9. Bill Buckner was personally blamed for the loss of the 1986 World Series after he failed to catch an easy ball against the New York Mets
William Joseph Buckner (b. December 14, 1949), colloquially known as Bill, is a former professional first baseman who played in the United States’ Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1969 to 1990. Recording an accumulative 2,700 hits throughout his career, during which time he played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cub, Boston Red Sox, California Angels, and Kansas City Royals, Buckner batted in 1,208 runs and hit 174 home runs.
During the sixth game of the 1986 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets, with the seven-game series 3-2 respectively, the game went into extra innings. At a critical moment, Mookie Wilson hit a slow roller to Buckner’s first base and in his attempt to prevent Wilson reaching the base Buckner failed to collect the ball; instead, the ball rolled to the side of Buckner’s glove and through his legs into right field, allowing Ray Knight to score the winning run from second base.
The Mets would go on to win the series and deny the Red Sox what would have been their first victory since 1918, with Buckner becoming a scapegoat and personally blamed for the defeat. Buckner began receiving death threats, in addition to being harassed and booed by his own fans, and the inaccurate belief that had he caught the ball the Red Sox would have won the series became widespread popular opinion; the following year, Buckner was released from his contract by the Red Sox, despite recording a proficient .273 batting average. The so-called “Buckner Ball” has since become a valuable artifact among collectors, with Charlie Sheen purchasing the ball in 1992 for $93,000 and it was most recently sold in 2012 for $418,250.
It is now popularly believed by experts that Red Sox right fielder Dwight Evans was at fault for failing to back up Buckner sufficiently. Furthermore, Boston manager John McNamara’s choice to deploy Buckner instead of Dave Stapleton has been called into question; Buckner was severely injured, in fact being the first player to wear high-top baseball cleats in an effort to relieve the pain from his chronic ankle problems, and was routinely replaced in the late-game by Stapleton.