Roger Taylor

Bill Buckner let one ground ball roll through his legs, and a whole city turned on him for it. The man who hit that ground ball was Mookie Wilson. He became Buckner's best friend. Here is the whole thing. Buckner could flat out hit. He played 22 seasons in the big leagues, won a batting title, and finished with 2,715 hits. Some of them came for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs before Boston. None of that is what people remember. Game 6 of the World Series. The Boston Red Sox against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. Boston had not won it all since 1918. The Red Sox were up two runs in the bottom of the 10th. They were one out away. Then the Mets came back and tied it. Mookie Wilson hit a slow roller up the first base line. Buckner went down for it. It went under his glove and through his legs, and the winning run came home. The Mets won Game 7, too. Boston did not care that the lead was already gone before the ball ever reached him. They blamed him. For years. He got threats. Fans taunted him. Every highlight show played it over and over. Eventually he moved his family all the way to a ranch in Idaho, partly to get away from it. Mookie Wilson was tied to that play forever, too. A few years later they ran into each other at a ballpark. Wilson tried to avoid him. He figured Buckner wanted nothing to do with him. Instead, Buckner walked over holding a bat. "You want to hit me some ground balls?" That was it. That broke the ice. They started doing card shows together, signing photos of the exact play that haunted Buckner in Boston. They had a handshake deal. Neither one went unless they both did. Buckner would call him late at night. They talked about family and fishing, not baseball. Then the Red Sox won it all. Twice. Before the home opener, they asked Buckner to come back and throw out the first pitch. He almost said no. He came anyway. He walked in from the Green Monster to a standing ovation that went on for close to two minutes. He was crying. He threw a strike. "I really had to forgive, not the fans of Boston, per se, but I would have to say in my heart I had to forgive the media." Here is the honest part. He never won a World Series. And that ground ball is still the first thing most people know about him. Buckner passed away at 69. Wilson said he could not believe it at first. "I felt like I lost a brother. We were that close." And this. "Bill was a great, great baseball player whose legacy should not be defined by one play." The man who hit the ball has spent decades defending the man who missed it. For more stories like this, follow us on any platform @thesportsontap