Sure. Then why'd he have to move out of Boston? It's only because of Steinner sports and the Mookie and Buckner tour, and only after the Sox finally won the WS, again that he was "forgiven by most Boston fans".
Compare that to the equally egregious mistakes made by Garry Maddox in Philly.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1978/10/08/maddox-error-hurts-phils-in-10th-4-3/7a914b24-d8ed-410f-bbd6-5298e2022d48/?utm_term=.fc091636dcf6
Maddox never went thru what Buckner had to endure. Never.
Absolutely true.
Philadelphia fans just throw batteries at players, cheer career-ending neck injuries, and intentionally vomit on children, when not getting tased on the baseball field.
Buckner should never have had to endure what he did. (Johnny Mac should have been on the line for that! But he's no Grady Little.) Fans and especially media go over the top.
And as tragedies of 1986 go, Donny Moore's life following his post-season makes Buckner's look like a walk in the park. He internalized his in ways Buckner never did, on top of what the fans did and said.
It took more than 20 years before Fred Merkle felt forgiveness from the fans. He spent the intervening years very bitter. Did he deserve the crap he got more than Buckner did? I don't think so, even though he was arguably more responsible for his error.
Then again, I don't think Donovan McNabb deserves the hate that Eagles fans continue to spew toward him.
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