Boston Red Sox
Template:MLB Red Sox franchise The Boston Red Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Boston, Massachusetts. They are in the Eastern Division of the American League. The New York Yankees are their traditional rival.
- Founded: 1899, as the Buffalo franchise in the minor Western League. Moved to Boston when that league became the major American League in 1901.
- Team Name: Boston Red Sox (see Nicknames before "Red Sox" below)
- Current ownership: John Henry and Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino, who paid $660 million and assumed $400 million in debt, in February 2002. The purchase includes Fenway Park and 82 percent of New England Sports Network. The purchase price set a record for a major league baseball franchise.
- Current payroll: For 2005, payroll was about $123.5 million, more than $80 million less than that of the New York Yankees. For 2004, payroll was about $127 million, $57 million shy of the New York Yankees. In both of these years, the Red Sox had the second-highest total payroll in MLB.[1]
- Home ballpark: Fenway Park (April 20, 1912 - Present), Braves Field (1929 - 1932 Sundays, 1915 - 1916 World Series), Huntington Avenue Grounds (1901-1911). Fenway is the oldest ballpark in baseball. The Red Sox ownership group has recently committed to keeping the team at Fenway for years to come. Plans are already under way for the first ballpark centennial celebration in MLB history in 2012.
- Mascot: "Wally the Green Monster," named after both the left field Green Monster and the one-time Red Sox pitcher Wally Masterson.
- Uniform colors: Navy blue, red, gray, and white
- Logo design: Two hanging red socks with white heels and toes, over a white baseball surrounded by the words Boston and Red Sox. The word "Boston" is in navy blue outlined in red, the words "Red Sox" are in red outlined in navy blue, and the entire logo is surrounded by a thick red circle. Recently the team has begun phasing in a new logo that removes the outline, text and baseball, leaving only the pair of red socks.
- Theme Song: None officially, but several "unofficial" theme songs exist:
- played in the middle of the eighth inning at Fenway Park: Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" performed with raucous audience participation.
- played after each victory at Fenway Park: "Dirty Water" by The Standells.
- played after "Dirty Water" and for rallies during a game: The Dropkick Murphys' rewrite of "Tessie." The original "Tessie" was a Broadway tune, which Boston fans adopted during the 1903 World Series and sung regularly until 1916.
- played during David Ortiz's at-bats: "Who's Your Papi?" "Big Papi" is Ortiz's nickname.
- Championships and Pennants:
- Playoff appearances (18): 1903, 1904, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1946, 1967, 1975, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005
- World Series championships won (6): 1903, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918, 2004
- American League pennants won (11): 1903, 1904, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1946, 1967, 1975, 1986, 2004
- Division Championships won (5): 1975, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1995
- Wild Card titles won (5): 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005
- Division Series won (3): 1999, 2003, 2004
- Official television stations: New England Sports Network (NESN), WSBK
- Official radio stations: WEEI (flagship)
Franchise history
Early 20th century
The Boston Red Sox won the first World Series in 1903 against the favored National League team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the following decade, the club won four World Series championships in a six-year span despite changing ownership several times. The 1912 and 1915 clubs featured an outfield considered to be among the finest in the game: Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper and Duffy Lewis as well as superstar pitcher Smokey Joe Wood.
The Red Sox were owned by Joseph Lannin from 1913 to 1916 and he signed Babe Ruth, commonly seen as the best player in baseball history. In 1919, the team's new owner, Harry Frazee, sold Ruth to the New York Yankees. Legend has it that he did so in order to finance a Broadway play No, No Nanette starring 'a friend', but in actual fact the play did not open on Broadway until 1925. Rather, the Red Sox, White Sox and Yankees had a detente, the teams being referred to as the "Insurrectos," whose actions antagonized then AL president Ban Johnson. Though Frazee owned the Boston Red Sox franchise, he did not own Fenway Park (this was owned by the Fenway Park Trust), making his ownership a precarious one--Johnson could move another team into Fenway Park in Boston. Despite the fact Ruth held the single season homerun record from 1919[2], Frazee sold Ruth because he needed the money to purchase Fenway Park (which he did in 1920), the Red Sox franchise was in serious debt, Ruth was a serious disciplinary problem (and continued to be one in New York), and letting the Yankees have a boxoffice attraction would help the then mediocre Yankees, who had sided with Frazee in conflicts with "the Loyal Five" other AL teams and Ban Johnson[3]. The contract was a straight sale; the Red Sox got no players in return. This transaction would later become the source of the Curse of the Bambino legend, which suggested that the club was doomed to years of futility as a result of the sale. Frazee also unloaded a number of other Hall of Fame quality players to the Yankees for other reasons. Carl Mays quit the team in mid-game and refused to return; his trade was essentially a salvage operation. Other Frazee-era players went to New York as part of Frazee's financial strategy after he decided to leave baseball, having been driven out by Ban Johnson, including Sad Sam Jones and Waite Hoyt. These players (some of them Hall of Fame members) formed the nucleus of the first championship Yankee teams of the 1920s.
The Ted Williams Era
The Red Sox were purchased in 1933 by a wealthy, shy young man named Tom Yawkey who began pumping money into the team. In 1939, the Red Sox purchased the contract of outfielder Ted Williams, then playing in the Pacific Coast League, ushering in an era of the team sometimes called the "Ted Sox". Williams was perhaps the most obsessive hitter in baseball history, and is generally considered the greatest hitter of all time, being able to hit for both power and average. Stories of his being able to hold a bat in his hand and correctly estimate its weight down to the ounce have floated around baseball circles for decades. Science of Hitting, his book on the subject, is considered by some as a bible of hitting theory and science. He is also the last player to hit over .400 for a full season, which he did in 1941.
With Williams, the Red Sox went to the World Series in 1946, but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, in part because of the use of the "Williams Shift", in which the shortstop would move to the right side of the infield to make it harder for the left-handed-hitting Williams to hit to that side of the field. Some have claimed that Williams was too proud to hit to the other side of the field, not wanting to let the Cardinals take away his game. He did not hit well in the Series, gathering only five singles in 25 at-bats, for a .200 average. However, this was also likely influenced by an elbow injury he had received a few days before when he was hit by a pitch in an exhibition game.
The Red Sox featured several other very good players during the 1940s, including SS Johnny Pesky (for whom the right field foul pole in Fenway - "Pesky's Pole" - is named), 2B Bobby Doerr, and CF Dom DiMaggio (brother of Joe). Despite this, they lost the pennant by one game in each of 1948 (losing a one-game playoff to the Indians, the first in American League history) and 1949 (losing the final two games of the season to the Yankees), and Ted Williams would not play in another World Series.
The 1950s were a lean time for the Red Sox. After Williams returned from the Korean War, many of the best players from the late 1940s had retired or been traded. The stark contrast in the team led critics to call the Red Sox daily lineup "Ted Williams and the Seven Dwarfs". Also, unlike many other teams, they refused to sign black players, even passing up a chance at future Hall-of-Famers Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays, both of who tried out for Boston and were highly praised by team scouts. Ted Williams hit .388 at the age of 38 in 1957, but there was little else for Boston fans to root for. Williams retired at the end of the 1960 season, famously hitting a home run in his final at-bat. The Sox finally became the last Major League team to sign an African American player when they signed modest infielder Pumpsie Green in 1959.
Supposedly the right-field bullpens in Fenway Park were built in part for Williams' left-handed swing, and these are sometimes called "Williamsburg".
Carl "Yaz" Yastrzemski and the Impossible Dream
The 1960s also started poorly for the Red Sox, though 1961 saw the debut of Carl Yastrzemski ("Yaz"), who would become one of the best hitters of the pitching-rich decade.
Red Sox fans remember 1967 as the year of the "Impossible Dream". The slogan refers to the hit song from the popular musical play Man of La Mancha. The team had finished the 1966 season in ninth place, but they found new life with Yaz leading the team to the World Series. Yaz won the American League Triple Crown and put on one of the greatest displays of hitting down the stretch in baseball history. But the Red Sox lost the series - again to the St. Louis Cardinals. The 1967 season is remembered as one of the great pennant races in baseball history since four teams were in the AL pennant race until almost the last game.
Although the Red Sox would be competitive for much of the next seven seasons, they never finished higher than second. The closest they came to a divisional title was 1972, when oddly they lost by a half-game to the Detroit Tigers. The start of the season was delayed by a players' strike, and the Red Sox further lost a game to a rainout that was never ordered replayed, which caused the Red Sox to lose the division by a half-game.
The Sox won the AL pennant in 1975, with Yaz surrounded by other stars such as rookie outfielders Jim Rice and Fred Lynn (who won both the AL Rookie of the Year and MVP awards), veteran outfielder Dwight Evans, catcher Carlton Fisk, and pitchers Luis Tiant and the eccentric junkballer Bill Lee.
Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, against the Cincinnati Reds' so-called "Big Red Machine," is regarded by some as the greatest game in baseball postseason history, an extra-inning drama featuring dramatic home runs by Bernie Carbo and Fisk (the latter a game-winner, the famous 'body English' homerun). Despite the series-tying win, the Red Sox lost Game 7, and this time it would be Yaz who never again played in a World Series.
In 1978 the Red Sox and the Yankees were involved in one of the most memorable pennant races in baseball history. Despite being 14 1/2 games behind the Red Sox in July, on September 10th, after completing a 4-game sweep of the Red Sox, the Yankees pulled into a tie for the divisional lead.
For the final three weeks of the season, the teams fought closely and exchanged the lead frequently. By the final day of the season, the Yankees magic number to win the division was one - that is, either a win over Cleveland, or a Boston loss to Toronto, would clinch the division for the Yankees. However, New York lost 9-2 and Boston won 5-1, forcing a one-game playoff to be held at Fenway Park on Monday, October 2nd.
Although most people remember Bucky Dent's three-run home run in the 7th inning off Mike Torrez just over the Green Monster which gave the Yankees a 4-2 lead, it was Reggie Jackson's solo home run in the 8th that proved the difference in what would be a 5-4 Yankee win, which ended with Yastrzemski popping out to third base with Rick Burleson representing the tying run at third.
The '86 World Series and Morgan's Magic
After the 1978 playoff, the Red Sox wouldn't reach the postseason for the next seven years, finishing no higher than third during this period. Yastrzemski would never again play in a postseason game following the 1975 World Series. He retired after the 1983 season in which the Red Sox finished sixth in the seven-team AL East, posting their worst record since 1966.
However, the team's fortunes changed in 1986. While its offense had remained strong with the likes of Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Don Baylor, and future Hall of Famer Wade Boggs, the team had always lacked an ace pitcher to lead the staff. That season Roger Clemens stepped into that role, posting a 24-4 record with a 2.48 ERA to win both the American League Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards, marking the first time a starting pitcher swept those two awards since Vida Blue was named MVP in 1971. The Red Sox won the AL East for the first time in eleven seasons, drawing the California Angels in the AL Championship Series.
FUCK THE RED SOX THEY ARE FUCKING CLOWNSHOES... THEY ALL DESERVE TO PAY BECAUSE THE YANKEES RULE!!!! FUCK THE RED SOX AND THEIR STUPID FUCKING SOX... FUCK FUCK THEM IN THEIR STUPID ASSES
The Series started badly for the Red Sox. The teams split the first two games in Boston, but the Angels won the next two games at home, taking a 3-1 Series lead. As California looked to close out the series with a Game Five win, things looked grim for the Sox who trailed 5-2 heading into the ninth inning. It was then that the Red Sox started their comeback, turning the tide of the entire series. A two-run homer by Baylor cut the lead to one, then, with two outs and a runner on, and one strike away from elimination, Dave Henderson homered off Donnie Moore to put Boston up 6-5. Though the Angels tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Red Sox won it in the eleventh. Boston cruised to six and seven run wins at Fenway Park in Games Six and Seven to win the American League title for the first time since 1975. The Red Sox' win in Game Seven was the first Game Seven playoff win in the team's history.
The Red Sox faced the New York Mets in the 1986 World Series. Boston got off to a great start, winning the first two games in Shea Stadium, only to lose the next two at Fenway, evening the series at two games apiece. After a Game 5 win in Boston, the Red Sox returned to Flushing Meadows looking to wrap up their first championship in 68 years. However, Game Six would go down as one of the most devastating losses in club history. After a strong outing by Clemens, the Mets tied the game 3-3 in the eighth by scoring a run off reliever Calvin Schiraldi. The game went to extra innings, where the Red Sox took a 5-3 lead in the top of the tenth. After two quick outs, the Red Sox stood just one out away from breaking their championship drought. However, things then went terribly wrong, culminating in one of the most infamous moments in major league history. After three straight singles and a wild pitch by Bob Stanley, the Mets tied the game at five. Although it looked like the Red Sox might have been able to extend the game when Mookie Wilson hit a slow ground ball to first baseman Bill Buckner for what would have been the final out of the inning, the ball rolled through Buckner's legs, allowing Ray Knight to score the winning run from third. While Buckner was singled out as the biggest goat, many observers - as well as both Wilson and Buckner - have noted that, even if Buckner had fielded the ball cleanly, Wilson most likely would still have been safe, leaving the game-winning run at third with two out. The Red Sox would go on to lose Game Seven, concluding the devastating collapse and feeding the myth that the club was actually "cursed."
The Red Sox next returned to the postseason in 1988. With the club in fourth place, manager John McNamara was fired and replaced by Joe Morgan. Immediately the club won 12 games in a row, and 19 of 20 overall, to surge to the AL East title in what would be referred to as Morgan's Magic. But the magic was short-lived, as the team was swept by the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS. Ironically, the MVP of that Series was former Red Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley, who saved all four wins for Oakland. Two years later, in 1990, the Red Sox would again win the division and face the Athletics in the ALCS. However, the outcome was the same, with the A's sweeping the Series in four games.
After the Yawkeys
Tom Yawkey died in 1976, and his wife Jean took control of the team until her death in 1992. A trust controlled by John Harrington took control of the team, ending over 60 years of Yawkey ownership.
Longtime Sox general manager Lou Gorman was replaced in 1994 by Dan Duquette, a Massachusetts native who had previously run the Montreal Expos. Duquette's reign began with promises to revive the flagging Sox farm system, and in fact Duquette did have some degree of success in building that area: during his tenure the farm system produced several quality players including Trot Nixon and Nomar Garciaparra. Unlike prior management, Duquette also was unafraid to grant huge contracts to major stars, most famously the eight-year, $160 million deal given to Manny Ramírez after the 2001 season - which was the first high-profile open market free agent signing by the Red Sox.
Duquette caused much angst amongst Red Sox fans with many of his personnel moves, most notably allowing beloved players Roger Clemens and Mo Vaughn to leave as free agents. Although the very popular Vaughn's departure was widely decried by Red Sox fans at the time, Vaughn (who won the AL MVP in 1995) accomplished very little after leaving Boston prior to his injury-forced retirement in 2003. However, Duquette also allowed Clemens to leave Boston after the 1996 season, saying that Clemens was "in the twilight of his career." After leaving Boston, Clemens went on to win four more Cy Young awards (two with the Blue Jays, one with the Yankees, and one with the Houston Astros), as well as two World Championships with the arch-rival Yankees. Duquette was roundly criticized for allowing Clemens to leave in the wake of Clemens' post-Boston successes, even though, in the years prior to his leaving Boston, Clemens had been troubled with serious injuries, weight problems and bouts of ineffectiveness that resulted in a personal record of 39 wins and 40 losses over his last four seasons with the Red Sox.
Duquette's abrasive manner and tendency to micromanage off-the-field issues also resulted in the Red Sox suffering a public relations hit. In 1999, Duquette called Fenway Park "economically obsolete" and along with Red Sox ownership led a push for a brand new stadium to be built near the current stadium. Despite the approval of a grant by the Massachusetts Legislature and key political support, issues with buying out neighboring property and steadfast opposition within Boston's city council eventually doomed the project. Duquette was also infamously involved with a crackdown on independent sausage vendors selling outside of Fenway Park before games, which had been a tradition outside of Fenway Park since it opened in 1912 - an issue that was settled amicably in 2002, when the Red Sox agreed to let peanut and sausage vendors operate all around Fenway Park in exchange for the vendors' support for a plan to extend the ballpark's concourse onto Yawkey Way.
On the field, the Red Sox had some success during this period, but were unable to return to the World Series. In the strike-shortened 1995 season, the Sox won the newly-realigned American League East, finishing seven games ahead of the Yankees. However, they were swept in three games by the Cleveland Indians, running their postseason losing streak to 13 games, dating back to the 1986 World Series.
In 1998, the Red Sox dealt young pitchers Tony Armas, Jr. and Carl Pavano to the Montreal Expos in exchange for star pitcher Pedro Martínez, who went on to have several spectacular seasons for the Red Sox. Later that season the team won the Wild Card, but again lost the American League Division Series to the Indians. This time they lost the series 3-1 despite winning Game One 11-3 behind Martinez.
In 1999 the Red Sox got revenge on the Indians. Cleveland took a 2-0 series lead, but Boston staged an improbable comeback, winning the next three games thanks to the strong pitching of Derek Lowe, Pedro Martínez and his older brother Ramón. The series featured several memorable games. Game Four's 23-7 win by the Red Sox was the highest scoring playoff game in history. Game Five was a tense affair, with the Indians taking a 5-2 lead after two innings, but Pedro Martínez, nursing a shoulder injury, came on in the fourth inning and pitched six innings of no-hit ball while the offense rallied for a 12-8 win, behind two home runs from Troy O'Leary. The Red Sox then met the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, but came up short, losing the series four games to one.
New Ownership, New Era
2002-03
In 2002 the Red Sox were sold by president and Yawkey trustee John Harrington to a consortium comprised of John Henry, Tom Werner, and Les Otten, with Larry Lucchino as president and CEO. Duquette was fired, and replaced on an interim basis by interim GM Mike Port and special assistant Lee Thomas. After almost hiring Oakland's Billy Beane during the 2002-03 off-season, the Red Sox promoted Yale graduate Theo Epstein, the team's assistant General Manager. At 28, he was at the time youngest general manager in the history of the Major Leagues (though Jon Daniels, who would be named GM of the Texas Rangers on October 4, 2005, would be even younger than Epstein was when Epstein was hired.)
Hopes ran high in the 2003 season, but the postseason would deliver yet another blow to Red Sox fans. The Sox rallied from a 2-0 deficit against the Oakland Athletics to win the best-of-five American League Division Series. Game Five was especially dramatic, with Derek Lowe saving a 4-3 victory by striking out the A's Terrence Long with the tying run on 3rd base. They then faced the Yankees in the 2003 American League Championship Series. In the deciding seventh game, Boston led 5-2 in the eighth inning, but Pedro Martínez allowed three runs to tie the game, including Jason Giambi's second home run of the game. The Red Sox could not score off of Mariano Rivera over the last three innings and lost the game 6-5 in eleven innings on a home run by Yankee third baseman Aaron Boone off of Tim Wakefield's first pitch of the 11th inning.
Many Red Sox fans blamed the loss on their manager, Grady Little, for not removing Martínez after seven strong innings, when he began to show signs of tiring. Many saw this as the culmination of two years of questionable decision-making by Little, with the decision to keep Martínez in being the point of no return. Shortly after the ALCS, Little was fired. He would be replaced by Terry Francona, largely as a result of Curt Schilling's personal endorsement. It would be Francona who would lead the Red Sox to not only some of the greatest moments in the franchise's history, but an epic comeback unprecedented in baseball history.
2004
During the 2003 offseason, the Red Sox acquired another ace pitcher in Curt Schilling to bolster the pitching staff, and expectations again ran high that 2004 would finally be the year that the Red Sox would end their championship drought. The regular season did not start well, and through midseason the team had struggled mightily, falling more than ten games behind New York. Management shook up the team at the MLB trading deadline, July 31, by trading the team's popular shortstop Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Orlando Cabrera of the Montreal Expos and Doug Mientkiewicz of the Minnesota Twins in a four-team deal. The club would turn things around soon after, going on to finish within three games of the Yankees in the AL East and qualifying for the playoffs as the AL Wild Card.
Boston began the playoffs by sweeping the AL West champion Anaheim Angels, winning Game Three by a score of 8-6 on David Ortiz's 10th inning walk-off home run over the Green Monster. The Red Sox thus advanced to a rematch in the 2004 American League Championship Series against their bitter rivals, the New York Yankees.
Despite high hopes that the Red Sox would finally vanquish their nemesis, the series started disastrously for them. They were down three games to none after a crushing 19-8 loss in Game Three, in which the two clubs set the record for most runs scored in a League Championship Series game. In Game Four of the Series, the Red Sox found themselves facing elimination, trailing 4-3 in the ninth with Yankees superstar closer Mariano Rivera on the mound. Rivera issued a base on balls to Kevin Millar, little knowing that that little walk would be the beginning of the most stunning turnaround in the history of post-season baseball. Dave Roberts, pinch running for Millar, stole second base and came home on an RBI single by Bill Mueller. Having tied the game through "inside baseball", the Red Sox won it with the power game, on David Ortiz's two-run home run in the twelfth inning for a 6-4 final score.
Game Five saw the Yankees take a lead into the eighth inning after which Rivera came in again to try to close the Red Sox out. However, once again, the Red Sox rallied, scoring the tying run in the inning and eventually forcing extra innings. In the top of the 13th inning, despite three passed balls, including one on a dropped third strike; the Yankees were unable to score a single run, Tim Wakefield striking out Rubén Sierra with men on second and third to end the inning. Finally, in the 14th inning, the Red Sox won the game on Ortiz's RBI single. This game set a record for longest postseason game in terms of time (5 hours and 49 minutes) and for longest ALCS game (fourteen innings). To put that game time in perspective, it is comparable to the length of time required for a typical one-day cricket match.
The improbable comeback continued in Game Six, in which Schilling returned to pitch seven innings on an ankle that had three sutures wrapped in a bloody (literally red) sock. In Game Six, Schilling struck out four, walked none and only allowed one run. In spite of this effort, the Yankees were still able to send Tony Clark to the plate as the potential Series-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Clark was struck out by Keith Foulke to end the game.
For Game Seven, in a last-ditch effort to reverse the tide of the series, the Yankees brought back 1978 playoff hero and Yankee icon Bucky Dent to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Additionally, many former Yankees were on hand, including Yogi Berra, who was quoted as saying "These guys (the Red Sox) never beat us."
Three-time World Series champion manager Sparky Anderson once said, "The great teams will 'put you away'", and indeed the Red Sox would do so in Game Seven, completing the sensational and historical comeback. The hero of the evening would be Johnny Damon, who affectionately referred to the team as "The Idiots" to describe its eclectic roster and devil-may-care attitude toward "the curse". Although Damon had been largely ineffective for most of the ALCS, he would lead the charge for the Red Sox this night, hitting a grand slam in the second inning and adding another towering home run later as the Sox rolled to a 10-3 series-clinching win. David Ortiz - who had the game winning RBI's in Games Four and Five - was named ALCS MVP.
The Red Sox thus became the first team in baseball history (and the third in North American professional sports history, after the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders of the NHL) to rally from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series. Sadly, however, in riots that took place celebrating the victory, Emerson College student Victoria Snelgrove was accidentally killed by police officers trying to preserve order.
The Red Sox faced the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2004 World Series. The Cardinals had posted the best record in the major leagues that season, and had previously defeated the Red Sox in the 1946 and 1967 Series', both series going seven games. The third time would be the charm, however, as the momentum and confidence Boston had built up in the ALCS would overwhelm St. Louis. The Red Sox began the Series with an 11-9 win, the highest scoring WS opening game ever (breaking the previous record set in 1932). The Red Sox would go on to win the first two games in Boston (including another sensational performance by the bloody-socked Schilling in Game Two) then would win the next two in St. Louis to sweep the World Series for their first championship since 1918, completing an eight-game winning streak. One of the most memorable lines of the series would come on the final play: "Back to Foulke; Red Sox fans have longed to hear it. The Boston Red Sox are world champions." Manny Ramírez was named World Series MVP.
The Red Sox held a parade (or as Boston mayor Thomas Menino put it, a "rolling rally") on Saturday, October 30, 2004. A crowd of more than three million members of Red Sox Nation filled the streets of Boston to cheer as the team rode on the city's famous Duck Boats. Despite the unprecedented crowd levels (which dwarfed other city championship celebrations) the crowd was extraordinarily peaceful and friendly. There were very few arrests and a very small number of isolated incidents, a prominent exception being one fan throwing a baseball which struck Pedro Martínez but did not injure him.
2005
After winning its first World Series in 86 years, Red Sox management was left with the challenge of dealing with a number of high profile free agents. Pedro Martínez left the team to sign with the New York Mets; Derek Lowe signed a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Orlando Cabrera ended up with the Angels. To counter these losses, the Red Sox signed shortstop Edgar Rentería away from the Cardinals. After failing to land young pitching ace Carl Pavano, who chose to sign with the Yankees instead of Boston and his other potential suitors, the Red Sox signed pitcher David Wells, who was a former Yankee himself. The Red Sox also signed pitcher Matt Clement away from the Cubs, and they were able to re-sign catcher Jason Varitek, who was named team captain soon after. They also signed Wade Miller away from the Astros. Gabe Kapler also returned from his Japanese baseball to play for the Sox.
Boston started off slowly to begin the 2005 season. Curt Schilling started the year on the disabled list, leaving the Red Sox without their ace pitcher. This and other trouble caused the Red Sox to have a bad start. Schilling came back briefly but was soon forced to go on the DL for nearly three months, and he would never become the consistently effective rotation stopper he had been in the past.
By the All-Star break, they were in first place of the AL East. While still possessing a potent offense, the Red Sox had their share of pitching trouble during the season's second half, although there were some bright spots, specifically the emergence of young reliever Jonathan Papelbon and a series of quality starts from rotation veterans David Wells and Tim Wakefield. Submarining reliever Chad Bradford was acquired from the Oakland A's at midseason and also provided the Red Sox with another quality reliever.
The 2005 Red Sox also had closer issues throughout the year. Postseason hero Keith Foulke was ineffective all year, and eventually would be disabled in July due to required knee surgery. Upon Schilling's return from injury he was sent to the bullpen to be the Red Sox' closer. Schilling, who had never closed in his major league career or even pitched out of the bullpen for an extended period, nontheless handled the role with mixed results. When Schilling was deemed ready to return to the rotation, longtime set-up reliever Mike Timlin was named the closer, even though he had not closed regularly since he was with the Blue Jays in 1992. Timlin would also have mixed results as Red Sox closer.
Due largely to pitching problems, specifically with their bullpen, the Red Sox found themselves in the final month of the season struggling to maintain their division lead over the Yankees. The Yankes in September were playing their best baseball of the season, finally justifying their $204 million payroll and lofty pre-season expectations. Furthermore, the Red Sox needed to concern themselves with the Cleveland Indians who were also enjoying their best prolonged stretch since their last playoff appearance after the 2001 season. Consequently, it appeared that the Red Sox, after having led the AL East for much of the regular season, would not only lose the division but miss the playoffs entirely.
On the final weekend of the 2005 season the Red Sox would play the Yankees in a series that would decide the post-season fates of the two teams. Boston went into the series one game behind the Yankees in the AL East standings. The Red Sox would win the first game 5-3 but lose the second game 8-4. Meanwhile the Indians' would lose to the White Sox that Friday and Saturday. Due to MLB's tie-breaking procedures, the Yankees had effectively clinched the division by virtue of their having won the series season over the Red Sox (the series would end 10-9 in favor of New York.), even though a Red Sox win the next afternoon would tie them for the division lead.
The Indians' losses also meant that, on the final day of the season, the Red Sox only needed to win or to have Cleveland lose to clinch the wild-card birth. Boston was well on their way to a win in the finale, leading the Yankees 6-0, when word came from Cleveland that the Indians had lost, 3-1, to Chicago. Thus, the Red Sox clinched the Wild Card, and would go on to tie the Yankees for the division title, the closest anyone had come to the Yankees since they won the first of their eight consecutive divisional titles in 1998.
2005 Division Series
In the 2005 American League Division Series, the Red Sox faced the Chicago White Sox, who had finished with the best record in the American League (99-63) and the second-best record in the major leagues. Similar to the Red Sox in 2004, the White Sox were attempting to end an extrodinarily long World Series drought (they had not won a World Series since 1917). In fact, not only had the White Sox not won a World Series since 1917, they had not won a playoff series of any stripe since 1917 and had not appeared in the World Series since 1959.
The Red Sox were crushed 14-2 in Chicago in Game 1. Starting pitcher Matt Clement was hit for 5 runs in the first inning, including a two-out three-run home run by A.J. Pierzynski. The White Sox would hit five home runs in the victory, including two by Prezynski and one by light-hitting outfielder Scott Podsednik who had not hit a home run in the regular season.
The Red Sox took a 4-0 lead in Game 2 only to allow five runs in a tumultuous 5th inning. The inning was prolonged by an error on a one-out ground ball by Red Sox second baseman Tony Graffanino. In his haste to try and get the the double play, he did not get the glove down and the ball went through his legs. The TV announcers immediately dubbed it a "Bill Buckner moment", and it ultimately had that effect. Had Graffanino cleanly fielded the ball, the Red Sox likely would have gotten at least one out, or possibly an inning-ending double play. Yet no outs were recorded, and the inning continued.
Outfielder Scott Podsednik popped out for the second out of the inning. The next batter was second baseman Tadahito Iguchi who hit a three-run home run to left field to give the White Sox a 5-4 lead that would ultimately be the final score. The Red Sox would send 20 men to the plate over the last four innings; however only three would reach base and none would score.
The series returned to Boston for Game 3. White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko hit a two-run home run in the top of the 6th to give the White Sox a 4-2 lead. Manny Ramirez would respond in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run. This led to the Red Sox loading the bases with no outs and threatening to break the game open. The White Sox brought in reliever Orlando Hernandez who retired Jason Varitek and Tony Graffanino on pop-ups, and Johnny Damon on a strikeout. The Red Sox would not seriously threaten again, and the White Sox would record their first post-season series win in 88 years. Ironically, Edgar Renteria - who was the final out of the 2004 World Series - would ground out for the final out of this series as well, to the second baseman Iguchi.
2005-06 off-season
As in the 2004-05 off-season, the Red Sox will face a number of impending free agents. At least four prominent Red Sox are free agents: Johnny Damon, Bill Mueller, Mike Timlin and Kevin Millar.
Nicknames before "Red Sox"
The name Red Sox, chosen by owner John I. Taylor after the 1907 season, is based on an obsolete form of the word "socks", as in the red footwear worn by the team starting in 1908. The older Boston National League club had originally been called the Red Stockings, and in fact had worn red stockings until temporarily abandoning them in 1907, which inspired the American League club owner to grab the nickname. Prior to 1908, the A.L. team in fact wore dark blue stockings, and did not have an official nickname. They were simply "the Bostons" or "the Boston Baseball club"; some newspaper writers referred to them as the Boston "Americans", as in "American Leaguers", Boston being a two-team city. Many sources have stated for years that the early team was called the Boston "Pilgrims" or "Puritans" or "Plymouth Rocks", or "Somersets" (for their owner), but recent research into contemporary sources suggests otherwise. [4].
Postseason series
* Inducted as Red Sox
Active roster
Template:MLB Red Sox franchise The Boston Red Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Boston, Massachusetts. They are in the Eastern Division of the American League. The New York Yankees are their traditional rival.
- Founded: 1899, as the Buffalo franchise in the minor Western League. Moved to Boston when that league became the major American League in 1901.
- Team Name: Boston Red Sox (see Nicknames before "Red Sox" below)
- Current ownership: John Henry and Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino, who paid $660 million and assumed $400 million in debt, in February 2002. The purchase includes Fenway Park and 82 percent of New England Sports Network. The purchase price set a record for a major league baseball franchise.
- Current payroll: For 2005, payroll was about $123.5 million, more than $80 million less than that of the New York Yankees. For 2004, payroll was about $127 million, $57 million shy of the New York Yankees. In both of these years, the Red Sox had the second-highest total payroll in MLB.[5]
- Home ballpark: Fenway Park (April 20, 1912 - Present), Braves Field (1929 - 1932 Sundays, 1915 - 1916 World Series), Huntington Avenue Grounds (1901-1911). Fenway is the oldest ballpark in baseball. The Red Sox ownership group has recently committed to keeping the team at Fenway for years to come. Plans are already under way for the first ballpark centennial celebration in MLB history in 2012.
- Mascot: "Wally the Green Monster," named after both the left field Green Monster and the one-time Red Sox pitcher Wally Masterson.
- Uniform colors: Navy blue, red, gray, and white
- Logo design: Two hanging red socks with white heels and toes, over a white baseball surrounded by the words Boston and Red Sox. The word "Boston" is in navy blue outlined in red, the words "Red Sox" are in red outlined in navy blue, and the entire logo is surrounded by a thick red circle. Recently the team has begun phasing in a new logo that removes the outline, text and baseball, leaving only the pair of red socks.
- Theme Song: None officially, but several "unofficial" theme songs exist:
- played in the middle of the eighth inning at Fenway Park: Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" performed with raucous audience participation.
- played after each victory at Fenway Park: "Dirty Water" by The Standells.
- played after "Dirty Water" and for rallies during a game: The Dropkick Murphys' rewrite of "Tessie." The original "Tessie" was a Broadway tune, which Boston fans adopted during the 1903 World Series and sung regularly until 1916.
- played during David Ortiz's at-bats: "Who's Your Papi?" "Big Papi" is Ortiz's nickname.
- Championships and Pennants:
- Playoff appearances (18): 1903, 1904, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1946, 1967, 1975, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005
- World Series championships won (6): 1903, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918, 2004
- American League pennants won (11): 1903, 1904, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1946, 1967, 1975, 1986, 2004
- Division Championships won (5): 1975, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1995
- Wild Card titles won (5): 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005
- Division Series won (3): 1999, 2003, 2004
- Official television stations: New England Sports Network (NESN), WSBK
- Official radio stations: WEEI (flagship)
Franchise history
Early 20th century
The Boston Red Sox won the first World Series in 1903 against the favored National League team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the following decade, the club won four World Series championships in a six-year span despite changing ownership several times. The 1912 and 1915 clubs featured an outfield considered to be among the finest in the game: Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper and Duffy Lewis as well as superstar pitcher Smokey Joe Wood.
The Red Sox were owned by Joseph Lannin from 1913 to 1916 and he signed Babe Ruth, commonly seen as the best player in baseball history. In 1919, the team's new owner, Harry Frazee, sold Ruth to the New York Yankees. Legend has it that he did so in order to finance a Broadway play No, No Nanette starring 'a friend', but in actual fact the play did not open on Broadway until 1925. Rather, the Red Sox, White Sox and Yankees had a detente, the teams being referred to as the "Insurrectos," whose actions antagonized then AL president Ban Johnson. Though Frazee owned the Boston Red Sox franchise, he did not own Fenway Park (this was owned by the Fenway Park Trust), making his ownership a precarious one--Johnson could move another team into Fenway Park in Boston. Despite the fact Ruth held the single season homerun record from 1919[6], Frazee sold Ruth because he needed the money to purchase Fenway Park (which he did in 1920), the Red Sox franchise was in serious debt, Ruth was a serious disciplinary problem (and continued to be one in New York), and letting the Yankees have a boxoffice attraction would help the then mediocre Yankees, who had sided with Frazee in conflicts with "the Loyal Five" other AL teams and Ban Johnson[7]. The contract was a straight sale; the Red Sox got no players in return. This transaction would later become the source of the Curse of the Bambino legend, which suggested that the club was doomed to years of futility as a result of the sale. Frazee also unloaded a number of other Hall of Fame quality players to the Yankees for other reasons. Carl Mays quit the team in mid-game and refused to return; his trade was essentially a salvage operation. Other Frazee-era players went to New York as part of Frazee's financial strategy after he decided to leave baseball, having been driven out by Ban Johnson, including Sad Sam Jones and Waite Hoyt. These players (some of them Hall of Fame members) formed the nucleus of the first championship Yankee teams of the 1920s.
The Ted Williams Era
The Red Sox were purchased in 1933 by a wealthy, shy young man named Tom Yawkey who began pumping money into the team. In 1939, the Red Sox purchased the contract of outfielder Ted Williams, then playing in the Pacific Coast League, ushering in an era of the team sometimes called the "Ted Sox". Williams was perhaps the most obsessive hitter in baseball history, and is generally considered the greatest hitter of all time, being able to hit for both power and average. Stories of his being able to hold a bat in his hand and correctly estimate its weight down to the ounce have floated around baseball circles for decades. Science of Hitting, his book on the subject, is considered by some as a bible of hitting theory and science. He is also the last player to hit over .400 for a full season, which he did in 1941.
With Williams, the Red Sox went to the World Series in 1946, but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, in part because of the use of the "Williams Shift", in which the shortstop would move to the right side of the infield to make it harder for the left-handed-hitting Williams to hit to that side of the field. Some have claimed that Williams was too proud to hit to the other side of the field, not wanting to let the Cardinals take away his game. He did not hit well in the Series, gathering only five singles in 25 at-bats, for a .200 average. However, this was also likely influenced by an elbow injury he had received a few days before when he was hit by a pitch in an exhibition game.
The Red Sox featured several other very good players during the 1940s, including SS Johnny Pesky (for whom the right field foul pole in Fenway - "Pesky's Pole" - is named), 2B Bobby Doerr, and CF Dom DiMaggio (brother of Joe). Despite this, they lost the pennant by one game in each of 1948 (losing a one-game playoff to the Indians, the first in American League history) and 1949 (losing the final two games of the season to the Yankees), and Ted Williams would not play in another World Series.
The 1950s were a lean time for the Red Sox. After Williams returned from the Korean War, many of the best players from the late 1940s had retired or been traded. The stark contrast in the team led critics to call the Red Sox daily lineup "Ted Williams and the Seven Dwarfs". Also, unlike many other teams, they refused to sign black players, even passing up a chance at future Hall-of-Famers Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays, both of who tried out for Boston and were highly praised by team scouts. Ted Williams hit .388 at the age of 38 in 1957, but there was little else for Boston fans to root for. Williams retired at the end of the 1960 season, famously hitting a home run in his final at-bat. The Sox finally became the last Major League team to sign an African American player when they signed modest infielder Pumpsie Green in 1959.
Supposedly the right-field bullpens in Fenway Park were built in part for Williams' left-handed swing, and these are sometimes called "Williamsburg".
Carl "Yaz" Yastrzemski and the Impossible Dream
The 1960s also started poorly for the Red Sox, though 1961 saw the debut of Carl Yastrzemski ("Yaz"), who would become one of the best hitters of the pitching-rich decade.
Red Sox fans remember 1967 as the year of the "Impossible Dream". The slogan refers to the hit song from the popular musical play Man of La Mancha. The team had finished the 1966 season in ninth place, but they found new life with Yaz leading the team to the World Series. Yaz won the American League Triple Crown and put on one of the greatest displays of hitting down the stretch in baseball history. But the Red Sox lost the series - again to the St. Louis Cardinals. The 1967 season is remembered as one of the great pennant races in baseball history since four teams were in the AL pennant race until almost the last game.
Although the Red Sox would be competitive for much of the next seven seasons, they never finished higher than second. The closest they came to a divisional title was 1972, when oddly they lost by a half-game to the Detroit Tigers. The start of the season was delayed by a players' strike, and the Red Sox further lost a game to a rainout that was never ordered replayed, which caused the Red Sox to lose the division by a half-game.
The Sox won the AL pennant in 1975, with Yaz surrounded by other stars such as rookie outfielders Jim Rice and Fred Lynn (who won both the AL Rookie of the Year and MVP awards), veteran outfielder Dwight Evans, catcher Carlton Fisk, and pitchers Luis Tiant and the eccentric junkballer Bill Lee.
Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, against the Cincinnati Reds' so-called "Big Red Machine," is regarded by some as the greatest game in baseball postseason history, an extra-inning drama featuring dramatic home runs by Bernie Carbo and Fisk (the latter a game-winner, the famous 'body English' homerun). Despite the series-tying win, the Red Sox lost Game 7, and this time it would be Yaz who never again played in a World Series.
In 1978 the Red Sox and the Yankees were involved in one of the most memorable pennant races in baseball history. Despite being 14 1/2 games behind the Red Sox in July, on September 10th, after completing a 4-game sweep of the Red Sox, the Yankees pulled into a tie for the divisional lead.
For the final three weeks of the season, the teams fought closely and exchanged the lead frequently. By the final day of the season, the Yankees magic number to win the division was one - that is, either a win over Cleveland, or a Boston loss to Toronto, would clinch the division for the Yankees. However, New York lost 9-2 and Boston won 5-1, forcing a one-game playoff to be held at Fenway Park on Monday, October 2nd.
Although most people remember Bucky Dent's three-run home run in the 7th inning off Mike Torrez just over the Green Monster which gave the Yankees a 4-2 lead, it was Reggie Jackson's solo home run in the 8th that proved the difference in what would be a 5-4 Yankee win, which ended with Yastrzemski popping out to third base with Rick Burleson representing the tying run at third.
The '86 World Series and Morgan's Magic
After the 1978 playoff, the Red Sox wouldn't reach the postseason for the next seven years, finishing no higher than third during this period. Yastrzemski would never again play in a postseason game following the 1975 World Series. He retired after the 1983 season in which the Red Sox finished sixth in the seven-team AL East, posting their worst record since 1966.
However, the team's fortunes changed in 1986. While its offense had remained strong with the likes of Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Don Baylor, and future Hall of Famer Wade Boggs, the team had always lacked an ace pitcher to lead the staff. That season Roger Clemens stepped into that role, posting a 24-4 record with a 2.48 ERA to win both the American League Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards, marking the first time a starting pitcher swept those two awards since Vida Blue was named MVP in 1971. The Red Sox won the AL East for the first time in eleven seasons, drawing the California Angels in the AL Championship Series.
FUCK THE RED SOX THEY ARE FUCKING CLOWNSHOES... THEY ALL DESERVE TO PAY BECAUSE THE YANKEES RULE!!!! FUCK THE RED SOX AND THEIR STUPID FUCKING SOX... FUCK FUCK THEM IN THEIR STUPID ASSES
The Series started badly for the Red Sox. The teams split the first two games in Boston, but the Angels won the next two games at home, taking a 3-1 Series lead. As California looked to close out the series with a Game Five win, things looked grim for the Sox who trailed 5-2 heading into the ninth inning. It was then that the Red Sox started their comeback, turning the tide of the entire series. A two-run homer by Baylor cut the lead to one, then, with two outs and a runner on, and one strike away from elimination, Dave Henderson homered off Donnie Moore to put Boston up 6-5. Though the Angels tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Red Sox won it in the eleventh. Boston cruised to six and seven run wins at Fenway Park in Games Six and Seven to win the American League title for the first time since 1975. The Red Sox' win in Game Seven was the first Game Seven playoff win in the team's history.
The Red Sox faced the New York Mets in the 1986 World Series. Boston got off to a great start, winning the first two games in Shea Stadium, only to lose the next two at Fenway, evening the series at two games apiece. After a Game 5 win in Boston, the Red Sox returned to Flushing Meadows looking to wrap up their first championship in 68 years. However, Game Six would go down as one of the most devastating losses in club history. After a strong outing by Clemens, the Mets tied the game 3-3 in the eighth by scoring a run off reliever Calvin Schiraldi. The game went to extra innings, where the Red Sox took a 5-3 lead in the top of the tenth. After two quick outs, the Red Sox stood just one out away from breaking their championship drought. However, things then went terribly wrong, culminating in one of the most infamous moments in major league history. After three straight singles and a wild pitch by Bob Stanley, the Mets tied the game at five. Although it looked like the Red Sox might have been able to extend the game when Mookie Wilson hit a slow ground ball to first baseman Bill Buckner for what would have been the final out of the inning, the ball rolled through Buckner's legs, allowing Ray Knight to score the winning run from third. While Buckner was singled out as the biggest goat, many observers - as well as both Wilson and Buckner - have noted that, even if Buckner had fielded the ball cleanly, Wilson most likely would still have been safe, leaving the game-winning run at third with two out. The Red Sox would go on to lose Game Seven, concluding the devastating collapse and feeding the myth that the club was actually "cursed."
The Red Sox next returned to the postseason in 1988. With the club in fourth place, manager John McNamara was fired and replaced by Joe Morgan. Immediately the club won 12 games in a row, and 19 of 20 overall, to surge to the AL East title in what would be referred to as Morgan's Magic. But the magic was short-lived, as the team was swept by the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS. Ironically, the MVP of that Series was former Red Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley, who saved all four wins for Oakland. Two years later, in 1990, the Red Sox would again win the division and face the Athletics in the ALCS. However, the outcome was the same, with the A's sweeping the Series in four games.
After the Yawkeys
Tom Yawkey died in 1976, and his wife Jean took control of the team until her death in 1992. A trust controlled by John Harrington took control of the team, ending over 60 years of Yawkey ownership.
Longtime Sox general manager Lou Gorman was replaced in 1994 by Dan Duquette, a Massachusetts native who had previously run the Montreal Expos. Duquette's reign began with promises to revive the flagging Sox farm system, and in fact Duquette did have some degree of success in building that area: during his tenure the farm system produced several quality players including Trot Nixon and Nomar Garciaparra. Unlike prior management, Duquette also was unafraid to grant huge contracts to major stars, most famously the eight-year, $160 million deal given to Manny Ramírez after the 2001 season - which was the first high-profile open market free agent signing by the Red Sox.
Duquette caused much angst amongst Red Sox fans with many of his personnel moves, most notably allowing beloved players Roger Clemens and Mo Vaughn to leave as free agents. Although the very popular Vaughn's departure was widely decried by Red Sox fans at the time, Vaughn (who won the AL MVP in 1995) accomplished very little after leaving Boston prior to his injury-forced retirement in 2003. However, Duquette also allowed Clemens to leave Boston after the 1996 season, saying that Clemens was "in the twilight of his career." After leaving Boston, Clemens went on to win four more Cy Young awards (two with the Blue Jays, one with the Yankees, and one with the Houston Astros), as well as two World Championships with the arch-rival Yankees. Duquette was roundly criticized for allowing Clemens to leave in the wake of Clemens' post-Boston successes, even though, in the years prior to his leaving Boston, Clemens had been troubled with serious injuries, weight problems and bouts of ineffectiveness that resulted in a personal record of 39 wins and 40 losses over his last four seasons with the Red Sox.
Duquette's abrasive manner and tendency to micromanage off-the-field issues also resulted in the Red Sox suffering a public relations hit. In 1999, Duquette called Fenway Park "economically obsolete" and along with Red Sox ownership led a push for a brand new stadium to be built near the current stadium. Despite the approval of a grant by the Massachusetts Legislature and key political support, issues with buying out neighboring property and steadfast opposition within Boston's city council eventually doomed the project. Duquette was also infamously involved with a crackdown on independent sausage vendors selling outside of Fenway Park before games, which had been a tradition outside of Fenway Park since it opened in 1912 - an issue that was settled amicably in 2002, when the Red Sox agreed to let peanut and sausage vendors operate all around Fenway Park in exchange for the vendors' support for a plan to extend the ballpark's concourse onto Yawkey Way.
On the field, the Red Sox had some success during this period, but were unable to return to the World Series. In the strike-shortened 1995 season, the Sox won the newly-realigned American League East, finishing seven games ahead of the Yankees. However, they were swept in three games by the Cleveland Indians, running their postseason losing streak to 13 games, dating back to the 1986 World Series.
In 1998, the Red Sox dealt young pitchers Tony Armas, Jr. and Carl Pavano to the Montreal Expos in exchange for star pitcher Pedro Martínez, who went on to have several spectacular seasons for the Red Sox. Later that season the team won the Wild Card, but again lost the American League Division Series to the Indians. This time they lost the series 3-1 despite winning Game One 11-3 behind Martinez.
In 1999 the Red Sox got revenge on the Indians. Cleveland took a 2-0 series lead, but Boston staged an improbable comeback, winning the next three games thanks to the strong pitching of Derek Lowe, Pedro Martínez and his older brother Ramón. The series featured several memorable games. Game Four's 23-7 win by the Red Sox was the highest scoring playoff game in history. Game Five was a tense affair, with the Indians taking a 5-2 lead after two innings, but Pedro Martínez, nursing a shoulder injury, came on in the fourth inning and pitched six innings of no-hit ball while the offense rallied for a 12-8 win, behind two home runs from Troy O'Leary. The Red Sox then met the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, but came up short, losing the series four games to one.
New Ownership, New Era
2002-03
In 2002 the Red Sox were sold by president and Yawkey trustee John Harrington to a consortium comprised of John Henry, Tom Werner, and Les Otten, with Larry Lucchino as president and CEO. Duquette was fired, and replaced on an interim basis by interim GM Mike Port and special assistant Lee Thomas. After almost hiring Oakland's Billy Beane during the 2002-03 off-season, the Red Sox promoted Yale graduate Theo Epstein, the team's assistant General Manager. At 28, he was at the time youngest general manager in the history of the Major Leagues (though Jon Daniels, who would be named GM of the Texas Rangers on October 4, 2005, would be even younger than Epstein was when Epstein was hired.)
Hopes ran high in the 2003 season, but the postseason would deliver yet another blow to Red Sox fans. The Sox rallied from a 2-0 deficit against the Oakland Athletics to win the best-of-five American League Division Series. Game Five was especially dramatic, with Derek Lowe saving a 4-3 victory by striking out the A's Terrence Long with the tying run on 3rd base. They then faced the Yankees in the 2003 American League Championship Series. In the deciding seventh game, Boston led 5-2 in the eighth inning, but Pedro Martínez allowed three runs to tie the game, including Jason Giambi's second home run of the game. The Red Sox could not score off of Mariano Rivera over the last three innings and lost the game 6-5 in eleven innings on a home run by Yankee third baseman Aaron Boone off of Tim Wakefield's first pitch of the 11th inning.
Many Red Sox fans blamed the loss on their manager, Grady Little, for not removing Martínez after seven strong innings, when he began to show signs of tiring. Many saw this as the culmination of two years of questionable decision-making by Little, with the decision to keep Martínez in being the point of no return. Shortly after the ALCS, Little was fired. He would be replaced by Terry Francona, largely as a result of Curt Schilling's personal endorsement. It would be Francona who would lead the Red Sox to not only some of the greatest moments in the franchise's history, but an epic comeback unprecedented in baseball history.
2004
During the 2003 offseason, the Red Sox acquired another ace pitcher in Curt Schilling to bolster the pitching staff, and expectations again ran high that 2004 would finally be the year that the Red Sox would end their championship drought. The regular season did not start well, and through midseason the team had struggled mightily, falling more than ten games behind New York. Management shook up the team at the MLB trading deadline, July 31, by trading the team's popular shortstop Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Orlando Cabrera of the Montreal Expos and Doug Mientkiewicz of the Minnesota Twins in a four-team deal. The club would turn things around soon after, going on to finish within three games of the Yankees in the AL East and qualifying for the playoffs as the AL Wild Card.
Boston began the playoffs by sweeping the AL West champion Anaheim Angels, winning Game Three by a score of 8-6 on David Ortiz's 10th inning walk-off home run over the Green Monster. The Red Sox thus advanced to a rematch in the 2004 American League Championship Series against their bitter rivals, the New York Yankees.
Despite high hopes that the Red Sox would finally vanquish their nemesis, the series started disastrously for them. They were down three games to none after a crushing 19-8 loss in Game Three, in which the two clubs set the record for most runs scored in a League Championship Series game. In Game Four of the Series, the Red Sox found themselves facing elimination, trailing 4-3 in the ninth with Yankees superstar closer Mariano Rivera on the mound. Rivera issued a base on balls to Kevin Millar, little knowing that that little walk would be the beginning of the most stunning turnaround in the history of post-season baseball. Dave Roberts, pinch running for Millar, stole second base and came home on an RBI single by Bill Mueller. Having tied the game through "inside baseball", the Red Sox won it with the power game, on David Ortiz's two-run home run in the twelfth inning for a 6-4 final score.
Game Five saw the Yankees take a lead into the eighth inning after which Rivera came in again to try to close the Red Sox out. However, once again, the Red Sox rallied, scoring the tying run in the inning and eventually forcing extra innings. In the top of the 13th inning, despite three passed balls, including one on a dropped third strike; the Yankees were unable to score a single run, Tim Wakefield striking out Rubén Sierra with men on second and third to end the inning. Finally, in the 14th inning, the Red Sox won the game on Ortiz's RBI single. This game set a record for longest postseason game in terms of time (5 hours and 49 minutes) and for longest ALCS game (fourteen innings). To put that game time in perspective, it is comparable to the length of time required for a typical one-day cricket match.
The improbable comeback continued in Game Six, in which Schilling returned to pitch seven innings on an ankle that had three sutures wrapped in a bloody (literally red) sock. In Game Six, Schilling struck out four, walked none and only allowed one run. In spite of this effort, the Yankees were still able to send Tony Clark to the plate as the potential Series-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Clark was struck out by Keith Foulke to end the game.
For Game Seven, in a last-ditch effort to reverse the tide of the series, the Yankees brought back 1978 playoff hero and Yankee icon Bucky Dent to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Additionally, many former Yankees were on hand, including Yogi Berra, who was quoted as saying "These guys (the Red Sox) never beat us."
Three-time World Series champion manager Sparky Anderson once said, "The great teams will 'put you away'", and indeed the Red Sox would do so in Game Seven, completing the sensational and historical comeback. The hero of the evening would be Johnny Damon, who affectionately referred to the team as "The Idiots" to describe its eclectic roster and devil-may-care attitude toward "the curse". Although Damon had been largely ineffective for most of the ALCS, he would lead the charge for the Red Sox this night, hitting a grand slam in the second inning and adding another towering home run later as the Sox rolled to a 10-3 series-clinching win. David Ortiz - who had the game winning RBI's in Games Four and Five - was named ALCS MVP.
The Red Sox thus became the first team in baseball history (and the third in North American professional sports history, after the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders of the NHL) to rally from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series. Sadly, however, in riots that took place celebrating the victory, Emerson College student Victoria Snelgrove was accidentally killed by police officers trying to preserve order.
The Red Sox faced the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2004 World Series. The Cardinals had posted the best record in the major leagues that season, and had previously defeated the Red Sox in the 1946 and 1967 Series', both series going seven games. The third time would be the charm, however, as the momentum and confidence Boston had built up in the ALCS would overwhelm St. Louis. The Red Sox began the Series with an 11-9 win, the highest scoring WS opening game ever (breaking the previous record set in 1932). The Red Sox would go on to win the first two games in Boston (including another sensational performance by the bloody-socked Schilling in Game Two) then would win the next two in St. Louis to sweep the World Series for their first championship since 1918, completing an eight-game winning streak. One of the most memorable lines of the series would come on the final play: "Back to Foulke; Red Sox fans have longed to hear it. The Boston Red Sox are world champions." Manny Ramírez was named World Series MVP.
The Red Sox held a parade (or as Boston mayor Thomas Menino put it, a "rolling rally") on Saturday, October 30, 2004. A crowd of more than three million members of Red Sox Nation filled the streets of Boston to cheer as the team rode on the city's famous Duck Boats. Despite the unprecedented crowd levels (which dwarfed other city championship celebrations) the crowd was extraordinarily peaceful and friendly. There were very few arrests and a very small number of isolated incidents, a prominent exception being one fan throwing a baseball which struck Pedro Martínez but did not injure him.
2005
After winning its first World Series in 86 years, Red Sox management was left with the challenge of dealing with a number of high profile free agents. Pedro Martínez left the team to sign with the New York Mets; Derek Lowe signed a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Orlando Cabrera ended up with the Angels. To counter these losses, the Red Sox signed shortstop Edgar Rentería away from the Cardinals. After failing to land young pitching ace Carl Pavano, who chose to sign with the Yankees instead of Boston and his other potential suitors, the Red Sox signed pitcher David Wells, who was a former Yankee himself. The Red Sox also signed pitcher Matt Clement away from the Cubs, and they were able to re-sign catcher Jason Varitek, who was named team captain soon after. They also signed Wade Miller away from the Astros. Gabe Kapler also returned from his Japanese baseball to play for the Sox.
Boston started off slowly to begin the 2005 season. Curt Schilling started the year on the disabled list, leaving the Red Sox without their ace pitcher. This and other trouble caused the Red Sox to have a bad start. Schilling came back briefly but was soon forced to go on the DL for nearly three months, and he would never become the consistently effective rotation stopper he had been in the past.
By the All-Star break, they were in first place of the AL East. While still possessing a potent offense, the Red Sox had their share of pitching trouble during the season's second half, although there were some bright spots, specifically the emergence of young reliever Jonathan Papelbon and a series of quality starts from rotation veterans David Wells and Tim Wakefield. Submarining reliever Chad Bradford was acquired from the Oakland A's at midseason and also provided the Red Sox with another quality reliever.
The 2005 Red Sox also had closer issues throughout the year. Postseason hero Keith Foulke was ineffective all year, and eventually would be disabled in July due to required knee surgery. Upon Schilling's return from injury he was sent to the bullpen to be the Red Sox' closer. Schilling, who had never closed in his major league career or even pitched out of the bullpen for an extended period, nontheless handled the role with mixed results. When Schilling was deemed ready to return to the rotation, longtime set-up reliever Mike Timlin was named the closer, even though he had not closed regularly since he was with the Blue Jays in 1992. Timlin would also have mixed results as Red Sox closer.
Due largely to pitching problems, specifically with their bullpen, the Red Sox found themselves in the final month of the season struggling to maintain their division lead over the Yankees. The Yankes in September were playing their best baseball of the season, finally justifying their $204 million payroll and lofty pre-season expectations. Furthermore, the Red Sox needed to concern themselves with the Cleveland Indians who were also enjoying their best prolonged stretch since their last playoff appearance after the 2001 season. Consequently, it appeared that the Red Sox, after having led the AL East for much of the regular season, would not only lose the division but miss the playoffs entirely.
On the final weekend of the 2005 season the Red Sox would play the Yankees in a series that would decide the post-season fates of the two teams. Boston went into the series one game behind the Yankees in the AL East standings. The Red Sox would win the first game 5-3 but lose the second game 8-4. Meanwhile the Indians' would lose to the White Sox that Friday and Saturday. Due to MLB's tie-breaking procedures, the Yankees had effectively clinched the division by virtue of their having won the series season over the Red Sox (the series would end 10-9 in favor of New York.), even though a Red Sox win the next afternoon would tie them for the division lead.
The Indians' losses also meant that, on the final day of the season, the Red Sox only needed to win or to have Cleveland lose to clinch the wild-card birth. Boston was well on their way to a win in the finale, leading the Yankees 6-0, when word came from Cleveland that the Indians had lost, 3-1, to Chicago. Thus, the Red Sox clinched the Wild Card, and would go on to tie the Yankees for the division title, the closest anyone had come to the Yankees since they won the first of their eight consecutive divisional titles in 1998.
2005 Division Series
In the 2005 American League Division Series, the Red Sox faced the Chicago White Sox, who had finished with the best record in the American League (99-63) and the second-best record in the major leagues. Similar to the Red Sox in 2004, the White Sox were attempting to end an extrodinarily long World Series drought (they had not won a World Series since 1917). In fact, not only had the White Sox not won a World Series since 1917, they had not won a playoff series of any stripe since 1917 and had not appeared in the World Series since 1959.
The Red Sox were crushed 14-2 in Chicago in Game 1. Starting pitcher Matt Clement was hit for 5 runs in the first inning, including a two-out three-run home run by A.J. Pierzynski. The White Sox would hit five home runs in the victory, including two by Prezynski and one by light-hitting outfielder Scott Podsednik who had not hit a home run in the regular season.
The Red Sox took a 4-0 lead in Game 2 only to allow five runs in a tumultuous 5th inning. The inning was prolonged by an error on a one-out ground ball by Red Sox second baseman Tony Graffanino. In his haste to try and get the the double play, he did not get the glove down and the ball went through his legs. The TV announcers immediately dubbed it a "Bill Buckner moment", and it ultimately had that effect. Had Graffanino cleanly fielded the ball, the Red Sox likely would have gotten at least one out, or possibly an inning-ending double play. Yet no outs were recorded, and the inning continued.
Outfielder Scott Podsednik popped out for the second out of the inning. The next batter was second baseman Tadahito Iguchi who hit a three-run home run to left field to give the White Sox a 5-4 lead that would ultimately be the final score. The Red Sox would send 20 men to the plate over the last four innings; however only three would reach base and none would score.
The series returned to Boston for Game 3. White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko hit a two-run home run in the top of the 6th to give the White Sox a 4-2 lead. Manny Ramirez would respond in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run. This led to the Red Sox loading the bases with no outs and threatening to break the game open. The White Sox brought in reliever Orlando Hernandez who retired Jason Varitek and Tony Graffanino on pop-ups, and Johnny Damon on a strikeout. The Red Sox would not seriously threaten again, and the White Sox would record their first post-season series win in 88 years. Ironically, Edgar Renteria - who was the final out of the 2004 World Series - would ground out for the final out of this series as well, to the second baseman Iguchi.
2005-06 off-season
As in the 2004-05 off-season, the Red Sox will face a number of impending free agents. At least four prominent Red Sox are free agents: Johnny Damon, Bill Mueller, Mike Timlin and Kevin Millar.
Nicknames before "Red Sox"
The name Red Sox, chosen by owner John I. Taylor after the 1907 season, is based on an obsolete form of the word "socks", as in the red footwear worn by the team starting in 1908. The older Boston National League club had originally been called the Red Stockings, and in fact had worn red stockings until temporarily abandoning them in 1907, which inspired the American League club owner to grab the nickname. Prior to 1908, the A.L. team in fact wore dark blue stockings, and did not have an official nickname. They were simply "the Bostons" or "the Boston Baseball club"; some newspaper writers referred to them as the Boston "Americans", as in "American Leaguers", Boston being a two-team city. Many sources have stated for years that the early team was called the Boston "Pilgrims" or "Puritans" or "Plymouth Rocks", or "Somersets" (for their owner), but recent research into contemporary sources suggests otherwise. [8].
Postseason series
* Inducted as Red Sox
Active roster
Template loop detected: Boston Red Sox roster
Retired numbers
The Boston Red Sox have two requirements for a player to have his number retired: must have played for the Red Sox for at least 10 years and must have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
- 1 Bobby Doerr (May 21, 1988)
- 4 Joe Cronin (May 29, 1984)
- 8 Carl Yastrzemski (August 6, 1989)
- 9 Ted Williams (May 29, 1984)
- 27 Carlton Fisk (September 4, 2000)
- 42 Jackie Robinson (April 15, 1997) - retired by all Major League ballclubs
Until the late 1990's, the numbers originally hung on the right field facade in the order in which they were retired: 9-4-1-8. It was pointed out that if the numbers were read as a date, 9/4/18, was the day before the start of the 1918 World Series. Due to supersitions involving the "Curse of the Bambino" the numbers were rearrainged in numerical order.
- Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame
- Red Sox Nation
- Boston Red Sox spring training home
- Tony Conigliaro Award
- Major League Baseball franchise post-season droughts
External links
- Boston Red Sox official website
- Red Sox Minor League Overview
- Boston Sports Media
- Boston Dirt Dogs fan site
- Talksox - Red Sox fan discussion forum
- An Archive of Red Sox Uniform Numbers
- The Sons of Sam Horn - the top Red Sox fan site
- Red Sox Times - news, commentary, and analysis
- MLB.com
References
Johnson, Richard A., Stout, Glenn, and Johnson, Dick. Yankees Century: 100 Years of New York Yankees Baseball. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002. ISBN 0-618-08527-0
Stout, Glenn and Johnson, Richard A. Red Sox Century. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-395-88417-9.
Nowlin, Bill and Prime, Jim. Blood Feud: The Red Sox, The Yankees, and the Struggle of Good versus Evil. Cambridge, MA: Rounder Books, 2005. ISBN 1-57940-111-2.
Retired numbers
The Boston Red Sox have two requirements for a player to have his number retired: must have played for the Red Sox for at least 10 years and must have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
- 1 Bobby Doerr (May 21, 1988)
- 4 Joe Cronin (May 29, 1984)
- 8 Carl Yastrzemski (August 6, 1989)
- 9 Ted Williams (May 29, 1984)
- 27 Carlton Fisk (September 4, 2000)
- 42 Jackie Robinson (April 15, 1997) - retired by all Major League ballclubs
Until the late 1990's, the numbers originally hung on the right field facade in the order in which they were retired: 9-4-1-8. It was pointed out that if the numbers were read as a date, 9/4/18, was the day before the start of the 1918 World Series. Due to supersitions involving the "Curse of the Bambino" the numbers were rearrainged in numerical order.
- Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame
- Red Sox Nation
- Boston Red Sox spring training home
- Tony Conigliaro Award
- Major League Baseball franchise post-season droughts
External links
- Boston Red Sox official website
- Red Sox Minor League Overview
- Boston Sports Media
- Boston Dirt Dogs fan site
- Talksox - Red Sox fan discussion forum
- An Archive of Red Sox Uniform Numbers
- The Sons of Sam Horn - the top Red Sox fan site
- Red Sox Times - news, commentary, and analysis
- MLB.com
References
Johnson, Richard A., Stout, Glenn, and Johnson, Dick. Yankees Century: 100 Years of New York Yankees Baseball. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002. ISBN 0-618-08527-0
Stout, Glenn and Johnson, Richard A. Red Sox Century. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-395-88417-9.
Nowlin, Bill and Prime, Jim. Blood Feud: The Red Sox, The Yankees, and the Struggle of Good versus Evil. Cambridge, MA: Rounder Books, 2005. ISBN 1-57940-111-2.