"Buckner Ball" from the 1986 World Series :: Sold for: $418,250

Bill Buckner handled the aftermath of the ’86 World Series with a steely-grace. When I was kid, “Billy Buck” was on the LA Dodgers – the team I lived and died for. He was the heart and soul of that team, and my favorite Dodger.

The Famous "Buckner Ball" from the 1986 World Series, Game Six. (1)

FROM ESPN SPORTS

“The dreams are that you’re gonna have a great series and win. The nightmares are that you’re gonna let the winning run score on a ground ball through your legs. Those things happen, you know. I think a lot of it is just fate.”
– Bill Buckner in an October 6, 1986 interview on Boston’s WBZ-TV, nineteen days before Game Six.

The Famous "Buckner Ball" from the 1986 World Series, Game Six. (2)

Excerpt from Buckner Deserves Some Peace :: By Bill Simmons:

Today, it’s assumed Billy Buck squandered the ’86 Series himself. Only one problem: He didn’t. Sure, a hobbled Buckner was running on fumes by the time the Series rolled around, wearing high-tops to support ankles more wobbly than a Danny Wuerffel spiral and giving way in late innings to a defensive replacement. But in Game 6, Buckner didn’t send himself out in the 10th; that was manager John McNamara’s decision. And Buckner didn’t allow three two-out singles; that was doe-eyed closer Calvin Schiraldi. Buckner didn’t unfurl a game-tying wild pitch to Wilson; that was Bob Stanley. And Buckner wasn’t the one who couldn’t block the pitch; that was Rich Gedman. Only after 16 pitches failed to clinch the game — and only then — did the cruel spotlight find him, following a lazy grounder that skipped along like a rabbit in a cornfield.

BILL BUCKNER ON CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM. WARNING: RIBALD YET POETIC LANGUAGE