In the bottom of the tenth inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series at Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens, New York on October 25, 1986, Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner made a fielding error that resulted in the New York Mets winning the game; it remains one of the most memorable plays in baseball history.
With the Red Sox leading the best-of-seven series three games to two but having allowed the Mets to tie the game with two runs in the bottom of the tenth, with two outs and a runner on second base, New York's Mookie Wilson hit a seemingly routine groundball along the first base foul line that Buckner, known to be playing through injury, was unable to field. The ball rolled between Buckner's legs and into right field, allowing the Mets' Ray Knight to come around from second to score the winning run. The win tied the series at three games each; New York completed another come-from-behind victory in Game 7 to win the championship.
Despite other mitigating factors—such as that the speedy Wilson may have been safe at first even if Buckner had fielded the ball (although this would not have allowed the winning run to score from second), or that Boston's pitching had already squandered a two-run lead and that Buckner making the play would have merely prolonged the game and not clinched victory for Boston—the play is often known as the "Buckner play" and the loss blamed on the play's eponymous figure. The play was long considered part of the Curse of the Bambino that kept the Red Sox from winning the World Series, and it led to years of fan anger and public mockery that Buckner handled graciously before being embraced by Red Sox fans again after their 2004 World Series victory. Buckner himself, though having played a lengthy 21-season career in Major League Baseball and amassing over 2,700 hits, remains most remembered for his error in the minds of many.
Background The Boston Red Sox entered the 1986 season having not won the World Series in 68 years, this following a period of being a formidable power in the early 20th century. Their misfortunes during this stretch were sometimes attributed to a curse on the Red Sox, later colloquially known as the Curse of the Bambino, that supposedly prevented Boston from winning another World Series due to their infamous dealing of Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920. In 1986, it appeared that the Boston Red Sox's fortunes could change. The team's hitting and offense had remained strong with Buckner, Dwight Evans, Don Baylor, and future Hall of Famers Jim Rice and Wade Boggs, who would win 5 batting titles. Roger Clemens led the pitching staff, going 24–4 with a 2.48 ERA to win both the American League Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards. Clemens became the first starting pitcher to win both awards since Vida Blue in 1971. (This feat has been replicated twice since then by Justin Verlander in 2011 and Clayton Kershaw in 2014). The Red Sox took over first place in the AL East in the middle of May and did not relinquish it, ultimately winning the division, for the first time in 11 seasons, by 51⁄2 games over their rival New York Yankees.
Before the 1986 New York Mets season, Nelson Doubleday Jr. sold his publishing company to the (then) West German multinational corporation Bertelsmann AG, and used the proceeds from the sale to buy the Mets in his own name for $81 million. He then sold a half-stake to Fred Wilpon, making them equal partners in the team. Unlike the league champion Mets of 1969 (who went on to win the Mets' only World Series title to that point) or 1973, the 1986 Mets hit the ground running, breaking away from the rest of the division early and dominating throughout the entire year. They won 20 of their first 24 games, clinched the East Division title on September 17, and finished the year 108–54, which tied with the 1975 Cincinnati Reds for the third highest win total in National League history, behind the 1906 Chicago Cubs (116) and the 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates (110).
In 1986, 36-year-old Bill Buckner was in his 16th full season and 18th overall in the major leagues. He first appeared in 1969 for the Los Angeles Dodgers, playing for them until being traded to the Chicago Cubs before the 1977 season, and playing there until being traded to the Red Sox during the 1984 season. Over his career, he had batted over .300 in seven different seasons, won the batting title in 1980, led the league in doubles twice, was an All-Star in 1981 and finished in the top 10 of MVP voting in 1981 and 1982. After the 1986 regular season, he had accumulated over 2400 hits in his career to that point.
During the season, Buckner started all 162 games and shattered his own big league record with 184 assists. Offensively, he batted .299, with 16 home runs and 110 runs batted in. His average dropped to .267 in 1986, but he still homered a career-high 18 times and drove in 102 runs. Toward the end of the season, the aging Buckner was hobbled by injuries to both of his ankles, but missed only nine games in the regular season. Prior to the 1986 postseason, he appeared in the postseason only one other time, as a Dodger in 1974, where they won the National League Championship Series before losing to the Oakland Athletics in the World Series. Appearing as a left fielder in 9 games, he hit .211 with a home run and did not make a defensive error.
Postseason In the National League Championship Series, the Mets faced the Houston Astros, who had yet to win a pennant. After splitting the first two games, the Mets won three of the next four, all by one run, courtesy of a ninth-inning Lenny Dykstra two-run walk-off homer in Game 3, a 12th-inning Gary Carter walk-off RBI single in Game 5, and a 16-inning marathon Game 6 win in Houston after having entered the ninth inning down 3–0. The Mets clinched the National League pennant and earned their third World Series appearance, their first since 1973; the sixteen-inning clinching victory was the longest postseason game in terms of innings at the time (fifth-longest as of 2025).
The Red Sox faced the California Angels, who were also looking for their first pennant victory, in the American League Championship Series. The teams split the first two games in Boston, but the Angels won the next two games at their home stadium to take a 3–1 series lead. California then took a 5–2 lead entering the ninth inning of Game 5, needing just three outs to advance to its first ever World Series. In the top of the ninth, Buckner led off with a single, and a subsequent two-run homer by Don Baylor cut the lead to one, but the Angels got two outs in the inning, and the Red Sox still found themselves trailing by a run with a runner on base. With Boston just one strike away from elimination, Red Sox outfielder Dave Henderson hit a two-run home run off Donnie Moore to put Boston up 6–5 (ironically, in another infamous postseason baseball moment that was largely blamed on a single player in Moore). Although the Angels tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, the Red Sox won in the 11th on a Henderson sacrifice fly off Moore. The Red Sox then won easily at Fenway Park in Games 6 and 7 by a combined 13 runs to win the American League title and advance to their first World Series since 1975.
Buckner was 6-for-28 batting (.214) in the series and hit safely in each of the last four games, and did not make an error in the field. In all four wins, for defensive purposes he was swapped out during the game for the younger Dave Stapleton; Stapleton pinch-ran for Buckner three of those times.
The setup
Games 1–5 The Red Sox surprisingly won the first two games on the road over the heavily favored Mets by scores of 1–0 and 9–3, only to surrender the next two games to the Mets at home, 7–1 and 6–2. In Game 5, Boston scored four runs off New York starter Dwight Gooden and held on for a 4–2 victory to take a 3–2 series lead, with the series heading back to New York for Game 6 and a potential Game 7.
Buckner struggled to a 4-for-23 (.174) mark at the plate through the first five games, but hit safely in the first two games to extend his postseason hitting streak to six, and also recorded a hit in the Game 5 win. In each of the three Red Sox wins, as in the prior series, Stapleton was used as a late-inning defensive replacement for Buckner, though Buckner did not commit an error in any of the first five games.
Game 6
Boston scored one run in each of the first two innings of Game 6, but New York scored two in the fifth to tie it. In the seventh, Boston's Marty Barrett scored on an RBI groundout from Dwight Evans in an inning that was aided by a Buckner groundout to advance Barrett and an error by Mets third baseman Ray Knight. The Red Sox missed further opportunities to score however, with a runner getting thrown out at the plate to end the seventh inning and Buckner himself flying out with bases loaded and two outs in the eighth. After Red Sox manager John McNamara controversially removed starting pitcher Roger Clemens for reliever Calvin Schiraldi entering the eighth, the Mets answered with a bases loaded sacrifice fly. With the score tied at 3 going into the bottom of the ninth, the Mets' first two batters reached base (one via an error by Boston catcher Rich Gedman) but they did not score, and the game went into extra innings.
Boston's Dave Henderson led off the top of the tenth inning with a home run to give the Red Sox a one-run lead. Despite another questionable move by McNamara in allowing relief pitcher Schiraldi to bat instead of using a pinch hitter, which led to an out, Boston scored again on a two-out double by Wade Boggs and single by Barrett, making the score 5–3. Buckner followed and was hit by a pitch on his hip, but despite this, he was not pinch-ran for by Stapleton, nor was he replaced in the field in the bottom half of the inning. The next batter, Jim Rice, flied out to right to end the Red Sox half of the inning. Buckner finished 0-for-5 in Game 6, only reaching on the aforementioned hit-by-pitch.
McNamara chose to have Buckner take the field in the bottom of the inning, despite having pulled him for Stapleton in all seven previous Red Sox wins in the postseason. Schiraldi retired the first two batters, Wally Backman and Keith Hernandez, to bring Boston within an out of its first World Series win since 1918. After the second out, the scoreboard in Shea Stadium accidentally and briefly displayed "Congratulations Boston Red Sox, 1986 World Champions".
Schiraldi then surrendered singles to Gary Carter and pinch-hitter Kevin Mitchell, bringing the potential winning run to the plate in Ray Knight. After Knight started his at-bat with an 0–2 count, he hit a third consecutive single, driving in Carter to make the score 5–4 and moving Mitchell, the tying run, to third. McNamara replaced Schiraldi with closer Bob Stanley to face Mookie Wilson, who was hitting only .184 in the postseason. On the seventh pitch of the at-bat, with the count 2–2 and the Red Sox again one strike away from becoming champions, Stanley threw a wild pitch that nearly hit Wilson; Wilson leapt out of the way and the ball went all the way to the backstop, scoring Mitchell to tie the game at 5, and moving Knight, the winning run, to second.
The play Three pitches later, on the tenth pitch of the at-bat, Wilson reached out and hit a slow roller very close to the first base line, that took one big bounce before the heavy topspin caused it to skip much closer to the ground. Buckner was playing near the line but still had to move several steps over to his left in an attempt to field the ball. Approaching the ball as he was still moving to his left, and perhaps aware of Wilson's speed and trying to hurry the play, the ball rolled beside his glove, through his legs, and into right field. Knight easily scored the winning run from second base, visibly incredulous as he crossed home plate. The final score was 6–5 in favor of the Mets.