1986 World Series

The 1986 World Series, the 83rd playing of the modern championship series in Major League Baseball, was a memorable battle between the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox which helped to spread the legend of "The Curse of the Bambino" to mass public awareness.

Trivia

• Bruce Hurst would've been named the World Series Most Valuable Player if the Red Sox had held on. Hurst was the Red Sox's starting pitcher in Game 7 (which was pushed back a day due to a rain-out) even though Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd was originally supposed to start.
• Roger Clemens shaved soon after being removed from Game 6. The newly clean-shaven Clemens had hoped that he would look good for the ultimately aborted Red Sox post game championship celebration. In addition, NBC's Bob Costas was already in the Red Sox's clubhouse in preparation for what was preceived to be the Red Sox's championship celebration.
• Just prior to Jesse Orosco striking out Marty Barrett to clinch the World Championship for the Mets, a pink smoke bomb was released in centerfield.
• Just prior to the start of the World Series, Bill Buckner during an interview for Boston television, jokingly brought up the fear of allowing the other team to score the winning run after letting the ball go through his legs. This now unintentionally ominious interview resurfaced during an episode of ESPN Classic's Battlelines.
• Before being called to pinch-hit in Game 6, Kevin Mitchell was busy making flight arrangements in order to go home to San Diego. According to Mitchell, just prior to Bob Stanley's wild pitch, Mets third base coach Bud Harrelson had informed Mitchell to be prepared for a ball in the dirt.
• Keith Hernandez claimed to Bob Costas during the clubhouse celebration that he walked into manager Davey Johnson's office to drink a Budweiser during the 9th inning of Game 6. Hernandez, who originally accepted defeat, eventually came to the conclusion that Johnson's chair that Hernandez was sitting in was a good luck charm.
• According to sports journalist Dick Schaap, while approaching an elevator sometime after Game 6, he caught newly elected National League president Bart Giamatti, who was a major Red Sox fan, mutter profanities out of frustration for Red Sox manager John McNamara's decision to keep a battered Bill Buckner in the late innings rather than put in Dave Stapleton for defensive purposes as he had done many times that season.
• When it seemed like the Red Sox winning Game 6 would be a foregone conclusion, third base umpire Harry Wendelstedt told Wade Boggs to give him his cap as soon as the game was over. Wendelstedt's reasoning according to Boggs was that he always collected caps from teams that had just won a ball game.
• Postponed by rain, Game 7 was televised opposite a Monday Night Football game between the Washington Redskins and the New York Giants. Despite the competition, NBC received a national Neilsen rating of 38.9 for Game 7 versus an 8.8 for ABC's football telecast.
• This was the first World Series in which the designated hitter rule was used when the game was played in the American League team's home stadium, with pitchers batting in games played at the National League venue. From 1976-1985 the DH rule had been used in even-numbered years.