I said it for years: When Bill Buckner died, the first line in his obituary would be about the error he made in Game Six. And sure enough, via The New York Times obituary by Daniel E. Slotnick, “Bill Buckner, All-Star Shadowed by World Series Error, Dies at 69.” Other media outlets used similar headlines for their articles about the former batting champion who played for 22 years in the big leagues.
How sad that a player — and gentleman, according to all accounts — like Buckner would be remembered for one incident. Needless to say, just about every book about the Mets, the Red Sox, the World Series, or general baseball history published since then contains at least some small mention of mention of “The Error.”
I can’t imagine what he must have gone through in the months and years following the Red Sox’s loss to the Mets in the ’86 World Series.
Like Ralph Branca and Bobby Thomson, Buckner and Mookie Wilson are forever linked.
It could have been a sad legacy. If Boston had failed to win those Championships int the early-mid 200os, I wonder if he ever would have been “forgiven.” But forgiven he was in 2013.
Here are “Five things Bill Buckner should be remembered for instead of the play that defined his MLB career.” I was shocked that he only appeared in one All-Star game.
Here’s another piece from the NY Times by Tyler Kepner and one from Time magazine.
More tributes from papers in cities where Buckner played:
- By Tom Keegan at the Boston Herald.
- By Gordon Wittenmeyer at the Chicago Sun Times.
- By Andy McCullough at the Los Angeles Times.
- By Jeff Rosen at the Kansas City Star.
And some video remembrances:
And finally, his moment of “redemption.”
is available on Amazon.com,
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