April 8, 2008 Emotional Buckner talks about first pitch Play video

(NECN) - 22 years. It probably felt like 200. But Opening Day at Fenway Park may have been the most poignant for the one Red Sox player who wasn't there to get a ring.

Bill Buckner got something else - an ovation.

"It was probably about as emotional as it could get," Buckner said, even getting emotional again as he talked to reporters. "I appreciate the thought behind it. It was hard to do. I had to forgive not the fans of Boston, per se, but in my heart, I had to forgive the media for what they put me and my family through. I have done that, I'm over that."

Buckner teared up again during the news conference, but thanked the organization for giving him the chance to come back.

"It's such a class organization, they do things right, and they're playing great," Buckner said. "(And) the Red Sox fans, they've been great."

Buckner was skewered by fans and the media after the error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, but returned to Boston in 1990 to close out his career. He called that opportunity and the opportuntity to throw out the first pitch today two of his greatest moments in his career.