Bill Buckner.
That is all.
I have not watched a baseball game since that one, so I remember it very well.
Bill Buckner has been made a scapegoat for a game that was already lost. When that ball went between his legs, the game was tied. How did the game get tied? It was not Bill Buckner's fault.
You may recall that the Red Sox were up by two runs, bottom of the 9th, with nobody on base, and two outs. The Mets' billboard was flashing "CONGRATULATIONS RED SOX....WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!"
The coach (John Macnamara) lost that game. But if you need a player as a scapegoat then please watch the tape and the name "Bob Stanley" will figure prominently. He was a mediocre pitcher who had one good year and got a fat contract that he never lived up to. He was terrible in the clutch, and somehow Macnamara thought he was the go to guy with the series all but in the bag. When his name was announced my father and I both stood up and shouted "BOB STANLEY?"
By the time Buckner made his error the tides had already turned. Buckner was in the game for offense only; he had bad knees. Why did Macnamara leave him in the game instead of playing a pinch fielder? Macnamara is responsible for the biggest choke in baseball history, and somehow it is remembered as all Bill Buckner's fault.
Remember that even if Buckner had gotten the out, the game would have then gone into extra innings at Met's stadium. After blowing a two run, two out lead in the bottom of the ninth, I doubt the Sox could have pulled it off, just like they lost the next game (that I didn't watch since I knew they would lose) and the series.
I do credit that game with giving me all that free time that I once wasted watching sports.
