My biggest memory about game 6 is that it all happened so fast. One minute the Sox were about to win a World Series for the first timein 68 years. Almost before you could say (expletive deleted) Ray Knight was coming home with the winning run, holding his head in joy and disbelief.
Many books and articles have been written about games 6 and 7. Dan Shaughnessy published one called One Strike Away, and within four years he was making millions writing and talking about the Curse of the Bambino. But I prefer to look at Globe articles of October of 86. To my mind, the series began to slip away the moment Oil Can was allowed to do some Canspeaking and say “I can master these guys” before game 3. Within two days, the Sox went from being 2-up to a tie series. Bruce Hurst came through to take game 5, but contests 6 and 7 were in New York.
The Mets had the home field advantage again.
On Friday, as the Sox prepared to fly to the Big Apple, a photo shows owner Haywood Sullivan and manager John McNamara about to get on the bus to Logan. The looks on their faces are not confident. They seem nervous. Sullivan is quoted as saying “I haven’t slept in weeks…I’ll have a good sleep when it’s over-how good depends on the results”
The Saturday night game has been dissected a great deal. A few things stand out. When asked about replacing Bill Buckner and his .174 series average at first, Mac replied: “It’ll probably be Buckner. He was hobbling at one hundred per cent today.” A bit of Macspeak, I guess. After six innings, it was 2-2. The Sox scored a tainted run in the seventh, aided by a Knight throwing error, but lack of speed kept Jim Rice from scoring; he was out at the plate after a Rich Gedman single. Don Baylor, who had contributed so much all year, was apparently in Mac’s doghouse. Twice the manager could have pinch hit him but did not. Once rookie Mike Greenwell, hitting for Clemens after the Rocket had developed a blister, struck out. (Many stories surround whether Roger asked out of the game or not). Later in the inning, with the bases jammed, Buckner lined out. He had stranded 9 runners during the contest. Following the game, an angry Baylor remarked. “I’m a f_______ing cheerleader. I feel the best players should be in there and I’m not going to be the f_______ing judge of that.” He would pinch hit in game 7, but ground out. Calvin Schiraldi gave up the tying run in the eighth, and it went to the tenth tied 3-3. The box score speaks for itself. Henderson homered to left. Owen struck out. Boggs doubled to left center. Barrett singled to center, scoring Boggs. A 5-3 lead. Let me quote Leigh Montville from here on: “Schiraldi took care of leadoff hitter Wally Backman with a fly to left. One out. Schiraldi took care of of slugger Keith Hernandez on a fly to center. Two outs. Two outs? Two outs!!!! How do you describe the unraveling? Gary Carter singled to left. So what? Pinch hitter Kevin Mitchell singled to center, Carter moved to second. Big deal. Third baseman Ray Knight, swinging with two strikes, singled to center…Uh oh. The lead was now 5-4 and the tying run was on third.”
“Schiraldi was taken from the game and replaced by Bob Stanley. Wouldn’t this be the story of stories?…Stanley hugging catcher Rich Gedman as 68 years of frustration ended? Here was the man who has endured the longest run of wrath from Fenway Park fans. Couldn’t he celebrate the loudest?…The batter was Mookie Wilson. Ball one. Stanley pitched. Ball two. Mookie fouled three pitches backwards. The count was 2 and 2. On the next pitch, Stanley ran the ball inside. Gedman reached for the ball, but not far enough. Wild pitch. Kevin Mitchell ran home as if he were yelling ollie-ollie-in-free and setting the Mets and the entire city of New York free in a giant game of hide-and seek. Tied, 5-5.” It must be said that Wilson made a great play in jumping back. If it hit him, there would still be a man on third and Howard Johnson would have come up with the score still tied. Wild pitch or passed ball-who cares?
What happened next we have seen replayed a thousand times. Mac’s postgame reaction was again somewhat bizarre. Asked about curses, he snapped: “I don’t know anything about the history. Don’t tell me anything about choking. I don’t want to hear that crap.” In addition, he remarked to the press that he had not even spoken to his shellshocked team. “I’ve said nothing to any of them.You’re the only ones I”ve talked to so far.” McNamara also claimed that he never gave a thought to replacing Buckner in the tenth.
As a fan, I was encouraged when a Sunday rainout allowed the Sox to skip the Can and start Hurst in game 7. But again, he was on three days rest. Deep down, I think most of Sox Nation knew it was over. They had been one strike away on three different occasions and failed. How many chances can you get?
Even though the Townies went out to a 3-0 lead Monday night, with homers by Evans and Gedman, it wasn’t enough. Hurst was gone by the end of 6 in a tie game. An obviously shaken Schiraldi surrendered 3 in the seventh, featuring a homer by that man again-Ray Knight, and lasted only a third of an inning. Evans’ two-run double in the seventh narrowed things, but Al Nipper, inserted to keep the game close, quickly gave up to to move it to 8-5.
The last out was made by Barrett, ironically one of the Sox top players in 86.
A photo of the postgame Sox dugout shows Sullivan, standing trance-like, Boggs trying vainly to hold back the tears, and Nipper hiding his face. Globe columnist Mike Madden, who tried to put some literary history into his sometimes angry articles, wrote that Nathaniel Hawthorne’ s scarlet letter was not intended for a fallen woman but for “red socked people to signify ‘Abused’.” Madden also described that ” a frail woman was led out of the runway….The woman looked shocked, as were all. She was Jean Yawkey, part-owner of the Red Sox, the team her husband bought 52 years ago so Boston would have a winner. She said not a word; her face said it all.”
Though the Yawkey’s were controversial, it is still sad to think that both Jean and Tom went to their graves before a championship was won.
“What is it like to live in a city that wins a World Series?” asked Shaughnessy.
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