Before the Boston Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, they had a long and pretty amazing history of futility known as the curse, or, more fully, the Curse of the Bambino, so-called because the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to New York in 1919 (it was formally announced shortly after New Year’s Day).
The peak of this was the 1986 World Series, when the Red Sox suprisingly got to the World Series.
Enter Bill Buckner.
Buckner came into baseball as a speedy player but he lost a lot of his speed after surgeries
on his feet and ankles. He also had an Achilles injury which hindered him. It took him hours to recover after games.
The man was really limited.
In Game 6, the Red Sox were one pitch away from breaking the curse when the ball came to Buckner, just behind first base…and the ball rolled between his legs.
It was a devastating moment for Buckner, the team and the city. The Mets scored on that play and the series went to Game 7, where the Sox, naturally, lost.
Naturally, Buckner was vilified, even getting death threats, and the curse continued until 2004.
Twenty years later, Buckner threw out the first ball in Fenway Park and received a two-minute standing ovation. Time heals most wounds.
Not all though – very sadly, Buckner died in 2019 of Lewy body dementia. It’s a very difficult form of dementia that can also involve hallucinations.
It’s good that Boston embraced him so fully in 2008. He was a wonderful player, and brave, who should not be defined by a single play, and no loss is because of a single play. Other mistakes led up to a close game.
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