" Quite possibly the most memorable World Series moment of all time ?"
This is an updated column from last year, I think that the content is apropos in lieu of it’s the 25th anniversary of Game 6 of the ’86 World Series. I promise that new columns will appear in the coming days.
Do you know where you were on this date twenty-five years ago ? If you are Mets fans and were older than the age of two and were at full mental capacity, this day should hold much happiness for you ! Today marks the almost silver anniversary of game six of the 1986 world series – a game that would be the defining moment of many a Mets fan that had come of age in the ’80′s.
The game started out as bleak as it could on that cold autumn Saturday in . The Red Sox jumped out to early 2–0 lead on the strength of RBI base hits from Dwight Evans and Marty Barrett. The Mets would come back and tie the score in the fifth inning on a single from Ray Knight and a run-scoring double play by Danny Heep. The score would stay unchanged until the top of the seventh when Marty Barrett would score on a fielding error by third baseman, Ray Knight which would give the ” Boys From Bean town” a 3–2 lead. The Mets would tie the game in the bottom of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by catcher, Gary Carter.The score remained tied through the ninth inning, forcing the game to go into extra innings.
This is where the fire-works started !! A Dave Henderson homer along with a RBI single by Marty Barrett put the Red Sox ahead 5-3. The ’86 Mets – a team that was as dominant as any baseball team ever constructed were three outs away from having their season ended without being coronated as the World Series champions. And after Wally Backman and Keith Hernandez were retired to start the bottom of the tenth you could feel the tension in Shea Stadium as well as wherever you were watching the game. But then something miraculous happened. After the scoreboard briefly flashed the message “Congratulations, Boston Red Sox, 1986 World Champions.” ( I hope whoever cued that up was fired on the spot !)Gary Carter, who was down to his final strike, promptly singled to keep the inning alive. Mets manager Davey Johnson had Kevin Mitchell pinch hit for reliever, Rick Aguleria. Mitchell singled to center field to advance Carter to second. Up next was Ray Knight, who sent a Calvin Shiraldi pitch into centerfield for a RBI single. The game was now 5-4 and John McNamara decided to end things by bringing in his closer – Bob Stanley to pitch to Mookie Wilson.
Mookie battled Stanley, grinding out the at bat when on the seventh pitch Stanley’s uncorked a wild pitch which allowed Mitchell to score from third base with the tying run. This is when one of the most magical moments of Mets history unfolded. With the count 3–2, Wilson kept fouling off Stanley’s pitches. Shea Stadium was going crazy,literally rocking as well as shaking ! And on the tenth pitch of the at-bat, Wilson hit a slow ground ball up the first base line that should have been a inning ending ground out but in the words of the immortal Bob Murphy “Little roller up along first. Behind the bag! It gets through Buckner! Here comes Knight and the Mets win it !”
Buckner who was playing on two bad ankles. The ball slipped under his glove, and rolled slowly into right field. Knight grabbed his helmet as he jumped on home plate to win the game in an iconic image of one of the most famous comebacks in World Series history. And we all know what would transpire the next day ….
And with that said… HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!
Happy birthday Pedro Martinez !!! You are the big 4-OH (1971) !! Yes you may not have led the Mets back into the promise land of the World Series as we had hoped, but you did help reinvigorate a disenfranchised fan base as well as inject life back into a listless Mets team.
New York Mets claimed utility infielder, Bill Spiers on waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers on October 25, 1994.
“Mr Warmth” himself , Kevin McReynolds, was granted free agency on October 25, 1994.
Mo Vaughn still wishes that the Sox had won !!!!
11 comments
Anonymous
10/25/2011-10:29am at 10:29 am (UTC -4)
damned, I feel old. I was actually still living in NY back then.
Darknova306
10/25/2011-10:49am at 10:49 am (UTC -4)
I was 4 when this all happened and was probably watching Transformers or something. I got into baseball 4 years later, much to my dismay, as the Mets were in transition to becoming the Mess of the early 90s.
Darknova306
10/25/2011-11:21am at 11:21 am (UTC -4)
I remember where I was when Al Leiter through his complete game shutout in Cincy in the one game playoff in ’99, and where I was when Masato Yoshii threw his first pitch in my favorite Mets game of all time, Game 5 of that NLCS. I’ll likely never love a Mets team as much as I loved the ’99 guys.
Anonymous
10/25/2011-1:01pm at 1:01 pm (UTC -4)
a quarter century ago………Wow!!!…… And that night is forever burned into
my memory as deep as any in my lifetime. The first time I can recall tears
of joy. Nights exactly like that are what yankee fans could never and will never understand about lifelong die-hard Met fans. It’s also why yankee fans
have, in my mind gone in 35,40 years from disliked to near-hated to intolerable in their arrogance and sense of entitlement……
Having already witnessed much of Buckner’s career, I always felt bad for him and his role in what happened BUT It would have been a crime for The 1986 Mets NOT to have Won It All. The Greatest Baseball Team I’ve seen in almost 40 years as a fanatic! Thank You always to Cashen, Davey, Mex
and all those who made that such a special time, including and especially the fans……It was a different time and man was it great.
MetsFan4Decades
10/25/2011-3:52pm at 3:52 pm (UTC -4)
Regarding Buckner….it probably did suck to be him after that game.
Boston did welcomed him back though with open arms some 20 years later to honor him and his playing days there and let him know all is forgiven. Of course it helps that they’ve won 2 championships since then.
Watching the 20 Greatest Games in MLB history on MLB last winter, listening to him and Mookie talk about that game, you could tell he’s come to terms with it and has moved on. He handled it well and if that recent spoof on it on Curb Your Enthusiasm is any indicator he’s gone from that ‘bum Buckner’ to that ‘lovable Buckner’.
Anonymous
10/25/2011-10:45pm at 10:45 pm (UTC -4)
Aside from that play I recall Buckner in his prime as a Cub killing the Mets when they sucked. He was a hell of a player in his prime but as an aged gimpy gamer he was in the right place at the right time as far as a Met’s fan was concerned.
MetsFan4Decades
10/25/2011-3:45pm at 3:45 pm (UTC -4)
I can’t believe that was 25 years ago already.
I certainly remember that night, that game, that series. Late 20s life long Met fan at that point and it still stands today as the greatest Met game I ever saw. When Boston took the early lead two days later in game 7, I had all the confidence in the world the Mets would pull it off and go on to win the 1986 WS.
Just hope I live long enough now to see another Met world championship.
Paul J. Festa
10/25/2011-3:54pm at 3:54 pm (UTC -4)
It’s been too long since we’ve won a championship.
Patrick
10/25/2011-4:32pm at 4:32 pm (UTC -4)
To me the thing I always found interesting about the series was that the focus laid so heavily on Buckner and that play. It was not until the Mets produced the documentary on the teams 20th anniversary in 2006 that I finally heard someone say the same thing I had been thinking since I was 13 years old. Davey Johnson uttering in his interview, once Stanley threw the wild pitch and Mitch scored, the game was over. Essentially Buckners error was while an iconic image in an unimaginable comeback, it was a largely irrelevant moment as it was as physical a certainty that exists, the Mets were winning that game no matter what.
The thing that often gets overshadowed is that the Mets were trailing in game 7 going into the bottom of the sixth 3-0. The Red Sox only hope was Hurst pitching a complete game, as evidenced by the bizarre moves that unfolded from McNamara. After leaving Hurst in during the sixth as the Mets tied the game, he took him out in the 7th. Now I can understand wanting to maybe go with a righty, but Knight had all of two singles in 10 at-bats vs. Hurst in the series. It got crazy though after the Knight Homerun. He brings is Sambito, to intentionally walk Mookie after Dykstra got to second on a Schiraldi wild pitch. Sambito loses the zone and walks Backman and was fortunate when Hernandez turned on a pitch that it only resulted in a sac fly. Stanley is then summoned to get Carter. Which of course led to Al Nipper being in the game in the 8th.
Bizarre. It was miraculous that Boston won a game in that world series with McNamara managing, let alone being within a strike of winning it all.
Anonymous
10/25/2011-10:48pm at 10:48 pm (UTC -4)
glad I am not the only one that feels this way. Always drove me nuts when people say that Buckner “lost” the WS for the Sox.
besides, even if he did botch a play that cost a win (which he didn’t, just the chance to keep playing!), it was not even an elimination game.
Boston, lead by the manager, lost that series as a team. Buckner had less to do with it than plenty of other guys. And I always wondered if Shiraldi, etc, gave him a car or something because if he had fielded the ball and they lost in the next inning, there would have been different players hanging in effigy in Boston Common.
Met Fan
10/25/2011-6:31pm at 6:31 pm (UTC -4)
the Yankees may have 20+ championships
BUT WE HAVE THIS ONE!!!!!!