Tuesday, May 28, 2019
East Oregonian
B3
Bill Buckner, forever known
for October error, passes
Former Red Sox
dies after a long
battle with Lewy
body dementia
The Associated Press
BOSTON — Bill Buck-
ner, a star hitter who became
known for making one of
the most infamous plays in
major league history, died
Monday. He was 69.
He died after a long bat-
tle with Lewy body demen-
tia, Buckner’s family said
in a statement. The disease
causes
Alzheimer’s-like
symptoms along with move-
ment and other problems.
“Bill fought with cour-
age and grit as he did all
things in life,” his family
said.
Buckner won an NL
batting title, was an All-
Star and got 2,715 hits in a
22-year career. He was long
considered a gritty player, a
gamer who would be wel-
come on any team. A reli-
able fielder, too.
But it was a little ground-
ball in the 1986 World
Series that forever changed
his legacy.
Trying for their first
crown since 1918, the Bos-
ton Red Sox led the New
York Mets 5-3 going into the
bottom of the 10th inning in
Game 6 at Shea Stadium.
The Mets tied it with two
outs., then Mookie Wil-
son hit a trickler up the first
base line that rolled through
Buckner’s legs, an error that
let Ray Knight rush home
from second base with the
winning run.
The Red Sox lost 8-5 in
Game 7, and their World
Series drought continued
until they won the champi-
onship in 2004.
In the aftermath of Bos-
ton’s near-miss, Buckner
became a target of fans in
New England and beyond,
with his misplay shown
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
Boston Bruins’ Charlie McAvoy, right, celebrates his goal against the St. Louis Blues with Mar-
cus Johansson, left, during the second period of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday
in Boston.
AP Photo/Stan Grossfeld, File
Kuraly, Bruins overcome early deficit,
beat Blues 4-2 in Stanley Cup opener
Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner misplays the
ball during during Game 6 of the 1986 World Series against
the New York Mets.
over and over on highlight
reels.
Buckner was released by
the Red Sox the following
summer, went on to play for
the Angels and Royals, and
returned to Boston for his
final season in 1990, play-
ing 22 games.
In
2008,
Buckner
accepted an invitation to
throw out the first ball for
the home opener at Fen-
way Park as the Red Sox
celebrated winning another
title.
Buckner drew loud
cheers as he walked from
the Green Monster in left
field to the mound, and
made his ceremonial toss
to former teammate Dwight
Evans.
Buckner
said
the
moment was “probably
about as emotional as it
could get.”
“I really had to forgive,”
he said later that day, “not
the fans of Boston per se,
but I would have to say, in
my heart, I had to forgive
the media for what they put
me and my family through.
So I’ve done that. I’m over
that. And I’m just happy
that I just try to think of the
positive. The happy things.”
“You can look at that
Series and point fingers in
a whole bunch of different
directions,” Buckner said.
“We did the best we could
to win there and it just didn’t
happen and I didn’t feel
like I deserved” so much
blame.
Cleveland
manager
Terry Francona was the
Red Sox skipper that after-
noon at Fenway. On Mon-
day, with the Indians set to
play in Boston, Francona
reflected on that experi-
ence.“I thought it was kind
of a healing moment, it
seemed, for a lot of people
and for him, I hope,” Fran-
cona said. “You have to be
up here to understand how
people take things that hap-
pen. I thought that was a
really cool moment.”
Buckner lived in Boise,
Idaho, after he finished
playing. He was the hit-
ting coach for the Chicago
Cubs’ minor league affiliate
in Boise in 2012-13, owned
three car dealerships and
several commercial proper-
ties in Idaho.
By JIMMY GOLEN
Associated Press
BOSTON
—
Sean
Kuraly scored to break a
third-period tie and assisted
on another goal to help the
Boston Bruins rally from a
two-goal deficit and beat the
St. Louis Blues 4-2 on Mon-
day night in Game 1 of the
Stanley Cup Final.
Tuukka Rask stopped 18
shots for Boston, which fell
behind 2-0 on goals from
Brayden Schenn and Vladi-
mir Tarasenko. But the Bru-
ins outshot the Blues 18-3
in the second period — and
38-20 in the game — to take
the opener in the best-of-
seven series.
Brad Marchand added an
empty-netter to clinch it.
Forty-nine years after
Bobby Orr flew through
the air following his
Cup-clinching goal against
St. Louis in the 1970 final,
Boston defensemen Connor
Clifton and Charlie McAvoy
scored in the second period
to tie it.
Jordan Binnington made
34 saves for the Blues, who
haven’t been back to the
final since then. Game 2 is
Wednesday night.
It had been 17,914 days
since the Blues’ last appear-
ance in the Stanley Cup
Final, when they lost to
Orr’s Bruins in four games.
They ran into a famil-
iar problem: the Boston
defense.
After taking advantage
of Boston’s slow start — the
Bruins hadn’t played since
sweeping the Carolina Hur-
ricanes in the conference
final on May 16 — St. Louis
jumped to a 2-0 lead.
Schenn made it 1-0 lead
midway through the first
period on a third-chance
shot. In the first minute of
the second, David Pastrnak
got sloppy behind the Bru-
ins’ net and Schenn was
there again, this time to pass
it to Tarasenko in the slot to
make it 2-0.
But just 76 seconds later,
Clifton tipped in a pass from
Kuraly to cut the deficit to
one goal. And in the middle
of the second, on the Bru-
ins’ fourth power play of the
game, McAvoy came right
up the middle and wristed
it past Binnington’s glove to
tie it.
It was still tied five min-
utes into the third when
Noel Acciari, on Binning-
ton’s left, made a spin move
and swept the puck across
the crease to Kuraly. He
steadied it with his skate
and then poked it in with his
stick to give the Bruins their
first lead of the game.
The crowd, which had
previously
been
most
excited to see the 2011
champions waving banners
before the game, began a
chant of “Let’s Go Bruins!”
Although David Krejci’s
penalty quieted the build-
ing, it came back to life
when Torey Krug, angry
over a scuffle with David
Perron in front of the St.
Louis net, sped down the
ice helmetless and flattened
Robert Thomas.
After the whistle, fans
chanted “We want the Cup!”
Copyright 2019 The
Associated Press. All rights
real
fatherhood
“Daddy time is my third job and it’s
the most important one. That’s why
my trailer is full of STIHL. I don’t have
time to mess with anything else.”
BRETT RUSSELL
Landscaper & Firefighter
GIVE DAD THE GIFT OF STIHL
SAVE $ 100 *
SAVE $ 20 *
SAVE $ 50 *
WITH THE BUNDLED PURCHASE
OF THE FSA 56 TRIMMER
AND RMA 460 SET
MS 170
CHAIN SAW
HS 45
HEDGE TRIMMER
NOW JUST
519 90
$
16 " bar†
RMA 460 SET INCLUDES
AK 30 BATTERY AND
AL 101 CHARGER.
WAS $ 179 95 SNW-SRP
$
"THE PRICE AND RELIABILITY
ARE OUTSTANDING"
WAS $ 619 90 SNW-SRP
159 95
18 " blade
+
WAS $ 299 95 SNW-SRP
249 95
$
+
"VERY AGILE TO HANDLE
AND CONTROL“
- STIHLUSER209
- SPENCERFORHIRE755
Hermiston
Pendleton
Smitty’s
Hardware
1845 North 1st
541-567-6816
SmittysEquipment.us
D & B Supply
850 Southgate Road
541-276-0102
dbsupplypendleton.com
*Offers valid through 7/7/19. Available at participating dealers while supplies last. † The actual listed guide bar
length may vary from the effective cutting length based on which powerhead it is installed on. Check out these
reviews and others on the product pages at STIHLdealers.com. ©2019 STIHL SNW19-522-142826-3
stihldealers.com