I have a baseball autographed by Bill Buckner in my collection. It was sent to me by a friend of Buckner’s who reads the Catch and goes to the same Baptist church as he does in Idaho. I have written some about Buckner and thus the connection. Though Brooks Conrad’s error Sunday in Atlanta’s playoff game against San Francisco has been compared to Bill Buckner’s error in the 1986 World Series, it really doesn’t come close. Buckner wins the most devastating error award hands down. Had Conrad made his play, the game would have been tied and sent into extra innings. Had Buckner made his play, the game would have been over, and the Red Sox would have won the Series. As it was, his error let in two runners and they lost the game sending the Series into a seventh game. The fate of the whole Series swung on that one play.
But there’s another story few people know about that puts God’s purposes squarely in the middle of this event. Author Michael O’Connor was watching that game in 1986 on his television, a young man struggling with believing in God. He had a fiancé who had become a Christian and desired that he join her in faith, but Michael had been stubborn in his resistance. But for some strange reason, as he watched that sixth game of the World Series between the Mets and the Red Sox, his own faith became strangely connected to its outcome. Through most of the game, the Red Sox had the lead and the control, but then in the final innings, things started to unravel to such an extent that Buckner’s error was not alone. There were other errors, misjudgments, pass balls, wild pitches – it was as if the Red Sox were doing their darnedest to lose their advantage.
As Michael tells the story, he saw the fate of his faith hanging in the balance. If the Red Sox lost this game – something that seemed almost impossible until the very end – they would be forcing a seventh game, and a seventh game, just like Michael’s faith, had to come down on one side or the other. There would be no more speculation, no more possibilities, no more sitting on the fence. And somehow, in the impending finality of that seventh game, Michael knew he had to make his decision whether to believe in Jesus or not. Which he did, and wrote a poem about it called “The Seventh Game.”
Now am I saying God moved franchises and regions and baseball history just to accommodate Michael’s decision? Not necessarily, but why couldn’t that have been one of a hundred thousand other things he was wrapping up in that chain of events? Don’t you ever wonder how strangely marvelous is his hand in the events of our lives, and how, in the wonder of his wisdom, he is accomplishing so many things at once? If Bill Buckner’s error played a part in bringing one man into the kingdom of God, then it suddenly doesn’t seem so tragic or pathetic. It just seems wildly miraculous. And if that is true about one error, couldn’t it be going on in all the seemingly random events of our lives? There is a loving hand in the shadows arranging things we could never know.
John Fischer The Catch 
Just a few factual corrections to the Buckner story. I was living in Boston in 86 & think I remember it this way: When Mookie’s ball was hit to Buckner the game was already tied. 2 Sox relievers – Calvin Schiraldi and Bob Stanley – had given up 3 straight singles after 2 outs. If I recall correctly, the tying run scored on a wild pitch/passed ball (take your pick) by Stanley and/or Rich Geddis, the catcher. Dave Henderson missed out on being a Boston hero forever when his 2-run homer in the top of the 10th should have won the game for the Sox. The Sox lost game 7 a few days later… blowing a 3-run lead in that game.
A possible positive outcome for Conrad is that despite the heavy heart he has right now, he has a lot of living to do since he’s only 30 years old. I’m sure as a lifelong minor league player, his dream was to be on the other end of where he is now. Most of us have a dream, a worldly goal of how we expect our life to play out. I’m sure most of Jesus’ early followers had a similar dream/goal for Him too. Our mission as Christians is to determine what God’s plan is for us, not the one the world lays out. It is/will be one of the greatest challenges we all face in life.
Steve,
Your memory has served you better than mine over the years. You are exactly right. The truly remarkable thing is how this happened in the bottom of the 10th with the Mets down by 2 runs with two outs and nobody on.
Great series of stories the last few days. Maybe in the end not everybody lives happily everafter, but God always gets the Glory. PTL!!
John, Thanks so much for sharing this story today. It really makes you relax and have faith that God is in control and everything does happen for a reason. I love it how you can relate so many life experiences to our faith in God.
God is telling His story through our stories, weaving them all together in such a way that His glory is always being revealed. That’s a mind-blowing thought, and as I look back over my story, I can only say, “WOW! God, look what You did!!”
When I pause to consider how constantly God pursues us it always amazes me. My husband’s story always grabs me. Born to a single mom, he was given up for adoption and raised by church-going but non-believing parents. A neighbor shared her faith with him and his mom and sister. In spite of opposition from his dad they all turned to Jesus. At any of these steps it would have been so easy for things to go a different way, but God would not let him go. I believe this is true for every person, whether we recognize it or not.
John, I’ve searched google for the text of “The Seventh Game” poem but no luck. Do you happen to have the text of it as I’d like to use it in a devotional for my men’s group?
Thanks so much.
mike
sent you an email