Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Weekend 2010.

Revisiting 1986 with Bill Buckner in Cooperstown.

After checking with the Baseball Hall of Fame and a couple of other websites to see who would be appearing in Cooperstown for the 2010 Induction Weekend, I stumbled across a name from the Boston Red Sox infamous past. The year 1986 to most Red Sox fans elevated losing to an art form… and all it took was one play. Yes, I am referring to the famous play involving Bill Buckner in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, with the Red Sox on the verge of taking the series from the New York Mets and ending the drought dating back to 1918. A seemingly routine ground ball by Mookie Wilson found a way to escape Bill Buckner by rolling under his glove, scoring Ray Knight and eventually ending any chance the Red Sox had of winning the series. As that painful moment unfolded on the TV, the world for one man and entire fan base changed forever.

Getting the chance to meet Bill Buckner in person was to hard to pass-up. I know 1986 was 24 years and two (2) World Series Championships ago, but sometimes you just need to clear the air.

I am one of the rare Red Sox fans that never placed the blame on Bill Buckner. I have always pointed to Bob Stanley and the pitching staff for the meltdown that was brewing prior to that famous play. Bill Buckner’s error was the last of several by the entire team, unfortunately that in the eyes of most Red Sox fans was enough to receive most of the blame… completely unjustified!

Bill and I had a nice conversation, and he signed a couple of baseballs for me. One of the balls is going back to Boston for my cousin Paul.

The four (4) hours spent in Cooperstown on July 24th, was filled with many memories, as I meet several Hall of Famers and former players, like: Ricky Henderson, Dwight Gooden, Rollie Fingers, Bob Feller, Ozzie Smith, Robin Yount, Ferguson Jenkins, and many more.

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