Bill Buckner won't allow one play to define his life and career

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SALT LAKE CITY — Bill Buckner's error in the 1986 World Series may be the most infamous in Major League Baseball history.

He's been mocked and unfairly vilified by Red Sox fans for years.

But 29 years after that play, he hasn't let that one play define his career or his life. Buckner was in the Beehive State to throw out the first pitch at a recent Salt Lake Bees game, a place where his career began in the Pioneer League in 1968.

The 65-year-old Buckner recently retired from coaching. But he continues to give back to the game he loves — and one that hasn't always loved him back.

"I've been very fortunate to make a living playing baseball," Buckner said. "I did it growing up for fun, and there wasn't one day coming to the ballpark that I wasn't excited to get there after 21 years."

Buckner was a big hit at the ballpark when he threw out the first pitch, signed autographs and spent a few extra minutes with fans of the younger generation.

"It surprises me," Buckner said. "But it makes it nice. Most of them are very appreciative of my career. It's good to be at the ballpark."

Because of that error at the 1986 World Series, Buckner hasn't always had the respect he deserves. He had more than 2,700 hits, a batting title, an All-Star appearance and two trips to the World Series in a 20-year Major League career.

"It's a little bit hard to swallow, because I don't know if we would've won that game anyway," he added. "But we got branded with it, and it's not going away. People that know baseball know the real situation. But that's life, and you deal with the ups and downs."

Buckner's put that moment behind him in a positive way, even making light of it on primetime television via guest appearances on shows like HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

"There are positives from it," Buckner said. "I've had a lot of people say they were encouraged by the tough situations. In life, everybody deals with it."

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Jeremiah Jensen

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