RIP Bill Buckner
A great ball player who will always be remembered for that one grounder that got away.
Larry David was on Rich Eisen a couple years back and he said the original script had him dropping the baby, but that Larry just couldn't do it to him even though it was funnier.
Damn, that seems young. R.I.P. from this Yankee fan. Great hitter, good player, and took his legacy with a grace few could probably manage.
Growing up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula in the early 1980's during cable television's formative years, I usually watched Cubs afternoon home games on WGN after getting home from school. Buckner was a mainstay on those competitive Cubs teams. Loved his batting stroke. And his mustache.
RIP, Billy B.
Fellow Yooper here who grew up watching Harry Caray and Steve Stone call Cubs games only because I loved baseball and that was the only game on, always in the afternoons
Look familiar?
Was an incredible player . Over 2700 career hits and played over two decades . Seemed like a great guy too
Even better, he had a career .289 batting average and, as I recall, his WAR would be something around 15, which is pretty damn good, I would say.
It was his batting that kept him in the World Series even though he couldn’t move due to his leg injury. He was the only one hitting and he could barely get all to first.
Stick your mitt in the dirt and take one in the chest if you have to, RIP Bill
Wrong thread. The one that reply belongs to is about 33 years deep in the archives.
Buckner was a great hitter. Unfortunately his error (which was parlayed by Bob Stanley and Calvin Schiraldi) went through his battered legs! You held your head high throughout it all! RIP!
Although Bill Buckner's legacy may be tainted by that one ground ball that rolled through his legs in the sixth game of the 1986 World Series, most people forget how good he was during his long career AND that the Red Sox (a) might have been very lucky just to have reached the 1986 World Series, (b) were leading the Mets 5-3, going into the bottom of the 10th inning of the game when Buckner's error led to the winning run scoring, (c) might be able to blame that extra-inning loss to the Mets on several other missed opportunities and (d) were leading the Mets 3-0, going into the bottom of the sixth inning of the seventh game of that World Series.
There's a song that explains it all.
I had no idea he was battling dementia.
I always thought he conducted himself with an incredible amount of dignity and class, considering that he was remembered for one over-inflated error and not the excellent playing career he had.
He did handle himself with class after that. I was rather young at the time, but even I recognized that and admired it.
It was all kind of unfair anyway, because the Red Sox losing it in the 10th, and then losing Game 7 (which they led 3-0 in the 6th!) was truly a team effort.
One thing I didn't know until I read it a few weeks ago: the Mets played an exhibition game at Fenway Park on the Thursday after Labor Day (yes - during the season) in 1986. Buckner committed an error on a ground ball in the 4th Inning of that game. Foreshadowing, of a sort.
One thing I didn't know until I read it a few weeks ago: the Mets played an exhibition game at Fenway Park on the Thursday after Labor Day (yes - during the season) in 1986.
In Season Exhibition Games used to be a thing, not at all unusual. For many years Detroit had annual exhibition games with Cincinnati and or Toledo, and if I recall correctly, Evansville when they were Detroit's AAA affiliate.
I remember him as a great hitter. That ground ball was so unfortunate but he handled it about as good as anyone could and provides a great example to any athlete that botches a big play. Life will go on and fans will forgive and move forward.
Dude should not have been on the field. The Boston manager had been subbing him out for a defensive replacement late in games all year because Buckner had such bad wheels at that point. The manager--McNamara, I think (God, what an idiot he was)--decided to keep Buckner in. So Buckner could celebrate on the field after the win. And Buckner paid the price.
Absolutely—Macnamara was a goddamn idiot—Buckner had no business being out there. He was literally a cripple.
McNamara later changed the story on a Bob Costas interview.
He said Buckner's backup (Dave Stapleton) has a club house nick name of "Shaky" and he just went with the veteran despite being beat up. It was the 10th inning and the Red Sox were going to pull off the biggest celebration in the history of Boston since the Tea Party.
I was at those 1986 WS games and in Game 5 I sat directly behind Bill Walton (who was a Celtic then) on the lower first base side at Fenway Park.
He was very kind and kept apologizing for blocking my view....
I could actually see the pitchers throw to the batter's box and then I had to wait and hope all balls were hit to the right fielders because that was pretty much all I could see besides high pop flies I did not see come down.....
Buckner was a career pro who was at the wrong place at the wrong time because his Manager thought he gave the Sox the best chance to win.
Roger Clemens took himself out of a game that should have been the real WS story that year.
Buckner became the villain to Sox fans--but years later they gave him a standing O and played nice.
RIP Billy Buckner.
The Bill Buckner Bridge should be illuminated in Red tonight.Glad for him that Boston has won a couple of championships since 1986 so he went down in history as more of star crossed tragic hero rather than a scapegoat. He was a very feared hitter in his day. Probably a notch below HOF quality - akin to a Don Baylor or Don Mattingly, but still a very very good player nonetheless.
Too young. Good professional hitter.
Tough break..as a life long Redsox fan whose mother instilled the rooting interest the 86 World Series is the first baseball I can remember watching..I probably saw games before but that’s the first game I can truly remember..Pitcher didn’t cover...RIP BB
A joy to watch at the plate back when healthy and with the Cubs, possibly would in the HOF if not for the injuries that crippled him up. Though I never was a Cubs fan, he was one reason to watch daytime baseball whenever possible back in those days, as he was usually the best hitter in the Cubs lineup.
But just 69, already had been suffering dementia for some time---way too early, way too young.
Rest in peace, Billy Buck---a peace you richly deserve for showing a lot more grace and class than a large segment of the fan base of the Red Sox.
One of my favorite sporting events was being at Fenway on Opening Day 2008 to see Buckner come out of the LF wall and walk to mound. Fenway rocked! Remember the pitch and then hug with his good friend Dwight Evans. Of course a moron held a sign that said "You're forgiven!" Was shameful what Boston did to him and his family.
R.I.P.
I was in Boston in 1986. I wasn't a fan of either team but I remember listening to the local sports talk radio back then and it was uglier than anything I had ever heard before or since. He was literally run out of town.
He handled it with class. RIP.
,991 career Fielding percentage and only 453 strikeouts in over 10,000 plate appearances.
RIP, Bill.
It is a shame he’s remembered for the error.
I recall watching the entire ‘86 playoffs and WS. So many incredible games and incredible plays. Almost all of the teams in the playoffs could’ve won with some luck.