WILLIAM JOSEPH BUCKNER...A MEMOIRE
12/14/1949 - 5/27/2019
May 29, 2019
I have previously expressed my affection for the Boston Red Sox. I must now lament the passing, and extol the many seasons of Hall of Fame level contributions of Bill Buckner.
Bill’s legacy will of course carry the stain of his fielding error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, but what a tragic mistake it would be to define his entire career by that one damned ground ball. Any real Red Sox fan would loudly counter that the Sox would not even have been in that Series absent the season-long contribution of Bill and his ankles in almost excruciating pain.
With your indulgence I will tell a short tale that will tie all this into our Island City…
One of the many jobs I have enjoyed in Cedar Key was that of Bar Manager at The Captain’s Table when it was operated by Ray and Helen Brown. One very dreary afternoon in February two gentlemen and a lady strolled in and took seats at the otherwise empty bar. Although I immediately recognized one of the guys I served their beverage order before I engaged in “bar talk.”
I asked one of the men who was wearing a blue windbreaker, “What’s that say on your sleeve?”
He said, “Fred.”
I said, “No- It says ‘Ted’… Nice to meet you, Mr. Williams.”
As a youngster in Massachusetts I had seen Ted Williams at Fenway Park when he hit a home run on my first ever visit to Fenway. I had also seen him doing fly casting demonstrations at the Sportsman’s Expo in the Prudential Center.
Once I established that I was not even seeking an autograph, (unless he intended to pay by credit card), we chatted amiably during which he introduced his wife and the other gentleman in their party who happened to be Bill Buckner’s business manager.
I told him that I had a Cocker Spaniel named ‘Buckner’. After a chortle or two he asked, “What? Can’t he catch a ball either?” I told him that my Buckner was named for a man I admired greatly and that I appreciated the pain that Bill had endured during that long season.
I don’t know if Bill ever heard that story. His man, whose name I do not recall, said he would tell him, but….
Anyhow, Bill Buckner has passed following a crummy diagnosis that I don’t understand but hope never to endure.
William Joseph Buckner
12/14/1949. - 5/27/2019
C. Bob Cooper
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