Welcome, Curse of the Babe fans! Let's relive Game 6,
shall we?
Welcome, Curse of the Babe fans! Let's relive Game 6,
shall we?
Prior to 2004, 1986 was the last of the Red Sox' four "post-1920 Babe-trade" Series' appearances, and it was the heartbreaker of all heartbreakers. The Sox had a 3-2 game edge entering game 6. The game was nip and tuck through the 9th inning, which concluded in a 3-3 tie, forcing extra innings. In the top of the 10th, the Red Sox scored not just one run, but two, and took a very confident 5-3 lead into the bottom of the 10th. The table was set.
After the first two Mets' batters flied out in the bottom of the 10th, things were looking up for the Red Sox. The TV screen flashes the graphic about the three teams that had gone the longest without winning a World Series. The list included the Cubs, the White Sox, and the Red Sox, whose last Series championship was in 1918. TV commentator Vin Skully re-emphasizes that the Red Sox were one out away. Camera pans to pitcher "Oil Can" Boyd in the Red Sox dugout, and viewers watch him yelling cocky words of encouragement to his teammates. Scheduled to pitch game 7 if necessary, Skully mentions that it appears for the moment that Boyd has tomorrow night off. The Chevrolet Player of the Game picture is flashed upon the screen, which is normal given any team's 2-run-lead, bottom-of-last-inning, 2-out situation, and Marty Barrett of the Red Sox is the outstanding player chosen.
Mets' catcher Gary Carter steps up to the plate. After Carter has two strikes, he pops one up behind home plate in foul territory, just a few rows back into the stands, earning him a second life. Carter then proceeds to single cleanly into left center field in order to, as Skully puts it, keep the Mets' hopes alive. Mets' pinch hitter Kevin Mitchell steps to the plate and raps another single to right center field, two men on, two out, Red Sox are still two runs ahead. Ray Knight steps to the plate, trying to redeem himself for an earlier error which cost the Mets a run, and perhaps a championship. He dribbles one down the third base line, that could be an easy force out of Carter at third, but the ball rolls foul just inches before Sox third baseman Wade Boggs picks it up. Ray Knight too has new life, and makes the most of it. He gets a lucky bloop hit over the second baseman's head, and the ball rolls slow enough to the right fielder to allow Carter to score from second, and Mitchell to advance to third base. John McNamara, manager of the Red Sox had seen enough, and he pulls current pitcher Calvin Schiraldi for pitcher Bob Stanley.
Runners on 1st and 3rd, two outs, Red Sox still one run ahead. Enter Mets' hitter Mookie Wilson and the most famous 12-pitch at-bat in baseball history. Wilson fights off many foul balls to stay alive - he doesn't want to be the last out of the World Series. Then, unthinkable event number one happens. Stanley pitches an inside slider that's so inside, it almost hits batter Wilson, who has to lunge to avoid the pitch (had it hit him, it would have simply loaded the bases, but no run would have scored). As the wild pitch rolls to the backstop, Mitchell scores from third to tie the game, and as the home Mets fans are going wild, the Red Sox are in shock (did the Babe guide Stanley's arm in that pitch!?).
Tie game, runner at second, full count on Mookie Wilson.
After popping the next pitch foul behind the 1st base dugout, Wilson hits a slow
roller that bounds fair down the first base line, heading directly towards first
baseman Bill Buckner. Bring on unthinkable event number two. Buckner
lets the ball roll under his glove and between his legs, into right field.
Knight can't believe it as he crosses the plate with the Mets' winning run to
force game 7. After the TV screen shows several minutes of the Mets
celebrating and the Red Sox' unbelieving expressions, Vin Skully sums it up, "If
one picture is worth a
thousand words, you have just seen about a million words.
But more than that, you have seen an absolutely bizarre ending to game six of
the World Series. The Mets are not only alive, they are well, and will play in
game 7!"
And, yes, you guessed it. After a three-run lead in game seven, the Red Sox still manage to lose the game, and the World Series.
The game has become so infamous that many baseball publications continue to refer to it simply as E3 (error on the first baseman). In Mastercard's 2002 "Most Memorable Moments of Baseball", game 6 was listed as one of the moments for which fans could vote. And, the Seinfeld sitcom once ran an episode in which they continually referred to "game 6".
Now, let's see - the above happened in '86; and, exactly 86 years passed between the Red Sox' 1918 and 2004 World Series championship. I smell another curse in the works!
