Bill Buckner

[niremetal]

I've grown addicted to watching Ken Burns documentaries. Right now, I'm watching his 10-part documentary Baseball, specifically the 1986 World Series. After watching how that inning unfolded, I seriously can't fathom why Buckner became so infamous for his play. Yeah, it was a bad error. But it was the Red Sox pitchers (closer Calvin Schiraldi and setup man Bob Stanley) and their idiotic manager (John McNamara) that truly blew that game.

Boston was up 2 runs going into the bottom of the tenth. But McNamara had sent Schiraldi out for a two inning save in the eighth. Schiraldi had been tagged for a run in the 8th but McNamara left him out there for the ninth. Alright, he's your closer so I get wanting to squeeze an extra inning out of him. But why leave him out there for a third inning?

Schiraldi managed to get two outs on solidly hit fly balls (warning sign much?). Then the Mets get three straight base hits to get the game to 5-4, with the tying run at 3rd and the winning run at 1st. Only then does McNamara get Schiraldi out of there. I mean, really?? You make a reliever face sixteen batters before getting him out of there?

So Bobby Cox style, McNamara makes his move an inning too late and brings in Stanley. Stanley immediately precedes to throw a wild pitch. Tying run is scored, winning run moves to third.

At this point, frankly, the game basically is over. Even if the Red Sox make it out of the inning, the Mets have so much adrenaline and the Red Sox are so deflated that I don't see how they come back and win.

In any case, only after the game got totally FUBARed did Buckner make his error. And frankly, even that is partly McNamara's responsibility too. Buckner was less than 2 months shy of 37 at this point and had two bad ankles. McNamara usually replaced him late in the game with the younger David Stapleton. But that night, he decided to leave Buckner out there for 10 innings. Big shock that he didn't move his feet quickly enough and crouch down low enough to field a fast-and-low grounder hit to his left.

Anyway, in order of responsibility for the Sox blowing that game, I go with 1) McNamara; 2) Stanley (the game-tying wild pitch, I think, was when it really was all over); 3) Buckner; and 4) Schiraldi (I don't blame player for failing to take themselves out of a game when they tire).

But whenever anyone thinks of that series, all they remember is Buckner and his error. Does that seem fair to you?

Edited July 16, 2012 by niremetal

[Guest]

Reminds me of Bartman, yeah he fudged things up but it was a collective meltdown of the whole Cubs team. Sometimes it is easier to blame one person than describe the whole situation.

[NJHAWK]

I saw a replay of sb 13 some years ago which was Pitt vs Dallas the 2nd time they played in the 70's. It is known as the game Jackie Smith blew by dropping a easy td pass. The final score of the game was 35-31 Pitt but the Cowboys were down 35 to 17 late in the 4th quarter. The drop came when the game was 21-14 Pitt and Dallas had to settle for a fg to make it 21-17. After Smiths drop there was a comedy of official blunders. One Pitt td was set up by a long pass int penalty that was bs and then a draw to Franco for a td in which the lb on Dallas was actually blocked by the ref. On the kickoff Dallas fumbled which led to another Pitt td. Funny thing is it was hall of fame DE Randy White who fumbled the kickoff because he was on the return team WITH CASTS on each hand. Nobody ever brings that up but Jackie Smith is always blamed for that game.

[niremetal]

Reminds me of Bartman, yeah he fudged things up but it was a collective meltdown of the whole Cubs team. Sometimes it is easier to blame one person than describe the whole situation.

I saw a replay of sb 13 some years ago which was Pitt vs Dallas the 2nd time they played in the 70's. It is known as the game Jackie Smith blew by dropping a easy td pass. The final score of the game was 35-31 Pitt but the Cowboys were down 35 to 17 late in the 4th quarter. The drop came when the game was 21-14 Pitt and Dallas had to settle for a fg to make it 21-17. After Smiths drop there was a comedy of official blunders. One Pitt td was set up by a long pass int penalty that was bs and then a draw to Franco for a td in which the lb on Dallas was actually blocked by the ref. On the kickoff Dallas fumbled which led to another Pitt td. Funny thing is it was hall of fame DE Randy White who fumbled the kickoff because he was on the return team WITH CASTS on each hand. Nobody ever brings that up but Jackie Smith is always blamed for that game.

Yeah, both of those incidents also illustrate how arbitrary the selection of the scapegoat can be. Bartman's play came in the 8th inning and Smith's flub came in the 3rd quarter. They were scapegoated because they helped "spark" a meltdown. Buckner is remembered because his error capped a meltdown (to say nothing of the fact that there was a whole 'nother game to play after his error...which the Red Sox lost 8-5). There's no historical consistency about whether the role of scapegoat is assigned to someone whose mess-up came at the beginning, middle, or end. It just seems arbitrary. Edited July 16, 2012 by niremetal