RIP Bill Buckner

C’mon, that’s ridiculous.

 

Lighten up Francis

 

He was a very good/borderline great player who by all accounts was a good man who handled an awful situation with incredible grace. But it is naive to think that this isn’t the first sentence of his obituary/leading part of a Sportscenter crawl.

 

Muffing a fly ball in the 1912 World Series was the first line of Fred Snodgrass' obit, after a life that included making a pile of money and being Mayor of Oxnard, Cal., in the fucking New York Times. It ain't Sportscenter that does this, it's sports.

 

I think there’s an alternate realty where McNamara pulls Buckner and Stapleton makes the play. Sox wins the series. Buckner squeaks in another three full seasons and gets to 3,000 hits and launches a massive debate on his HOF candidacy.

 

It’s not like he was a paraplegic. It wasn’t like he was incapable of bending.

 

The guy below had two great posts in the comments section, and both are at least a year old.

Patrick Bateman
Most people are idiots. Win or lose how does a baseball game really affect an average person's life. It doesn't. The man could hardly walk and even if he fielded that ground ball it was not a sure out at first. One of the biggest cock suckers I know is from Boston and I would love to kick his fat walrus ass.

Patrick Bateman
Considering how deep he was playing if he fields that ground ball Mookie beats him to first. Fat fuck Stanley was nowhere near the bag. Three straight singles. Passed ball. Top if off second baseman was not backing up first and allowed Knight to score. Buckner won in the end. Beautiful loving wife. Great family. Pimp house. Put his kids through college by signing autographs. Boston didn't deserve him.

Finally, Buckner wasn't a Hall of Famer, but he was a fine ballplayer. Dangerous hitter to almost any pitcher. Gamer on the field, every time. And a stand-up guy all-around. Shrugged off everything the bitter asshole Red Sox fans threw at him, not just then but for years and even decades, and that helped show anyone how to live through personal crisis.

I never liked the teams Buckner played for, but I was always a fan of Buckner and the way he played the game. RIP, Buck!

 

People don’t remember that Buckner came back to the Red Sox in 1990 and got a standing ovation on opening day. He was definitely done by then and got released early in the season.

I’m glad, for his sake, that they won a title while he was still alive.

 

And the Sox gave up a washed-up (as a starter) Eck to get Buckner. In 1984 you’d take that trade every day and twice on Sundays.

 

Including Mr. Baseball Tony Fuckin' Massarotti, co-host of the top rated afternoon drive time show and former Red Sox beat writer. He is the worst among a group of terrible 'personalities.'

 

This morning was one of my men's senior golf league days. Red Sox fans one and all except me, of course. Remarks about Buckner were universally positive and admiring.