In 1977, Buckner was traded to the Chicago Cubs. He had a lot of personal success while playing for the Cubs. While in Chicago, Buckner was the 1980 and now batting champion and also represented the Cubs in 1981 All-Star game. In 1984, Buckner was traded to the Boston Red Sox. It was in Boston where Bill Buckner would learn that what you say is what you get. He played every game for Boston in 1985. In the 1986 season Buckner was having a great year. In September he hit .340 (That means 34% for you non-baseball fans, which believe it or not is very good in terms of batting percentage. Never mind that if you got a 34% on a test it would be an F.) Buckner also had over 100 RBI’s (Runs Batted In) in 1985 and 1986. Buckner also made the hit to start the ninth inning rally when Boston defeated the California Angels to make it to the World Series. Without that hit by Buckner in the ninth inning, Boston would have been watching the World Series on television.
Bill Buckner’s exact words during an October 6, 1986 interview on WBZ-TV by reporter Don Shane were:
“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.”
THE CURSE OF THE GREAT BAMBINO
That fateful day when Bill Buckner’s words would haunt him was October 25, 1986, Game 6 of the World Series, bottom of the 10th inning. Boston had the lead when Mookie Wilson hit a dribbler to Buckner at first base. Buckner, knowing the quick speed of Mookie, tried to rush the play. In doing so, the ball rolled right through his legs and into right field, allowing the winning run to score. All he had to do was make a routine ground ball play, tag first base and the game was over. Boston would have been World Series Champions. That was not to be. Bill Buckner's words spoken just 19 days earlier had come true. What a nightmare.
What You Say is What You Get.
The season following the World Series, Buckner was released by the Boston Red Sox. He went on to play for the California Angels and the Kansas City Royals before being re-signed by Boston in 1990. The Boston fans did give him a standing ovation at the home opener in 1990. Two months later, Bill Buckner retired from Major League Baseball. Buckner didn't return to the Boston Red Sox until the home opener on April 8, 2008, where he threw out the opening pitch, and received a standing ovation from the home crowd. Buckner retired from the sport he loved, and moved to Idaho. He stayed away from the game until 2011 when he managed the Brockton Rox, a member of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball. In 2012, Buckner became the hitting instructor for the Boise Hawks, a Cubs affiliate.
If Bill Bunkner could do that interview over again, I bet he never would have said those words. He said in that interview that those things are just “fate.” He put that energy out there in the universe and it only took 19 days to have the stars line up for him and for those fateful words to come true. Boston blamed Buckner and the Curse of the Bambino for Boston losing the World Series. (The Curse of the Bambino was the superstition that explained why after the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1919, that the Red Sox stopped winning titles. Before Babe Ruth was sold, the Red Sox had won 5 titles. After the sale, the Yankees went on to become one of the most successful teams in professional sports history, while the Red Sox hadn’t won another title since. I find it interesting that the curse took 86 years to break [2004-1918=86] and Bill Buckner’s error happened in ’86)
Bill Buckner found out the hard way that, "What You Say Is What You Get."
Sadly, Bill passed away after his long battle with Dementia on May 27th, 2019.
Chris Coltran is the president of C2 Coaching & Training and is available as a keynote speaker, presenter or trainer for conventions, retail, wholesale, manufacturing, distribution, management, affiliate, mlm, executive, real estate, marketing, advertising, banking, direct sales or entrepreneur annual association meetings. Chris is a professional speaker and keynote speaker, author, coach, management trainer, sales trainer, and business development expert.