One Pitch Away: The Players' Stories of the 1986 League Championships and World Series

The 1986 baseball playoffs and World Series have been called the most exciting ever. Here Sowell (The Pitch That Killed) looks back at the triumphs and tragedies that followed that fateful post-season. In the Boston-California playoffs we see California manager Gene Mauch--``the greatest manager never to win a pennant''--one out away from victory, and still managing to lose. Donnie Moore--the relief pitcher who bore the brunt of the loss--was so depressed by the outcome that he killed himself. In the New York-Houston series, we witness pitcher Bob Knepper blowing two big leads; experience the fear that Mike Scott and his split-finger fastball instilled in the Mets; and feel the tension of game six--16 innings of perhaps the best baseball game ever played--finally going to the Mets. The Red Sox-Mets World Series had it all: comebacks, hero, goats. There is drama as Mookie Wilson squibbs the ball past a crippled Bill Buckner; we meet nervous relief pitcher Calvin Schiraldi, who lacks the confidence to get the big out; Pat Stapleton, Buckner's caddy, waiting for the call to defense that never came; and Ray Knight, goat-turned-hero, hitting the ball out of the park to win the Series for the Mets. A book that proves that baseball imitates life. Photos. (Apr.)