“People forget” is a term I use way too often. I wish I didn’t, but when sports facts are misrepresented, someone has to step in and do something about it. I guess that someone is me.

People forget that when Toronto’s Joe Carter hit the home run to end the 1993 World Series, it was in a tie game. If Carter had say, flied out to left, they wouldn’t have lost. In fact, even if they had lost, it was only Game 6. The Blue Jays still could have won it the next night.

People forget when Dallas Cowboy tight end Jackie Smith (and Northwestern State product) dropped a wide open pass in the end zone during Super Bowl XIII, it was in the third quarter. And the Cowboys still got a field goal out of that drive. It didn’t cost them the game.

So when Bill Buckner died Monday, I got on full “people forget” alert. And it didn’t take long. A national broadcaster/former sportswriter said if Buckner had fielded that fateful ground ball in the 1986 World Series (instead of letting it get by him for an error) “the (Boston) Red Sox would have won the World Series.”

No they wouldn’t have. At least not on that play.

It makes for a better story that way, but there are two inescapable facts that everyone should know — (1) the game was tied when that error happened, so if Buckner had fielded it cleanly, the game would have continued in extra innings and (2) it was Game 6, not Game 7.

All Buckner’s error did was let Boston pitcher Bob Stanley off the hook, even though he was the bigger goat. It was Stanley’s wild pitch that actually tied the game, ensuring that the Red Sox would not win the game in nine innings.

And here’s one more: People forget that Bill Buckner was a damn good baseball player. You could win a lot of bar bets on the fact that Buckner had more hits than Ted Williams. He won a batting title in 1980. He never struck out more than 40 times in a year and NEVER struck out three times in a game.

In a classic 2011 scene from Season 8 of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, Buckner “atoned” for his error by making a catch on a baby being thrown from a burning building. Also, it was Buckner who was climbing the left field fence in 1974 to try to retrieve the ball Atlanta’s Hank Aaron hit to break Babe Ruth’s home run record.

He was so much more than one ground ball in Shea Stadium in 1986. People should remember that.