Editorial: The Buckner legacy: Don't let one error overshadow many accomplishments

As news of Bill Buckner's death spread Monday, reports chronicled his impressive 2,715 career hits - and revisited the error that would come to overshadow his accomplishments.

It was 1986, Game 6 of the World Series. Buckner, then playing for the Boston Red Sox after years as a Chicago Cub, let a ball roll through his legs, allowing the Mets to score and go on to win the series.

Yes, the error hit hard in a town that had not won a World Series since 1918. But the response was far more tragic than the error: Buckner received death threats and ultimately had to move his family out of Massachusetts.

Today, with the ease of the internet and the sting of social media, it likely would have been worse. To those who don't understand the fervor surrounding professional sports - who find the culture at times distasteful - the Buckner incident goes a long way toward illustrating why.

In this country, we are too quick to turn athletes into heroes - and too quick to turn away from them when their talents, or bodies, fail them. And too often, we are just as fickle with people in other professions and even with ourselves.

We all make mistakes in our professional lives. And we all dread making one that will define the careers we work so hard to build.

As the Daily Herald's own sports columnist Barry Rozner pointed out, Buckner finished his career with 2,715 hits, 498 doubles, 1,208 RBI and only 453 strikeouts in 10,000 plate appearances. In a perfect world, those are the numbers that should shape his legacy, rather than a single error.

At a news conference years after the World Series play, Buckner called the spotlight on his error "the ugly part of sports," The New York Times reported. "I don't think that in society in general that's the way we should operate," he said at the time. "What are you teaching kids? Not to try because if you don't succeed, then you're going to be buried, so don't try?"

It's a fair and important question, one given added emphasis as we glance over the pictures of high school graduates that have filled this newspaper's pages and Facebook feeds in recent days.

Those graduates will venture out into the world. Some will start work after tossing their caps into the air. Others will head off to college. A select few will try their luck in professional sports.

Every one of them will make mistakes.

A verbal beating like the one Buckner took should never discourage them from chasing their dreams, but it should make them think twice before publicly trashing a colleague - or a stranger - for a mistake.

And they should take notes on how Buckner moved on from his. He didn't pass blame. He didn't give up. He soldiered on with grace.

Ultimately, that is the lesson we can all draw on, whatever our station or profession.