Game 6 of the 1986 World Series
Bill Buckner Error Highlights Tragic Red Sox Loss to the Mets
Oct 15, 2007
It is one of the most famous games in the history of any sport. But that's only if you live outside of Boston. Because for many Red Sox fans, Game 6 of the 1986 World Series against the New York Mets was the most heartbreaking night of their baseball lives.
The Red Sox Enter Game 6 On Verge of an Elusive World Series Title
The date was October 25, 1986. The Boston Red Sox had a three games to two lead in the 83rd edition of the Fall Classic. The Game 6 pitching match-up pitted the American League Cy Young Award winner, a 24-year old flamethrower named Roger Clemens, against the New York Mets' crafty lefthander Bobby Ojeda, who had finished the season with an 18-5 record with a 2.57 ERA.
The game time temperature was a chilly 57 degrees, but the Shea Stadium crowd of 55,078 was less concerned with the frigid air than it was with the Mets' cold bats. The team scored only two runs against Red Sox pitching in the Game 5 loss at Fenway Park. And the prospect of facing Clemens, who was virtually unhittable in 1986 (24-4, 2.48 ERA), certainly didn't bode well for their struggling offense.
The Game "Begins" With a Nine Inning Pitchers' Duel
The Red Sox jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI double by Dwight Evans. In the second inning, the pesky Marty Barrett singled home the even peskier Spike Owen to extend the lead to 2-0.
But the Mets battled back, scoring twice in the bottom of the fifth inning on a single by Ray Knight that scored Darryl Strawberry, and a Danny Heep groundout that plated Knight. The score remained tied 2-2 as the game moved through the sixth and into the seventh inning.
But a Dwight Evans RBI groundout in the top of the seventh briefly put the Sox ahead, 3-2.
Clemens shut down the Mets in the bottom of the seventh, but because he had thrown 134 pitches, he was removed in favor of Calvin Schiraldi before the Mets came to bat in the eighth inning. Then, with one out and Lee Mazzilli on third base, Gary Carter hit a sacrifice fly to left field that knotted the score at three runs apiece.
Neither team scored in the ninth inning, and the Shea Stadium crowd prepared for extra innings as the New York night grew darker and the Autumn chill turned colder.
The 10th Inning
With Rick Aguilera on the hill for the Mets in the top of the tenth inning, Boston's Dave Henderson homered to center field to put the Sox ahead, 4-3. A few moments later, Marty Barrett's two-out single drove home Wade Boggs to extend the Boston lead to 5-3. Hearts crawled into the throats of Red Sox fans all throughout New England. Their beloved team was just three outs from its first World Series Championship in 68 years.
"Three more outs and they shake the curse," said Jack Polnachek, a lifelong Bostonian who was sitting at the bar amidst a nervous but hopeful throng in a crowded pub on Boyleston Street. "This is the same place I was the last time they won the Series. I was only sixteen years old back then. I snuck in with my big brother," he told a Boston Globe reporter who was covering the scene. "But it's nawt over yet. We need three more outs."
After Schiraldi retired Wally Backman and Keith Hernandez on successive flyballs, Polnachek's tension didn't subside. He sipped at his half-finished beer two or three times in rapid succession, took a deep breath and told the reporter about his bad heart, and how he "really shouldn't be here."
But as he was speaking, Gary Carter hit a line drive single to left field. The next batter, pinch hitter Kevin Mitchell, drove the first pitch he saw into center field. First and second, but there still two outs.
Then Ray Knight singled, scoring Carter and sending Mitchell to third base. The score was now 5-4. Polnachek slumped over just a bit and politely asked the reporter if he could be alone.
Back in New York, the Shea Stadium crowd whipped into a frenzy as Red Sox manager John McNamara emerged from the dugout and signalled the bullpen to send in Bob Stanley to face Mookie Wilson.
What followed could be attributed to many things: nervous tension, the biting cold, perhaps a managerial mistake. Anything. But for Boston Red Sox fans, who were all too familiar with it, they knew it was the Curse.
Stanley's first pitch was wild, almost hitting Wilson in the foot as it shot past catcher Rich Gedman and rolled all the way to the backstop, allowing Kevin Mitchell to sprint home from third base. The game was now tied, 5-5. There would be no celebration in Boston, not on this night.
Polnachek stood up and walked slowly towards the door of the tavern. He didn't even see the faces of the stunned or hear the broken hearted sighs of the wounded. But he did look up to the television screen just as Wilson hit a slow roller down the first base line. As the Mets' speedster sprinted for first base, Boston's 38-year old first baseman Bill Buckner hobbled over to field the ball some 15 feet behind the bag. But when Buckner bent down to pick up the ball, his age or the chill or his arthritic knees prevented him from getting his glove all the way to the ground.
And the ball rolled through his legs.
Knight, who had been running on contact, rounded third base and caught the scene out of the corner of his eye, and realizing that he was going to score, raised his hands to his helmet as if to keep his head from leaving his body. He jumped on home plate, and was mobbed by his teammates. The game was over. The Mets had come back from the brink of disaster, and won the game 6 to 5.
Even before the television cameras spotted Buckner walking towards the dugout, his head down and tears welling up in his eyes, the tavern door had closed behind Jack Polnachek, who was just beginning his long journey home through the cold midnight clear of late October in New England.
The Fallout
The Mets won Game 7, coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the sixth inning to prevail by a final score of 8-5.
Ray Knight was named the Series MVP.
Bill Buckner was never forgiven by Red Sox fans and eventually moved out of Boston.
Roger Clemens won six more Cy Young awards. He also won two World Series rings with the New York Yankees in 1999 and 2000.
In 2004, the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series, and then swept the St. Louis Cardinals to bring home their first World Series title in 86 years.
Mookie Wilson insists to this day that even if Buckner had fielded the ball cleanly, he still would have managed to beat the throw and get an infield single.
