Pesky rejoices at Buckner’s day of redemption at Fenway

BOSTON – If there was anyone in Fenway Park Tuesday who understood exactly what Bill Buckner might have been feeling, it was Johnny Pesky.Pesky’s certainly been there.The Swampscott resident was just a 26-year-old kid in 1946 when he hesitated for a fraction of a second before throwing home in an attempt to keep Enos Slaughter from scoring the winning run in Game 7 of the 1946 World Series. And until Mike Torrez and, later, Buckner came along, Pesky was the designated team goat for “holding the ball.”But even he understands there’s a huge difference between “holding the ball” and having it go through your legs. Ever since Mookie Wilson’s grounder in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series skipped through Buckner’s legs – allowing Ray Knight to scamper home from second with the winning run – the former Red Sox first baseman has been pretty much the goat of all goats.Pesky didn’t think it was fair in 1946 (“but there are times when you have to accept responsibility, even if it’s unfair,” he says) and Buckner didn’t think so in 1986.”Are you going to define someone’s whole career by one play?” he asked Tuesday after receiving a thunderous ovation as he threw out the first pitch in Boston’s home opener. “What are you teaching kids?” he asked. “Not to try because if you don’t succeed then you’re going to get buried, so don’t try?”So as he watched Buckner walk to the pitcher’s mound from left field, and he heard the ovation, Pesky was overjoyed.”I’m so happy for him,” Pesky said. “That was just great. It was a great tribute after all these years.”I was with the club in ’86 when that happened, and took him aside and told him to keep his head up ? that he was a good player, and that he’d played well for us.”Sometimes,” Pesky said, “baseball is a cruel game. But it was nice that he could come back and experience this.”Tuesday was a very emotional day for Buckner ? one he almost didn’t experience.”At first,” he said, “I didn’t want to do it. But after three or four days, I decided to.”But it was hard,” he said during a news conference, pausing several times to compose himself after his voice broke.”I had to forgive ? not the Red Sox fans, per se, but I’d have to say, in my heart, I had to forgive the media for what they put me and my family through. But I’ve done that. I’m over it, and I’m happy just to think positive thoughts.”There are a lot of similarities between the Pesky situation and Buckner’s. But the biggest thing is that in both cases, the team still had a chance to redeem itself.”We had the winning run on base in the top of the ninth in that game, and couldn’t score,” Pesky likes to remind people.And Buckner’s error came in Game 6, giving the Red Sox one more chance to win the Series. However, they couldn’t hold a 3-0 lead they took into the sixth inning of Game 7.”If I felt like it was my fault, I’d step up to the plate and say, `hey, if I wasn’t here the Red Sox would have won this thing,’ but I really can’t do that,” Buckner said, “so I think some of it is unjustly directed my way.”I’m pretty tough mentally, but the hardest part was with my family and my kids and I’m still dealing with it.”Still, even with some residual bitterness, Buckner was happy to come back to Boston, and happy that the fans saluted him the way they did.”Two of my greatest moments in baseball have come here,” he said. “The first was when I was traded back here and received a standing ovation (in 1990) and now ? this.”The fans are very passionate here, and I wouldn’t want it any other way,” he said. “I played out in L.A., when fans left in the seventh inning. I like that they’re as involved, and a passionate as they are.”