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STAMFORD, Conn. -- It's a rainy summer afternoon and Bill Buckner is in the basement of a hotel signing autographs, penning his name to picture after picture featuring his career lowlight.

AP PhotoBill Buckner, left, and Mookie Wilson have grown close doing memorabilia shows.

But don't feel sorry for the former 22-year major-league veteran, who let the ball dribble through his legs 17 years ago in Game Six of the World Series against the New York Mets.

Buckner is making a small fortune. "My son's going to college on this," he said.

The line of people to see him and the man who hit the grounder, Mookie Wilson, is at least 100 people deep. He'll make small talk with fans and sign their items for 39 minutes straight without any interruption and they're all paying top dollar.

"It's just a moment in Mets history that I can't forget," Manish Shah, a 33-year old Mets fan from Yorktown Heights, N.Y., who bought two photos to be autographed by Buckner and Wilson. "And the fact that you get both of them makes it a great piece."

Balls signed by both Buckner and Wilson cost $60 and one of the most popular options -- an autographed 16-by-20 photo of the ball already past Buckner with Wilson heading to first base is $100. That doesn't even include the price for the photo.

"You have to have two sides -- the winner and the loser," said Wilson, who boasts that he knows every inch of the famous shot. "And the beauty of this is that we've been able to get together. If Bill was not cooperative, people wouldn't be out here like this."

"The autographed photo of that moment has been one of our top sellers over the past five years," said Brandon Steiner, president and CEO of Steiner Sports, a collectibles company which has the two under exclusive contract. "That's a pretty big statement since we do close to a million autographs a year."

Connecticut is host to Mets, Yankees and Red Sox fans, but on this day not one person on line is sporting any type of Red Sox garb.

It's one of the most painful moments in their history and despite the fact that Buckner had nothing to do with giving up three two-out singles in the bottom of the 10th or unloading a game-tying wild pitch, his error is often the focus of their angst for not winning it all that year.

Some don't even like the fact that Buckner signs photos like these.

"I don't care what any Red Sox fans think about this," said Buckner, who knocked in 102 runs with Boston in 1986. "I busted my butt for them and I had a lot to do with getting us to that point."

But Buckner is sure happy Mets fans care.

The 53-year-old who is now a real estate broker and owns a couple car dealerships in Boise, Idaho, says he signs so many items with Wilson that he feels like he knows him better than some members of his extended family.

"It seems like, by now, everybody in New York has to have one," said Buckner, who returned to Shea Stadium for the first time since the error last season. "It's gotta be the second time around for some people."

"I guess the only unfortunate part of this is that this is how most people will remember both of our careers and that's not really that fair," said Wilson, who had a career batting average of .274 throughout his 12-year career with the Mets and Blue Jays. "Bill had a fabulous career and mine wasn't too shabby, either."

Buckner, who collected 2,715 hits during his career, isn't bothered by the fact that he rarely sees any fans who stick a Dodgers or Cubs photo in front of him to sign.

"I don't dwell on that much," Buckner said. "It's like the moment after Game 6 was over. I got over it right after it happened. Had to get ready for Game 7."

If the Red Sox had won that game, Buckner's blooper would have been virtually forgotten and there likely would have been fewer reasons for Buckner to travel across the country to the East Coast several times ever year to sign autographs.

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at darren.rovell@espn3.com.