Mookie Wilson on the Importance of Black History Month

By Jay Horwitz

I got a hold of my old friend Mookie Wilson last night and I asked him a simple question. “What does Black History Month mean to you?”

He had a great answer.

“It means a great deal to me,” said Mookie, who is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Mets 1986 World Championship. “We didn’t have Black History Month when I was in school.”

“I didn’t know much about the history of African American people.” He went on.

“What we were taught in school was the Civil War and slavery. I knew about Jackie Robinson and Jesse Owens and that was it.”

Today African American children can read about Beyoncé, Barack Obama, Kamel Harris and Dr. Martin Luther King.

“To have a month focused on our past, it is a great learning tool,” Mookie added. “It paints a more complete picture of the history of our people.”

Mookie to this day, is one of my closest friends in baseball. We have known each other for over five decades.

Everyone always talks about his famous at bat in the World Series. For me, I have a different memory and it occurred away from the field.

After we won in 1986 there was a race riot at the University f Massachusetts Campus in Amherst resulting in one death. The late Bart Giamatti, then the President of the National League, asked Mookie to come to the school to speak to the students. Marty Barrett represented the Red Sox.

I was sitting in the auditorium that day as Mookie captivated over 3,000 kids. He spoke about togetherness and being kind to each other. After the speech I said to Mookie. “You have to run for office, forget about baseball.”

There is no doubt in my mind Mookie could have been a mayor, congressman or Senator if he wanted. He decided that wasn’t the path for him.

Mookie is one of the kindest people you ever would want to meet. Sure he was happy that ball went through Buckner’s legs, but he always felt badly about how Bill was treated in the media. He would go out of the way to tell people that he would have beaten the ball out if Bill didn’t miss it.

Mookie and Buckner became good friends later and he was crushed when Bill died a few years ago.

I just proud that Mookie has been my friend since his September call up in 1980. I still think he would have been a great Senator.