2,715 hits. A .289 career batting average, with 1,208 RBIs, 1,077 runs scored, 498 doubles, 174 home runs, 450 walks drawn, just 453 strikeouts, and a career fielding percentage of .991 over 20 years from 1970-90. And one play in 1986, when his ankles were giving out on him so badly he had to wear hightop shoes, and Mookie Wilson's grounder rolled through his legs at 1st base in Game 6. The Red Sox, up 3 games to 2, lost game 6 on that play, then lost game 7 and the series.
It's very doubtful that Buckner could have reached 1st base before Wilson, even if he had stopped that ball. Nor would I give good odds that in a magical do-over world, the Sox could have escaped the resulting bases-loaded jam in a 10th inning tie game that was already falling apart on them. And of course, they had every chance to go out and win Game 7. Did they? No.
Even so, it's that one play that came to define Bill Buckner - not just in baseball, but for life. He ended up moving his family to Idaho to escape, but never really did. Until... until last night's 2008 Fenway Park home opener, when he was invited to come and throw out the first pitch for the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox.
The standing ovation lasted 4 minutes (see video). And at long, long last, another curse was laid to its rest.
That's Billy Buckner's second extended ovation at Fenway. The first was at the home opener 18 years ago, when he briefly returned to Boston as a player before retiring. The entire team and staff was announced, and he got the longest ovation of the day. (He received one in absentia in 2006 as well.) It was cathartic in 1990, and for some strange reason I felt it was cathartic once again in 2008. Can one receive catharsis twice for the same thing? Either way, it brought a big smile to my face.
I was there when that same crowd booed him mightily as a Royal a year or two after the error. From the moment he walked to the on deck circle as a pinch hitter, to the moment he sat back down after flying out, the Fenway faithful gave him the first standing boo I'd ever seen. They gave it to a man who... well, the stats say a lot, but beyond the numbers, Buckner hustled. He played with a bum knee. He gave his all for that team, and its fans booed him.
The 2004 and 2007 Red Sox have redeemed Buckner in many fans' eyes, which is too bad, because he's never needed redemption. I can imagine, after having the fans turn on him once before, that he didn't entirely trust the 1990 opening day ovation. This one in 2008 is final. You could hear it in the crowd and see it in the way Bill Buckner acknowledged them. All is not forgotten, but I think that finally, Buckner has forgiven Boston.
I agree, he had no chance to get Mookie at first. A lot of Sox fans should be ashamed of how they treated Buckner for years. Good player, real competitor