1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's hammer throw
The men's hammer throw event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 18 and 19 July. A 7257g (senior implement) hammer was used.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's hammer throw, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 28 athletes from 20 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's high jump
The men's high jump event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 19 and 20 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's high jump, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 36 athletes from 26 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's javelin throw
The men's javelin throw event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 17 and 18 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's javelin throw, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 41 athletes from 30 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's long jump
The men's long jump event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 17 and 18 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's long jump, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 44 athletes from 36 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's pole vault
The men's pole vault event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 16 and 17 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's pole vault, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 25 athletes from 20 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's shot put
The men's shot put event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 18 and 19 July. A 7257g (senior implement) shot was used.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's shot put, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 20 athletes from 16 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's triple jump
The men's triple jump event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 19 and 20 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's triple jump, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 33 athletes from 28 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 10,000 metres
The women's 10,000 metres event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 18 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 10,000 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 15 athletes from 12 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 100 metres
The women's 100 metres event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 16 and 17 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 100 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 47 athletes from 36 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 100 metres hurdles
The women's 100 metres hurdles event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 17 and 18 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 100 metres hurdles, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 29 athletes from 22 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 1500 metres
The women's 1500 metres event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 19 and 20 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 1500 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 35 athletes from 28 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 200 metres
The women's 200 metres event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 18 and 19 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 200 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 49 athletes from 39 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 3000 metres
The women's 3000 metres event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 17 and 19 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 3000 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 28 athletes from 20 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 4 × 100 metres relay
The women's 4×100 metres relay event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 20 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 4 × 100 metres relay, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 32 athletes from 8 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 4 × 400 metres relay
The women's 4×400 metres relay event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 19 and 20 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 4 × 400 metres relay, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 37 athletes from 9 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 400 metres
The women's 400 metres event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 16, 17 and 18 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 400 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 33 athletes from 27 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 400 metres hurdles
The women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 16, 17 and 18 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 400 metres hurdles, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 21 athletes from 17 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 5000 metres walk
The women's 5000 metres walk event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 20 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 5000 metres walk, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 24 athletes from 16 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 800 metres
The women's 800 metres event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 16, 17 and 18 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 800 metres, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 41 athletes from 32 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's discus throw
The women's discus throw event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 19 and 20 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's discus throw, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 19 athletes from 15 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's heptathlon
The women's heptathlon event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 18 and 19 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's heptathlon, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 18 athletes from 12 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's high jump
The women's high jump event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 17 and 18 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's high jump, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 26 athletes from 21 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's javelin throw
The women's javelin throw event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 18 and 19 July. An old specification 600g javelin was used.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's javelin throw, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 21 athletes from 15 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's long jump
The women's long jump event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 18 and 19 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's long jump, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 27 athletes from 23 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's shot put
The women's shot put event at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Athens, Greece, at Olympic Stadium on 16 and 17 July.


1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's shot put, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 16 athletes from 10 countries participated in the event.


1986 World Junior Curling Championships
The 1986 World Junior Curling Championships were held from March 16 to 22 at the Dartmouth Sportsplex in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. The tournament only consisted of a men's event.


1986 World Junior Figure Skating Championships
The 1986 World Junior Figure Skating Championships were held on December 9–14, 1985 in Sarajevo, SFR Yugoslavia. The event was sanctioned by the International Skating Union and open to ISU member nations. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.


1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
The 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (1986 WJHC) was the tenth edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship and was held from December 26, 1985, until January 4, 1986. It was held mainly in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The Soviet Union won the gold medal, its seventh championship, Canada won silver and the United States won bronze. The bronze medal was the first for the Americans in tournament history.


1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Final standings
The 1986 tournament was a round-robin format, with the top three teams winning gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.


1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Pool B
Eight teams contested the second tier this year in Klagenfurt Austria from March 13 to 22. It was played in a simple round robin format, each team playing seven games.


1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Pool B
Poland was promoted to Pool A and Bulgaria was relegated to Pool C for 1987.


1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Pool C
This tournament was played in Gap, France, from March 21 to 27. China made its debut in the junior tournament.


1986 World Karate Championships
The 1986 WUKO World Karate Championships are the 8th edition of the World Karate Championships, and were held in Sydney, Australia from November 21 to November 25, 1986.


1986 World Lacrosse Championship
The 1986 World Lacrosse Championship was the fifth World Lacrosse Championship and was played in Toronto, Canada from July 18-25, 1986. The United States defeated Canada 18-9 in the final to win the tournament.


1986 World Men's Handball Championship
The 1986 World Men's Handball Championship was the 11th team handball World Championship. It was held in Switzerland from February 25 to March 8, 1986. Yugoslavia won the championship. The tournament was played in Aarau, Basel, Bern, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Davos, Geneva, Luzern, Olten, St. Gallen, Solothurn, Winterthur and Zürich.


1986 World Mountain Running Trophy
The 1986 World Mountain Running Championships was the 2nd edition of the global mountain running competition, World Mountain Running Championships, organised by the World Mountain Running Association and was held in Morbegno, Italy on 5 October 1986.


1986 World Rally Championship
The 1986 World Rally Championship was the 14th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). The season consisted of 13 rallies, including all twelve venues of the previous season as well as the addition of the Olympus Rally. This marked the return of the WRC to the United States and North America, as well as the first world rally to be held on the western side of the continent. The December rally would also be the only WRC event to feature Group B competition in the United States.


1986 World Rally Championship
The 1986 season was notable for being the last World Rally Championship season driven with the popular Group B rally cars, which were banned after the fatal crashes at the Rally Portugal, where three spectators were killed and more than 30 injured, and at the Tour de Corse, where Henri Toivonen and his co-driver Sergio Cresto died in a fireball accident.


1986 World Rally Championship
This was the year where Group B (first introduced in 1982) was at its peak, and the 1986 season saw some of the most powerful and sophisticated rally cars ever built, some of which were mid-engined, like the Lancia Delta S4 and the Ford RS200. The drivers' championship was won by Peugeot's Juha Kankkunen, followed by two other "Flying Finns", Lancia's Markku Alén and Kankkunen's teammate Timo Salonen. The manufacturers' title was taken by Peugeot, after a close battle with the Martini-sponsored Lancia team.


1986 World Rally Championship, Summary
The season began with the Monte Carlo Rally and Henri Toivonen took the win with his Lancia Delta S4, making himself the favourite for the title. At the International Swedish Rally in wintery snow and ice, Toivonen had to retire due to an engine failure and Juha Kankkunen won the event with his Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2, ahead of Toivonen's teammate Markku Alén. At the next rally in Portugal, Joaquim Santos lost control of his Ford RS200 and plunged into the crowd, killing three spectators and injuring more than 30. All the factory team drivers decided to withdraw from the race, giving the win to home country's relatively unknown driver, Joaquim Moutinho.


1986 World Rally Championship, Summary
After veteran Swede Björn Waldegård's triumph at the extremely arduous and difficult Safari Rally in Kenya driving a Toyota Celica TCT over Alén and his Lancia 037 Evo (which was the S4's predecessor and used only by Lancia for the Safari Rally; the S4 was not used for the Safari Rally due to Lancia determining that it was too new and not developed enough for that rally), another fatal accident at the Tour de Corse on the French island of Corsica would change the course of rallying.


1986 World Rally Championship, Summary
Toivonen and his co-driver Sergio Cresto in their Lancia went off the side of the road, plunged down a ravine and landed on its roof. The aluminum fuel tank underneath the driver's seat was ruptured by the trees and exploded. Toivonen and Cresto had no time to get out and both men burned to death in their seats. The accident had no witnesses close enough to clearly see the accident.


1986 World Rally Championship, Summary
This caused Jean-Marie Balestre and the FISA to immediately freeze the development of the Group B cars and ban them from competing for the 1987 season. Audi and Ford decided to withdraw from competing, while other teams continued with their Group B models until the end of the season. Peugeot boss Jean Todt was outraged over the ban and pursued legal action against the federation. After Lancia's remaining car retirement, the Tour de Corse was eventually won by Peugeot's Bruno Saby, which marked his career-first WRC victory. The Acropolis Rally in Greece and the New Zealand Rally were won consecutively by Kankkunen; and the third driver to take his debut win during the season was Lancia's Miki Biasion, who edged out teammate Alén to win the Rally Argentina.


1986 World Rally Championship, Summary
Finnish drivers finished first, second and third in the Jyväskylä Rally (otherwise known as the Finnish Rally, the fastest race of the year), with Salonen and Kankkunen giving Peugeot a 1-2 result, with Alén coming in third for Lancia. This was not much of a surprise, as this rally had only ever been won by Finnish and Swedish drivers until 1990.


1986 World Rally Championship, Summary
The Ivory Coast Rally, which was considered to be the most demanding, gruelling and certainly the most attrition-filled rally of the year (a rally where drivers had an unbelievable one in ten chance of finishing) was skipped by all of the Group B teams except Toyota, and was won by Waldegård in his Celica, completing his World Championship African rally sweep. The season included more controversy when the organizers of the Rallye Sanremo disqualified the entire Peugeot team from the event due to illegal side skirts.


1986 World Rally Championship, Summary
However, the cars were proven legal by the FIA, and the Italian organizers were blamed for not allowing French Peugeots to take the win ahead of the Italian Lancias. Eventually, the FISA annulled the results of the whole event. Peugeot then became the manufacturers' champions, but Kankkunen was not sure about his title over Alén until three weeks after the season ended, at the RAC Rally in the United Kingdom, specifically Wales and England. Salonen won this race, with Alen finishing second and Kankkunen third, this was enough for Kankkunen to take the Driver's Championship. The last WRC round of the year was the first Olympus Rally in the state of Washington in the northwest United States, which Alén won, with Kankkunen finishing second.


1986 World Rally Championship, Summary
1986 marked the only season in which the FIA issued the World Championship for Drivers of Group A Cars. Swede Kenneth Eriksson, driving a Volkswagen Golf GTI 16V took the title ahead of Austrian Rudi Stohl in his Audi Coupe Quattro, a lower powered version of the Group B Quattros. This championship became unnecessary in future years due to the elimination of Group B cars. From 1987 onwards, Group A cars would be the vehicles used by drivers competing for the main World Rally Championship for Drivers.


1986 World Rowing Championships
The 1986 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 17 to 24 August 1986 at Nottingham in the United Kingdom.


1986 World Rowing Championships, Medal summary
Looking at the open weight classes only, East Germany was the most successful nation (4 gold – 2 silver – 5 bronze) followed by the Soviet Union (3–2–2) and Romania (2–2–1).


1986 World Sambo Championships
The 1986 World Sambo Championships were held in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France in November 1986. Championships were organized by FIAS.


1986 World Series
The 1986 World Series  was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1986 season. The 83rd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League (NL) champion New York Mets and the American League (AL) champion Boston Red Sox. The Mets won the series four games to three to claim their second World Series title and first since 1969.


1986 World Series
The series is best remembered for its Game 6, which saw the Mets rally from a two run-deficit in the bottom of the 10th inning, despite having two outs and no one on base. The Red Sox, who held a 3–2 series lead, were twice one strike away from securing the championship, but failed to close out the inning as the Mets won off an error by Boston first baseman Bill Buckner. Due to the Mets claiming the series in Game 7, the Game 6 collapse entered baseball lore as part of the Curse of the Bambino superstition that was used to explain the Red Sox's championship drought after the 1918 World Series.


1986 World Series
The 1986 World Series marked the second time in which the winning team lost the first two games of the series at home, following the previous series. It was also the first World Series to use the designated hitter only in games played at the American League representative's stadium, a policy that has since continued.


1986 World Series, Background, New York Mets
The New York Mets finished the regular season with a franchise-best record of 108–54, winning the National League East division by 21+1⁄2 games over the division rival Philadelphia Phillies. They then won a tightly contested 1986 National League Championship Series against the Houston Astros, 4 games to 2, clinching the series with a 7–6, 16-inning win in Game 6. On July 19, Mets' infielder Tim Teufel and pitchers Rick Aguilera, Bobby Ojeda, and Ron Darling were arrested after fighting with policemen outside a bar in Houston.


1986 World Series, Background, New York Mets
Just three days later, the Mets played a game in Cincinnati that saw Ray Knight, Darryl Strawberry, and Kevin Mitchell get ejected, forcing starting catcher Gary Carter to play third base and the Mets to play a pitcher in the outfield, with lefty Jesse Orosco and right-hander Roger McDowell alternating between the pitcher's mound and the outfield as needed. Despite the adversity, the Mets won the game, 6–3 in 14 innings, on a three-run homer by Howard Johnson.


1986 World Series, Background, Boston Red Sox
Boston went 95–66 during the season, winning the American League East division by 5+1⁄2 games over their biggest nemesis, the New York Yankees. The gritty play of eventual ALCS MVP Marty Barrett and Rich Gedman; clutch hitting from veterans Jim Rice, Wade Boggs, Don Baylor, Dwight Evans and Dave Henderson; and quality starting pitching, especially from 1986 American League MVP and Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, Bruce Hurst and Oil Can Boyd, pushed the Red Sox to the World Series. The team's defining moment occurred in Game 5 of the 1986 American League Championship Series against the California Angels.


1986 World Series, Background, Boston Red Sox
With the Angels leading three games to one in the best-of-seven series and their top reliever Donnie Moore on the mound, the Sox needed a last-out miracle home run from Henderson to survive Game 5; they later loaded the bases and got the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly from Henderson off Moore in the 11th. The Angels never recovered from this blow, and with Boston capitalizing on some defensive miscues by the Angels, and clutch performances by some of their big name players (namely Rice and Clemens in the deciding game), the Red Sox clinched the pennant with a seven-game series win.


1986 World Series, Summary
NL New York Mets (4) beat AL Boston Red Sox (3)


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 1
Just as they did against Houston in the National League Championship Series, the Mets opened the World Series by taking a 1–0 defeat. Boston's Bruce Hurst dominated the Mets with his forkball and looping curve, allowing only four hits over eight innings to get the win. In the bottom of the sixth, innings Hurst got Ray Knight to ground into an inning-ending double play and thwart a scoring opportunity for the Mets.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 1
New York's Ron Darling was equally effective, yielding only one unearned run in the seventh inning when second baseman Tim Teufel committed an error by letting a ground ball from Rich Gedman go through his legs, allowing Jim Rice to score from second. Red Sox closer (and former Met) Calvin Schiraldi walked Darryl Strawberry to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning. However, Schiraldi got Knight to force out Strawberry at second base and then got Wally Backman to fly out to left field. With two outs, Danny Heep pinch hit for Rafael Santana. Schiraldi worked Heep to a 2–2 count and then struck him out swinging to solidify the victory.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 1
Mets' legend Tom Seaver, now a member of the Red Sox, received a standing ovation from the Shea Stadium fans during the Game 1 introductions. Seaver did not pitch in the series because of a knee injury.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 2
Game 2 figured to be a classic pitching matchup, between the Mets' young phenom Dwight Gooden and Boston's own young pitching sensation Roger Clemens, but neither pitcher went beyond five innings. The Red Sox scored first in the top of the third inning, following a leadoff walk to Spike Owen, when Keith Hernandez fielded a Clemens bunt, but threw it away trying to catch Owen at second base.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 2
Wade Boggs then drove in Owen with a double, Marty Barrett drove in Clemens with a single, and Bill Buckner drove in Boggs with a single to give the Sox a 3–0 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, the Mets had on second and third base for Wally Backman, who grounded up the middle, plating Rafael Santana. Hernandez then grounded out, allowing Gooden to score and bring the Mets within one run.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 2
In the top of the fourth inning, Dave Henderson, the hero of the ALCS, drove the second pitch from Gooden to left-center field for a home run. Dwight Evans followed with a two-run home run in the top of the fifth inning, bringing the score to 6–2. Although Clemens had a comfortable lead going into the bottom of the fifth, he was pulled in favor of Steve Crawford after facing three batters, leaving runners on first and third. Crawford promptly gave up a single to Gary Carter that scored Backman, cutting the deficit to three runs. Crawford struck out Darryl Strawberry and got Danny Heep to ground out, but this left Clemens with a no decision.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 2
Gooden was relieved by Rick Aguilera in the sixth inning. Aguilera loaded the bases in the seventh, and after consecutive RBI singles by Henderson and Owen, was pulled in favor of Jesse Orosco, who shut down the Red Sox over the next two innings.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 2
The Red Sox were not done, however. Facing Sid Fernandez, pitching in relief with runners on first and second base in the ninth inning, Boggs drove in Henderson with a double to make the score 9–3. The Mets were unable to recover from this deficit, and took the loss, giving Boston a 2–0 advantage heading to Fenway Park.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 3
The Mets started well when Lenny Dykstra led off the game with a home run. After two singles, Gary Carter followed with an RBI double, and Danny Heep drove in two runners with a single to give the Mets a 4–0 lead in the first inning. After the rocky start, Red Sox starter Oil Can Boyd settled down, but Bob Ojeda pitched well and Boston was unable to overcome their early deficit. In his first at bat of the World Series, Boston's Don Baylor almost homered in the second inning but hit the Green Monster, resulting in a double.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 3
Ojeda gave up an RBI single to Marty Barrett in the bottom of the third inning, but this would be the only Boston run of the game. Carter drove in two runners with a bases-loaded single in the seventh inning, and Ray Knight drove in Darryl Strawberry, who had singled and moved to third on two wild pitches, with a double in the eighth inning off of Joe Sambito. Roger McDowell pitched the final two frames to seal a 7–1 Mets victory.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 4
Ron Darling faced off against Boston's Al Nipper, as the Mets looked to tie the Series. Neither starter allowed a run until the top of the fourth inning, when Gary Carter ripped a two-run home run over the Green Monster and Ray Knight drove in Darryl Strawberry, who had doubled after the home run, with a single. Lenny Dykstra hit a two-run home run of his own in the top of the seventh inning, and Carter hit a shot in the top of the eighth inning, both off of Steve Crawford.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 4
In the eighth inning, the Red Sox scored two runs on a Dwight Evans single and a Dave Henderson sacrifice fly off of Roger McDowell, but it was not enough, and the Mets evened the series at two games apiece to ensure a return to New York.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
The Red Sox struck first in the second when Dave Henderson tripled with one out off of Dwight Gooden and scored on Spike Owen's sacrifice fly. Dwight Evans's RBI single next inning with two on made it 2–0 Red Sox. In the fifth, Jim Rice hit a leadoff triple and scored on Don Baylor's single. After Evans singled, Sid Fernandez relieved Gooden and allowed an RBI double to Henderson. Bruce Hurst pitched 7+1⁄3 shutout innings before Tim Teufel's home run in the eighth put the Mets on the board. In the ninth, Mookie Wilson doubled with two outs and scored on Rafael Santana's single before Hurst struck out Lenny Dykstra to end the game as the Red Sox's 4–2 gave them a 3–2 series lead heading back to New York.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
In Game 6, Boston took a quick 2–0 lead on RBI base hits from Dwight Evans and Marty Barrett. The Mets tied the score in the fifth inning on a single from Ray Knight and a run-scoring double play by Danny Heep, in his last at-bat as a Met.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
In the sixth inning, the Mets had a chance to take the lead, but back-to-back hits by Wally Backman and Keith Hernandez were to no avail, when Gary Carter struck out with Backman on third and only one out and Darryl Strawberry grounded out. Instead, it was the Red Sox who went ahead, when an error by Knight led to Barrett scoring in the seventh to give Boston a 3–2 lead.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
This go-ahead run for the Red Sox scored on a groundout by Dwight Evans to second, which could have resulted in an inning-ending double play with the game still tied 2–2. However, Red Sox manager John McNamara had put a hit-and-run play on, which led to Jim Rice being safe at second. Thus, the relay throw from Kevin Elster (who had entered the game at shortstop after Rafael Santana had been pinch-hit for) to first was only the second out of the inning and allowed the Red Sox' go-ahead run to score. Boston then came close to extending its lead, when the next batter, catcher Rich Gedman, singled. However, Rice (the runner who had been safe at second on the previous play) was thrown out at the plate by Mets left fielder Mookie Wilson to keep the score at 3–2 Boston.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
In the top of the eighth, the Red Sox had Dave Henderson on second with one out. Manager John McNamara sent rookie Mike Greenwell to pinch hit for Roger Clemens in an effort to match Greenwell, a left-handed batter, against the Mets' dominant short-relief man Roger McDowell even as righty slugger Don Baylor sat on the bench; Greenwell struck out and the Sox scored no runs that inning, after loading the bases with two two-out walks (one intentional) and a flyout to center by Bill Buckner on the first pitch of his at-bat.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
It was initially said that Clemens was removed from the game due to a blister forming on one of his fingers, but both he and McNamara dispute this. Clemens said to Bob Costas on an MLB Network program concerning the 1986 postseason that McNamara decided to pull him despite Clemens wanting to pitch. McNamara said to Costas that Clemens "begged out" of the game.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
Regardless of who was telling the truth, McNamara had been warming closer Calvin Schiraldi in the bullpen for some time and brought him in the bottom of the eighth inning for a potential two-inning save. Lee Mazzilli, pinch hitting for Jesse Orosco, who had recorded the final out of the eighth, led off the inning with a single. Lenny Dykstra then reached on an attempted sacrifice to put two runners on. Wally Backman followed with another bunt to move Mazzilli and Dykstra into scoring position, and Schiraldi intentionally walked Keith Hernandez to load the bases for Gary Carter.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
Schiraldi ran up a 3–0 count on Carter, but Carter swung at the next pitch and flied to left, deep enough to score Mazzilli and tie the game. With Dykstra now on third, Darryl Strawberry stood in with a chance to drive in the go-ahead run, but flied out to end the inning.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
After the Red Sox failed to score against Rick Aguilera in the top of the ninth, the Mets came up with a chance to win the game. Ray Knight started the inning by drawing a walk off Schiraldi. Mookie Wilson was then asked to lay down a bunt to try to move the runner up to second. The bunt landed directly in front of home plate and Red Sox catcher Rich Gedman saw he had a play at second and threw there to try and get the lead runner.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
His throw was high, however, and pulled shortstop Spike Owen off the base long enough for Knight to slide in safely. Owen, Barrett, and McNamara argued that second base umpire Jim Evans made the wrong call, with McNamara saying he could not have seen Owen's foot land back on the bag, but television replays showed that Knight's hand touched just before Owen got his foot back down.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
With a runner now in scoring position and still nobody out, Howard Johnson came on to pinch hit for Kevin Elster. Boston again expected a bunt attempt, but manager Davey Johnson did not call for one and Johnson eventually struck out. Schiraldi then got Mazzilli, who stayed in the game as a defensive replacement for Strawberry, and Dykstra on back to back flyouts to Jim Rice to end the inning.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
In the visiting tenth, Henderson hit Aguilera's second pitch of the inning out of the park for a 4–3 Boston lead. After getting Owen to strike out, the first of two opportunities for McNamara to utilize his bench, where he had several pinch-hitting options including Baylor still available, came up with the pitcher's spot now due. McNamara, however, sent Schiraldi to the plate despite having both Joe Sambito and Bob Stanley, the latter having not recorded a single earned run in the postseason to that point, in the bullpen ready to go. Aguilera retired Schiraldi on a strikeout for the second out.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
Wade Boggs then followed with a double, and Barrett drove him in with a single to give the Red Sox an insurance run and a 5–3 lead. The second chance for McNamara to use his bench followed. Bill Buckner was the next batter, and in many cases where Boston would be leading late in games McNamara would take Buckner out and replace him with Dave Stapleton at first base, as he had done in all three previous Red Sox victories in this series. This time, he did not, even after Aguilera drilled the veteran first baseman in the hip with a pitch. Rice, the next batter, ended the inning with a flyout to Mazzilli.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
When asked later about his decision to leave Buckner in the game, McNamara initially said that he felt that he deserved to stay on the field for the potential final out to preserve the victory and the championship. Buckner, after all, was the third-oldest Red Sox player behind Baylor and Tom Seaver, (who was not on the postseason roster), and was an 18-year veteran who had only seen action in one prior World Series, which came when he was a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1974 World Series.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
Years later, McNamara changed his story and said that the reason why had nothing to do with sentimentality and instead said that Stapleton, who said McNamara's decision cost the Red Sox the series, was not a reliable defender and that his teammates had taken to calling him "Shaky" as a result; in spite of McNamara's assertion, Stapleton had only committed one error at first base since Buckner joined the Red Sox in 1984 and, in his last two full seasons at first base, had recorded fielding percentages of .991 and .992 respectively.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
Needing to rally for the second time in three innings, and now having to overcome a two-run deficit, the Mets' first two batters in the tenth went quietly against Schiraldi. Backman flew out to left, and Keith Hernandez flew out to center. Umpire Harry Wendelstedt who was working 3rd Base that night asked Wade Boggs if he could have his hat since he collected the hats of winning third basemans but with still one out to go, Boggs told Wendelstedt it wasn't over yet. With Carter now New York's last hope, the words "Congratulations Boston Red Sox, 1986 World Champions" briefly and accidentally flashed on the scoreboard. The celebration was put on hold as Carter singled to bring the tying run to the plate.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
Had he not come out in the ninth inning, Strawberry would have been the next batter. Because of the double switch, the pitcher took his spot in the lineup and Aguilera was due up. Johnson had decided to send rookie utility man Kevin Mitchell up to pinch hit for the young reliever, who was at the moment the pitcher of record.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
Mitchell, however, was not in the dugout. It has been said (and later denied by Mitchell) that since he believed the game was over after Hernandez flew out, the rookie went back into the clubhouse and took his uniform off, deciding to get a head start on booking a flight back home. Someone had to be sent into the clubhouse to get him, and Mitchell had to rush to get his uniform back on to come and take his at bat. Despite the rush, the rookie utility man came through with a single of his own, advancing Carter to second and putting the tying runs on base with Knight, now the potential winning run, coming up.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
Schiraldi got two quick strikes on the Mets' third baseman, who had already driven in one run so far. However, with his team within one strike of that elusive championship, he could not finish the job as Knight singled to left-center. Carter scored from second standing up and the speedy Mitchell advanced to third. Finally, McNamara decided his closer had seen enough and called for the veteran Stanley to try to close out the game. Some later speculated as to why Stanley, who had been warmed up by the time the tenth inning began, had not been called upon earlier instead of McNamara asking for a third inning out of Schiraldi, who had already blown the save.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
The Mets' next batter was Wilson, who had recorded one hit and reached on a fielder's choice after the bad throw by Gedman in the ninth. Six pitches into the at-bat, with the count even at two balls and two strikes, Stanley threw a breaking ball that broke sharply inside and bounced in front of Wilson, who fell down trying to avoid it. Gedman tried to field the ball but could not, and it rolled to the backstop. From his knees, Wilson signaled to Mitchell to come down from third and he scored easily, tying the score at five.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
Knight advanced to second on the wild pitch. Several times during the ensuing series of pitches, second baseman Barrett realized that Knight was straying too far from the base and that if he could get Stanley to turn and throw to him, he would have an easy pickoff play and the inning could have ended there. Despite his best attempts, Barrett never was able to get Stanley to hear him as the sellout crowd at Shea Stadium was drowning him out, and Stanley instead chose to focus on getting Wilson out.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
On the tenth pitch of the at-bat, Stanley finally got Wilson to put the ball in play, forcing a ground ball to first base. Veteran first baseman Bill Buckner, who was playing on the lip of the infield to protect against a hit through the first-second base hole, moved over to the foul line to try to field the ball, but it rolled between his legs and into right field. Knight rounded third and scored without a play, and the Mets tied the series at three with their 6–5 victory.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
In the 2011 ESPN Films documentary Catching Hell, Buckner explained how, years after the event, he realized from watching a television replay how he had missed the ball. He said, when he played in the field, he liked to wear a very loose glove – i.e. one that was floppy. When he moved to his left to try to field Wilson's grounder and then stopped, the momentum of the leftward-moving loose glove caused the glove to close. The ball then went just past the right side of the glove.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
After the top of the tenth, NBC began setting up in the visiting clubhouse for what they believed was the inevitable postgame victory celebration. The Commissioner's Trophy had been brought into the Red Sox clubhouse along with several bottles of champagne, and Bob Costas was to preside over the presentation. However, after Stanley's wild pitch in the bottom of the tenth, everything was quickly struck and removed from the room before the Red Sox returned. Costas later recalled the removal of all the equipment for the postgame celebration as being "like a scene change in a Broadway musical. In, out, gone, not a trace."


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 6
In 2011, MLB Network ranked this as the third greatest game of the preceding 50 years. It was the last World Series game to end on an error until Game 4 of the 2020 World Series.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
In the hours that followed the end of Game 6, a rainstorm passed over the New York metropolitan area. The field at Shea Stadium was inundated with water and, thus, Major League Baseball was forced to reschedule Game 7 for the next night, October 27.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
Ron Darling was the scheduled starter for the Mets, who were employing a three-man rotation for the series consisting of him, Dwight Gooden, and Bob Ojeda. In his two starts so far in the series, Darling had a 1–1 record with an earned-run average of 0.00; the only run he had given up, which resulted in his Game 1 loss against Bruce Hurst, was unearned. The rainout gave him an extra day off, so he would be pitching on his normal four-day rest.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
Oil Can Boyd, the #3 starter for the Red Sox, was originally scheduled to start Game 7. The Mets had gotten to him early in Game 3, which they won 7–1 to record their first win of the series. Boyd gave up four runs in the first inning of Game 3 and six overall despite pitching into the seventh, getting only one run of support in the loss.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
The unscheduled day off, however, allowed Red Sox manager John McNamara to reconsider his pitching matchup for the deciding game of the series.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
Hurst, who was set to be awarded the Most Valuable Player award had the Red Sox been able to close out Game 6 with a victory, had gotten a third day of rest with the rainout; with this in mind, and considering that the Mets had only scored twice off of Hurst in his seventeen total innings of work in Games 1 and 5, McNamara decided to gamble on his postseason hero and gave Hurst the Game 7 nod.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
After Boyd received word he was not starting the final game of the series, he went down into the visitors' clubhouse and remained in there alone for some time. McNamara dispatched pitching coach Bill Fischer to find Boyd, and Fischer discovered that the Oil Can had consumed a great deal of alcohol and was in no condition to function much less play. Fischer moved Boyd into the manager's office where he locked the door and left him for the entire game.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
In the 500th game played in World Series history, Boston got to Darling early, recording three runs in the second inning. Dwight Evans and Rich Gedman hit back to back home runs to lead the inning off and with two out, Wade Boggs drove in Dave Henderson with a single for a 3–0 Red Sox lead.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
Gedman's home run was noteworthy for several reasons: It occurred on the first pitch after a delay of just over three minutes during which portable stands down the first base line had to be restored after several fans reaching for a foul ball had caused them to collapse. The subsequent pitch by Darling, which came on a two-strike count (1–2), led to Gedman's home run. However, the ball was almost caught by Darryl Strawberry, who was reaching over the right-field wall.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
Fortunately for the Red Sox, the ball fell out of Strawberry's glove and cleared the fence for a 2–0 Boston lead. If Strawberry had recorded the out, the inning may have ended with only one Boston run instead of three, as three batters later, Red Sox pitcher Bruce Hurst would have stepped to the plate to bat with two outs instead of in a sacrifice situation, which he successfully converted to set up Boggs' run-scoring hit.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
The Mets, meanwhile, could not muster much against Hurst and through three innings had only recorded one hit.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
In the fourth Henderson reached after Darling hit him with a pitch. After Spike Owen flew out, Hurst laid down a bunt that moved Henderson into scoring position. Mets manager Davey Johnson then lifted Darling from the game and brought in Sid Fernandez to face Boggs and the leading hitter of the series, Marty Barrett. Boggs managed to draw a walk, but Fernandez retired Barrett on a fly ball to right field to end the inning.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
The Mets still did not have an answer for Hurst through the fourth and fifth innings, going down in order in both frames. The Red Sox, conversely, went down in order against Fernandez in the fifth and sixth, which kept the deficit at three. In the bottom of the inning, the Mets were finally able to break through against their series nemesis and turn the tide in their favor.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
After Hurst got the first out when Rafael Santana grounded out, Lee Mazzilli came up to pinch-hit for Fernandez and singled. Mookie Wilson followed with a single of his own, and second baseman Tim Teufel drew a walk to load the bases. Keith Hernandez then drove the lead runners in with a single, and Wally Backman came in to run for Teufel representing the tying run.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
Gary Carter was the next batter and he lifted a fly ball to Evans in right. The veteran outfielder had to dive in order to catch it, and was unable to come up with the catch. Right field umpire Dale Ford did not immediately rule that there was no catch, which crossed up Hernandez on the basepath; since the ball was ruled to be in play, he had to attempt to advance to second base. Since there was a delay in the ruling, Evans was able to throw back into the infield and force out Hernandez at second.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
Backman managed to score on the play to tie the game, but the Mets lost a chance to have Darryl Strawberry come up with a chance to drive in the go ahead run; instead, Hurst got him to fly out and escaped further damage. Hurst was lifted for a pinch hitter after this inning.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
Roger McDowell entered the game for the Mets in the seventh and retired pinch-hitter Tony Armas, Boggs, and Barrett in order. McNamara called upon Game 6 loser Calvin Schiraldi to pitch the home half of the inning, despite his struggles in the extended outing he had two nights earlier. The day of rest did not help, as he immediately surrendered a home run to Ray Knight leading off. Lenny Dykstra came up as a pinch-hitter and singled, then advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Santana.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
After McDowell successfully moved Santana into scoring position, McNamara decided to take the ball from Schiraldi and brought in Joe Sambito. After putting Wilson on intentionally, Sambito walked Backman to load the bases and Hernandez followed with a sacrifice fly to score Santana and give the Mets a three-run advantage. Bob Stanley recorded the final out by getting Carter to ground out to Owen at shortstop.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
Down to their last six outs, Boston had not had a runner reach base since Boggs' walk in the fourth inning. Jim Rice had recorded the last Red Sox hit, a single in the third, but had been thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. They tried to rally against McDowell in the eighth and Bill Buckner led the inning off with a single. Rice followed with another single, and Evans doubled after that to make the score 6–5 and bring Gedman to the plate with the potential go-ahead run.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
Needing to stop the rally, Johnson pulled McDowell in favor of his closer Jesse Orosco to face the Red Sox catcher. After inducing a line drive to second that Backman caught for the first out, Orosco struck out Henderson for the second out and then got Don Baylor, batting for Owen, to ground out and end the Boston rally.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
In the bottom of the eighth, the Mets finally were able to put the game away at the expense of Game 4 loser Al Nipper. Strawberry led the inning off with a solo home run, and Knight singled and advanced to second on a groundout by Dykstra. Santana was intentionally walked to get to the pitcher's spot, but Orosco not only came to bat but also managed to drive Knight in as he swung away on a fake bunt attempt to extend the lead back to three. Steve Crawford then came in to face Wilson and hit him, loading the bases. Backman then grounded into a force retiring Santana, and Hernandez grounded out and ended the inning.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
Staked to an 8–5 lead, Orosco faced Ed Romero, who took over at shortstop for Owen in the eighth, to start the top of the ninth and retired him on a foul pop. Boggs then grounded out to Backman at second, leaving Barrett as the last hope for the Red Sox. Orosco worked a 2–2 count before getting Barrett to swing and miss, then tossed his glove high into the air and dropped to his knees as the Mets all converged on the mound to celebrate their world championship victory.


1986 World Series, Matchups, Game 7
McDowell was awarded the victory, with Orosco garnering his second save of the series. Schiraldi was saddled with the loss for the second consecutive game, having been charged with all three runs the Mets scored in the seventh in one-third of an inning. He gave up seven runs in his final two outings of the series.


1986 World Series, Awards & Statistical summary
The World Series MVP was awarded to Ray Knight, who led the Mets' regulars with nine hits and a .393 average in the series. He also recorded five runs batted in, second to Gary Carter's nine. The naming of Knight as MVP instead of Hurst assured that Bobby Richardson of the 1960 New York Yankees would be the only World Series MVP from a losing team, as he remains as of 2020.


1986 World Series, Awards & Statistical summary
Marty Barrett, in a losing effort, recorded 13 hits — tying the single World Series record — and a .433 average. Dave Henderson recorded ten hits and a .400 average, while Jim Rice and Wade Boggs each had nine hits.


1986 World Series, Awards & Statistical summary
Despite the struggles both pitchers faced in Game 7, both Bruce Hurst and Ron Darling were the best starting pitchers on their respective staffs during the World Series. Both finished with 2–0 records and sub-2.00 ERAs, with Darling's 1.35 ERA topping Hurst's 1.96 although Hurst issued fewer walks and struck out more batters.


1986 World Series, Awards & Statistical summary
The only other starter to win a decision was Bob Ojeda. Steve Crawford won Game 2 for the Red Sox while Rick Aguilera and Roger McDowell won Games 6 and 7 for the Mets. In fact, the record for the starting pitchers for both teams outside of Darling and Hurst was 1–4, with two of those losses recorded by Mets ace Dwight Gooden. His counterpart on the Red Sox, eventual Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, did not record a decision in either of his starts.


1986 World Series, Postscript
Both the Mets and Red Sox would go without reaching the World Series for some time. The Red Sox would not return until 2004, where they would finally break through and win their first title since 1918. They have gone on to win three additional world championships, most recently in 2018.


1986 World Series, Postscript
The Mets have returned to the World Series twice since 1986. In 2000, the first time since 1956 that two teams from the same city faced each other in the World Series, the Mets lost to the New York Yankees. The Mets returned in 2015, only to lose again to the Kansas City Royals.


1986 World Series, Postscript
Neither Davey Johnson nor John McNamara would manage in another World Series. Johnson stayed on with the Mets until 1990, leading them to another postseason berth in 1988 that ended with a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series. He was fired early in the 1990 season. Johnson would later lead the Cincinnati Reds to the playoffs in 1995, then followed that with two more playoff runs with the Baltimore Orioles in 1996 and 1997. He finished his managerial career in 2013 with the Washington Nationals, where he led the team to its second ever playoff berth.


1986 World Series, Postscript
McNamara returned for 1987 with the Red Sox, but the team regressed significantly, finishing with only 78 wins. He would be fired the next year with the Red Sox barely above .500 at the All-Star break, and his successor Joe Morgan led the team to a comeback and division title. He would take over the Cleveland Indians in 1990, but was fired midway through 1991 with the team at 25–52. He would only manage once more after that, an interim position with the California Angels in 1996, before retiring. He died in July 2020 at the age of 88.


1986 World Series, Postscript
Bill Buckner never did win that elusive World Series ring. He would be released by the Red Sox during the 1987 season, then spend the rest of the year with the California Angels. In 1988, he signed with the Kansas City Royals and played more of a reserve role for the last three years of his career, which ended in 1990 after a second stint with the Red Sox. Buckner's error made him a scapegoat in Red Sox fans' eyes for some time afterward, but following their world championship victory in 2004 the fanbase began to embrace him again. In his later years, Buckner developed Lewy body dementia, and he died from complications at the age of 69 in May 2019.


1986 World Series, Postscript
Hedge fund manager and current Mets owner, Steven A. Cohen, revealed in an interview that he currently owns the Buckner ball from Game 6. He has stated that he would donate the ball to the Mets Museum at Citi Field.


1986 World Series, Postscript
In 2020, ESPN named the 1986 World Series the fourth greatest of all-time.


1986 World Series, Postscript
On September 14 and 15, 2021, ESPN premiered Once Upon a Time in Queens, its four-part 30 for 30 documentary about the 1986 World Series, the Mets' seasons leading up to it and the aftermath. The film is directed by Nick Davis.


1986 World Series, Composite line score
1986 World Series (4–3): New York Mets (N.L.) beat Boston Red Sox (A.L.)


1986 World Series, Broadcast
Game 6 did not end until 12:32 a.m. Eastern, causing the first cancellation of an episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live in the show's history. The episode, hosted by Rosanna Arquette and scheduled to air live at 11:30 p.m. Eastern, was instead recorded for the studio audience beginning at 1:30 a.m., and aired November 8 with a comedic apology from Ron Darling. (NBC generally no longer schedules first-run SNL episodes on the same night as sports coverage.)


1986 World Series, Broadcast
NBC's broadcast of Game 7 (which went up against a Monday Night Football game between the Washington Redskins and New York Giants on ABC) garnered a Nielsen rating of 38.9 and a 55 share, making it the highest-rated single World Series game to date.


1986 World Series, In popular culture
In the 1998 film Rounders, Matt Damon's character (Mike McDermott) references Game 6 while returning into Teddy KGB's place in the final scene. "I feel like Buckner walking back into Shea."


1986 World Series, In popular culture
In the 2005 film Fever Pitch, the main character played by Jimmy Fallon, a die hard Red Sox fan, watches a tape of Game 6 to get over what looks to be his break up with his girlfriend.


1986 World Series, In popular culture
The collapse of the Boston Red Sox in Game 6 and Game 7 prompted a series of articles by George Vecsey of The New York Times, in which he mentions a "Babe Ruth Curse." Although it had long been noted that the selling of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees had marked the beginning of a down period in the Red Sox's fortunes, this was one of the first instances, if not the first, in which mention of a "curse" was made.


1986 World Series, In popular culture
The term "Curse of the Bambino" was not in common use by the press during the 1920s, nor can it be found through the 1970s, as a search of historical newspapers will illustrate. In fact, even though Vecsey's articles mention a "Babe Ruth Curse", the New York Times did not use the phrase "Curse of the Bambino" until 1990, the year that Dan Shaughnessy's book of the same name and a Boston Globe article about it were published. Shaughnessy's book The Curse of the Bambino helped that phrase become a key part of the Red Sox lore in the media thereafter.


1986 World Series, In popular culture
The dramatic sixth game was the subject of Game 6, a 2005 independent film starring Michael Keaton, based on a 1991 screenplay by novelist Don DeLillo.


1986 World Series, In popular culture
Village Voice film critic J. Hoberman included Game 6 in his list of the top ten films of 1986.


1986 World Series, In popular culture
In his song "Faith and Fear in Flushing Meadows", twee/folk artist Harry Breitner makes mention of Ray Knight and Mookie Wilson.


1986 World Series, In popular culture
The game, or more specifically an infamous jeer that was issued in the game against Darryl Strawberry, was referenced in The Simpsons episode "Homer at the Bat" where Bart and Lisa jeer Strawberry the exact same way due to being sore over his forcing Homer to remain on the bench.


1986 World Series, In popular culture
NBC's telecast of the Series ended with the song "Limelight" from Stereotomy, a penultimate album of The Alan Parsons Project.


1986 World Series, In popular culture
The Series, and especially Game 6, were referenced in the Seinfeld episode "The Boyfriend", which also guest starred former Mets player Keith Hernandez. Hernandez being referred to Game 6 in the episode suggested that he was part of the winning rally, even though he was the 2nd (and final) out of the inning.


1986 World Series, In popular culture
In a 1999 episode of The King of Queens, Doug Heffernan promises Richie Ianucci that they will watch the Series that is being rerun on TV, only to abandon him for Ray Barone, who invites him to play golf (with Arthur Spooner tagging along) until a rainstorm ends their plans. In another episode from the same year, Doug and his cousin Danny bring up the Series while revisiting their high school years.


1986 World Series, In popular culture
In the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode "Mister Softee", Bill Buckner appears as a guest star and mocks his famous 1986 mishap by missing a crucial catch of a Mookie Wilson-signed baseball. As the episode concludes, he redeems himself by catching a baby thrown from a burning building.


1986 World Series, In popular culture
In 2001, playwright David Kruh had his play Curse of the Bambino premiere at the Boston Lyric Stage. After the 2004 World Series it was rewritten with a happier ending.


1986 World Series, In popular culture
In Ron Darling's book, 108 Stitches, he claims that during Game 3. Lenny Dykstra used racial epithets toward Oil Can Boyd. Dykstra sued Darling over this. The case was later dismissed.


1986 World Series, In popular culture
In the 2005 film Bewitched starring Will Ferrell and Nicole Kidman, there's scene in which Jack (Ferrell) asks Isabel (Kidman) if her parents were in the witch business, Isabel answered that both her parents are and that her mother fixed the 1986 World Series.


1986 World Series of Poker
The 1986 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was a series of poker tournaments held at Binion's Horseshoe.


1986 World Series of Poker, Main Event
There were 141 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter the tournament. 1985 World Champion Bill Smith made back-to-back Main Event final tables. Johnston, the eventual winner, was at the final table in 1985 when Smith won. Wendeen Eolis became the first female player to finish the main event in the money when she finished in 25th place.


1986 World Series of Poker, Main Event, Other High Finishes
NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.


1986 World Snooker Championship
The 1986 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1986 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 19 April and 5 May 1986 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the sixth and final ranking event of the 1985–86 snooker season and the 1986 edition of the World Snooker Championship, first held in 1927. The total prize fund was £350,000 with £70,000 awarded to the winner and was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.


1986 World Snooker Championship
The defending champion was Dennis Taylor, who had defeated Steve Davis 18–17 in the 1985 World Snooker Championship final to win his first world title. In defence of his title, Taylor lost in the first round of the event 6–10 to Mike Hallett. Joe Johnson the world number 16 defeated Davis 18–12 in the final to win his sole ranking event. Prior to the competition, the bookmakers' odds for a Johnson victory were 150/1. There were 20 century breaks compiled in total during the tournament, the highest of which was a 134 made by Davis in the opening frame of his quarter-final win.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Overview
The World Snooker Championship is an annual professional snooker tournament organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA). Founded in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India, the cue sport was popular in the British Isles. However, in the modern era, which started in 1969 when the World Championship reverted to a knockout format, it has become increasingly popular worldwide, especially in East and Southeast Asian nations such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Overview
Joe Davis won the first World Championship in 1927, hosted by the Billiards Association and Control Council, the final match being held at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham, England. Since 1977, the event has been held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The 1986 championship featured 32 professional players competing in one-on-one snooker matches in a single-elimination format, each match played over several frames. These competitors in the main tournament were selected using a combination of the top players in the snooker world rankings and the winners of a pre-tournament qualification stage. The top 16 players in the world rankings automatically qualified for the event, the remaining 16 players coming through the qualification rounds.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Overview, Prize fund
The tournament featured a total prize fund of £350,000, with £70,000 awarded to the winner. A bonus of £80,000 was reserved for the first player (if any) to make a maximum break. The prize money allocation is shown below.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Qualifying
Qualifying matches took place at Preston Guild Hall from 26 March to 6 April 1986. All matches were played as the best of 19 frames. Joe O'Boye recorded the first century break of the qualifying rounds, compiling a 118 in his 8–10 defeat to Bill Oliver. Paul Thornley made a 126 break in his 10–3 win over Derek Mienie. John Hargreaves was 2–9 down in his match against Bernie Mikkelsen, but won five frames in a row to recover to 7–9 before being knocked out in the next frame.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Qualifying
Dave Gilbert also won five consecutive frames, recovering from 5–7 behind to win 10–7 against Roger Bales. Veteran professional Bernard Bennett suffered the only whitewash of the first qualifying round, failing to win any frames against Sakchai Sim Ngam. James Giannaros, Jim Rempe and Wayne Sanderson all withdrew from the competition.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Qualifying
In the second qualifying round, the Scottish Professional Championship winner Stephen Hendry made a break of 141 in his victory over Paddy Browne; this was the highest break in qualifying for which Hendry earned a prize of £1,750. He had led 8–3 and 9–8 before winning the match 10–9. Level at 8–8 against Bob Chaperon, Frank Jonik conceded the next frame when 22 points behind, despite the brown to black balls—totalling 22 points, enough for him to draw the game—still being on the table.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Qualifying
He then conceded the 18th frame while 53 points behind with six reds still remaining, meaning that up to 75 points were available without snookers, and lost the match 8–10. Jimmy van Rensberg beat Ian Williamson on the final black in the deciding frame of their contest, clearing green to brown to win the frame 42–41. On the way to his second-round qualifying match, Steve Newbury was involved in a traffic collision which injured his wife and wrecked his car; despite the accident, Newbury beat Omprakesh Agrawal 10–5. There was one whitewash in the second round, Ray Edmonds beating Billy Kelly 10–0.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Qualifying
Hendry made breaks of 117 and 91 in his 10–8 third-round defeat of Wayne Jones, during which Jones had recovered from 3–7 behind to level at 8–8. Les Dodd lost only one frame against former World Snooker Championship promoter Mike Watterson, and Peter Francisco defeated Fred Davis, a former billiards and snooker world champion, by the same margin. Robby Foldvari, who had won the 1986 WPBSA World Billiards Championship the previous month, defeated the 1974 World Snooker Championship runner-up Graham Miles 10–7.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Qualifying
John Spencer qualified to meet another former champion, Alex Higgins, at the main stage of the competition by beating Newbury 10–7 in the final qualifying round. Hendry became the youngest-ever qualifier for the Crucible stages at the time, by defeating Dene O'Kane 10–9, after having led 6–3. O'Kane was one of three top-32 seeds to be knocked out in the fourth round, the other two being Mark Wildman and Murdo MacLeod; Wildman lost 9–10, after establishing a 9–6 lead against Edmonds, while MacLeod was defeated 6–10 by Danny Fowler.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, First round
The first round took place between 19 and 24 April, each match played over two sessions as the best of 19 frames. Defending champion Dennis Taylor, looking "jaded" according to Clive Everton, lost the first seven frames of his match against Mike Hallett, who ended the first session 8–1 ahead. Taylor won five more frames, but lost the match 6–10.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, First round
Like John Spencer in 1978, Terry Griffiths in 1980, Cliff Thorburn in 1981, and Steve Davis in 1982, Taylor was unable to retain his first world title; this inability of a first-time champion to defend their title has become known as the "Crucible curse". Second seed Steve Davis beat Ray Edmonds 10–4. Third seed Thorburn beat Bill Werbeniuk 10–5, whilst fourth seed Tony Knowles won a close match against Neal Foulds 10–9.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, First round
The 16th seed Joe Johnson defeated Dave Martin 10–3 in the first round, his first win in three appearances at the World Championship. Jimmy White compiled a 121 break in the final frame of his 10–7 victory over John Virgo. Three-time world champion Spencer made his final appearance at the tournament, losing 7–10 to Alex Higgins in the first round. Future seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry made his Crucible debut, losing 8–10 to Willie Thorne in the first round. Aged 17 years and 3 months, Hendry was the youngest player ever to compete at the World Snooker Championship. Another debutant in 1986 was Danny Fowler, who lost 2–10 to Terry Griffiths. Six-time world champion Ray Reardon was knocked out 8–10 by John Campbell.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, First round
In the other first-round matches, Doug Mountjoy beat Perrie Mans 10–3, qualifier John Parrott beat Tony Meo 10–4, Kirk Stevens beat Dean Reynolds 10–6, Silvino Francisco beat Rex Williams 10–4, Eugene Hughes beat David Taylor 10–7, and Eddie Charlton beat Cliff Wilson 10–6.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Second round
The second round, which took place between 24 and 28 April, was played as best-of-25-frames matches spread over three sessions. Steve Davis and Doug Mountjoy, who had contested the 1981 final, ended their first session tied at 4–4, and their second with Davis leading 11–5. Mountjoy did not pot a ball in the final session as Davis completed a 13–5 victory. Alex Higgins missed a black ball from its spot that would have put him 6–2 ahead of Terry Griffiths at the end of their first session, but the frame went to Griffiths, leaving Higgins just 5–3 ahead.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Second round
Griffiths had the better of their second session, and made a break of 110 to level at 6–6. Whilst the next two frames were shared, Griffiths fluked a red ball to win frame 15 and then went 9–7 ahead at the end of their second session. The match went to a deciding frame, with Griffiths eventually winning 13–12. The match between Kirk Stevens and Eddie Charlton also finished with a deciding frame, Stevens winning the last three frames from 10 to 12 behind, to prevail 13–12.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Second round
Joe Johnson led Mike Hallett 5–3 after their first session, on his way to completing a 13–6 win, making a break of 110 in frame 13. John Parrott and Jimmy White were level at 4–4 and 6–6, before White won a run of four frames to lead 10–6 after the second session. White then won three of the next five frames to win the match 13–8. Willie Thorne beat the Australian Professional Championship winner John Campbell 13–9. In the other second-round matches, Tony Knowles beat Silvino Francisco 13–10, and Cliff Thorburn beat Eugene Hughes 13–6.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Quarter-finals
The quarter-finals were played as best-of-25-frames matches over three sessions on 29 and 30 April. Joe Johnson led Terry Griffiths 9–7 at the end of the first day of their match. On resumption of play, Griffiths won five frames in a row to come within one frame of winning the match at 12–9. Despite his three-frame deficit, Johnson took the next four frames, making two century breaks on the way to a 13–12 victory. Steve Davis played Jimmy White in what was effectively a rematch of the 1984 World Snooker Championship final. Davis made a break of 134 in the opening frame and played consistently well in securing a 13–5 victory, White having missed a number of relatively simple pots.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Quarter-finals
Cliff Thorburn played Willie Thorne and won 13–6. The match report in The Times stated that Thorne "was never allowed to play his usual fluent game." Thorburn took a 9–3 lead, and finished the second session 11–5 ahead. During the match, his wife Barbara gave birth to their second child in the couple's native Canada. Tony Knowles played Kirk Stevens in the fourth quarter-final. The pair were level at 4–4 after the first session, and then again at 8–8 after the second. At the beginning of the final session, Knowles won five out of six frames to win the match 13–9.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Semi-finals
The semi-finals took place between 1 and 3 May as best-of-31-frames matches played over four sessions. The first semi-final was between Tony Knowles and Joe Johnson. Knowles led 1–0 and 2–1 but ended their first session 3–4 behind, having missed middle pocket pots to allow his opponent into both the sixth and seventh frames. According to Sydney Friskin's match report in The Times, Johnson appeared to be relaxed and was potting well as he built a 10–5 lead over Knowles by the end of the second session, and finished the third session 14–8 ahead. He took the first two frames of the last session to win the match 16–8, reaching his first World Championship final. Johnson won the match despite having taken painkillers for a cyst on his back before the start of play.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Semi-finals
Steve Davis played Cliff Thorburn in the second semi-final. With Davis leading 3–2, Thorburn was on course for a maximum break but failed on the ninth black, although he did go on to win the sixth frame and level the match at 3–3. Davis won the next three frames to lead 6–3, but his lead had dwindled to 8–7 by the end of the first day's play. Thorburn pulled ahead 9–8 and 10–9 in the third session before Davis made his fifth century break of the tournament, a 112, to tie the match at 10–10.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Semi-finals
A missed black from Davis gave Thorburn the opportunity to take the next frame, but Davis won the last of the session to draw level again at 11–11. On resumption of play, Davis won five frames against Thorburn's one, compiling a break of 122 in the last frame of the match, to secure a 16–12 victory and reach his fifth world final.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Final
The final between Steve Davis and Joe Johnson took place on 4 and 5 May. It was a best-of-35 frames match played over four sessions. The two players had never previously played a professional match against each other. Davis was considered much more likely to win the final, reflected in the bookmakers' odds of 2/9 for Davis and 5/1 for Johnson. Davis took a 3–1 lead before the first mid-session interval, having made breaks of 108 and 107. Johnson then took the next three frames to finish the first session 4–3 ahead. Davis made a strong start to the second session, winning four frames in succession to put himself 7–4 ahead. After the next mid-session interval, Johnson won four consecutive frames, before Davis clinched the last frame to leave the match level at 8–8 overnight.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Final
On the second day, Johnson wore an unusual pair of red, pink and white leather shoes. On resuming the match, he won another run of four frames to take him into a 12–8 lead, assisted by a fluke on a red ball in the 18th frame. The third session ended with Johnson 13–11 ahead. In the final session, the crowd responded in favour of Johnson, who had played with an attacking style throughout the tournament. He won three of the next four frames to lead 16–12 before the mid-session interval. Johnson then won frame 29, and secured a break of 64 in frame 30 to win the match 18–12. The win helped lift him from 16th place in the 1985–1986 professional rankings to eighth for 1986–1987.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Final
Davis, being the World Championship runner-up for a second consecutive year, commented to interviewer David Vine "We can't go on meeting like this, David," and Johnson later retorted "I hope that we can still be friends". The popularity of Johnson's win resulted in an appearance on television show Wogan, as well as him accompanying Cliff Richard in a box to watch Wimbledon. This was Johnson's only ranking event win in his career, although he would go on to win two non-ranking tournaments: the 1987 Scottish Masters and the 1989 Norwich Union Grand Prix.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Final
The two players again met in the final at the following year's championship to contest the world title for a second time, Davis winning the match 18–14. Johnson's attacking style of snooker, notable for his long potting, has been seen as a harbinger of the style that became dominant in the 1990s. The odds on Johnson were 150 to 1 against him winning the 1986 World Championship as he had not won any tournaments in his seven-year career and had never previously won a match at the Crucible. A condensed version of the final was showcased on BBC Two on 22 April 2020 in place of the 2020 World Snooker Championship which had been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Main draw
The numbers in brackets denote player seedings, whilst match winners are denoted in bold. The results for the tournament are shown below:


1986 World Snooker Championship, Qualifying
Four rounds of qualification for the main draw were played at the Guild Hall in Preston, England from 26 March to 6 April 1986. All matches were played as the best of 19 frames. Players in bold denote match winners.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Century breaks
There were 20 century breaks in the main stage of the tournament, the highest amount at the World Snooker Championship until the 1991 event. The highest break was a 134 made by Steve Davis.


1986 World Snooker Championship, Century breaks, Qualifying stages
There were 12 century breaks compiled in qualifying. The highest break was a 141 made by Stephen Hendry.


1986 World Sports Acrobatics Championships
The 7th World Sports Acrobatics Championships were held in Rennes, France, in 1986.


1986 World Sportscar Championship
The 1986 World Sports-Prototype Championship season was the 34th season of FIA "World Sportscar Championship" motor racing. It featured the 1986 FIA World Sports Prototype Championship which was contested over a nine race series that ran from 20 April to 5 October 1986. The championship was open to Group C Sports Prototypes, Group C2 Sports Prototypes and IMSA GTP cars. The Drivers Championship was won by Derek Bell and the Teams Championship by Brun Motorsport.


1986 World Sportscar Championship, Schedule
The 1986 FIA World Sports Prototype Championship was contested over a nine race series.


1986 World Sportscar Championship, Schedule
† - Race counted for Drivers Championship but not for Teams Championship.


1986 World Sportscar Championship, Season results
Points were awarded to the top 10 finishers in the order of 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1, with the following exceptions:


1986 World Sportscar Championship, Results, Drivers Championship
The Drivers Championship was awarded to Derek Bell, who drove a Porsche. Bell and Hans-Joachim Stuck both scored 82 championship points, however Bell was declared champion as he finished in a higher placing than Stuck at the Norisring round, the only event at which they did not compete together.


1986 World Sportscar Championship, Results, FIA Cup for Group C2 Drivers
The FIA Cup for Group C2 Drivers was awarded jointly to Raymond Bellim and Gordon Spice, who shared an Ecosse.


1986 World Sportscar Championship, Results, Teams Championship
All cars were eligible to score points towards the Teams Championship, and Group C2 cars were also eligible to score points for the FIA Cup for C2 Teams.


1986 World Sportscar Championship, Results, Teams Championship
No Teams Championship points were awarded for Rounds 1, 4, 5, and 6.


1986 World University Cycling Championship
The 1986 World University Cycling Championship is the 2nd Word University Cycling Championship sponsored by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) and sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The championship was hosted by the Russian city, Moscow. Cycling athletes from universities all over the world competed in their disciplines to become World University Cycling Champion.


1986 World Weightlifting Championships
The 1986 Men's World Weightlifting Championships were held in Sofia, Bulgaria from November 8 to November 15, 1986. There were 193 men in action from 41 nations.


1986 World Weightlifting Championships, Medal table
Ranking by all medals: Big (Total result) and Small (Snatch and Clean & Jerk)


1986 World Women's Curling Championship
The 1986 World Women's Curling Championship, the women's world curling championship, was held from March 23–29 at the Kelowna Arena in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.


1986 World Women's Curling Championship, Teams
Skip : Laura van ImhoffThird: Elisabeth VeeningSecond: Jenny BovenschenLead: Marjorie Querido


1986 World Women's Curling Championship, Teams
Skip : Anne Jøtun BakkeThird: Hilde JøtunSecond: Trine TrulsenLead: Billie Skjerpen


1986 World Women's Curling Championship, Teams
Skip : Isobel Torrance Jr.Third: Margaret CraigSecond: Jackie SteeleLead: Sheila Harvey


1986 World Women's Handball Championship
The 1986 World Women's Handball Championship took place in the Netherlands between 4–14 December 1986.


1986 World Wrestling Championships
The 1986 World Wrestling Championships were held in Budapest, Hungary.


1986 World's Strongest Man
The 1986 World's Strongest Man was the tenth edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Jón Páll Sigmarsson from Iceland. It was his second title after finishing second the previous year. 1983 and 1985 champion Geoff Capes from the United Kingdom finished second and, Ab Wolders from the Netherlands finished third. The contest was held at Nice, France.


1986 Wyoming Cowboys football team
The 1986 Wyoming Cowboys football team represented the University of Wyoming in the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season. A  charter member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), Wyoming played its home games in War Memorial Stadium, an outdoor facility on campus in Laramie, Wyoming.


1986 Wyoming Cowboys football team
The Cowboys were led by head coach Dennis Erickson, in his only season at Wyoming, and finished with a record of six wins and six losses (6–6, 4–4 WAC). The Cowboys' offense scored 299 points while the defense allowed 272 points.


1986 Wyoming Cowboys football team, Team players in the NFL
No players from the Cowboys were selected in the 1987 NFL Draft.


1986 Wyoming gubernatorial election
The 1986 Wyoming gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 1986. Popular three-term Democratic Governor Edgar Herschler announced that he would not seek a fourth term, creating an open seat. Attorney Mike Sullivan emerged as the unlikely Democratic nominee, and faced former State Representative Pete Simpson, the Republican nominee and the brother of then-U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson, in the general election. Despite Sullivan's political inexperience, he was able to defeat Simpson by a decisive margin, winning his first of two terms in office.


1986 Wyoming state elections
A general election was held in the U.S. state of Wyoming on Tuesday, November 4, 1986. All of the state's executive officers—the Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, and Superintendent of Public Instruction—were up for election. Democrats performed well in the year's elections; Democratic nominee Mike Sullivan won the gubernatorial election by a decisive margin, Superintendent Lynn Simons won a sizable majority in her bid for a third term, and Kathy Karpan won the open Secretary of State's race. Republicans prevailed in elections for State Auditor and Treasurer.


1986 Wyoming state elections, Governor
Incumbent Democratic Governor Edgar Herschler declined to run for re-election to a fourth term, and attorney Mike Sullivan won the Democratic primary to succeed him. He faced former State Representative Pete Simpson in the general election, whom he defeated by a decisive margin.


1986 Wyoming state elections, Secretary of State
Incumbent Republican Secretary of State Thyra Thomson declined to run for re-election to a seventh term. Her son, K. C. Thomson, a Sheridan banker, ran in the Republican primary to succeed her, as did State Senate President Jerry Geis. The contest between the two was extremely close, with unofficial results showing Thomson with a 61-vote lead over Geis. The recount confirmed Thomson's narrow victory over Geis, and he advanced to the general election, where he faced Kathy Karpan, the former Director of the Wyoming Department of Health and Social Services in Governor Edgar Herschler's cabinet. Karpan ended up narrowly defeating Thomson, the first Democratic victory in a Secretary of State's race since 1958.


1986 Wyoming state elections, Auditor
Incumbent Republican State Auditor Jim Griffith declined to seek re-election to a fourth term. State House Speaker Jack Sidi won the Republican nomination unopposed, and faced Bil Tucker, a technical manager and a former Trustee on the Albany County School Board, in the general election. Sidi ultimately defeated Tucker by a decisive margin, though considerably reduced from Griffith's 1982 landslide.


1986 Wyoming state elections, Treasurer
In 1982, Wyoming voters approved a constitutional amendment that allowed state treasurers to seek re-election, making incumbent Republican State Treasurer Stan Smith the first treasurer in state history to be eligible for re-election to a second term. Though Smith initially announced that he would run for Governor, he ended his campaign and sought re-election as Treasurer. He faced a challenge in the Republican primary from Lee Galeotos, a former official in Governor Stanley Hathaway's administration, who announced that he would run for State Treasurer while Smith was running for governor. When Smith ran for re-election instead, Galeotos remained in the race. Smith defeated Galeotos by a wide margin, and faced former State Representative Carrol P. Orrison, the Democratic nominee, in the general election.


1986 Wyoming state elections, Superintendent of Public Instruction
Incumbent Democratic Superintendent of Public Instruction Lynn Simons ran for re-election to a third term. She faced Millard I. Meredith, the Superintendent of the Converse County School District No. 1 and the Republican nominee, in the general election. Simons defeated Meredith by a sizable margin, largely replicating her victory from 1986.


1986 Yale Bulldogs football team
The 1986 Yale Bulldogs football team represented Yale University in the 1986 NCAA Division I-AA football season. The Bulldogs were led by 22nd-year head coach Carmen Cozza, played their home games at the Yale Bowl and finished in sixth place in the Ivy League with a 2–5 record, 3–7 overall.


1986 Ykkönen – Finnish League Division 1
League table for teams participating in Ykkönen, the second tier of the Finnish Soccer League system, in 1986.


1986 Yugoslavian motorcycle Grand Prix
The 1986 Yugoslavian motorcycle Grand Prix was the fifth round of the 1986 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 26–28 June 1986 at the Automotodrom Rijeka.


1986 Yugoslavian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Yugoslavia between 10 March and 10 May 1986 through a complicated delegate system which selected delegates to local, republic, and federal assemblies.


1986 Yugoslavian parliamentary election, Background
The elections were the fourth held under the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution, approved on 31 January 1974, which established a bicameral Assembly with a Federal Chamber of 220 members and a Chamber of Republics and Provinces of 88 members.


1986 Yugoslavian parliamentary election, Electoral system
The members of the Federal Chamber represented three groups: self-managing organizations, communities and socio-political organizations. 30 members were elected for the six republics and 20 for the two autonomous provinces, Kosovo and Vojvodina.


1986 Yugoslavian parliamentary election, Election
The Federal Council was elected between 10 March and 21 April, and the Chamber of Republics and Provinces on 10 May. The Federal Executive Council was elected on 15 May, with Branko Mikulić as the President (Prime Minister). The Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia was elected between 25 and 28 June, with Milanko Renovica as the President.


1986 du Maurier Classic
The 1986 du Maurier Classic was contested from July 24–27 at Board of Trade Country Club. It was the 14th edition of the du Maurier Classic, and the eighth edition as a major championship on the LPGA Tour.


1986 du Maurier Classic
This event was won by Pat Bradley in a sudden-death playoff over Ayako Okamoto with a birdie on the first extra hole.


1986 enlargement of the European Communities
Spain and Portugal acceded to the European Communities, now the European Union, in 1986. This was the third enlargement of the Communities, following on from the 1973 and 1981 enlargements. Their accessions are considered to be a part of the broader Mediterranean enlargement of the European Union.


1986 enlargement of the European Communities
Both countries had been under dictatorships until just over a decade prior to the accession, with Spain under the military dictatorship of Francisco Franco, and Portugal under the corporatist dictatorship of the Estado Novo. This had meant that, whilst both countries had previously had relationships with the Communities in some form or another, they were ineligible to become members. The mid-1970s brought the death of Franco in Spain, and the Carnation Revolution in Portugal, which rapidly pushed both countries towards democracy. Membership talks began with both countries a few years later.


1986 enlargement of the European Communities
Spain and Portugal acceded to the Communities on 1 January 1986. The accession took place without any official ceremony other than the raising of the Spanish and Portuguese flags in Brussels, after a period of more than six years of negotiations between the Communities and the two countries. The accession talks were particularly prolonged by concerns over the Spanish fishing fleet, which was larger than the entire Community fleet put together, as well as severe governmental turbulence in Portugal, where several governments collapsed and one Prime Minister died in an aeroplane crash during the negotiations.


1986 enlargement of the European Communities
Some scholars at the time predicted that increased competition from Europe would lead to economic problems for Spain and Portugal; however, in the years since, both countries' economies have benefited overall from the accession. The enlargement is also credited by some with helping to stabilise the fledgling democracies of both countries, as well as speeding up the decolonisation of the Portuguese Empire; whilst there is broadly consensus that membership played some role in these processes, there remains debate as to whether membership was the deciding factor in these changes, or whether it merely contributed.


1986 enlargement of the European Communities, History, Spain, Relations under Franco
Spain first applied for association with the European Economic Community (EEC), the general economic arm of the three European Communities, on 10 February 1962. The country was ineligible for full membership as a direct consequence of its dictatorship; whilst there was no specific provision in the treaty establishing the EEC requiring that Member States be democracies, the European Parliament made clear just months after the application that an undemocratic Spain would never have any relationship negotiated "closer than a commercial treaty", with further European integration in mind.


1986 enlargement of the European Communities, History, Spain, Relations under Franco
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe passed a resolution by 70 votes to 31 in its 14th ordinary session in May 1962 calling for members of the EEC to "examine the possibility of some form of economic agreement between Spain and the Community, bearing in mind the constitutional changes that will be necessary before any form of political association can be contemplated". However, the application caused some controversy; a number of members of the European Parliament questioned whether the application was acceptable, given Spain's dictatorship.


1986 enlargement of the European Communities, History, Spain, Relations under Franco
With the question of association still unresolved by 1964, the head of the Spanish mission to the EEC sent another letter on 14 February renewing the request for association status. Talks were subsequently scheduled to begin in the autumn of that year. Eventually, in 1967, the Council of the EEC approved a mandate for the commission to negotiate with Spain, and a trade agreement was signed in June 1970.


1986 enlargement of the European Communities, History, Spain, Relations under Franco
However, this was a trade preference agreement, as opposed to an association agreement; this meant only reciprocity in trade concessions, as opposed to the economic development assistance and the possibility of eventual full membership that was granted through association status to, for instance, Greece and Turkey. Discussions remained in the 1970s about what the future relationship between the EEC and Spain might look like, after the formation of an EEC–Spain joint committee.


1986 enlargement of the European Communities, History, Spain, The Spanish transition and applying for Community membership
Following the death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who had ruled over the country for 36 years, and the beginnings of the Spanish transition to democracy, rumours had been circulating for some time in 1977 about the possibility of a Spanish request for membership of the EEC. On 26 July, the new democratic government of Spain led by Adolfo Suárez wrote three letters to the President of the Council of Ministers of the European Communities, Henri Simonet, each requesting the admission of Spain to each different European Community. These letters were hand-delivered by the Foreign Minister of Spain, Marcelino Oreja, to the President of the European Commission, Roy Jenkins, in Brussels on 28 July 1977.


1986 enlargement of the European Communities, History, Spain, The Spanish transition and applying for Community membership
At the time, significant concerns were raised with regards to whether or not Spain would be accepted into the EEC. Spanish press talked of a potential veto from France and Italy against its accession, on the basis of the potential threat it would pose to their agricultural sectors. However, more than a year after the application was made, after extensive consultation and negotiation with existing Member States, the European Commission published in November 1978 an official opinion on Spain's application for membership. The opinion recommended that membership negotiations begin, but noted that the process to becoming a member of the EEC was likely to be a slow one, citing both financial and bureaucratic barriers.


1986 enlargement of the European Communities, History, Spain, Membership negotiations
On 5 February 1979, negotiations were opened between Spain and the European Council – the committee of leaders of the Member States of the European Communities. Roy Jenkins declared during a speech at the opening of the negotiations that "Spain is a part of Europe, and Europe is incomplete without Spain".


1986 enlargement of the European Communities, History, Spain, Membership negotiations
An attempted coup d'état in Spain in February 1981, in which elements of the Spanish Civil Guard attempted to remove the democratically elected government from office, represented a significant point of international attention during the membership negotiations. The EEC was no exception to this, expressing its concern about the unfolding events. The attempt was unsuccessful, and following its failure, the European Council met on 23–24 March 1981. It subsequently released a statement expressing its "great satisfaction at the reaction of the King, the government, and the Spanish people, faced by recent attacks against the democratic system of their country".


1986 enlargement of the European Communities, History, Spain, Membership negotiations
Felipe González, the leader of the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, went on a tour of Western Europe in March of the same year to "urge" nations to admit Spain to the EEC "as quickly as possible"; the EEC was, according to a Spanish diplomat speaking in 1982, seen as "a synonym for democracy" among the population. In spite of this, the speed of the negotiations was not significantly increased by the events.


1986 enlargement of the European Communities, History, Spain, Membership negotiations
A year later, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party were elected into government following the 1982 Spanish general election, making González the Prime Minister. Prior to the election, Spanish negotiations with the Communities had reportedly stalled; this was not only due to the coup attempt, but also thanks to opposition from the French government over concerns related to the Common Agricultural Policy leading to greater competition from Spain. González once again put emphasis on the EEC during his election campaign, and at the same time downplayed the issue of Spanish membership of NATO, which had been a controversial issue within the debate about opening Spain up to the world for a number of years.


1986 enlargement of the European Communities, History, Spain, Membership negotiations
Concerns were also raised over the potential impact of Spain's accession in particular on the operation of the Common Fisheries Policy. The Spanish fishing fleet was larger than the entire fleet of the existing Community members put together, which had presented an issue in a similar manner during the negotiation of an interim agreement on fishing between Spain and the Community. It was evident during the Spanish negotiations for admission that Spain had become more responsive to the fishing sector, as a consequence of the high propensity of illegal fishing leading to fishermen "mobilising as a socio-occupational group". The Spanish Act of Accession eventually devoted fifty of its pages to fisheries-related matters, around 10% of the entire treaty.