If you’re not watching the playoffs still—and I don’t blame you if you’re not—the Philadelphia Phillies just got eliminated from the postseason on what can only be described as a facepalm-worthy level of a miscue. Bases loaded, two down, extra innings—tapper back to the mount…and he overthrows the force at the plate instead of taking the easy out at first.
For how elated Los Angeles must be feeling, we as Red Sox fans know more than our fair share of the pain that Phillies fans are feeling right now. With that, we take a look back at some of the most costly—or funny—gaffes that cost the Red Sox when it mattered most.
Does this need any more explanation besides the headline here? A chance to win it all in 1986 foiled by a bouncing ball to first base. I almost feel bad including this because we know Bill Buckner never had a chance to live this down, even with the curse finally being reversed. And to make matters worse for Buckner, he arguably doesn’t deserve the shoulder the most blame given Bob Stanley’s wild pitch. It’s a Sox moment that truly lives in infamy.
Look, Manny was a character. His sense of bravado and humor—in addition to baseball talent—is matched by few, if any in Red Sox history. Just not on this play. How do you allow David Newhan to score an inside-the-park home run? The Sox ended up losing this game 10-5, and if anything else but what happened in 2004 happened, maybe it becomes much more of a sore spot to watch. In hindsight, it’s just a footnote on the famous ’04 season. You all know what happened not even a week later, right? A-Rod. Varitek. Glove, meet face. Momentum shifted.
Enos Slaugher’s Mad Dash and Johnny Pesky’s Hesitation
This one definitely stings historically.
Game 7 of the 1946 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Bottom of the 8th inning. The Red Sox had JUST come back to tie the game on a two-run double by Dom DiMaggio in the top of the frame. The Little Professor proceeded to pull his hamstring and had to be removed from the game. Leon Culberson takes over in center—nowhere near the player Dom is. Harry Walker lines a ball into the left-center-field gap and Culberson is slow to get it and flails a limp noodle throw back into the infield.
There’s still a lot of controversy on this play. Did Johnny Pesky actually hesitate? Even if he didn’t, would Slaugher have scored anyway? In this writer’s opinion—and thanks to some recently dug-up footage (hat tip to Dan for finding this one), I think Pesky does hesitate—even for a quarter of a second—and might have had a better chance to nail Slaughter at the dish. That proves to be the game winning run. Red Sox lose another World Series.
Walk-Off Catcher’s Interference
We can even bring it back to this season, against the team we’re trying to commiserate with. Bottom of the 10th, ducks on the pond. This one wasn’t even noticed until the Phillies had to challenge it. Carlos Narvaéz had more than a few catcher’s interference calls all season, but this one might have been the most costly. It was the first walk-0ff given up on a catcher’s interference since the Dodgers got a win against the Reds on August 1, 1971.
And that’s just a smattering of the on-the-field gaffes we can share some pain in. Managers make mistakes—aka the Grady Little decision to leave Pedro in the game in 2003. The front office makes MANY—from the start of the curse to the Pablo Sandoval signing. Baseball—for all its highlights—is frankly a game where you have to thrive off of failing much more than 50% of the time. Still, these extremely public errors leave some deep scares. The Red Sox have their fair share.