Digital Extra: The Journal's 175th Anniversary

07.21.2004

1986. '86 World Series, Game 6 -- 'nuf said

Journal sports columnist Bill Parrillo's feature on Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner ran Oct. 25, 1986 -- the morning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.

The headline read: "For Buckner, pleasure of winning only cure for pain."

He wrote of how Buckner had swigged water from LaSalette Shrine, in Attleboro, which a fan had sent him to cure his ailing ankles.

"While some have admired his agonizing trips around the bases," Parrillo wrote, "others have cried aloud for the Sox to send him to the sidelines, much like the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association would do to a sore-legged thoroughbred."

Buckner would have none of that, Parrillo wrote.

He quoted Buckner saying: "I'm swinging better again. And I've handled everything that has come my way except one pop-up when my feet went out from under me."

The Sox led the New York Mets 3-2 in the series, and had the chance to close out the Series that night.

The Red Sox took a 5-3 lead in the 10th inning. Pitcher Calvin Schiraldi got two quick outs in the bottom of the 10th, and the Sox were one out away from the World Championship. In a 1999 retrospective, Parrillo, who died in 2003, described how he had nearly finished his story, and was only waiting to plug in the final score.

He was on the phone from New York, speaking to an editor in Providence, when the Mets' Gary Carter hit a two-out single.

They just got a hit, he told his editor.

"No problem," the editor replied.

Then came another hit.

Again: "No problem."

Another hit made the score 5-4.

"You're still OK," the editor told Parrillo.

Sox pitcher Bob Stanley threw an inside pitch that got past catcher Rich Gedman, and the tying run scored.

"Let's see what happens," the editor said.

The Mets' Mookie Wilson cracked a routine bouncer to Bill Buckner. The first baseman shuffled into position for what could be argued was the most unspeakable play in Red Sox history. The ball bounced through his legs and the Mets won the game.

Still on the phone with his editor, Parrillo asked: "Now what?"

"You got 20 minutes."

Parrillo hurriedly typed:

"For the briefest of moments, the Boston Red Sox seemed on the verge of wiping out 68 years of baseball frustration. Sixty-eight years of pain and suffering and losing. Sixty-eight years of near-misses. But it may take another 68 years for the Sox to get over this one."