Buckner resents being "forgiven"

http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3118274

Bill Buckner's name has been brought up a lot now that the Red Sox have finally won a World Series championship after an 86-year drought.




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But after becoming the whipping boy of the Red Sox nation over a crucial error in Boston's last trip to the World Series in 1986, Buckner doesn't want anyone saying he's now "forgiven" for his mistake.

"I don't want to bring a downer on the whole situation because I'm very happy for the Boston Red Sox ... and they certainly deserved to win the World Series this year." Buckner said on Sporting News Radio's James Brown Show.

"I'm just a little disappointed with the whole thing. This whole thing about being forgiven and clearing my name, you know, I mean ... cleared from what? What did I do wrong? It's almost like being in prison for 30 years and then they come up with a DNA test to prove that you weren't guilty.

"I've gone through a lot of, what I feel, undeserved bad situations for myself and my family over a long period of time, and for someone to come up to me and say, 'Hey, you're forgiven.' I mean, it just kind of brings a really bad taste in my mouth."

There has been talk in some circles of trying to include Buckner in this year's victory celebration, but Buckner made it clear where he stood on that notion.

"Not a chance. Not a chance," Buckner said. "There are a lot of great people in New England and great fans, and obviously they're very passionate about their team. This is their championship; this is what they did, and I'm happy for them. But my team in '86 didn't win and this team did." The James Brown Show airs nationally on Sporting News Radio weekdays from 10 a.m.-noon ET.

http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3118274

I feel badly for him. He doesn't have to be forgiven. Errors happen. It was a poor time for it to happen, but jeez we need to cut this guy a break.

95% that Mookie would have run out the tag anyway. They still lost the 7th game...and he didn't give up all those hits.

Boston fans who even mutter this guys name are scum.

Were'nt the Redsox well on their way to blowing that game before the Buckner error? I seem to remeber the wheels coming off before he booted the ball. Anyone remember the situation?

runner,

it isnt Boston fans, its everyone else out there and the TV stations which for God knows what reason feel obligated to show that play 10000 times a year.

I never blamed Buckner at all and I know a lot of fans who feel the same way.Blame goes to the crappy bullpen and mgmt for not getting a closer until next season when they traded for Lee Smith, too late.

give BoSox fans a break, most of the anti-Buckner stuff comes from people who dont know how little that play meant. Although I admit Buckner is no the favorite son of red sox fans, most understand hes getting a bad rap

DickyW said:

Were'nt the Redsox well on their way to blowing that game before the Buckner error? I seem to remeber the wheels coming off before he booted the ball. Anyone remember the situation?

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Yes...a few hits. Also... Buckner wouldn't have caught the runner anyway... not his fault. The play was pretty meaningless.

Anyone who understands baseball knows that Buckner had nothing to do with teh game 6 collapse of the Boston bullpen in '86. It's the braindead idiots who keep tying his name to the 86 worldseries that are , well, brain dead. Thank god we don't have to hear the Buckner malaprop any longer now that Boston ripped the monkey off their back.

DickyW said:

Were'nt the Redsox well on their way to blowing that game before the Buckner error? I seem to remeber the wheels coming off before he booted the ball. Anyone remember the situation?

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shiraldi gave up a bunch of hits and stanley had a walk and a wild pitch.

its sad...billy buck was a very good player in chicago for a lot of years and he is remembered for that one error.

Yegshemesh. No. It was entirely his fault. He has handled the backlash quite poorly in my opinion. He had the balls to start a hitting school with indoor batting cages next to a gym I used to go to in Waltham. Maybe he should have started a fielding school instead. I will only feel bad for him if he does something bad to himself. Other than that I don't think that I or anyone else in Boston should feel any sympathy towards him. He never has to work a day in his life.I do. Does anyone sense a little snippyness in his tone.Chinkwee!

Borat

Put down the whiskey, grab a cub of java and sober up.:WTF:

it isnt even buckners fault. thats the ignorant fans that put the blame on him. id resent it to. id be like have a nice cup of STFU leave me and my 86 club alone

The truth is he should have been taken out for a defensive replacement like they did late in games before the playoff due to a bad ankle. However, we will never know if Buckner or Stanley[lard ass] would have made it to the bag, because he missed the friggen ball! If he catches the ball and makes the play the inning is over tie game. If he catches the ball and misses the tag there is still 2 out w/ Knight on third and we still have a chance.
I hold nothing against Buckner, but I wish he would have caught that friggen ball.MAY'N!!!!!! :kicking:

Tony,

CONGRATS ON YOUR RED SOX!!!!!! :biggrinin :biggrinin

I posted the below yesterday re Buckner...

1. The score was tied when the ball went through his legs (Sox were not winning) so that Sox were AT BEST 50% to win the game.

2. Buckner would probably not have beaten Mookie to the bag anyway.

3. Schiraldi threw meatballs to Carter, Mitchell and Knight and couldn't get the third out.

4. Bob Stanley came in and promptly wildpitched in the tying run (prior to Buckner's miscue).

5. Sox were tied with Mets in game 7 (after having a 3 run lead). Schiraldi came in with the score tied and gave up 3 runs in 1/3 of an inning including a gopherball to Ray Knight for the go ahead run.

6. SCHIRALDI AND STANLEY WERE THE GOATS, NOT BUCKNER. HE HAS GOTTEN THE BIGGEST HOSEJOB IN BASEBALL HISTORY FROM ALL THE IGNORANT FANS, WRITERS AND COMMENTATORS.

Kab
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Borat Sagdiyev said:

Yegshemesh. No. It was entirely his fault. He has handled the backlash quite poorly in my opinion. He had the balls to start a hitting school with indoor batting cages next to a gym I used to go to in Waltham. Maybe he should have started a fielding school instead. I will only feel bad for him if he does something bad to himself. Other than that I don't think that I or anyone else in Boston should feel any sympathy towards him. He never has to work a day in his life.I do. Does anyone sense a little snippyness in his tone.Chinkwee!

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Another brain dead idiot who knows nothing about baseball.

Kabbagecough said:

6. SCHIRALDI AND STANLEY WERE THE GOATS, NOT BUCKNER. HE HAS GOTTEN THE BIGGEST HOSEJOB IN BASEBALL HISTORY FROM ALL THE IGNORANT FANS, WRITERS AND COMMENTATORS.

Kab
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Thank you

I just so happened to watch about 156 of the 162 games that year in their ENTIRITY.

The BOSOX would not have even made the playoffs without BillyBuck.

I was kidding dicknose. I agree that Schiraldi and Stanly should have more blame. They were showing Stanley at his home celebrating the victory on the local Fox channel in Boston. He must have been glad that somehow he escaped the blame that was thrust upon Buckner.

bubba-sc said:

Another brain dead idiot who knows nothing about baseball.

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Buckner ball in play, up for auction this month


BEN WALKER, AP Baseball Writer


Published 11:15 a.m., Tuesday, October 4, 2011

• 
  FILE - In this Oct. 25, 1986 file photo, Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner misplays the ball during Game 6 of the World Series against the New York Mets. The Buckner ball is back in play. The prize souvenir from the 1986 World Series will go on eBay this month with a $1 million price tag, put up for auction by the Grammy-nominated songwriter who once bought it from actor Charlie Sheen. , MAGS OUT, INTERNET OUT. -BOS BOSTON HERALD OUT, QUINCY OUT. MANDATORY CREDIT Photo: Boston Globe, Stan Grossfeld / AP
  FILE - In this Oct. 25, 1986 file photo, Boston Red Sox first...

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Buckner-ball-in-play-up-for-auction-this-month-2202108.php Georgia (default)






NEW YORK (AP) — The Bill Buckner ball is back in play.
The prize souvenir from the 1986 World Series will go on eBay this month with a $1 million price tag, put up for auction by the Grammy-nominated songwriter who once bought it from actor Charlie Sheen.
Seth Swirsky owns the ball, along with a bevy of bats, gloves and other mementos tied to the likes of Shoeless Joe Jackson, Johnny Vander Meer and Eddie Gaedel. He celebrates the game's lore, and has written three books based on his letters to and from ballplayers.
"I love my collection. I don't think I've ever sold anything from it," Swirsky told The Associated Press from his home in Los Angeles. "But that ball, it's time to pass it along, to let someone else enjoy it."
Swirsky plans to begin the online auction on Oct. 15, and it won't last long. He intends to close the bidding late on the night of Oct. 25 — at the exact minute of the 25th anniversary of Buckner's famous error.
Swirsky said he decided to part with a favorite piece while driving around last week, a day after watching Boston collapse on the final night of the regular season.
"The myth of Buckner continues. There he was on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' last month. Everybody knows where they were when that play happened," he said. "I wasn't in a gloating mood. This isn't about, 'ha, ha, the Red Sox lost.' I'm not a Red Sox hater, I'm a baseball history lover.
"If anything, I want people to know how good Buckner was. You really wanted Billy Buck on your team. He got 2,715 hits — almost as many as Lou Gehrig," Swirsky said.
Buckner, however, is more noted for what happened in Game 6 of the '86 Series. Playing first base for Boston, he let Mookie Wilson's grounder roll through his legs, allowing the New York Mets to cap an incredible rally in the 10th inning. The Mets went on to win the title.
The ball was picked up by right field umpire Ed Montague, who put a tiny "x'' near a seam to mark the real thing. Montague gave it to Mets executive Arthur Richman, who in turn presented it to Wilson. Then Wilson signed it to Richman — "The ball won it for us," he wrote — and the souvenir made its way around the clubhouse. Someone left a tobacco stain where he kissed it.
Sheen bought the ball for more than $93,000 in 1992 and Swirsky purchased it for nearly $64,000 in 2000. Auction houses handled those transactions, but Swirsky said he's going online because the anniversary date is fast approaching.
To Swirsky, the Buckner ball captures the heart of the sport.
"People ask, 'Why would you have a ball about sorrow?' To me, it's encompasses the two emotions of the game. The highs and lows, all encapsulated in one ball."
Raised in Long Island, the 51-year-old Swirsky gave the ball to the Mets Hall of Fame last year for display. He's also shown it to both Wilson and Buckner at different times. Buckner thought it was "cool" and Wilson's eyes "got real big," Swirsky said.
Swirsky's extensive collection is a combination of historical and hysterical.
He's got a ticket stub from Gehrig's last game, the ball Reggie Jackson hit for his third straight home run in the 1977 World Series and a letter Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis wrote to Shoeless Joe after getting banned in the Black Sox scandal.
Swirsky also owns the cap that Jose Canseco was wearing when a ball bounced off his head for a home run, a bottle of champagne the Red Sox had in their clubhouse in anticipation of winning the '86 Series and a rare autograph from Gaedel, the dwarf who batted in a 1951 publicity stunt.
Baseball memorabilia is only a part of Swirsky's life. He co-wrote the hit "Tell It To My Heart" by Taylor Dayne, and has multiple hits with Celine Dion, Olivia Newton-John and Al Green. Swirsky also performs with The Red Button, his Beatles-oriented retro band that recently released a new album.
Swirsky thinks $1 million is a good starting point, based on previous ball sales. Mark McGwire's 70th homer went for over $3 million and Babe Ruth's homer from the 1933 All-Star game went for $850,000, as did Hank Aaron's last home run.
Swirsky plans to donate part of the proceeds to the Baseball Assistance Team, which helps those in the baseball family having financial hardship. He previously donated from his book sales to B.A.T.
"We should share this with the people who created these memories for us," he said.
Swirsky would sell the Buckner ball for a certain person in an instant.
Outspoken political commentator Keith Olbermann — an excellent baseball storyteller, too — came in second to Sheen when the ball initially went to auction. Olbermann then was second to Swirsky.
"If I got a call from Keith and he wanted it for a million, I'd do it. He deserves it," Swirsky said. "I'd rather have someone who really wants it to have it, y'know?"

That ball isn't going for anywhere close to a million. Doesn't hurt to start high though I suppose.