For the first time since 1990, Bill Buckner returned to Fenway Park yesterday for Opening Day. As the 2007 World Series banner paraded down the Green Monster, Buckner walked out, wearing a Red Sox jersey with his old number 6 on the back, to a huge standing ovation. Waving to the fans, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch, a strike, to former teammate Dwight Evans. The crowd roared, Buckner smiled, the Red Sox won. And then Hell froze over and the world ended.
But that already happened in 2004, so what was the big deal about yesterday?
Buckner’s return to Fenway Park was not only a nice gesture, it was a necessary one. He didn’t just deserve to come back and throw out that first pitch, he needed to. Yesterday was not about Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, or an error at first base, or hatred, anguish, despair, frustration or even redemption. Yesterday was simply about honoring a man who had a great baseball career. That’s why he needed to come back. To officially end a dark era in baseball where a man is judged on a single mistake rather than a career of accomplishments. His warm reception showed that life is not about the single thing you messed up, but the millions of things you did right.
Bill Buckner deserved every bit of that ceremony yesterday. He was an outstanding ball player. Few remember that the Sox relievers had already blown a two run lead by that point in Game 6 to tie the game up. And even fewer remember that it was Game 6 at all, giving the Sox a whole other game to win the Series.
Until yesterday, nobody remembered the career .289 batting average, the batting title he won in 1980 and certainly no one remembered the .992 career fielding percentage at first base. All of that had been lost in the chaos of angry taunts, useless threats and broken hearts. Emotion conquered logic and for years Buckner had to pay the price.
Too often do we as fans focus on a single mistake. We let that mistake infuse within us, let it drive what we think of a person’s entire career, or worse, his character. And in turn, we forget that we too make mistakes, big mistakes, costly mistakes, mistakes we wish we could take back. But when we let one mistake be the basis for what we think of a person’s overall character, we lose.
When Bill Buckner walked off the field after throwing out the first pitch yesterday, he sent a message to fans everywhere. Careers are called “careers” because they are meant to be viewed as a whole. People are more than just a single mistake.
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