Bill Buckner threw out the first pitch yesterday at the Red Sox home opener. Clearly, the Red Sox recent success has tempered the venom for Buckner, although not everyone is ready to bury the hatchet, even people who weren't alive yet.
Buckner has gone on to make some money off of his miscue, certainly a thumb in the eye of Red Sox fans. Is Buckner supposed to be considerate of a fan base that sent him death threats?
Buckner is a better man than I (although that is not an especially remarkable achievement) for agreeing to participate in yesterdays ceremonies. I wonder if the Red Sox fans, media, whatever constitutes the celebrated Red Sox nation, are truly deserving of Buckner's forgiveness.
Buckner's got over 2700 hits, good for 54th all time. He's got a lot of other stats that put him at around 40-50 all time. He hit over .320 in '80, and 4 times led the league in at-bats-per-strikeout. Dude was solid for most of his career, and he played for 20 years. Sox fans should give that dude nothing but respect.
Besides, yeah, he made one error, after the bullpen blew a 2-run lead in the bottom of the 10th. And they still had game 7 to play. Nevermind that they wouldn't have even won the ALCS that year without his clutch 9th-inning hit. He hit .340 in the playoffs, with 8 HRs and 22 RBIs. So, screw Sawx fans. That team would have been watching the Series from home if not for Buckner, and he's not the only one that lost Game 6.
He's a real estate agent now, apparently, and named an Idaho development Fenway Park.
I'm not Buckner fan or anything, I got all this info off the web just now, but I always knew he was a solid player with a real bad rep. I mostly post all this because god, I hate Boston sports.
Posted by: McCreary at April 9, 2008 02:26 PM