The Tragic Postscript
There are a number of sad stories that came out of the 1986 MLB postseason. Angels manager Gene Mauch guided the team to a last place finish the following season, with the Angels losing 17 more games than the year before. That was it for Mauch. After coming so close, he retired with a record number of wins by an MLB manager without ever making it to the World Series. The long-time owner of the Angels, Gene Autry also shared in the sorrow. He owned the team for 36 years, but they never won a pennant.
Donnie Moore has become a tragic figure. He was on the mound when Dave Henderson hit the home run in the top of the ninth of Game 5 that gave the Red Sox the lead. After the Angels tied the game, Moore allowed another run in the tenth inning, this one on a Dave Henderson sacrifice fly. That was the run that lost the game. Of course, the Angels then got blown out in back-to-back games to lose the series, but Moore became the focal point.
It’s never fair to scapegoat a player (or a fan, like Steve Bartman). There are so many other things that contribute to a team winning or losing. Less than three years after this series, Donnie Moore took his life with a gunshot to the head and the myth that this game drove him to that moment was created. As this article from The Atlantic in 2011 explains, it’s never that simple.
Moore had already been struggling with shoulder pain before he gave up the big hit to Henderson. Despite the injury, he was the team’s most reliable option at closer in 1986. As his injuries worsened, he struggled over the next two years. He was released by the Angels during the 1988 season, at the age of 35. In July of 1989, Moore shot himself. His agent, Mike Pinter, said at the time, “I think insanity set in. He could not live with himself after Henderson hit the home run. He kept blaming himself. That home run killed him.” Some of Moore’s teammates said similar things and sports reporters across the country chimed in with similar thoughts.
The article in the Atlantic details Moore’s long history of domestic violence against his wife, his angry outbursts, his raging jealousy. Before shooting himself, Moore shot his wife in the neck, lungs, and chest. Their 17-year-old daughter drove her to an emergency room. Back at home, Donnie Moore put the .45 to his head and pulled the trigger as his young sons watched. Moore’s long, troubled history led to that moment, not just one pitch that lost a baseball game.
It’s interesting to note that Houston Astros’ reliever Dave Smith blew two games in the 1986 NLCS. Smith blew a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the ninth of Game 3 when he gave up a two-run homer to Lenny Dykstra. He also blew a 3-0 lead in the deciding Game 6 when he let the Mets tie it in the top of the ninth in a game that ended up going 16 innings. He was a much bigger goat than Moore, yet didn’t get the same criticism as Moore
Sadly, the guy who got the big hit for the Red Sox in Game 5, Dave Henderson, also died much too soon. In December of 2015, just a month after getting a kidney transplant, Henderson died of cardiac arrest. He was remembered as a great teammate and a great man. He had a fun-loving attitude on the field, as he showed with the way he rounded the bases with such joy after his postseason homers in 1986. Henderson was one of the bright spots for the Red Sox in the World Series. He hit .400/.448/.760, with six runs scored, two homers, and five RBI.
Henderson joined the Oakland Athletics in 1988 and was part of four playoff teams in six seasons with the A’s, including the 1989 world championship squad. He retired after the 1994 season. In 2011, he joined the Seattle Mariners organization as a television analyst. Henderson had been the team’s first-ever draft pick and made his MLB debut with the team in 1981. His death was a jolt to the MLB community.
Dwight Gooden was a bright shining star in 1986. He had been the 1984 NL Rookie of the Year and 1985 NL Cy Young winner and would continue to be an effective pitcher for a few years. Through the age of 28, Gooden had 154 wins and a 3.04 career ERA. His 154 wins placed him 12th all-time in wins for pitchers through the age of 28 since 1901. His career went off-track after that and he ended up winning just 40 more games with a 4.99 ERA from the age of 29 on.
Gooden detailed his rampant drug use during his career in his book, Doc: A Memoir, that came out in 2013. He wrote that he was so blitzed on cocaine and booze the night the Mets won the 1986 World Series that he missed the team’s ticker-tape parade. While his teammates celebrated the Game 7 victory, Gooden called his father, then his drug dealer.
Of course, Gooden wasn’t the only player on that Mets team that enjoyed recreational drugs. Jeff Pearlman wrote about the team in his book The Bad Guys Won. He detailed the rampant drinking after every game, win or lose, and that players chased women “like it was written into their contracts.” They fought amongst themselves and fought others when they were out drinking at bars. Popping “greenies” (speed) helped the team recover from their late-night binges. Pearlman wrote, “After a rough night on the town, a couple of greenies could revive even the most hung over player . . . Amphetamines are addictive, and they sometimes cause violent, irrational outbursts, depressive disorders, and antisocial behavior.” That was the 1986 Mets.
Of all of the stories that came out of the 1986 MLB postseason, the iconic figure has to be Bill Buckner. His error that ended Game 6 has been replayed untold times over the years. He became the scapegoat of the loss, despite the many things that led up to that play.
This is how it is in sports. Steve Bartman was blamed for the Cubs’ loss in 2003 even though shortstop Alex Gonzalez booted a ground ball that greatly contributed to the loss. Also, the Cubs were leading Game 7 of that series, only to blow that lead. This is also true of Buckner’s gaffe. After that heartbreaking loss in Game 6, the Red Sox had an early 3-0 lead in Game 7 that they couldn’t hold.
Another consideration of Game 6 was whether Buckner should have been on the field in the first place. He was playing on two bad ankles and had regularly been removed for a defensive replacement, Dave Stapleton. Stapleton started just eight of the 39 games he played during the regular season. In the other 31 games in which he appeared, he came into the game as a defensive replacement, sometimes after pinch-hitting or pinch-running. The position he played most was first base. This continued during the postseason. Stapleton had finished the game as the Red Sox’ first baseman in each of their four ALCS victories and all three of their World Series wins.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
Red Sox manager John McNamara has long claimed that Stapleton only came in on defense when Buckner was pinch-run for, but that wasn’t entirely true. During the regular season, he had come into the game numerous times as a pure defensive replacement. In an MLB Network special on the 25th anniversary of the Series, McNamara claimed he felt Buckner was his best defensive option, “Buckner was the finest first baseman I had. And Dave Stapleton has taken enough shots at me because he didn’t get in that ballgame, but Dave Stapleton’s nickname was Shakey. And you know what that implies. I didn’t want him playing first base to finish that game, and it was not any sentimental factor that I had for Billy Buck.”
After the painful World Series loss, Buckner didn’t stay long with the Red Sox. He was released the following July and signed with the California Angels. He was released by the Angels the following summer and signed with the Royals. He played the entire 1989 season in Kansas City, then finished out his career with 22 games with the Red Sox in 1990.
Buckner was out of the spotlight for many years after he retired and moved to a 2,000-acre ranch in Idaho. Over time, he came to terms with the error and the constant reminders of that error. Some of the angst of Red Sox fans was alleviated when the team finally broke “the curse” and won the World Series in 2004. Buckner showed that the error was behind him when he played himself on an episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and made a spectacular play to save the day.
Next: 1990s MLB All-Decade Team
The 1986 MLB postseason had many memorable moments. There were great pitching performances, terrific clutch hitting, and some amazing comebacks. There were also some very tragic figures who played in those games, as well as one player who recovered from the embarrassing moment that became the signature play of his career by accepting it and getting on with his life.