They Believed: The Boston Red Sox
By Wesley Rickards, 11.05.04
Four score and six years ago, the city fathers brought forth on Red Sox Nation a new trade, dedicated to the proposition that financing the musical “No, No, Nanette” was more important than Boston superstar Babe Ruth.
From there, the city engaged in a great war, testing whether Red Sox Nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, could endure. They met their hated rivals the New York Yankees – the new team of the Babe – on the great battlefield of that war.
Ted Williams, Carl Yastremski, Bill Buckner, Johnny Pesky and everyone who donned the scarlet B on their caps struggled on the battlefields for the Nation, dedicated to a cause they nobly tried to advance. From the honored dead, the next soldiers took an increased devotion to that cause for which they gave their last full measure. So the dead shall not have died in vain, the Red Sox Nation, under Johnny Damon, fought for the birth of a new freedom.
After 86 years of futility and heartbreak, the Red Sox have finally found themselves to be the king of the mountain as World Series champions. The curse of the Bambino, manifested itself over the years in the form of extra inning home runs, late season collapses, fielders double-clutching, blown games and critical errors.
Now, it’s all over.
On the brink of yet-another lost season, the Red Sox fought back. Facing a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 deficit in the league championship series, something that no baseball team ever clawed back from, Boston refused to die.
In game four of the American League Championship Series, against the “Evil Empire” – the New York Yankees - the Sox were down a run late in the game and batting against Mariano Rivera. After a walk, Dave Roberts – acquired when Boston general manager Theo Epstein made a controversial trade earlier in the season – stole second and tied the game on a single. Many, many innings later, David Ortiz blasted a walk-off home run in front of the frenzied faithful at Fenway, and suddenly there was hope.
In game five, Pedro Martinez went to the mound. Derek Jeter, Yankee posterboy, looked like he provided yet another postseason magic act with a three RBI double in the sixth inning, and to some it looked like it was over - again. But Ortiz fired back, first with a titanic blast in the eighth inning and then with the game-winning hit in extra frames. In what seemed impossible, or at the least, improbable, the series was heading back to New York.
The Yankees were sweating, although they had already defeated the Game 6Six starter, Curt Schilling, in game one. Schilling ruptured a tendon before the series against the Yankees and was subsequently shelled. And medical science stepped in to avert the curse. Many doctors north of Westchester County went to find a way to surgically repair the ankle of the man who had a reputation of being a clutch-performer. One surgeon tried out a radical procedure on a cadaver and was successful. Even with blood oozing onto his sock and every pitch causing unimaginable pain, Schilling gritted his teeth and won the game for the BoSox.
The Yanks were deflated, and they didn’t stand a chance as the Sox continued its improbable steamroll to the pennant. Game seven was a blowout, and the Red Sox prepared for its first World Series in 18 years - facing the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals are the most successful franchise in National League history and had the best record in 2004.
Many thought that the Sox didn’t have a chance. Some thought that the Red Sox would blow it, just like they did in 1986, or 1975, or 1968, and pretty much every year since 1918. But others knew better. Something was different this time around in Red Sox nation, following its come-from-behind victory against the Yankees. Something that many baseball fans in New England ever felt before…
They believed.
