People from Boston have claimed to me that the whole Curse of the Bambino was the invention of sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy and he used that as a basis to grow his career and he’s the latest recipient of the prestigious J. G. Taylor Spink Award. So thinking how this whole Curse thing worked out for Dan Shaughnessy, I’d like to offer the Curse of Buckner’s Ball.
The curse is rather simple, ever since the ball went through Bill Buckner’s legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series which allowed the Mets to win Game 7 two days later, the Mets have been cursed. You can look at so many things that have happened since 1986 and it certainly can be shown how the Mets have had such a hard time since they won the 1986 World Series.
Some of the problems affecting the Mets since 1986: Dwight Gooden’s drug problems; Terry Pendelton hitting a home run off Roger McDowell in 1987 to solidify the Carindlas lead; Mike Scioscia hitting the home run off Gooden in game 4 of the 1988 National League Championship Series when the Mets could have gone up 3-1; trading Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell for Juan Samuel; firing Davey Johnson; letting Darryl Strawberry go; signing Vince Coleman; 1992-1993, the worst team money can buy; Anthony Young’s winless streak; the failure of Generation K; Kenny Rogers walking in the winning run of the 1999 National League Championship Series: Timo Perez’s base running in Game 1 of the 2000 World Series; the Mo Vaughn trade; firing Bobby Valentine; hiring Art Howe: trading Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano: Anna Benson: Pedro Martinez’s injury in 2006; Carlos Beltran watching a called strike 3 to end the 2006 National League Championship Series: the collapses in 2007 and 2008; firing Willie Randolph; the injuries of Johan Santana; Bernie Madoff: Jason Bay: Jenrry Mejia; injuries to Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler: and the many playoff blown saves of Jeurys Familia.
Now all I have to do is write a book and be a talking head for all those sports documentaries.
