Baseball is a sport that inspires fans to collect memorabilia. Pay attention and you’ll see nuns auctioning off rare baseball cards. Now, the ball that haunted Bill Buckner and the Boston Red Sox is up for grabs in an auction. If the buyer is willing to part with a million dollars, that is.
Red Sox fans have two World Series titles to celebrate in the past decade, but before that golden age in Beantown, things were tough for a long, long, long time. The hated rival Yankees continued to ring up World Series crowns, most often at the expense of Boston fans’ dreams.
During that long-awaited time prior to the recent success, the Red Sox had their best chance to break the Curse of the Bambino in 1986 when they took on the other team from New York – the Mets – in the World Series. In the 10th inning of Game 6, Sox first baseman Buckner, in the twilight of his career and playing on two bad ankles, let a ball get by him resulting in a Mets win and sending the series to a seventh game. Buckner’s boot turned the series in favor of the Mets and broke hearts all across New England. There was no need to rent a goat as, the first baseman became the goat of the season. At least he wasn’t called a geep.
