The Biggest Blunders and Bloopers in Baseball

Baseball is America’s pastime and it has been played, in one form or another, for as long as 150 years. Naturally, through that time we have seen some amazing feats of athleticism, while at the same time witnessed some of the greatest blunders the game has ever seen. Some of the blunders were nothing more than blips in the game, while others not only cost a team a game, they cost the team the pennant or even the World Series. So, here are the biggest blunders and bloopers in baseball history.

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Sometimes home runs are mammoth hits that clear the upper decks and sometimes home runs need a helping hand from a fielder, as was seen in two cases in the past. In 1960, Lu Clinton, a rookie with the Red Sox, was in right field when Vic Power hit a ball towards the fence. Naturally, Clinton ran to the fence to try and catch the ball but what happened next was truly shocking, and somewhat funny. The ball hit the top of the fence and bounced back towards Clinton, who was running at the time. The ball then hit his foot, not touching the ground in the process, and bounced over the fence. Since it had not touched the ground, it was counted as a home run.
The other person to accomplish this feat is the juiced-up Jose Canseco himself. While playing for the Texas Rangers, Canseco ran towards the fence after Cleveland’s Carlos Martinez launched a ball towards the fence. Canseco briefly lost sight of the ball and instead of catching it in his glove; it hit him on the top of the head and bounced over the fence, giving Martinez a home run.

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Way back in 1892, during the very early days of Baseball during a game between St. Louis and Chicago, a truly amazing blooper occurred. Bill Dahlen, batting for Chicago, hit a ball towards the left-field corner and Cliff Carroll of St. Louis ran to cut off the ball and limit Dahlen to a single. However, as he grabbed the ball and proceeded to throw it, the ball slipped out of his hand and became caught in his pocket. No matter how hard he attempted to pull the ball out, it seemed to get deeper into his pocket. When he finally got the ball out, he threw it towards home plate but by that time Dahlen had already reached home plate, scoring a run.

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What would a baseball blunder list be without one of the most infamous blunders of all, coming courtesy of Bill Buckner of the Boston Red Sox? In was Game Six of the 1986 World Series and Bill Buckner, who to that point had been a hero of the post-season, let an easy ground ball slip through his legs. This allowed the New York Mets to come back and win the game. The New York Mets would be the 1986 World Series Champions, not the Red Sox and many unjustly blamed Bill Buckner. Buckner to his credit never shied away from the criticism and the blame leveled against him. He faced reporters after the game rather than hide but he never apologized for his mistake, simply saying “It’s part of the game.” He wished it had not happened, but he would not allow this one moment to define him.
Buckner was by no means a bad player. Over the course of his career he had many great catches and had 2,700 hits over the course of his career.
Thankfully, all seems to be forgiven in Boston. On April 8, 2008, Bill Buckner threw out the first pitch to former teammate Dwight Evans in the home opener for the Red Sox. At the same time, the 2007 World Series Championship Banner was unfurled.