Mookie Wilson is best known for “The Play” from the 1986 World Series. The Mets were down 3 games to 2 to the Boston Red Sox. The score was 4-3 Red Sox, heading into the the bottom of the tenth inning with the Mets 2-3-4 hitters due up. The Red Sox retired the Mets 2nd and 3rd batters. Then, the Mets came through with 3 straights singles, leading to Mookie’s At Bat.
On the tenth pitch of the at-bat, Mookie hit a grounder toward first base. Bill Buckner, who was playing on the lip of the infield to protect against a hit through the first-second base hole, moved over to the foul line to try to field the ball. He did not field it. The ball rolled between his legs and into the outfield, enabling Knight to come around third and score without a play. The Mets won the game 6-5 and tied the series at three games.
Vin Scully’s call of the play on NBC Television would quickly become an iconic one to baseball fans, with the normally calm Scully growing increasingly excited: “So the winning run is at second base, with two outs, three and two to Mookie Wilson. [A] little roller up along first… behind the bag! It gets through Buckner! Here comes Knight, and the Mets win it!”
Scully then remained silent for more than three minutes, letting the pictures and the crowd noise tell the story. Scully resumed with: “If one picture is worth a thousand words, you have seen about a million words, but more than that, you have seen an absolutely bizarre finish to Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. The Mets are not only alive, they are well, and they will play the Red Sox in Game 7 tomorrow!”
In the 2011 ESPN Films documentary Catching Hell, Buckner explained how, years after the event, he realized from watching a television replay how he had missed the ball. He said, when he played in the field, he liked to wear a very loose glove (i.e., one that was floppy). When he moved to his left to try to field Wilson’s grounder and then stopped, the momentum of the leftward-moving loose glove caused the glove to close. The ball then went just past the right side of the glove.
Years later, Mookie and Buckner appeared in joint autograph sessions. On “The Play” in Game 6 of the ’86 World Series, Mookie explained, “I did what I always did, which was run as hard as I could. That was the only way I knew how to play the game. Buck has told me the challenges he’s had to endure from the fallout of Game Six have strengthened his faith in God. He understands that some things we have to go through are not because of anything we’ve done wrong, but happen to make us stronger.”
The Boston Red Sox fans were hoping to end their 68-year World Series drought and “The Curse of the Bambino”—since the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees, who went on to become a dynasty in Major League Baseball. They ultimately ended their 86-year drought with a World Series championship in 2004.
Mookie: On Life
Mookie explains there are two things he feels strongly about and advice he offers to kids:
(1) Have a genuine love for what you do
(2) Nobody needs to be a product of their environment. Mookie explains, “If you’re black, poor, and from a large family like I was, it shouldn’t condemn you to a life of poverty with no expectations and no future. Instead, it should be an opportunity to display your character and show that you are worthy of success… And that’s me in a nutshell.”
On Growing Up in South Carolina…
While slavery, of course, was unlawful in twentieth-century America, “legalized slavery” was rampant in the South. One of the more popular tactics of the manipulation of blacks was used on farms. A farmer would allow black workers and their families to live rent-free for as long as he worked on his farm. In most cases, the homes ranged from subpar to condemnable. While this arrangement might seem passable, the farmer could show up at the black worker’s front door at any hour with something he wanted done. While the normal work hours were long—literally sunup to sundown—there was no such thing as overtime. They referred to this arrangement as “straight pay.”
Mookie saw baseball as a life commitment and his “great escape” from the real world. At first, baseball was a relief from the long work hours—just pure enjoyment. Later, it was a way to a better life. In fact, he would end up going to college because of baseball.
As a young boy, his approach to baseball came from his father. Mookie’s father emphasized enjoyment of the game. His favorite saying was, “All you can do is your best, but some days your best will not be good enough to win.”
Mookie explained that he’s learned that success is rarely ever achieved alone. Often, it takes another person’s assistance to help you accomplish your goals.
On Baseball…
Mookie explained, “My baseball ethic was ingrained in me before I even thought about playing professionally. I was taught if you were going to play baseball, play it well. My dad also told me, ‘No matter what you do in life, do it the best you can every day, because you never know who’s watching you. If you’re going to be a ditch digger, then be the best ditch digger in the world.’”
Mookie also explained how he made different choices from many of his 1986 Mets’ teammates. Following their victory over the Astros in a hard-fought National League Championship Series, he left the celebration and didn’t have a beer with the guys. Still, he was considered “one of the guys.” He noted, “My identity and religious convictions—what I would do, what I wouldn’t do, what I would tolerate, and what I wouldn’t—was already established from my length of time with the club. On my side, I didn’t shun the guys because I didn’t drink. I made a conscious effort not to separate myself from my teammates. That was because they weren’t just my teammates, they were good teammates. They respected me and never questioned anything I did or didn’t do.”
Following the World Series victory, Mookie reflected, “That whole series, that entire year, really taught us a lot about ourselves and how to put our personal feelings aside for the greater good. And that reality didn’t sink in with anyone deeper than it did with me—the unhappy camper (due to platooning with Lenny Dykstra) who hid his discontentment much of the season behind a big smile.”
Unfortunately, Mookie knew that club would eventually self-destruct due to excessive partying, the fighting, and the egos. He observed that they began to lose track of what made the Mets really good and needed to put a stop to some things that hindered them. He saw that they were showing signs of being less gritty and had started to bathe in their own glory a little too much. That sounds much like the lessons Jim Collins’ outlines in How the Mighty Fall.
On Life After Baseball…
Mookie tried a number of jobs that he thought he would be good at, but he lacked the drive, commitment, and desire to succeed at them. After a couple of years, it became clear to him that baseball was his passion and he wouldn’t be as happy or fulfilled in any other business. So, he returned to the Mets as their first base coach from 1996 until 2002. Then, he managed minor league teams from 2003 until 2005.
Meanwhile, Mookie also pursued a life of ministry. He always lived by the words and virtues of Christ, so his life would be an example to others, a display of how God can work in their lives, and a testimony of God’s grace and mercy. 1986 Mets’ teammate said, “All the clichés you hear about Mookie are true. On a team of ‘out there’ characters, Mookie was mature and wise beyond his years. In a selfish, me-first business, Mookie was a great mentor and legitimately cared for others.”
As a deacon in his church in 2001, one of the first things he did was to initiate a Future Leaders program. He would mentor a dozen or so young men—mostly in their early teens—on a host of social, financial, and spiritual topics each Saturday morning. The goal of the program was to help them become better and more responsible young men, allowing them to accept who they were and understand how to grow into more effective leaders.
Bishop Wendell Sumter, Pastor of Zion Mill Creek Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina said, “Mookie is, in a nutshell, an awesome man of God both inside and outside the church. His spirit of giving and his spirit of caring are an inspiration. His life speaks for him.”
Mookie noted that as a Christian athlete, he had to be careful not to mislead people into thinking that he only praised God when good things happened. As he put it, “You want to be happy and show your faith in God all the time, even when things are not going the way you want them to go.” He tried to live 1 Thessalonians 5:18 which says, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Mookie went on to say, “A lot of people in the secular world criticize Christian athletes for praying before and during games because they feel that God doesn’t choose sides. What many people don’t realize is that what most athletes are doing, or should be doing, isn’t asking God to help them win, but rather they are giving thanks to Him for the opportunity and ability they’ve received to become professional athletes.”
Mookie continued, “There is something to be said for the wisdom of age. Nothing beats experience. I’m convinced that all the book knowledge in the world doesn’t meet what is gained in life’s journey. Even when you’re talking about the gospel, the scripture, or the Bible, it doesn’t matter. Until you experience certain things, it is very difficult to help others with the challenges and hardships they encounter in their own travails.”
He leaves us with advice (using the theme of Stephen Stills’ song Love the One You’re With) to love our occupation. If you can’t have the job you want, love the job you’ve got. And right now, Mookie says, “I love what I’m doing by serving the Lord.”
In its description of Mookie’s book, Amazon provides an excellent summary, “In an era when role models in sports were hard to come by, some tarnished by their own hubris and greed, Mookie Wilson remained the exception: a man of humility and honor when it mattered the most.”
I only wish I had known more about Mookie and hung a poster of him in my room as a 14 year-old! But that just provides another example of why continuous learning is important, as you shoot for the stars…