THE BONURA SALUTE.

THE BONURA SALUTE. Also known as the Bonura Wave. Zeke Bonura was a good-hitting first baseman (lifetime batting average .307) who played for the White Sox in the 1930’s. Bonura led American League first basemen in fielding in 1934 and 1936, and became a prime example of the inadequacy of fielding percentages to measure defensive performance. The problem with fielding percentages is that it doesn’t reflect range—whether a fielder gets to a ball. Zeke had minimal range. Jean Shepherd is quoted here as saying that Bonura had a range of “about six inches.” The “Bonura Wave” or “Bonura Salute” was the fans’ description of his approach to fielding balls hit near him. My father demonstrated the Bonura Salute for us on several occasions when I was a boy in the course of explaining how misleading fielding percentages could be.