h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

On October 25, 1986, the New York Mets were one out away from losing the World Series to the Boston Red Sox in Game 6. They were 2 runs down in the bottom of the 10th inning, when Mookie Wilson dribbled a ground ball right through the legs of Boston's first baseman Bill Buckner to score Ray Knight for a 6-5 victory. This enabled them to come back the next day to win the best of 7 championship in Game 7.

I can still visualize Ray Knight running towards home holding his head in absolute disbelief at the situation.

I vaguely remember that game, but I distinctly remember a game over 20 years earlier. The Yankees (who else?) with a national fan base were playing the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series. Dave Barry, the humor writer, says half of his elementary class in Pennsylvania were Pirates fans, the other half complete morons. Dave, like many of us, listened on a tiny transistor radio smuggled into school. In the bottom of the last inning of the final game, Pittsburgh's shortstop Bill Mazerosky (the shortstop ) hit a home run that defeated the mighty Yanks. Dave says it was the best game he ever saw.

In Houston, we don't have many happy baseball memories. But there is one - Astro pitcher Mike Scott threw a no-hitter to win the division championship, many years ago. Not too long ago, there was an essay by Frank McCourt, the Irish author of "Angela's Ashes" on the moment he became a baseball fan. Sitting in a NY bar, he saw a closeup of a face on the big TV screen. He asked, "Who's that?", and someone said "Mike Scott, Houston Astros". McCourt described the face as having the eyes of a gunslinger. At that moment, he converted to baseball.

It should be noted that one of the things that made the 1986 World Series so exciting (and heartbreaking to Bostonians) is that the Boston Red Sox were not just one out away from winning the World Series -- they were one out away from winning their FIRST World Series since 1918. Then it slipped through their fingers in the most devastating fashion, and they have never come as close to breaking their championship-less streak since.

So not only did the Mets win in stunning fashion, there is probably no moment in baseball history as heartbreaking for any fan as October 25, 1986 was for Boston fans. I know grown men who cried.

"I know grown men who cried."

Sports can sure be like that. My brother graduated from the Univ. of Oklahoma with a football team that never lost a game - 47 straight under coach Bud Wilkinson. When they finally lost - to Notre Dame, the same team that beat them the game before the streak started, AND at home - the crowd in the stadium just sat there. Nobody left, waiting for the Sooners to come back. Denial.

"I know grown men who cried."

Sports can sure be like that. My brother graduated from the Univ. of Oklahoma with a football team that never lost a game - 47 straight under coach Bud Wilkinson. When they finally lost - to Notre Dame, the same team that beat them the game before the streak started, AND at home - the crowd in the stadium just sat there. Nobody left, waiting for the Sooners to come back. Denial.

Woops, sorry for the double post - my browser gave an error, so I resent, now its there twice. Can I (or somebody) delete one of them, plus this message? I don't see a delete button, even for the sender.

I'm afraid it'll have to be a testiment forever to your browser error!