Rozner: Bill Buckner was so much more than a punchline

While he was on stage, Bill Buckner did the best he could to sound magnanimous.

With yours truly leading the festivities, Buckner and Bill Wennington entertained a huge room filled with fans in April 2018 at the annual Victor E. Ball, NIU's premier fundraising event benefiting athletic scholarships, this one at Northern's Naperville Conference Center.

The two of them told stories, both hysterical and serious, and a good time was had by all.

They will be sad to learn that Buckner died Monday at the age of 69, a victim of dementia, which was apparent that night only in the speed with which he was able to deliver a line, but certainly not in his ability to remember the best and worst of a great career.

Obviously, much of the discussion regarding Buckner surrounded World Series Game 6 in 1986, including the way he was run out of Boston, the blame the city placed on him, the death threats and the way his family was treated.

But when we got offstage and shared a beverage, Buckner paused a conversation and stared at me for a moment. He was medicated and in pain, though still sharp, and his glare was serious.

"The truth is I'm not over it," Buckner said, looking at me with the same intensity he offered at the plate. "I don't think the way it was handled was fair. I don't think what they did to me was fair."

That would be Boston, the media and baseball in general, which blamed Buckner for the World Series loss to the Mets.

Yes, the Buckner error ended Game 6, but he wasn't pitching.

He didn't blow a 2-0 lead early, a 3-2 lead in the eighth, and a 5-3 lead in the 10th, when the Mets were down to their final strike of the World Series, when Gary Carter's two-strike, two-out, bases-empty single to left started a parade of hits and a wild pitch before the infamous Mookie Wilson groundball to first.

Buckner wasn't pitching in Game 7 - yes, there was another chance to win - when the Red Sox staff blew a 3-0 lead heading to the bottom of the sixth, only to lose that last game 8-5.

He was right. Buckner didn't deserve to be known as the man who blew the World Series.

In April 2008, Buckner threw out the first pitch to former teammate Dwight Evans on a day the Red Sox hoisted their 2007 World Series flag. Buckner received a two-minute standing ovation, and fans held signs saying, "We forgive you."

Said Buckner last April, "I didn't think I needed forgiveness. Maybe it was the other way around."

Aside from nearly destroying Buckner personally, Game 6 overshadowed what would have been a Hall of Fame career if not for ankle problems that robbed him of his blinding speed, so fast as an All-American high school football star that USC's John McKay tried desperately to recruit him before Buckner settled on a baseball life.

A 1975 ankle injury sliding into second led to surgery to repair a torn tendon and remove bone chips. A resulting staph infection ruined the left ankle for good.

Nevertheless, after his trade from Los Angeles, Cubs fans were treated to maybe the purest hitter they've ever seen come through town, able to hit .300 and drive in runs without being able to push off on his left leg, and seemingly with so few teammates ever on base during his late '70s Cubs years.

Still, what a career. He hit .300 seven times. Won a batting title. Led the league in doubles twice. Had 514 RBI in 953 games with some brutal Cubs teams. Drove in 212 runs his first two years in Boston.

Buckner finished with 2,715 hits, 498 doubles, 1,208 RBI and only 453 strikeouts in 10,000 plate appearances.

In the history of the game, only 11 players have ever batted that many times and had fewer than 500 strikeouts, some of them are named Tony Gwynn, Nellie Fox, Tris Speaker, Charlie Gehringer, Nap Lajoie, Cap Anson and Paul Waner.

All 11 are in the Hall of Fame, except Bill Buckner.

From 1981-86, he was first in all of baseball in doubles, fourth in hits, ninth in RBI and fourth in games, despite his physical problems and age hardly on his side.

From 1970-1990, the years that spanned his career, only Robin Yount had more hits than Buckner, and only three players had more doubles.

He hit a home run for the Dodgers in the 1974 World Series off Catfish Hunter, and if you watch video of Hank Aaron's 715th home run, that's Bill Buckner climbing the fence in left field.

Yes, there were some highlight-reel moments, but the one the world decided would define him is not the one he decided mattered most.

"I just loved to play the game," Buckner said. "I loved being in the box and facing a pitcher. Just me and him. That's what I remember. I was glad I got to do that."

And we're glad we got to see it, such beauty in a swing invented out of necessity, created by pain and debilitating injury, the swing we all tried to imitate.

We're sorry, Billy Buck, that the baseball world treated you as it did, seeing punchline instead of fighter, remembering horrific error instead of brilliant hitter.

It's over now. You can rest in peace.