No forgiveness asked
Bill Buckner does not need your absolution. He is not interested in your forgiveness.
Yet after the Boston Red Sox finally snapped their 86-year curse to win the World Series last year, fans across New England granted amnesty to the former first baseman for his infamous through-the-legs error in Game 6 of the 1986 fall classic.
Buckner saw no connection between his error and the end of an era, felt no sense of vindication – not that he needed any.
“It didn’t make me feel any differently as far as what happened in ‘86,” Buckner told an Associated Press reporter Tuesday over appetizers in a Times Square restaurant. “I was almost offended that people thought that was supposed to make me feel good.
“I mean, I’ve got to laugh at it: We forgive Bill Buckner. For what? What crime did he commit?”
At age 55, Buckner – a former Spokane Indian who spent two decades in the majors, collecting more than 2,700 hits – is still best remembered for the Mookie Wilson grounder that slipped beneath his glove to lift the New York Mets to an unlikely comeback victory. The Mets went on to win the next game and the series.
Buckner was helping promote a new ad campaign for a liquor, a sequel to “Casey At the Bat” where the mighty title character gets a second chance and hits a home run. Buckner, who has turned down several proposed commercials in the last 19 years, said the theme of second chances appealed to him.
“A lot of people have come up to me and said, ‘You really helped me in my life,’ ” Buckner said. ” ‘I looked at what you had to go through, and how you handled it, and my life is better because of that.’ “
Buckner now even does card shows with Wilson – they were together last weekend, an ‘80s version of Ralph Branca and Bobby Thomson. And if people remember the one bad play rather than all the good ones, Buckner can live with that, too.
“Once you accept that, (the rest) doesn’t matter,” Buckner said.
It’s all foreign to him
Terry Bradshaw, who taped an interview with Chicago linebacker Brian Urlacher for today’s NFL pregame on Fox, said:
“When Brian told me he grew up in New Mexico, I told him I thought it is cool that people from other countries play football. He corrected me on my geography and agreed to sit down with me anyway.”
His days are numbered
Before Vinny Testaverde, who turns 42 Nov. 13, helped the New York Jets defeat Tampa Bay 14-12 last Sunday, Fox’s Howie Long was skeptical.
“He’s 42 years old,” Long said. “I’m 45. When I fly back home I stretch for 10 minutes before I go in the house for fear that one of my kids is going to pop out of the closet and hit me. Are you kidding me? He’ll win three or four for them if he stays healthy, but that’s it.”
The last word
Greg Cote of the Miami Herald, after Florida Marlins owner Jeffery Loria proclaimed his team’s 2005 performance “a great season until the last two weeks,” wrote: “Which is sort of like saying it was a great family vacation till the car went off the cliff.”