Boston to Buckner: Sorry for castigating you for 20 years….

Fig Jam

What a heartwarming scene in Beantown the other day.  The Boston Red Sox, apparently satisfied with the amount of pain and suffering inflicted upon former 1st baseman Bill Buckner, honored Buckner at their ring ceremony and had him throw out the first pitch at Fenway.  Buckner was emotional as he stood and faced thousands of fans who had wished death upon him for years.  However, now that the Red Sox have won a couple of World Series apparently it’s all good.  Whew. 

Boston fans wrongly ‘convicted’ Buckner in 1986 as the only culprit in the Sox epic meltdown against the Mets.  Of course, that wasn’t fair.  Buckner was just the logical scapegoat as his embarassing error down the first base line allowed the Mets to stay alive in a game that should have been over.  Of course the Sox could have won that game, or the next game and still prevailed as World Series Champs, but they did not.  And for the next 20 years the name “Bill Buckner” was a bad word in Boston.  The criticism was over the top, the alienation complete.  Buckner eventually retreated to rural Idaho, haunted by the memory of his error.  The Red Sox organization was not heard from during this time.  They allowed this to happen.

Then Boston won a couple of World Series and everything was cool again.  Turns out that was exactly what the organization needed to bring Buckner back and feebly attempt to make amends.  I kind of wish I could have been in there at Fenway to see the incredible hypocrisy in person.  Maybe they gave him a pickup truck or something.  Along with a card that said,  

‘Dear Bill, thank you for being the whipping post for all of our problems for so long….. in hindsight it may have been a bit much, but we appreciate you going out into the middle of nowhere to suffer in silence.  Please accept this Ford as a token of our gratitude.  Also, please be assured that all those death threats made against you over the years are now null and void.  Many of the fans who made those threats express their condolences now that we have won the Series.  Cheers!’

When you are on top it is easy to be the bigger person.  For years the Red Sox organization could have stepped up and brought Buckner back, but they didn’t do it.  Not until they were on top.  To me, that makes this story seem like something the Red Sox did for themselves, not Buckner.  To ease their guilt.  Add it to the growing list of events that makes New York fans more bearable every day.