From: hhenderson@vax.clarku.edu
Subject: '86 World Series, Game 6, 11th Inning
Organization: Clark University
Date: 15 AUG 92 17:56:33 GMT

>Let's assume that Buckner made the play and the winning run didn't
>score.  What happens next (I normally hate what if questions, but so
>many Red Sox fans appear to blame that one play for the Mets winning
>the series).  Anyone care to write the next inning?
>
>                                              Jeff
>Jeff Pierce <JPIERCE@MIAMIU.BITNET>

I guess this is my chance to set things right with all those Red Sox
fans (including my husband) whom I recently scandalized with my
pro-Mets opinions!

I asked my husband to suggest details for a possible 11th inning
scenario.  Okay, here we go.  Buckner gets Mookie out at first base,
and the game is tied 5-5...


_Top of the 11th_

A blimp flying overhead drops a grand piano on Gary Carter,
crushing him to death.

It takes some time to clear the debris off the field and fill in the hole
behind the plate.  When play resumes, Ed Hearn has replaced Carter.
The delay does not help Rick Aguilera.  He hangs a curve and Dwight Evans
nails it for a double.  However, Aggie gets Rich Gedman to pop out, and
strikes out Dave Henderson.  Dewey stands forlorn on second base.  Will
he become a victim of the Red Sox' time-honored tradition of Leaving Men
On Base???

There is a surprise visitor in the Red Sox clubhouse -- Carlton Fisk!
He has come all the way from Chicago to lend his moral support!
John McNamara, the Irish sentimentalist and manager of great
hidden genius, has long been waiting for a chance to outmaneuver
Davey Johnson; so he sends Fisk up to hit, disguised as Spike Owen.

Fisk/Owen wallops a tremendous home run not off, but THROUGH,
the center field scoreboard, the ball exploding out the other side and
bouncing into the Shea parking lot!  7-5 BOSTON!!  The Boston dugout
goes wild!  Millions of crazed Boston fans have champagne bottles in
their hands!  The Met faithful fall silent.  Their doom is sealed.

But wait -- there's more!  The baseball propelled by Fisk/Owen's
mighty bat has yet another role to play in the fate of the Mets.  In its
journey through the guts of the scoreboard it has wreaked great havoc
in the electrical wiring.  Various *extremely* important wires and
cables are seared in a flash fire.  Shea Stadium is plunged into total
darkness.

Within minutes, backup systems bring light back to Shea again, but it
is too late for one plucky Met.  In center field, little Lenny Dykstra has
been eaten by rats.

He is replaced by Tim Teufel.  Aguilera quickly strikes out Bob Stanley
and the game goes to the

_Bottom of the 11th_

Stanley gets the last three Mets on feeble ground-ball outs and there is
JOY IN BEANTOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

_Six Years Later_

The Owen Ball, as it is now known (for few know the true tale of how
Fisk returned to save the Crimson Hose in their hour of need) is sold
at auction to an anonymous stupid rich person for $500,000.  "Sure,
you can't drive it, live in it, or build anything on it," the stupid rich
person is reported to have said.  "You probably can't even eat it.  But it
won the Series for the Sox and killed Lenny Dykstra, so I figure in a
few years I can sell it to one of these baseball memorabilia morons for
double the price."


Heather
Jack Clark University (official name change pending)
HHENDERSON@vax.clarku.edu