First baseman Bill Buckner had an exceptional professional baseball career that featured 2,715 hits, a .289 batting average and 1,208 RBI’s.  Despite his impressive numbers, the 21 year career of Buckner is tarnished by one horrible mistake in the 1986 World Series.

On this day, October 25th, in 1986, Bill Bucker committed one of the most famous fielding errors in baseball history during Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.  The infamous play came during extra innings with two Mets on base, two outs, and the score tied in the bottom of the 10th inning. Mookie Wilson of the Mets hit a ground ball down the first base line towards Buckner and instead of an easy fielding play to end the inning, the ball rolled off of Buckner’s glove and through his legs.  The error resulted in a run by Ray Knight and the New York Mets taking the game with a final score of 6-5.

The Mets went on to went on to win Game 7 and completed an improbable win against the Red Sox.  Unfortunately for Buckner,  his error made him a disliked figure among fans.  He became the easiest scapegoat for the perceived Red Sox curse, the “Curse of the Bambino.”