He is best remembered as the Met who hit the ground ball that rolled through Bill Buckner's legs in the bottom of the 10th inning of game six of the 1986 World Series.

[1] A switch hitter with excellent speed, his positive attitude and hustle immediately endeared him to a Mets fan base with precious few stars to root for when he first came up in the early 1980s.

Mookie was part of the Gamecocks' second team to play for a national championship in Omaha, Nebraska, in the 1977 College World Series.

Though he got off to a slow start (0 for his first 8), manager Joe Torre stuck with Wilson in center field for 26 of the 31 games remaining on the Mets' schedule.

[8] On September 20, he took St. Louis Cardinals closer and future Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter deep with Frank Taveras on first for the come from behind victory.

[9] With Wilson and fellow rookie Hubie Brooks now at the top of the Mets' lineup, the perennial cellar dwellers managed to compete in the second half of the season, finishing 5.5 games back of the National League East division winning Montreal Expos.

The second major injury of his career came the following spring, when Mets shortstop Rafael Santana nailed Wilson in the eye with a thrown ball during base running drills.

[11] When he returned in May 1986, he was used more frequently in left field, as Lenny Dykstra was batting .300 as the Mets' new lead-off hitter and center fielder.

Regardless of the negative effect the eye injury had upon his vision, he posted a respectable .979 fielding percentage, with seven assists, while committing just five errors splitting time between left and center.

He also batted .289 with nine home runs, 25 stolen bases and 45 RBI as the Mets won first place in the NL East by 21.5 games over the Philadelphia Phillies.

After retiring Wally Backman and Keith Hernandez, Red Sox relief pitcher Calvin Schiraldi surrendered singles to the next three batters to bring the score to 5–4 with runners on first and third.

As a result, the ball rolled beside his glove, through his legs and into right field, allowing Ray Knight to score the winning run from second base.

[15] The Mets acquired Kevin McReynolds to play left field prior to the start of the 1987 season,[16] creating something of a logjam in their outfield.

He all but single-handedly beat the Pirates on September 5, matching his career high with four RBIs to give the Mets a ten-game lead in their division.

[20] On July 31, the same day the Toronto Blue Jays selected Lee Mazzilli off waivers from the Mets, they also acquired Mookie Wilson, for reliever Jeff Musselman and minor league pitcher Mike Brady.

[21] Mookie Wilson was immediately plugged into the starting lineup, as right fielder Junior Felix had separated his shoulder against the right-field wall the previous day in Yankee Stadium.

On September 1, Mookie Wilson went three for four with a run and an RBI against a trio of Minnesota Twins pitchers to help the Jays attain sole possession of first place.

[24] The Jays returned to the postseason for the first time since 1985,[25] but were handily defeated by the heavily favored AL champion Oakland Athletics in the 1989 American League Championship Series, four games to one.

He relinquished the starting center field job to Devon White in 1991, and was part of a revolving door of left fielders employed by manager Cito Gaston.

In 25 postseason games (1 World Series, 1 NLCS, 1 ALCS) Wilson hit .207 (19-for-92) with 10 runs, 4 RBI, 6 stolen bases and 7 walks.

The ceremony was conducted at the home plate of Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson, Mississippi, before a hometown crowd of 1,200 and included an archway of bats held aloft by Wilson's teammates for the bride and groom's procession.