Even as a longtime NY Mets fan, I felt terrible for him when that happened.
Posted on 05/27/2019 11:00:28 AM PDT by EdnaMode
Bill Buckner, the longtime major leaguer whose error in the 1986 World Series for years lived in Red Sox infamy, died Monday.
"After battling the disease of Lewy Body Dementia, Bill Buckner passed away early the morning of May 27th surrounded by his family," his family said in a statement. "Bill fought with courage and grit as he did all things in life. Our hearts are broken but we are at peace knowing he is in the arms of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
He was 69.
Buckner played 22 seasons in the majors, was an All-Star once and won a batting title in 1980. But it was a ball that went through his legs at Shea Stadium on a cool Oct. 25 night in 1986 that made for one of baseball's most shocking moments.
Boston, looking for its first World Series title since 1918, carried a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 6 against the Mets. New York tied it with two runs, then brought Mookie Wilson to the plate.
Wilson worked a 3-2 count off reliever Bob Stanley, and then, with a runner on second base, bounced a slow roller up the first-base line on the 10th pitch of the at-bat. Buckner ranged to his left, went down to snag the ball behind the bag and watched it roll through his legs and into right field. Ray Knight scored to give the Mets a 6-5 can-you-believe-it win. They took Game 7, too, a gut punch to a Red Sox team a strike away from a long-awaited title just 48 hours earlier.
His Red Sox teammates said Buckner wasn't to blame, noting Boston wouldn't even have been in the World Series without his efforts that season.
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...
God rest your soul Mr. Buckner.
Prayers up for family and those who loved him.
Rest in peace, Mr. Buckner.
Dont let the chance of entering Heaven slip through your legs.
He was a .300 hitting first baseman for the Dodgers, and was only traded to the Cubs for Rick Monday to make room for Steve Garvey. Despite his error in the World Series in his late career, he has my respect and admiration.
The 1986 World Series doesn't seem too long ago either.
Life is short, make the most of it.
Even as a longtime NY Mets fan, I felt terrible for him when that happened.
This is what Robin Williams had.
One interesting irony of the Buckner error was that a few months earlier, the 1986 Stanley Cup playoffs featured a memorable error with the Edmonton Oilers’ Steve Smith accidentally putting the puck into his own net. That gave the Calgary Flames the go ahead to beat the very heavily favoured Oilers (with Gretzky and Messier and the rest) in the Smythe Division finals. Calgary ended up facing the Montreal Canadiens in the Finals that year with Montreal winning the Cup in part due to Patrick Roy’s goaltending heroics and the Oilers losing on that unfortunate mistake.
Smith, like Buckner, was that very decent and reliable player you would have always wanted on your team and it is unfortunate they were both known mainly for those regrettable instances. BTW, Smith was the first person Wayne Gretzky gave the Cup to the following year when the Oilers reclaimed it in 1987.
How’d he pass. Robin Williams killed him self.
Mainly it’s a good thing he wasn’t Japanese. He’d have had to commit seppuku right on the field. No one deserves a bad break like the World Series error, but it’s the discount path to baseball immortality. RIP.
How crazy is it some players are best remembered for errors or unfortunate circumstances.
Ralph Branca perhaps is best remembered for giving up the home run to Bobby Thomson in the playoff game in 1951.
Earnest Byner of the Cleveland Browns, fumbled the ball at a crucial moment in a playoff game, and is often remembered for that unfortunate incident.
It’s funny how these things work out.
Lewy body dementia, also known as dementia with Lewy bodies, is the second most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer's disease dementia. Protein deposits, called Lewy bodies, develop in nerve cells in the brain regions involved in thinking, memory and movement (motor control).
Lewy body dementia causes a progressive decline in mental abilities. People with Lewy body dementia may experience visual hallucinations and changes in alertness and attention. Other effects include Parkinson's disease-like signs and symptoms such as rigid muscles, slow movement and tremors.
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When I first learned of this disease, it sounded to me like a combination of Alzheimers and Lou Gehrig's disease.
Think about that. Then, think about Robin Williams and how he made his living in comedy. His mind was going, his body was not behaving the way it normally would. This was a comic who made his name for his mental quickness when performing his comedy. Also, he was a very physical comic.
Everything that made him who he was, was slowly being taken away from him. He decided to end it.
Now, we can all be judgmental about this; but, I can understand the depression he must have been experiencing as this disease progressed. I cannot fault him, it is not my place to do so. Nor, is it yours. God will decide.
Rest in peace, and condolences to your family.
And thanks for that play in the ‘86 Series. Hope that you will be remembered for lots better things than that.
That is a little young...
Agreed
Perhaps the most notable NFL players who were famous for their failures: Jim “Wrong Way” Marshall and Scott “Wide Right” Norwood. :-)
The moment the ball went through Buckner's legs, Mike Torres (who was broadcasting the game on radio) said, "I'm off the hook. I'm off the hook." As you may recall, Torres served up the homer to Bucky F'n Dent.
I used to work out with Buckner at the East Bank Club in downtown Chicago in the mid 80s. He was a powerful man and quite humble, which people often took for aloofness.
RIP Mr. Buckner. We would heckle him when he played left field for the Dodgers.
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