are

Mark Clear Mark Alan Clear (born May 27, 1956) is an American former two-time All Star Major League Baseball relief pitcher who played for the California Angels (1979–80, 1990), Boston Red Sox (1981–85), and Milwaukee Brewers (1986–88). He batted an ...

(105, 1980),

Bryan Harvey Bryan Stanley Harvey (born June 2, 1963) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to for the California Angels of the American League and the Florida Marlins of the National Lea ...

(101, 1991),

Troy Percival Troy Eugene Percival (born August 9, 1969) is an American baseball coach and former professional baseball pitcher. He gained fame as a closer. During a 14-year baseball career spanning from 1995 to 2009, he pitched for four Major League Baseball ...

(100, 1996),

Scot Shields Robert Scot Shields (born July 22, 1975) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played his entire baseball career with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was the last member of the Anaheim ...

(109, 2004) and Francisco Rodríguez (123, 2004). Buice finished with a career record of 9 wins versus 11 losses, 20 saves, 157

strikeouts In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

and a 4.23

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

over a 2½-year MLB career. Buice is currently the Reno Astros' co-owner.

Upper Deck

Buice was one of the original managing partners of the

Upper Deck The Upper Deck Company, LLC (colloquially as Upper Deck and Upper Deck Authenticated, Ltd. in the UK), founded in 1988, is a private company primarily known for producing trading cards. Its headquarters are in Carlsbad, California, United State ...

trading cards company, and held that position from 1988 to 2000. Buice was in downtown

Yorba Linda, California Yorba Linda is a suburban city in northeastern Orange County, California, United States, approximately southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. It is part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and had a population of 68,336 at the 2020 census. Yor ...

, one evening in November 1987, looking for a particular

Chinese restaurant A Chinese restaurant is an establishment that serves a Chinese cuisine. Most of them are in the Cantonese cuisine, Cantonese style, due to the history of the Overseas Chinese, Chinese diaspora and adapted to local taste preferences, as in t ...

in the area, and after looking around the neighborhood without success, he went into a

baseball card A baseball card is a type of trading card relating to baseball, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. In the 1950s they came with a stick of gum and a limited number of cards. These cards feature one or more baseball players, teams, sta ...

shop called "The Upper Deck" to ask the person working there whether he knew the whereabouts of the restaurant. Buice and owner Bill Hemrick struck up a friendship, which led to Buice having an autograph signing at the store, and within weeks, Buice had become one of Hemrick's business partners. Hemrick and then-partner Paul Sumner were starting a card company called Upper Deck. The two did not have the connections to help land them the necessary license from the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), which would allow them to use the names and likenesses of the players on the card. The only response they could elicit was that the players union wasn't accepting another card company for three more years. Buice was told that if he could help them secure a license, he was promised a 12 percent stake in the card company. Buice would become a key figure in getting MLBPA officials to agree to a meeting. By the end of the 1988 season, Hemrick and Summer received the license and were making baseball cards in 1989. The company they started was called Upper Deck. The glossy cards featured holograms to protect against counterfeiting. There would be a high demand for the cards. Tom Geideman, one of Upper Deck's first employees, who was responsible for picking the players who would be featured in the set, called the phenomenon cardboard gold. By the time Buice retired from professional ball at the end of the 1989 season, he had collected $2.8 million. Buice believed he was owed much more, so he sued Upper Deck executives. After a battle over his stake in the company was settled in court, he reportedly made $17 million on the deal. Buice entered into a four-year contract with the company. After the strike in 1994/95 was resolved, Upper Deck gave Buice six more years of ownership in the form of a contract extension. DeWayne Buice never worked for Upper Deck. Buice made the contact between Hemrick and the then ''de facto'' commissioner of baseball,

Bud Selig Allan Huber "Bud" Selig (; born July 30, 1934) is an American baseball executive who currently serves as the Commissioner Emeritus of Baseball. Previously, he served as the ninth Commissioner of Baseball from 1998 to 2015. He initially served as ...

, which earned Buice a twelve percent stake in the company. Buice earned $27 million, far more than his short MLB career brought him.

References

External links

RetrosheetMexican LeagueVenezuelan LeagueThe Upper Deck Company
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buice, Dewayne 1957 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Mexico American sports businesspeople Baseball players from California California Angels players Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros baseball players Cedar Rapids Giants players Edmonton Trappers players Fresno Giants players Great Falls Giants players Leones del Caracas players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Major League Baseball pitchers Mexican League baseball pitchers Midland Angels players People from Lynwood, California Syracuse Chiefs players Tacoma Tigers players Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos players Toronto Blue Jays players Carson High School (Carson, California) alumni