Forgiveness for Buckner, Boston

The much-scapegoated Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner threw out the ceremonial first pitch of Boston's home opener today in an emotional celebration of the team's 2007 championship, reports the Boston Globe. Buckner, his successor Kevin Youkilis, and plenty of others became teary-eyed during what was ostensibly a rite of forgiveness for Buckner's infamous 1986 gaffe.

But the resentment had gone both ways, as Buckner admitted: "I really had to forgive, not the fans of Boston, per se, but I would have to say in my heart I had to forgive the media. For what they put me and my family through. So, you know, I've done that and I'm over that." (More MLB stories.)