New York Mets legend Mookie Wilson coming to Harbor Park to cook, be inducted into Tidewater Baseball Shrine
A key figure in one of baseball’s most famous moments is coming to Harbor Park.
Former Tidewater Tides player and longtime major leaguer Mookie Wilson, whose ground ball through Bill Buckner’s legs propelled the New York Mets to a legendary walk-off win over the Boston Red Sox in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, will appear at the ballpark on May 21, the Norfolk Tides announced Wednesday.
Wilson’s catering company, Legacy Catering, will serve a special VIP picnic in the picnic area from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fans attending the picnic will meet Wilson and have food made by him.
Following a pregame ceremony inducting Wilson into the Tidewater Baseball Shrine, Wilson will sign autographs on the concourse.
Legacy Catering will serve pulled pork BBQ, grilled chicken leg quarters/winglets, smoked sausage, mac ‘n’ cheese, green beans and carrot sticks. Catering will cost $48 per person (and includes a game ticket) or $35 if a ticket for that day has already been purchased.
Wilson, a native of Bamberg, South Carolina, played for the Tidewater Tides in three seasons: two full seasons in 1979 and 1980, then in nine games in 1986 on an injury rehab assignment.
In 282 career games with the Tides, he hit .280 with nine home runs, 84 RBIs and 103 stolen bases. He’s the franchise leader in triples (24), while ranking third in stolen bases.
Wilson played in 12 major league seasons from 1980-91. He played for the Mets from 1980-89 before being traded midseason to Toronto on July 31, 1989.
Wilson played with Toronto until he retired in 1991.
With the game tied at 5 in the bottom of the 10th inning of that 1986 World Series game, Wilson’s routine grounder to first base should have won Boston its first World Series since 1918. But Buckner famously misplayed it, and New York went on to win Game 7.
David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com. Twitter @DavidHallVP.
