Mooooook! Mookie Wilson takes part in Somers baseball event

By Brian Marschhauser
Of The Somers Record

Former New York Mets outfielder Mookie Wilson, a member of the 1986 World Championship team, took part in the annual baseball trophy presentation Oct. 2 for the Somers Youth Sports Organization (SYSO).

Wilson began the ceremony with a 10-minute speech about making and sustaining a Major League career through hard work and work ethic, and not necessarily with natural ability.

“I was a decent hitter but I never hit .300,” Wilson told the crowd inside the Somers Middle School auditorium. “But the one thing that I could always do was run.”



In game six the 1986 World Series, with the Mets and Boston Red Sox tied, Wilson famously hit a ground ball that rolled through the legs of first baseman Bill Buckner, allowing the Mets to win the game in the bottom of the 10th inning. It was a seemingly routine play for Buckner, but Wilson sprinted out of the batter’s box and hustled down the first-base line, which he believes caused Bucker to hurry the play and make an error.

“I could run hard like that to first base 10 million times, and the one time it made a difference I was on top of the world,” Wilson said. “All coaches I had said one thing, ‘You gotta run hard, you gotta hustle.’ I never knew the importance of it until it actually paid off.”

Wilson said the Mets, who won an incredible 108 regular season games in ‘86, overcame incredible odds to win the World Series.

“There’s no way in the world that we should have won,” he said, referring to the fact that the Mets, facing elimination, were down by two runs with two out and nobody on before that famous rally in the bottom of the 10th inning of game six. “But if there’s anything that team had, it was effort. They never gave up.”
Wilson told SYSO baseball players they will also find success if they give it their all.

“If you always give your best, you will never be disappointed,” Wilson said. “And if you do your best, strange things will happen.”

SYSO Commissioner Rey Solano said the evening was a hit.

“It was great,” Solano said. “The kids were so excited to meet Mookie.”

Solano said SYSO will attempt to bring in another New York postseason legend next year with Bucky Dent. Dent, a former shortstop with the New York Yankees, is remembered for his three-run home run against the Red Sox in a one-game playoff in 1978.