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Mookie Wilson

Born

in Bamberg, SC, The United States

February 09, 1956

Twitter

MookieWilsonNY1

Genre

Sports, Memoir

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William Hayward "Mookie" Wilson (born February 9, 1956) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and coach best remembered as the Met that hit the ground ball that trickled through Bill Buckner's legs in game six of the 1986 World Series.

A switch hitter with excellent speed, his positive attitude and hustle immediately endeared him to a New York Mets fan base with precious few stars to root for when he first came up in the early 1980s. He was enshrined in the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 1996.

Nicknamed Mookie as a small child, Wilson was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, and pitched for the Bamberg-Ehrhardt High School Red Raiders baseball team under legendary coach David Horton.

In the mid 1970s, South Carolina State University had disc William Hayward "Mookie" Wilson (born February 9, 1956) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and coach best remembered as the Met that hit the ground ball that trickled through Bill Buckner's legs in game six of the 1986 World Series.

A switch hitter with excellent speed, his positive attitude and hustle immediately endeared him to a New York Mets fan base with precious few stars to root for when he first came up in the early 1980s. He was enshrined in the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 1996.

Nicknamed Mookie as a small child, Wilson was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, and pitched for the Bamberg-Ehrhardt High School Red Raiders baseball team under legendary coach David Horton.

In the mid 1970s, South Carolina State University had discontinued its baseball program just days after Wilson had signed a Letter of Intent to play for the Bulldogs. As a result, Mookie attended Spartanburg Methodist College for the 1974 & 1975 seasons. While attending Spartanburg Methodist, Mookie was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fourth round of the January 1976 amateur draft, but he did not sign. Instead, Mookie transferred to play for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, preferring to take the chance of skipping the '76 draft offer and increasing his draft stock by playing for former New York Yankees great Bobby Richardson (the head coach of the Gamecocks at the time). The gamble paid-off as Wilson was selected in the second round of the 1977 Major League Baseball Draft by the New York Mets. Mookie was part of the Gamecocks' second team, under Richardson, to play for a national championship in Omaha, Nebraska in the 1977 College World Series. He was also named to the 1977 All-Tournament team as an outfielder.

Wilson batted .284 with 22 home runs, 184 runs batted in and 160 stolen bases in four seasons in the Mets' farm system, and earned International League Rookie of the Year honors in 1979. After stealing fifty bases and scoring 92 runs for the Tidewater Tides in 1980, Mookie was called up to the majors when rosters expanded that September. Though he got off to a slow start (0 for his first 8), manager Joe Torre stuck with Wilson in center field for 26 of the 31 games remaining on the Mets' schedule.

Mookie became a fixture atop the Mets line-up through 1984, and was soon himself the face of the organization. In 1982, he stole at least one base in each of his first five games on his way to breaking Frank Taveras' team record with 58 stolen bases. He passed Mazzilli to become the team's all-time stolen base leader in 1984.

In the post-season for the first time in his career, Wilson batted just .115 in the 1986 National League Championship Series with the Houston Astros. However, he scored the only run allowed by NLCS MVP Mike Scott in game four of the series, and drove in and scored a run in the ninth inning of game six when the Mets scored three runs in their last at bat to send the game into extra innings. He was batting a far better .272 in the World Series when he came to the plate in the tenth inning of game six.

The Boston Red Sox led the game with a score of 5-4 in a series they led three games to two. With Wilson stepping up to the plate, Bob Stanley replaced Schiraldi on the mound. During his ten pitch at-bat, Wilson avoided being hit by a wild pitch that scored Kevin Mitchell from third and tied the score. Two pitches later, he hit a slow roller to Bill Buckner at first base. Aware of Wilson's speed, Buckner tried to rush the play. As a result, the ball rolled beside his glove, through his legs and into right field, allowing Ray Knight to score the winning run from second base.

Wilson went one for three in game seven, scoring one of three runs the Mets plated in the sixth inning while trailing 3-0. The Mets went on to win that 1986 World Series. ...more