History of the Boston Red Sox
Encyclopedia
The history of the Boston Red Sox begins in , as one of the original franchises of the American League
.
's minor Western League, based in the Midwest, declared its equality with the National League
, then the only major league
in baseball. Johnson changed the name of his league to the American League
. Competing in the streets, the upstart placed franchises in two of the largest and most important NL cities, Philadelphia and Boston
. Playing their home games at Huntington Avenue Grounds
, the Boston franchise (often called the Americans during this time) finished second and third place in their first two seasons before capturing their first pennant
in 1903 and repeating the feat in 1904. The team was purchased in 1903 by Milwaukee publisher, George Brumder
, but Brumder sold the team in 1904. These early Boston teams were led by manager
and star third baseman
Jimmy Collins
and by pitcher
Cy Young
, whose 1901 to 1904 seasons both rank among the best four-year runs ever. In addition, the Americans received significant contributions from outfielder
s Chick Stahl
, Buck Freeman
and Patsy Dougherty
. In 1903, the Americans participated in the first modern World Series
, beating the favored Pittsburgh Pirates
and winning the best-of-nine series five games to three. The Americans were aided both by chants of "Tessie
" from their Royal Rooters
fan club
and by their stronger pitching staff.
The 1904 club was almost as good as the previous year's team, but due to the emergence of the New York Highlanders
as a strong contender, the Americans found themselves in a tight pennant race through the last games of the season. Foreshadowing what would eventually become a storied rivalry, the 1904 race featured such controversial moves as the trade of Patsy Dougherty
to the Highlanders for Bob Unglaub
. However, the arguable climax of the season occurred during the season's final doubleheader
at the Highlanders’ home stadium, Hilltop Park
. In order to win the pennant, New York needed to take both games from Boston. With Jack Chesbro
, the Highlanders' 41-game winner, on the mound, New York seemed to have a good chance of winning the first game. However, in the top of the ninth inning
with the score tied 2–2 with a man on third in the top of the ninth, a spitball
got away from Chesbro allowing Boston's Lou Criger
to score the go-ahead run on one of the most famous wild pitch
es in history. Unfortunately the NL champion New York Giants
had previously declined to play any postseason series, fearing it would give their New York rivals credibility (they had expected the Highlanders to win), but a sharp public reaction led to the two leagues immediately turning the World Series into a permanent championship, starting in 1905.
These successful times quickly ended, as the Americans would go on to lose 100 games in the 1906 season. But several new star players would soon help the newly-renamed Red Sox reverse their fortunes once again.
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By 1909, center fielder
Tris Speaker
had become a fixture in the Boston outfield, and the Red Sox worked their way up to third place in the American League. However, the Red Sox would not win the pennant again until their 105-win 1912 season
, finishing with a club-record .691 winning percentage
while anchored by an outfield considered to be among the finest in the game (Tris Speaker
, Harry Hooper
and Duffy Lewis
). Boston was also led by superstar pitcher Smoky Joe Wood, with whom the Red Sox beat the New York Giants
4–3–1 in the 1912 World Series
that has become best known for "Snodgrass’s Muff." From 1913 to 1916, the Red Sox were owned by Joseph Lannin
, who signed Babe Ruth
, soon to become one of the best-known and most-revered baseball players ever. In Ruth's debut as a pitcher he got a win vs. the Indians, then in 1915 his first major league home run was against the Yankees. Another 101 wins in 1915 propelled the Red Sox to the 1915 World Series
, where they beat the Philadelphia Phillies
four games to one. In the 1915 World Series, Harry Hooper hit two home runs, and Duffy Lewis batted .444 with a home run. The 1916 team once again earned the AL pennant, though Tris Speaker
was traded to the Cleveland Indians
in the off-season. His departure was more than compensated for, however, by the emergence of Babe Ruth as a star pitcher. Once again, the Red Sox won the World Series
, this time defeating the Brooklyn Robins
. In game two Ruth would pitch a 14 inning complete game victory. Also third baseman Larry Gardner hit a 3-run inside the park home run. By 1918, the team found itself at the top of the heap again, led by Ruth to another Series
championship over the Chicago Cubs
. The 1918 victory for Boston was provided by the pitching of Ruth and submarine pitcher Carl Mays.
sold Babe Ruth
to the rival New York Yankees
on January 2, 1920. Ruth had just broken the single-season home run record, hitting 29 in 1919. Legend has it that Frazee did so in order to finance the Broadway play No, No, Nanette
, starring "a friend," but the play did not open on Broadway
until 1925.
During that period, the Red Sox, White Sox and Yankees had a détente; they were called "Insurrectos" because their actions antagonized league president Johnson
. Although Frazee owned the Boston Red Sox franchise, he did not own Fenway Park
(it was owned by the Fenway Park Trust), making his ownership a precarious one; Johnson could move another team into the ballpark. His club was in debt, but Frazee felt the need to purchase its playing site (which he did in 1920). Further, providing the Yankees with a box office
attraction would help that mediocre club, which had sided with him against Johnson and "the Loyal Five" clubs. Finally, Ruth was considered a serious disciplinary problem, a reputation to be replicated in New York. Frazee moved to stabilize finances and cut distractions. It was a straight sale, no players in return.
After New York achieved great success and Boston did not win for a few decades, the sale of Babe Ruth came to be viewed as the beginning of the Yankees – Red Sox rivalry, described as the "Greatest Rivalry on Earth" by some journalists. The sale would later be attributed as the cause of the "Curse of the Bambino
", a tongue-in-cheek
curse blamed for the inability of the Red Sox to win the World Series
, from 1918 to 2004.
, future star pitcher Waite Hoyt
, Harry Harper
, and Mike McNally were traded to the Yankees for Del Pratt
, Muddy Ruel
, John Costello
, Hank Thormahlen, Sammy Vick and cash.
The following winter
, iron man shortstop
Everett Scott
, and pitchers Bullet Joe Bush
and Sad Sam Jones
were traded to the Yankees for Roger Peckinpaugh
(who would be immediately shipped to the Washington Senators
), Jack Quinn
, Rip Collins
, Bill Piercy and $50,000.
One particularly controversial deal was that of Joe Dugan
and Elmer Smith, who were traded to the Yankees on July 23, 1922, for Elmer Miller, Chick Fewster, Johnny Mitchell
, and future superstar Lefty O'Doul
, who was at the time a mediocre pitching prospect. The trade of Dugan helped the Yankees edge the St. Louis Browns
in a tight pennant race, and the resulting uproar helped create a June 15 trading deadline that went into effect the next year.
Perhaps an even more outrageous deal was the trade of Herb Pennock
, occurring in early 1923. Pennock
was traded by the Red Sox to the Yankees for Camp Skinner, Norm McMillan, George Murray
and $50,000.
Several notable trades involving Frazee and the Yankees occurred before the Babe Ruth sale. On December 18, 1918, outstanding outfielder Duffy Lewis
(mentioned above), pitcher Dutch Leonard
, and pitcher Ernie Shore
were traded to the Yankees for pitcher Ray Caldwell
, Slim Love
, Roxy Walters
, Frank Gilhooley
and $15,000.
As all three players were well regarded in Boston — Lewis had been a key player on the 1910s championship teams, Shore had famously relieved Babe Ruth
and retired 27 straight, and Leonard had only four years before set a modern record for earned run average
— this trade was regarded as not such a good one in Boston. Then, on July 13, 1919, submarine-style pitching star Carl Mays
was traded to the Yankees for Bob McGraw, Allan Russell and $40,000.
Mays would go on to have several good years for the Yankees.
Following these trades, the Red Sox finished in the second division with poor records in the 1920s and 1930s. Over an eight-year period from 1925 to 1932, the Red Sox averaged over 100 losses in a season. One of the few bright spots on these teams was Earl Webb
, who set the all-time mark for most doubles in a season in 1931 with 67. The Red Sox’ fortunes began to change in 1933, however, when Tom Yawkey
bought the Red Sox. Yawkey would acquire Lefty Grove
, one of the greatest pitchers of all-time, Joe Cronin
, who was one of best hitting shortstops as well as manager, Jimmie Foxx
, the slugging first baseman, and Wes Ferrell
, an outstanding pitcher. Wes Ferrell's brother Rick Ferrell
was an outstanding catcher who's .303 batting average is 12th on the all time Red Sox list. These moves paid off, as the Red Sox were once again competitive in the late thirties.
, the Red Sox purchased the contract of outfielder
Ted Williams
from the (minor league) San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League
, ushering in an era of the team sometimes called the "Ted Sox." Williams is generally considered one of the greatest hitters of all time, because he consistently hit for both high power and high average
. Stories of his ability to hold a bat in his hand and correctly estimate its weight down to the ounce have floated around baseball circles for decades. His book The Science of Hitting is widely read by students of baseball. He is also the last player to hit over .400 for a full season, hitting .406 in 1941. Williams feuded with sports writers his whole career, calling them "The Knights of the Keyboard," and his relationship with the fans was often rocky as he was seen spitting towards the stands on more than one occasion.
In 1946, with the help of a mid-season trade (Rudy York
from Detroit
, the Sox were able to win the 1946 Pennant (The first one in 28 years). Along with Williams, the Red Sox
reached the 1946 World Series
, but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals
in seven games, 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. Williams did not fare well in the series, gathering only five singles in 25 at-bats
, for a .200 average. However, his performance may have been affected by an elbow injury he had received a few days before when he was hit by a pitch
in an exhibition game
. Williams would never play in a World Series again. Williams served two stints in the United States Marine Corps
as a pilot and saw active duty
in both World War II
and the Korean War
, and missed at least five full seasons of baseball.
In the series however, Rudy York would hit game winning home runs in games 1 and 3. Bobby Doerr would hit .409 with a 2-run homer in the game four loss. The loss to the Cardinals in game 7 of 1946 World Series is not without controversy as the Cardinals' Enos Slaughter
scored the go ahead run all the way from first base on a base hit
to left field. The throw from Leon Culberson
was cut off by shortstop Johnny Pesky
who relayed the ball to the plate just a hair too late. Some say Pesky hesitated or "held the ball" before he turned to throw the ball, but this has been disputed. OF Leon Culberson was in the game because Dom DiMaggio
was injured while sliding into second base after his 2-run base hit that tied the game. Despite Leon Culberson's throwing blunder he did hit a home run in game five.
The right-field bullpens in Fenway Park were built in part for Williams' left-handed
swing, and are sometimes called "Williamsburg." Before this addition to right field, it was over 400 feet (121.9 m) in that area of the ballpark. In 1946 Williams would hit the longest homer in Fenway Park at 502 feet (153 m), where a red seat still marks its landing spot.
The Red Sox featured several other players during the 1940s, including SS
Johnny Pesky
(for whom the right field foul pole in Fenway — "Pesky's Pole
" — is affectionately named by fans, and in 2006 the Red Sox officially named it such), 2B Bobby Doerr
, and CF Dom DiMaggio
(brother of Joe DiMaggio
).
The Red Sox narrowly lost the AL pennant in 1948
and 1949
. In 1948, they finished in a tie with Cleveland
, and their loss to Cleveland in a one-game playoff ended hopes of an all-Boston World Series. Curiously, manager Joe McCarthy chose journeyman Denny Galehouse
to start the playoff game when the young lefty phenom Mel Parnell
was available to pitch. In 1949, the Sox
were one game ahead of the New York Yankees
, with the only two games left for both teams being against each other, and they lost both of those games.
in 1953, 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, owner Tom Yawkey refused to sign players of African descent, even passing up chances at future Hall-of-Famers Jackie Robinson
and Willie Mays
, both of whom tried out for Boston and were highly praised by team scouts. Jackie Robinson was even worked out by the team at Fenway Park, however it appeared that owner Tom Yawkey did not want an African American player on his team at that time. 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 as memorialized in the John Updike
story "Hub fans bid Kid adieu". The Sox finally became the last Major League team to field an African American
player when they promoted infielder
Pumpsie Green
from their AAA farm team in 1959. In Green's Fenway debut he tripled.
The 1950s had bright highlights like Pete Runnels .322 batting average in '58 and Jackie Jensen's 1958 MVP award.
, (uniform #8) who developed into one of the better hitters of a pitching-rich decade. In 1967 the Red Sox also had slugging 1B George Scott, SS Rico Petrocelli
who would hit 40 home runs in the '69 season, 1967 rookie center fielder Reggie Smith
and Cy Young Award winner Jim Lonborg
.
Red Sox fans refer to 1967 as the year of the "Impossible Dream." The 1967 season
is remembered as one of the great pennant races in baseball history because four teams were in the AL pennant race until almost the last game. The team had finished the 1966 season in ninth place, but they found new life with Yastrzemski as the team went to the 1967 World Series
. Yastrzemski won the American League Triple Crown
with a .326 average 44 home runs and 121 RBI (the most recent player to accomplish such a feat) and put forth what is considered one of the best seasons in baseball history. But the Red Sox lost the series — again to the St. Louis Cardinals
, in seven games. Legendary pitcher Bob Gibson
stymied the Sox winning three games.
The season started with a Billy Rohr one-hitter at Yankee Stadium. In Detroit, Yastrzemski hit a game tying home run in the ninth. Then Dalton Jones
won it with a homer in the following inning. 1967 also saw the renewal of a rivalry with the Yankees. In a series at the Bronx, Boston third baseman Joe Foy
hit a grand slam in the opener then the following night hit another homer. The Yankee's pitching took revenge and started throwing the ball at Red Sox hitters. At Fenway one night against the Angels, rookie Reggie Smith hit 3 home runs in one night (which included hit from both sides of the plate). Newly acquired 2nd baseman Jerry Adair
won it in extra innings with a home run into the Green Monster net in LF. The Red Sox won the final games against the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park. In the first game 1B George Scott broke the tie with a home run to center field. Then Carl Yastrzemski won the AL home run contest by hitting his 44th into the bullpen. This broke a tie with Twin's Harmon Killebrew. In the next game Jim Lonborg surprised everyone by bunting for a hit in the 5th inning. The BoSox scored 5 times that inning to take the lead. Twin's pinch hitter Rich Collins popped to Rico Petrocelli to give the Boston Red Sox its first pennant since 1946.
Also during the 1960s, a local Bostonian named Tony Conigliaro
slugged 24 home runs as an 18-year-old rookie in 1964. "Tony C" became the youngest player in Major League Baseball to hit his 100th home run, a record that stands today. However, he was struck just above the left cheek bone by a fastball thrown by Jack Hamilton in August 1967. Conigliaro sat out the entire next season with headaches and blurred vision and although he did have a productive season in 1970, he was never the same.
The Red Sox went to the World Series to face the St. Louis Cardinals. In the opener at Fenway Park, Red Sox pitcher José Santiago hit a home run off legendary Bob Gibson. But they lost 2–1. In the following game Jim Lonborg pitched a no-hitter until the 8th inning when Julian Javier hit a leadoff double. Carl Yastrzemski hit two home runs in a 5–0 victory. The Series then shifted to St. Louis. In the third game Cardinals Nelson Briles pitched a 5–2 victory, Reggie Smith homered for the Sox. In game 4 Bob Gibson shut out Boston 6–0 in a complete game victory. Down 3 games to 1 the Red Sox had Jim Lonborg to start game five. He pitched a 3-hitter and catcher Elston Howard hit a bloop single that gave the them the win. In game six at Fenway Park. Manager Dick Williams started rookie pitcher Gary Waslewski to start it in a 8–4 victory. In the 4th inning Carl Yastrzemski, Reggie Smith and Rico Petrocelli hit home runs. Rico also homered in the 2nd inning. In game 7 Bob Gibson won against Jim Lonborg 7–2 to end the season.
Although the Red Sox played competitive baseball for much of the late 1960s and early 1970s, they never finished higher than second place in their division. The closest they came to a divisional title was 1972
, when they lost by a half-game to the Detroit Tigers
. The start of the season was delayed by a players' strike, and because games cancelled by the strike were not made up, the Red Sox were scheduled for one less game than the Tigers, and ended up losing the division title to the Tigers by a half-game. On October 2, 1972, they also lost the second to last game of the year to the Tigers, 4–1; in that game, Luis Aparicio
fell rounding third (after Yastrzemski hit an apparent triple in the third inning) and tried to scamper back to third, but Yastrzemski was already on third. (As the lead runner, and not forced to advance, Aparicio was awarded the base, and Yastrzemski was out, his hit being reduced to a double.)
, with Yastrzemski surrounded by other players such as rookie outfielders Jim Rice
and Fred Lynn
the "Gold Dust Twins," veteran outfielder Dwight Evans
"Dewey," catcher Carlton Fisk
"Pudge," and pitchers Luis Tiant
"El Tiante" and eccentric junkballer Bill Lee
"The Spaceman." With many different personalities in the clubhouse, the 1975 Red Sox were as colorful as they were talented. Fred Lynn won both the American League Rookie of the Year award and the Most Valuable Player award, a feat which had never been accomplished at that time and was not duplicated until Ichiro Suzuki
did it in 2001. Lynn would hit .331 with 21 home runs and Jim Rice would tally 22 homers and a .309 average. In the playoffs
, the Red Sox swept the Oakland A's
. Carl Yastrzemski returned to left field and had two assists. Yaz also helped the offense with a home run off Vida Blue
in game two, Rico Petrocelli
hit a game winning home run off future hall of fame closer Rollie Fingers
.
In the 1975 World Series
, they faced the Cincinnati Reds
, also known as The Big Red Machine
, a team considered a baseball dynasty during the 1970s. Luis Tiant won games 1 and 4 of the World Series but after five games, the Red Sox trailed the series 3 games to 2. Game 6 played at Fenway Park is thought to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, game in postseason history. The Sox struck first on a 1st inning Fred Lynn blast. But by the 8th they were down 6–3 in the bottom of the eighth when pinch hitter
Bernie Carbo
hit a three run homer into the center field bleachers off Reds fireman Rawly Eastwick
to tie the game. In the top of the eleventh inning, right fielder
Dwight Evans
made a spectacular catch of a Joe Morgan
line drive and doubled Ken Griffey Sr. at 1st base to preserve the tie. The Red Sox ultimately prevailed in the bottom of the twelfth inning when Carlton Fisk
hit a deep fly ball which sliced towards the left field foul pole above the Green Monster
. As the ball sailed into the night, Fisk waved his arms frantically towards fair territory, seemingly pleading with the ball not to go foul. The ball hit approximately six inches to the fair side of the foul pole and bedlam ensued at Fenway as Fisk rounded the bases to win the game 7–6.
The Red Sox lost game 7 even though they had an early 3–0 lead on a RBI single by Carl Yastrzemski. Starting pitcher
Bill Lee threw a slow looping curve which he called a "Leephus pitch" or "space ball" to Reds first baseman Tony Perez who hit the ball over the Green Monster and across the street. The Reds scored the winning run in the 9th inning. Carlton Fisk said famously about the 1975 World Series, "We won that thing 3 games to 4."
, and Rick Burleson
. The Red Sox were explaining that they couldn't afford Lynn, Burleson, and Fisk. To make matters worse, the Red Sox were about to buy Rollie Fingers
and Joe Rudi
from the Oakland A's
. Many fans wondered how Boston could afford to sign Fingers and Rudi if they did not have the money to sign the three players that led them to the 1975 World Series. However, commissioner Bowie Kuhn
stepped in and vetoed the deal, thus allowing Boston to re-sign Lynn, Fisk, and Burleson. Thanks to this distraction, the Red Sox won 83 games in 1976
, finishing in third place.
was a bounce-back with the hiring of Don Zimmer
as manager and the signing of reliever Bill Campbell from the Minnesota Twins
. They fought with the Baltimore Orioles
for first place for much of the first half, even sporting seven All-Stars at the All-Star game
at Yankee Stadium. However, the Yankees eclipsed them both after the All-Star game. The Orioles and Red Sox would finish tied for 2nd place with 97 victories apiece.
Jim Rice, George Scott, Carl Yastrzemski, Carlton Fisk, Fred Lynn and Butch Hobson helped the Red Sox with 213 home runs.
began with three more signings. The first brought in pitcher Dennis Eckersley
from Cleveland. The other brought speedy second baseman Jerry Remy
from the California Angels
. The third stole Mike Torrez
away from the hated Yankees. With these acquisitions, the Red Sox took off and fought with the Milwaukee Brewers
for first place much of the first half. Just like the previous season, they sported seven All-Stars in the All-Star game
at Jack Murphy Stadium
. However, injuries to Fisk and Burleson would prevent the Sox to retain first place as the Yankees caught up to them.
In 1978, the Red Sox and the Yankees
were involved in a tight pennant race. The Yankees were 14½ games behind
the Red Sox in July behind the hitting of MVP Jim Rice, Yaz, Carlton Fisk, Fred Lynn and George Scott, and on September 10, after completing a 4-game sweep of the Red Sox (known as "The Boston Massacre"), the Yankees tied for the divisional lead.
For the final three weeks of the season, the teams fought closely and the lead changed hands several times. By the final day of the season, the Yankees' magic number
to win the division was one — which meant 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 5–0, forcing a one-game playoff
to be held at Fenway Park on Monday, October 2.
The Red Sox took a 2–0 lead on a Yastrzemski homer and a run scoring single by Rice. Although Bucky Dent
's three-run home run in the 7th inning off Mike Torrez
just over the Green Monster — which gave the Yankees their first lead — is the most remembered moment from the game, it was Reggie Jackson
's solo home run in the 8th that proved the difference in the Yankees' 5–4 win, which ended with Yastrzemski popping out to Graig Nettles
with Rick Burleson
representing the tying run at third. Although Dent became a Red Sox demon, the Red Sox would get retribution in 1990 when the Yankees fired Dent as their manager during a series at Fenway Park.
After the 1978 season, things would go bad for Boston as they let go of two clubhouse leaders. First, Luis Tiant
would sign with the hated Yankees. Also, Bill Lee ended up on the upcoming Montreal Expos
.
After the loss in 1978, John Cheever
said to Diane White, "All literary men are Red Sox fans. To be a Yankee fan in literary society is to endanger your life". He also compared the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry to the Trojan War
, with the Red Sox portraying the Trojans (broadbacked Carl Yastrzemski
in a noble frieze
, his poignant popup soaring beyond the topless towers of Troy
before the dream is dashed by the grit-gloved Graig Nettles
).
would hit his 3000th career hit and Fred Lynn
won the batting crown. The Sox would finish in third with a 91–69 record. Despite plus-.500 finishes in 1980 and 1981, the Red Sox decided not to resign Fred Lynn, Carlton Fisk, and Rick Burleson. Fisk would go to the White Sox, Lynn and Burleson went to the California Angels, in two separate trades that brought in Frank Tanana
, Joe Rudi
, Carney Lansford
who would win the 1981 batting title, Rick Miller, and Mark Clear
. The Red Sox would win 89 games in 1982 with 14 wins from reliever Mark Clear and a .349 batting average from rookie Wade Boggs
. Carl Yastrzemski
retired after the 1983 season, during which the Red Sox finished sixth in the seven-team AL East, posting their worst record since 1966.
However, in 1986, it appeared that the team's fortunes were about to change. The team's hitting and offense had remained strong with Jim Rice
, Dwight Evans
, Bill Buckner
, Don Baylor
, and future Hall of Famer
Wade Boggs
who would win 5 batting titles. Roger Clemens
led the pitching staff, going 24–4 with a 2.48 ERA
to win both the American League
Cy Young
and Most Valuable Player
awards. Clemens became the first starting pitcher to win both awards since Vida Blue
in 1971. A starting pitcher has not won the MVP award in either league since.
The Red Sox won the AL East for the first time in 11 seasons, prompting a playoff series against the California Angels
in the AL Championship Series
. The teams split the first two games in Boston, but the Angels won the next two games at their home stadium, taking a 3–1 lead in the series. With the Angels poised to win the series, the Red Sox trailed 5–2 heading into the ninth inning of Game 5. A two-run homer
by Baylor cut the lead to one. 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. Although the Angels tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, the Red Sox won in the 11th on a Henderson sacrifice fly
off Moore. The Red Sox then found themselves with six- and seven-run wins at Fenway Park in Games 6 and 7 to win the American League title.
the Red Sox played the New York Mets
. Boston won the first two games in Shea Stadium
but lost the next two at Fenway, knotting the series at 2 games apiece. After Bruce Hurst
recorded his second victory of the series in Game 5, the Red Sox returned to Shea Stadium looking to garner their first championship in 68 years. However, Game 6 would go down as one of the most devastating losses in club history. After pitching seven strong innings, Clemens was lifted from the game with a 3–2 lead. Years later, Manager John McNamara
said Clemens was suffering from a blister and asked to be taken out of the game, a claim Clemens denied. The Mets then scored a run off reliever
Calvin Schiraldi
to tie the score 3–3. The game went to extra innings
, where the Red Sox took a 5–3 lead in the top of the 10th on a solo home run by Henderson, a double by Boggs and an RBI single by second baseman Marty Barrett. After recording two outs in the bottom of the 10th, the Red Sox were one strike away from breaking their championship drought. The champagne was on ice in the Red Sox clubhouse, a graphic appeared on the NBC telecast hailing Barrett as the World Series MVP, and a message even appeared briefly on the Shea Stadium
scoreboard congratulating the Red Sox as world champions. After so many years of abject frustration, Red Sox fans around the world could taste victory. However, after three straight singles
off Schiraldi and a wild pitch
by Bob Stanley
, the Mets tied the game at 5. It looked as though the Red Sox would record the third out leaving the score tied when Mookie Wilson
hit a slow ground ball
to first; the ball rolled through Bill Buckner's
legs, allowing Ray Knight
to score the winning run from second. While Buckner was singled out as responsible for the loss, many observers — as well as both Wilson and Buckner — have noted that even if Buckner had fielded the ball cleanly, Wilson possibly would still have been safe, leaving the game-winning run at third with two out. Many observers questioned why Buckner was in the game at that point considering he had bad knees and that Dave Stapleton had come in as a late-inning defensive replacement in prior series games. It appeared as though McNamara was trying to reward Buckner for his long and illustrious career by leaving him in the game. The Sox took a 3–0 lead on home runs by Dwight Evans
and Rich Gedman
but the Mets then won Game 7, concluding the devastating collapse and feeding the myth that the Red Sox were "cursed."
This World Series loss had a strange twist: Red Sox General Manager Lou Gorman
was vice president, player personnel, of the Mets from 1980 to 1983. Working under Mets' GM Frank Cashen
, with whom Gorman served with the Orioles, he helped lay the foundation for the Mets' championship.
The Red Sox returned to the postseason in 1988. With the club in fourth place midway through the 1988 season at the All-Star break, manager John McNamara
was fired and replaced by Joe Morgan
on July 15. 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 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 and Baseball Hall of Fame player Dennis Eckersley
, who saved
all four wins for Oakland.
. However, the outcome was the same, with the A's sweeping the ALCS in four straight. That same year, Yankees fans started to chant "1918!" to taunt the Red Sox. The demeaning chant would echo at Yankee Stadium each time the Red Sox were there. Also, Fenway Park became the scene of Bucky Dent
's worst moment as a manager, although it was where he had his greatest triumph. In June, when the Red Sox swept the Yankees during a four-game series at Fenway Park, the Yankees fired Dent as their manager. Red Sox fans felt retribution to Dent being fired on their field.
Tom Yawkey died in 1976, and his wife Jean Yawkey
took control of the team until her death in 1992. Their initials are shown in two stripes on the Left field wall in Morse code
. After Jean Yawkey's death, control of the team passed to the Yawkey Trust, led by John Harrington
. The trust sold the team in 2002, concluding 70 years of Yawkey ownership.
In 1994, General Manager Lou Gorman
was replaced by Dan Duquette
, a Massachusetts native who had worked for the Montreal Expos
. Duquette revived the team's farm system
, which during his tenure produced players such as Nomar Garciaparra
, Carl Pavano
, and David Eckstein
. Duquette also spent money on free agents, notably an eight-year, $160 million deal for Manny Ramírez
after the 2000 season.
Many fans were upset when Roger Clemens
and Mo Vaughn
left the team as free agents. After Clemens had turned 30 and then had four seasons, 1993–96, which were by his standards mediocre at best, Duquette said the pitcher was entering "the twilight
of his career." Clemens went on to pitch well for another ten years and win four more Cy Young
awards. In 1999, Duquette called Fenway Park "economically obsolete" and, along with Red Sox ownership, led a push for a new stadium. Despite support from the Massachusetts Legislature
and other politicians, issues with buying out neighboring property and steadfast opposition within Boston's city council eventually doomed the project.
On the field, the Red Sox had some success during this period, but were unable to return to the World Series. In 1995, they won the newly-realigned American League East
, finishing seven games ahead of the Yankees. However, they were swept in three games in a series against the Cleveland Indians
. Their postseason losing streak reached 13 straight games, dating back to the 1986 World Series
. During the 1990s a group of young talented players joined the team such as infielders Nomar Garciaparra
and John Valentin
. Garciaparra would win the 1997 rookie of the year honor while hitting 60 home runs in his first two full seasons. John Valentin would make 1994 triple play while being one of the best AL hitters.
The 1996 season certainly had its individual highlights. Roger Clemens tied his major league record by fanning 20 Detroit Tigers
on September 18 in what would prove to be one of his final appearances in a Red Sox uniform. Mo Vaughn had another All-Star season (.326 batting average, 44 home runs, 143 runs batted in) and newcomer Heathcliff Slocumb
saved 31 games. However the Red Sox lost 19 of their first 25 games and finished third with an 85–77 record. They led the league in unearned runs. Even so, home attendance increased over 1995, to 2.3 million fans. Out of contention in 1997, the team traded closer Slocum to Seattle for catching prospect Jason Varitek
and right-handed pitcher Derek Lowe
.
In 1998, the Red Sox dealt pitcher
s Tony Armas, Jr.
and Carl Pavano
to the Montreal Expos
in exchange for pitcher Pedro Martínez
. Martínez became the anchor of the team's pitching staff and turned in several outstanding seasons. In 1998, the team won the American League Wild Card, but again lost the American League Division Series
to the Indians.
A year later, the 1999 Red Sox
were finally able to overturn their fortunes against the Indians. Cleveland took a 2–0 series lead, but Boston won the next three games behind strong pitching by Derek Lowe
, Pedro Martínez and his brother Ramón Martínez
. Game 4's 23–7 win by the Red Sox was the highest-scoring playoff game in major league history. Game 5 began 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 without allowing a hit while the team's offense rallied for a 12–8 win behind two home runs and seven RBIs from outfielder Troy O'Leary
. After the ALDS victory, the Red Sox lost the American League Championship Series
to the Yankees, four games to one. The one bright spot was a lopsided win for the Sox in the much-hyped Martinez-Clemens game.
career year and Pedro Martínez's
historic season (18–6, 1.74 ERA, and his third Cy Young Award). Despite a few other standouts, they stumbled to an 85–77 clip. In 2001, though the Red Sox got an outstanding performance from new acquisition Manny Ramírez
who would homer in his first at bat at Fenway as a member of the Red Sox. Ramirez was also a great RBI hitter. 2000 was a good year from Trot Nixon
a defensive RF with a powerful bat, Garciaparra played only a meager 21 games, and Martinez pitched just 116 innings. To top it off, the Red Sox fired manager Jimy Williams
and replaced him with pitching coach
Joe Kerrigan
, under whom they went 17–26.
In 2002, the Red Sox were sold by Yawkey trustee and president Harrington to a consortium headed by principal owner John Henry. New England Sports Ventures: Henry, Lucchino, Werner, Couric, Otten, George Mitchell, Cammarata, Eskandarian, New York Times/Boston Globe, Voter.com, Weld, Rasky, Colin Powell, Cokie Roberts, Byron Dafoe, Jo Jo White. The group underbid the next highest bidder, James Dolan, in a complex deal arranged by Mitchell and Bud Selig.
Tom Werner
served as executive chairman, Larry Lucchino
served as president and CEO, serving as vice chairman was Les Otten
. Within twenty-four hours, Dan Duquette was fired as GM of the club on February 28, with former Angels GM Mike Port
taking the interim helm for the 2002 season. A week later manager Joe Kerrigan was fired and replaced by Grady Little.
While nearly all offseason moves were made under Dan Duquette, such as signing outfielder Johnny Damon
away from the Oakland A's, the new ownership made additions after their purchase of the team, including trading for outfielder Cliff Floyd
and relief pitcher Alan Embree
. Nomar Garciaparra
, Manny Ramírez
, and Floyd (in limited time) all hit well, while Pedro Martínez
put up his usual outstanding numbers. Derek Lowe
, newly converted into a starter, won 20 games—becoming the first player to save 20 games and win 20 games in back-to-back seasons. The Red Sox won 93 games but they finished 10½ games behind the Yankees for the division and 6 behind the Angels for the wild card.
In the off season, Port was replaced by Yale
graduate Theo Epstein
after Oakland's
Billy Beane
turned down the position. At the age of 28, Epstein became the youngest general manager in the history of the Major Leagues up to that point. He was raised in Brookline
.
The "Idiots" of 2004 arose out of the "Cowboy Up" team of 2003, a nickname derived from first baseman Kevin Millar
's challenge to his teammates to show more determination. In addition to Millar, the team's offense was so deep that eventual 2003 batting champion Bill Mueller
was 7th in the lineup behind sluggers Manny Ramírez
and the newly acquired David Ortiz
.
Ortiz started the season as a platoon player with Mueller, Shea Hillenbrand
, and Jeremy Giambi
, collectively playing first and third base. However, Hillenbrand became upset with his lack of playing time. GM Theo Epstein, noting that Mueller was hitting very well in his limited role, traded Hillenbrand to the Arizona Diamondbacks
for pitcher
Byung-Hyun Kim
. Receiving much more playing time following the trade, Ortiz settled down and contributed significantly in the second half of the season. Epstein's decision ended up greatly benefiting the team, as the Red Sox broke many batting records and won the AL Wild Card on September 25 with a victory over the Baltimore Orioles
at Fenway.
In the 2003 American League Division Series
, the Red Sox rallied from a 0–2 series deficit against the Oakland Athletics
to win the best-of-five series. In extra innings of game three at Fenway pinch hitter Trot Nixion belted a homer into the center field bleachers to give the Sox victory. Derek Lowe
, who had become a starter
after several years as a relief pitcher, returned to his former role to save Game 5, a 4–3 victory, by striking out the A's Terrence Long
with the tying run on third base. The team then faced the New York Yankees
in the 2003 American League Championship Series
. In the deciding seventh game Boston took a 4–0 lead on home runs by Nixon and Kevin Millar. But two Giambi homers made it 4–2. Boston led 5–2 thanks to a shot by David Ortiz in the eighth inning, but Pedro Martínez
, who was still pitching into the 8th inning, allowed three runs to tie the game, including a two-run bloop double by Jorge Posada
. The Red Sox could not score off Mariano Rivera
over the last three innings and eventually lost the game 6–5 when Yankee third baseman
Aaron Boone
hit a solo home run off Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield
.
Some placed the blame for the loss on manager Grady Little
for failing to remove Martínez in the 8th inning after some observers believe he began to show signs of tiring. Others credited Little with the team's successful season and dramatic come-from-behind victory in the ALDS. Nevertheless, Boston's management decided a change was in order. Little's contract expired after the season, and the organization decided not to exercise his option. He was replaced by former Philadelphia Phillies
manager Terry Francona
.
, and a closer, Keith Foulke
. Expectations once again ran high that 2004 would be the year that the Red Sox ended their championship drought. The regular season started well in April, but through mid-season the team struggled due to injuries, inconsistency and defensive woes.
Pitching remained strong from Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling and Tim Wakefield. Offense was too much for the 2004 Red Sox led by Ortiz, Ramirez, Damon and Jason Varitek. But management shook up the team at the MLB trading deadline on July 31, when they traded the team's popular yet often injured shortstop, Nomar Garciaparra
, to the Chicago Cubs
, receiving Orlando Cabrera
of the Montreal Expos
and Doug Mientkiewicz
of the Minnesota Twins
in return. In a separate transaction, the Red Sox also traded minor leaguer Henri Stanley to the Los Angeles Dodgers
for center fielder Dave Roberts. Many Sox fans initially blasted the trade as bringing the team inadequate compensation for Garciaparra. However, the club would turn things around soon after, winning twenty-two out of twenty-five games and qualifying for the playoffs as the AL Wild Card. Players and fans affectionately referred to the players as "The Idiots", a term coined by Johnny Damon
and Kevin Millar
during the playoff push to describe the team's eclectic roster and devil-may-care attitude toward their supposed curse
.
champion Anaheim Angels
in the ALDS
. However, Curt Schilling suffered a torn ankle tendon
in Game 1 when he was hit by a line drive. The injury was exacerbated when Schilling fielded a ball rolling down the first base line. In the third game of the series, what looked to be a blowout turned out to be a nail-biter, as Vladimir Guerrero
hit a grand slam off Mike Timlin in the 7th inning to tie the game. However, David Ortiz
hit a walk-off two-run homer in the 10th inning to win the game. The Sox advanced to a rematch in the 2004 American League Championship Series
against the New York Yankees
.
The series started very poorly for the Red Sox. Schilling, pitching with an injured ankle, was routed for six runs in three innings. Yankees starter Mike Mussina
had six perfect innings, and despite Boston's best efforts to come back, they ended up losing 10–7. In Game 2, with his Yankees leading 1–0 for most of the game, John Olerud
hit a two-run home run to put New York up for good. Following this, the Red Sox were down three games to none after a crushing 19–8 loss in Game 3 at home. In that game, the two clubs set the record for most runs scored
in a League Championship Series game. At that point in the history of baseball, no team had come back to win from a 3–0 series deficit. In Game 4, the Red Sox found themselves facing elimination, trailing 4–3 in the ninth with Yankees closer
Mariano Rivera
on the mound. After Rivera issued a walk to Kevin Millar, Dave Roberts came on to pinch run and promptly stole
second base. He then scored on an RBI
single
by Bill Mueller
which sent the game to extra innings. The Red Sox went on to win the game on a two-run home run by David Ortiz in the 12th inning. In Game 5, the Red Sox were again down late (by the score of 4–2) as a result of Derek Jeter
's bases-clearing triple. But the Sox struck back in the eighth, as Ortiz hit a homer over the Green Monster to bring the Sox within a run. Then Jason Varitek
hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Dave Roberts, scoring the tying run. The game would go for 14 innings, featuring many squandered opportunities on both sides. In the bottom of the 14th, Ortiz would again seal the win with an RBI single that brought home Damon. The 14-inning game set the record for the longest American League Championship Series game ever played.
With the series returning to Yankee Stadium for Game 6, the comeback continued with Schilling pitching on a bad ankle. The three sutures in Schilling's ankle bled throughout the game, making his sock appear bloody red. Schilling struck out four, walked none, and only allowed one run over seven innings to lead the team to victory. Mark Bellhorn
also helped in the effort as he hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning. In the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees staged a rally and brought former Red Sox player Tony Clark
to the plate as the potential winning run. Keith Foulke, pitching for the third day in a row, struck out Clark to end the game and force the deciding Game 7. In this game, the Red Sox completed their historic comeback owing to the strength of Derek Lowe
's one-hit, one-run pitching and Johnny Damon's two home runs (including a grand slam in the second inning). The New York Yankees were defeated 10–3. Ortiz, who had the game-winning RBIs in Games 4 and 5, was named ALCS Most Valuable Player. The Red Sox joined the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs
and 1975 New York Islanders
as the only professional sports
teams in history to win a best-of-seven games series after being down three games to none, as would the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers
.
in the 2004 World Series
. The Cardinals had posted the best record in MLB in 2004, and had previously defeated the Red Sox in the and 1967 World Series
. The Sox began the series when Ortiz hit a 3-run homer to start the night. However Boston made many errors which allowed St. Louis to tie the game 9-all. But in the 8th inning the Red Sox won 11–9, marked by Mark Bellhorn's game-winning home run off Pesky's Pole
. It was the highest scoring World Series opening game ever (breaking the previous record set in 1932
). The Red Sox would go on to win Game 2 in Boston thanks to another great performance by the bloody-socked Curt Schilling. Boston scored all six runs with two-out RBI hits by Varitek, Orlando Cabrera and Varitek. In Game 3, Manny Ramirez
got Boston started with a 1st-inning solo home run. Pedro Martínez (in his first World Series performance) shut out the Cardinals for seven innings and led Boston to a 4–1 victory. In Game 4, Damon led off the game with a home run and the Red Sox did not allow a single run, and the game ended as Edgar Rentería
hit the ball back to closer Keith Foulke. After Foulke lobbed the ball to first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, the Sox had won their first World Championship in 86 years. Boston held the Cardinals' offense to only three runs in the final three games and never trailed in the series. Fox commentator Joe Buck
famously called the final play of the game with: "Back to Foulke
. Red Sox fan
s have longed to hear it: The Boston Red Sox are World Champions!"
Manny Ramírez was named World Series MVP. To add a final, surreal touch to Boston's championship season, on the night of Game 4 a total lunar eclipse colored the moon red over Busch Stadium
. The Red Sox won the title about eleven minutes before totality ended.
The Red Sox held a "rolling rally" for the team on Saturday, October 30, 2004. A crowd of more than three million people filled the streets of Boston to celebrate as the team rode on the city's famous Duck Boats
. The Red Sox earned many accolades from the sports media and throughout the nation for their incredible season. In December, Sports Illustrated
named the Boston Red Sox the 2004 Sportsmen of the Year
.
With the New England Patriots
winning Super Bowl XXXVIII
in February, Boston became the first city since Pittsburgh in 1979 to have both Super Bowl and World Series champions in the same year. Their winning Super Bowl XXXIX
during the offseason made Boston the first city since Pittsburgh in 1979-1980 to have two Super Bowl and World Series championships over a span of 12 months. After the Bruins
won the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals
, which made Boston the first city to win championships in all four sports leagues in the new millennium, Dan Shaughnessy
of The Boston Globe
ranked all seven championships by the Patriots, Red Sox in 2004 and , the Celtics in , and the Bruins and picked the Red Sox win in 2004 as the greatest Boston sports championship during the ten-year span.
, Derek Lowe
, and Orlando Cabrera
were replaced with David Wells
, Matt Clement
, and Edgar Rentería
, respectively. The club re-signed its catcher, Jason Varitek
, and named him team captain
. On April 11, the Red Sox opened their home season with a ring ceremony and the unveiling of their 2004 World Series Championship banner. Their opponent that day was the New York Yankees – the team the Red Sox had won four straight games against in 2004 to win the ALCS.
Pitchers Curt Schilling
and Keith Foulke
, key players in the previous year's playoff drive, spent large parts of the season on the disabled list
. More of the team's struggles stemmed from the declining performances of some of its key role players: first baseman Kevin Millar
(only 9 home runs), second baseman Mark Bellhorn
(struck out once every 2.6 AB), and setup man
Alan Embree
(7.65 ERA). Without Foulke and Embree anchoring the pen, Theo Epstein took a chance on a number of journeymen who failed to bring stability. For much of the season Boston held first place in the AL East
but down the stretch the team struggled, squandering its lead over the Yankees and allowing the Cleveland Indians
to close the gap in the Wild Card race. The division crown would be decided on the last weekend of the season, with the Yankees coming to Fenway Park with a one-game lead in the standings. The Red Sox won two of the three games to finish the season with the same record as the Yankees, 95–67. However, a playoff was not needed. The Indians had a record of 93–69, thus qualifying both the Yankees and Red Sox for the playoffs. Since the Yankees had won the season series, 10–9, they won the division, whereas the Red Sox settled for the Wild Card. In the 2005 playoffs, the Red Sox faced the AL Central
champion Chicago White Sox
but were swept in three games.
On October 31, 2005, general manager Theo Epstein
resigned on the last day of his contract, reportedly turning down a three-year, $4.5 million contract extension. On Thanksgiving
evening, the Red Sox officially announced the acquisition of pitcher Josh Beckett
from the Florida Marlins
. Boston also added third baseman Mike Lowell
and relief pitcher Guillermo Mota
in the deal, while sending minor league prospects Hanley Ramírez
, Aníbal Sánchez
, Jesús Delgado, and Harvey García to the Marlins. On December 7, the Sox traded backup catcher Doug Mirabelli
to the San Diego Padres
for second baseman Mark Loretta
(the team would later reacquire Mirabelli in May 2006). On December 8, the Sox gave up on Edgar Rentería
, trading him and cash to the Atlanta Braves
for third base prospect Andy Marté
. On December 20, Johnny Damon
declined arbitration and a few days later signed a four-year, $52 million deal with the New York Yankees. With Mike Lowell now on board, the Sox let Bill Mueller
go via free agency to the Dodgers. Meanwhile, Kevin Millar
was not offered arbitration and signed with the Baltimore Orioles
.
On January 19, 2006, the Red Sox announced that Theo Epstein
would be rejoining the Red Sox in a "full-time baseball operations capacity" and, five days later, he was renamed General Manager. The Sox signed Bronson Arroyo
to a three-year contract, but later traded him to the Reds for outfielder Wily Mo Peña
. Veteran shortstop Álex González was signed to a one-year contract to replace Edgar Rentería
. The team also filled the vacancy in center field left by Johnny Damon's departure by trading Mota, Marte, and prospect Kelly Shoppach
to the Cleveland Indians for center fielder Coco Crisp
, relief pitcher David Riske
, and backup catcher Josh Bard
. However, Crisp
fractured his left index finger
after playing only the first five games of the 2006 season. Crisp would miss over 50 games during the season and did not live up to expectations.
Third baseman Mike Lowell
rediscovered his offense after a difficult season in Florida, and together with shortstop Álex González, second baseman Mark Loretta, and new first baseman Kevin Youkilis
, the Red Sox had one of the best-fielding infields in Major League Baseball. On June 30, Boston set a major league record of 17 straight errorless games. This streak helped the Red Sox commit the fewest errors in the American League in 2006. During this span, they also recorded 12 consecutive victories, all in interleague play
. The winning streak
was the third longest in club history, behind only the 15 wins posted by the 1946 club and 13 victories in 1948. The Red Sox were well represented in the 2006 All-Star Game
. David Ortiz and Mark Loretta started for the American League squad. Manny Ramírez, though elected to a starting role, did not appear due to a knee injury
.
One of the brightest spots of the 2006 season was the emergence of new closer Jonathan Papelbon
. The 25-year-old rookie fireballer
was given the chance to save the April 5 game against the Texas Rangers. Two months later, he had saved 20 games in a row. On September 1, Papelbon left the game after experiencing shoulder pain
. He would eventually be shut down for the rest of the season. Papelbon ended up setting a Red Sox rookie record with 35 saves while recording a minuscule 0.92 ERA and earning an All-Star
appearance. Also, David Ortiz provided a late-season highlight when he broke Jimmie Foxx's single season Red Sox home run by hitting 54 homers.
Down the stretch, the Sox wilted under the pressure of mounting injuries and poor performances. Boston would compile a 9–21 record in the month of August, with two six-game losing streaks included during that stretch. Despite Curt Schilling's resurgence in the starting rotation (15–7, 3.97 ERA), Josh Beckett had an inconsistent season, winning 16 games but allowing 36 homers and posting a 5.01 ERA. Injuries to Tim Wakefield, rookie Jon Lester
(diagnosed with lymphoma
), and Matt Clement left the rotation with major holes to fill. Injuries to Jason Varitek, Trot Nixon, Wily Mo Pena, and Manny Ramírez severely hurt the offense. On September 21, 2006, The Red Sox finished 2006 with an 86–76 record and third place in the AL East, their lowest placing in nine seasons.
General Manager Theo Epstein
's first major step toward restocking the team for 2007 was to pursue one of the most anticipated acquisitions in recent history. On November 14, Major League Baseball announced that the Red Sox had won the bid for the rights to negotiate a contract with Japanese superstar pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka
. Boston placed a bid of $51.1 million, and had 30 days to complete a deal. On December 13, just before the deadline, Matsuzaka signed a 6-year, $52 million contract.
In the hopes of solidifying the starting rotation, the team announced that closer Jonathan Papelbon
would become a starter in 2007. With Papelbon becoming a starter and Keith Foulke leaving the team, the Red Sox began building up their bullpen in search of a new closer. J.C. Romero
, Brendan Donnelly
, Joel Piñeiro
, and Japanese lefty Hideki Okajima
all joined the Boston bullpen. However, no clear closer candidate emerged during Spring Training. Eventually, Papelbon wanted to return to the closer role, and Sox officials believed Papelbon had rehabilitated himself so well in the offseason that his health of this shoulder was no longer a concern. The Red Sox had a star closer once again.
Shortstop Álex González was allowed to leave via free agency for the Cincinnati Reds
. The Sox replaced him with Julio Lugo
. Mark Loretta
also was allowed to leave which opened up a spot for youngster Dustin Pedroia
. Fan favorite Trot Nixon
filed for free agency and agreed on a deal with the Cleveland Indians
. With an opening in right field, the Sox pursued J.D. Drew, who had recently opted out of the remainder of his contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers
to become a free agent. On January 25, 2007, the Red Sox and Drew agreed to a 5-year, $70 million contract. Another fan favorite, outfielder Gabe Kapler
, announced his retirement at age 31 to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a manager. The Red Sox named him manager of their Class A affiliate, the Greenville Drive
.
The Red Sox started quickly, moving into first place in the AL East by mid-April and never relinquishing their division lead. While Ortiz and Ramirez provided their usual offense, it was the hitting of Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis, and Dustin Pedroia that surprisingly anchored the club through the first few months. While Drew, Lugo, and Coco Crisp struggled to provide offense, Lowell and Youkilis more than made up for it with averages well above .300 and impressive home run and RBI totals. Pedroia started badly, hitting below .200 in April. Manager Terry Francona stuck with him and his patience paid off as Pedroia hit over .400 in May and finished the first half over .300. On the mound, Josh Beckett emerged as the ace of the staff, starting the year 9–0 and finishing 12–2 at the break. His success was needed as Schilling, Matsuzaka, Wakefield, and Tavarez provided consistent and occasionally good starts, but all struggled at times. The Boston bullpen, on the other hand, was there to pick up the starters often, anchored once again by Papelbon, a more experienced Manny Delcarmen, and Okajima. While Papelbon served as the stopper, the rise of Okajima as a legitimate setup man and occasional closer was a boon for the Sox, giving them more options late in the game. Okajima posted an ERA of 0.88 through the first half and was voted into the All-Star Game by the fans as the final selection. By the All-Star break, Boston had the best record in baseball and held their largest lead in the American League East
, 10 games over intra-division rivals the Toronto Blue Jays
and New York Yankees
.
In the second half, more stars emerged for the Sox as they continued to lead the AL East division. Beckett continued to shine, reaching 20 wins for the first time in his career. At one point, veteran Tim Wakefield found himself atop the American League in wins, posting decisions in his first 26 starts, and finishing with a 17–12 record. However, as Wakefield, Matsuzaka, and Okajima became tired down the stretch, minor league call-up Clay Buchholz
provided a spark on September 1 by pitching a no-hitter in his second career start. Another call-up, outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury
, was thrust into the starting lineup while Manny Ramírez rested through most of September. Ellsbury played brilliantly during the month, hitting .361 with 3 HR, 17 RBI, and 8 stolen bases. Mike Lowell continued to carry the club, hitting cleanup in September and leading the team in RBI for the season, setting a team record for a third baseman with 120 runs driven in. And eventual 2007 Rookie of the Year
Dustin Pedroia finished his outstanding first full season with 165 hits and a .317 average. The Red Sox became the first team to clinch a playoff spot for the 2007 season on September 22 with a come-from-behind defeat of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays
. Boston captured their first AL East title since 1995 after a win on September 28 against the Minnesota Twins
and a loss by the New York Yankees
against the Baltimore Orioles
.
In the playoffs, the Red Sox swept the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
in the ALDS
. Facing the Cleveland Indians
in the ALCS
, Josh Beckett won Game 1 but the Sox stumbled, losing the next three games. Facing a 3–1 deficit and a must-win situation, Beckett pitched eight innings while surrendering only one run and striking out 11 in a masterful Game 5 win. The Sox captured their twelfth American League pennant by outscoring the Indians 30–5 over the final three games, winning the final two games at Fenway Park.
In the 2007 World Series
, the Red Sox faced the Colorado Rockies
. Beckett once again set the tone, pitching seven strong innings as the offense provided more than enough in a 13–1 victory. In Game 2, Schilling, Okajima, and Papelbon held the Rockies to one run again in a 2–1 game. Moving to Colorado, the Sox offense made the difference again in a 10–5 win. Finally, in Game 4, Jon Lester took Tim Wakefield's spot in the rotation and gave the Sox an impressive start, pitching 5⅔ shutout innings. The Rockies threatened, but thanks to World Series MVP Mike Lowell and aided by a pinch-hit home run by outfielder Bobby Kielty
, Papelbon registered another save as the Red Sox swept the Rockies in four games. The Red Sox captured their second title in four years.
.
Due to Steinbrenner's comments, Red Sox owner John Henry inducted Hank Steinbrenner into Red Sox Nation, allowing him to receive perks such as a shirts, pins, Green Monster seats, and an autographed hat by David Ortiz.
On the field, the Red Sox got off to a hot start, leading the American League Eastern Division for the first two months. In the process, Manny would continue to be Manny by high-fiving a Red Sox fan in Baltimore while making a catch. Later that month in the same place, Manny Ramirez would hit his 500th career home run. Despite the positive progress, David Ortiz
would be injured on May 31. As a result, the usually quiet J. D. Drew
stepped up by reinventing his image. He would hit .337 with 27 RBI in June 2008. Another part of the Red Sox' reinvention occurred in an early June game against the Tampa Bay Rays
where pitcher James Shields hit Coco Crisp
, resulting in Crisp going straight to Shields. Shortly after, both benches cleared out in a brawl. In July, the defending champions would send seven All-Stars to the game at the hated Yankee Stadium
, Dustin Pedroia
, David Ortiz
, J. D. Drew
, Manny Ramirez
, Jonathan Papelbon
, Jason Varitek
, and Kevin Youkilis
, with Ramirez, Youkilis, and Pedroia named starters to Francona's American League squad. In the 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
at Yankee Stadium, J. D. Drew would hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning. He would earn All-Star Game MVP honors due to his stellar performance.
The Red Sox would catch the Tampa Bay Rays during the summer as the Rays began to decline slightly. While the pennant race caught fire, Manny Ramirez
did not want any part of it since the Red Sox did not offer him a sufficient contract for the 2009 season. As a result, Manny Ramirez would go to the Los Angeles Dodgers
in a three-way trade involving the Pittsburgh Pirates
. The trade brought Jason Bay
to the Red Sox. In September, the Rays would hold on to win the Eastern Division title with a 97–65 record. As for Boston, they would win 95 games with a Wildcard berth. After defeating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
in the ALDS once again, they would lose to the Rays in a seven-game ALCS
.
in the ALCS, the Red Sox would debut new road uniforms similar to their old 1986 road uniforms. The offseason had the Red Sox sign Rocco Baldelli
, John Smoltz
, and Brad Penny
. The Red Sox saw a postseason berth via the winning of the AL Wild Card, only to be swept away in the first round by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
On December 22, 2009, Sports Illustrated named general manager Theo Epstein
as number 3 on its list of the Top 10 GMs/Executives of the Decade (in all sports).
, shortstop Marco Scutaro
, third baseman Adrián Beltré
and outfielder Mike Cameron
, 2010 saw the Red Sox miss the playoffs for only the second time in the Terry Francona era, due largely to season-ending injuries to Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury. However, they did deny the defending World Series champion Yankees from clinching the AL East title, instead relegating them to the Wild Card on the final day of the regular season. The Red Sox began and ended their season playing the Yankees for the first time since . After the season, first baseman Mike Lowell
announced his retirement.
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
.
Early years
1900 to 1909
In 1900, Ban JohnsonBan Johnson
Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson , was an American executive in professional baseball who served as the founder and first president of the American League ....
's minor Western League, based in the Midwest, declared its equality with the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
, then the only major league
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
in baseball. Johnson changed the name of his league to the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
. Competing in the streets, the upstart placed franchises in two of the largest and most important NL cities, Philadelphia and Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. Playing their home games at Huntington Avenue Grounds
Huntington Avenue Grounds
Huntington Avenue American League Base Ball Grounds is the full name of the baseball stadium that formerly stood in Boston, Massachusetts and was home to the Boston Red Sox from 1901-1911...
, the Boston franchise (often called the Americans during this time) finished second and third place in their first two seasons before capturing their first pennant
Pennant (sports)
A pennant is a commemorative flag typically used to show support for a particular athletic team. Pennants have been historically used in all types of athletic levels: high school, collegiate, professional etc. Traditionally, pennants were made of felt and fashioned in the official colors of a...
in 1903 and repeating the feat in 1904. The team was purchased in 1903 by Milwaukee publisher, George Brumder
George Brumder
George Brumder was a German-American newspaper publisher and businessman born in Breuschwickersheim, Alsace-Lorraine, France. He was the fifteenth of sixteen children born to Georg and Christina Brumder. In 1857, at the age of 18, Brumder immigrated to Wisconsin with his older sister, Anna Maria,...
, but Brumder sold the team in 1904. These early Boston teams were led by manager
Manager (baseball)
In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...
and star third baseman
Third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run...
Jimmy Collins
Jimmy Collins
James Joseph Collins was a Major League Baseball player at the turn of the 20th century who was widely regarded as being the best third baseman prior to Brooks Robinson...
and by pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
Cy Young
Cy Young
Denton True "Cy" Young was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. During his 22-year baseball career , he pitched for five different teams. Young was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937...
, whose 1901 to 1904 seasons both rank among the best four-year runs ever. In addition, the Americans received significant contributions from outfielder
Outfielder
Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...
s Chick Stahl
Chick Stahl
Charles Sylvester "Chick" Stahl was an American outfielder in Major League Baseball who was among the most feared and consistent hitters in his time. In his rookie 1897 season with the Boston Beaneaters, he batted .354, and over his first six seasons, he averaged over .300...
, Buck Freeman
Buck Freeman
John Frank "Buck" Freeman was an American right fielder in Major League Baseball at the turn of the 20th century. Freeman was one of the top sluggers of his era, his most famous feat being the 25 home runs he hit during the 1899 season.A native of Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, Freeman showed talent as...
and Patsy Dougherty
Patsy Dougherty
Patrick Henry Dougherty was a Major League baseball outfielder. Dougherty was born in Andover, New York.He was the first player to hit two home runs in a single World Series game, doing so with the Boston Americans in Game 2 of the first modern World Series...
. In 1903, the Americans participated in the first modern World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
, beating the favored Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
and winning the best-of-nine series five games to three. The Americans were aided both by chants of "Tessie
Tessie
"Tessie" is both the anthem of the Boston Red Sox and also the title of a newer song by the punk rock band Dropkick Murphys. The original "Tessie" was from the 1902 Broadway musical The Silver Slipper. The newer song, written in 2004, recounts how the singing of the original "Tessie" by the Royal...
" from their Royal Rooters
Royal Rooters
The original Royal Rooters were a fan club for the Boston Red Sox in the early 20th century. They were led by Michael T. McGreevy, who owned a Boston saloon called "3rd Base". While M.T. "Nuf Ced" McGreevy was certainly the spiritual leader of the Royal Rooters, Boston Mayor John F. Fitzgerald,...
fan club
Fan club
A fan club is a group that is dedicated to a well-known person, group, idea or sometimes even an inanimate object . Most fan clubs are run by fans who devote considerable time and resources to supporting them. There are also "official" fan clubs that are run by someone associated with the person...
and by their stronger pitching staff.
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
as a strong contender, the Americans found themselves in a tight pennant race through the last games of the season. Foreshadowing what would eventually become a storied rivalry, the 1904 race featured such controversial moves as the trade of Patsy Dougherty
Patsy Dougherty
Patrick Henry Dougherty was a Major League baseball outfielder. Dougherty was born in Andover, New York.He was the first player to hit two home runs in a single World Series game, doing so with the Boston Americans in Game 2 of the first modern World Series...
to the Highlanders for Bob Unglaub
Bob Unglaub
Robert Alexander Unglaub was an American first baseman and utility infielder in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Highlanders, Boston Americans, and Washington Senators....
. However, the arguable climax of the season occurred during the season's final doubleheader
Doubleheader (baseball)
A doubleheader is a set of two baseball games played between the same two teams on the same day in front of the same crowd. In addition, the term is often used unofficially to refer to a pair of games played by a team in a single day, but in front of different crowds and not in immediate...
at the Highlanders’ home stadium, Hilltop Park
Hilltop Park
Hilltop Park was the nickname of a baseball park that formerly stood in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. It was the home of the New York Yankees Major League Baseball club during 1903-1912 when they were known more often as the "Highlanders"...
. In order to win the pennant, New York needed to take both games from Boston. With Jack Chesbro
Jack Chesbro
John Dwight Chesbro was a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates , New York Highlanders , and Boston Red Sox . His 41 wins during the 1904 season remains an MLB record for the modern era...
, the Highlanders' 41-game winner, on the mound, New York seemed to have a good chance of winning the first game. However, in the top of the ninth inning
Inning
Inning is a municipality in the district of Erding in Bavaria in Germany....
with the score tied 2–2 with a man on third in the top of the ninth, a spitball
Spitball
A spitball is an illegal baseball pitch in which the ball has been altered by the application of saliva, petroleum jelly, or some other foreign substance....
got away from Chesbro allowing Boston's Lou Criger
Lou Criger
Louis Criger was a Major League Baseball player for the Cleveland Spiders , St. Louis Cardinals , Boston Americans/Red Sox , St. Louis Browns , and the New York Highlanders .Criger became the first Opening Day catcher in Boston American League franchise's history...
to score the go-ahead run on one of the most famous wild pitch
Wild pitch
In baseball, a wild pitch is charged against a pitcher when his pitch is too high, too short, or too wide of home plate for the catcher to control with ordinary effort, thereby allowing a baserunner, perhaps even the batter-runner on strike three or ball four, to advance.A wild pitch usually...
es in history. Unfortunately the NL champion New York Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
had previously declined to play any postseason series, fearing it would give their New York rivals credibility (they had expected the Highlanders to win), but a sharp public reaction led to the two leagues immediately turning the World Series into a permanent championship, starting in 1905.
These successful times quickly ended, as the Americans would go on to lose 100 games in the 1906 season. But several new star players would soon help the newly-renamed Red Sox reverse their fortunes once again.
1910 to 1919
Center fielder
A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball fielding position between left field and right field...
Tris Speaker
Tris Speaker
Tristram E. Speaker , nicknamed "Spoke" and "The Grey Eagle", was an American baseball player. Considered one of the best offensive and defensive center fielders in the history of Major League Baseball, he compiled a career batting average of .345 , and still holds the record of 792 career doubles...
had become a fixture in the Boston outfield, and the Red Sox worked their way up to third place in the American League. However, the Red Sox would not win the pennant again until their 105-win 1912 season
1912 in baseball
-Champions:*World Series: Boston Red Sox over New York Giants -Awards and honors:*Chalmers Award**Tris Speaker, Boston Red Sox, OF** Larry Doyle, New York Giants, 2B-MLB statistical leaders:-American League final standings:...
, finishing with a club-record .691 winning percentage
Winning percentage
In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. It is defined as wins divided by wins plus losses . Ties count as a ½ loss and a ½ win...
while anchored by an outfield considered to be among the finest in the game (Tris Speaker
Tris Speaker
Tristram E. Speaker , nicknamed "Spoke" and "The Grey Eagle", was an American baseball player. Considered one of the best offensive and defensive center fielders in the history of Major League Baseball, he compiled a career batting average of .345 , and still holds the record of 792 career doubles...
, Harry Hooper
Harry Hooper
Harry Bartholomew Hooper was a Major League Baseball player in the early 20th century. Hooper batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Hooper was born in Bell Station, California. A graduate in engineering at Saint Mary's College of California, he broke into the majors with the Red Sox in 1909,...
and Duffy Lewis
Duffy Lewis
George Edward "Duffy" Lewis , born in San Francisco, California, was a left fielder and left-handed batter who played Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox , New York Yankees and Washington Senators...
). Boston was also led by superstar pitcher Smoky Joe Wood, with whom the Red Sox beat the New York Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
4–3–1 in the 1912 World Series
1912 World Series
In the 1912 World Series, the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Giants four games to three .This dramatic series showcased great pitching from Giant Christy Mathewson and from Boston fireballer Smoky Joe Wood. Wood won two of his three starts and pitched in relief in the final game...
that has become best known for "Snodgrass’s Muff." From 1913 to 1916, the Red Sox were owned by Joseph Lannin
Joseph Lannin
Joseph John Lannin was a Canadian-born American baseball entrepreneur.-Biography:He was born in Lac-Beauport, Quebec, Canada, the son of Irish immigrants....
, who signed Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
, soon to become one of the best-known and most-revered baseball players ever. In Ruth's debut as a pitcher he got a win vs. the Indians, then in 1915 his first major league home run was against the Yankees. Another 101 wins in 1915 propelled the Red Sox to the 1915 World Series
1915 World Series
In the 1915 World Series, the Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Phillies four games to one.In their only World Series before , the Phillies won Game 1 before being swept the rest of the way. It was 65 years before the Phillies won their next Series game...
, where they beat the Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
four games to one. In the 1915 World Series, Harry Hooper hit two home runs, and Duffy Lewis batted .444 with a home run. The 1916 team once again earned the AL pennant, though Tris Speaker
Tris Speaker
Tristram E. Speaker , nicknamed "Spoke" and "The Grey Eagle", was an American baseball player. Considered one of the best offensive and defensive center fielders in the history of Major League Baseball, he compiled a career batting average of .345 , and still holds the record of 792 career doubles...
was traded to the Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
in the off-season. His departure was more than compensated for, however, by the emergence of Babe Ruth as a star pitcher. Once again, the Red Sox won the World Series
1916 World Series
In the 1916 World Series, the Boston Red Sox beat the Brooklyn Robins four games to one.Casey Stengel shone on offense for the Robins in the 1916 Series but the Red Sox pitching core ultimately proved too much for the denizens of Flatbush...
, this time defeating the Brooklyn Robins
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
. In game two Ruth would pitch a 14 inning complete game victory. Also third baseman Larry Gardner hit a 3-run inside the park home run. By 1918, the team found itself at the top of the heap again, led by Ruth to another Series
1918 World Series
The 1918 World Series featured the Boston Red Sox, who defeated the Chicago Cubs four games to two. The Series victory for the Red Sox was their fifth in five tries, going back to . The Red Sox scored only nine runs in the entire Series; the fewest runs by the winning team in World Series history...
championship over the Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
. The 1918 victory for Boston was provided by the pitching of Ruth and submarine pitcher Carl Mays.
Sale of Babe Ruth
After three seasons in Boston, Harry FrazeeHarry Frazee
Harry Herbert Frazee was an American theatrical agent, producer and director, and former owner of the Major League Baseball Boston Red Sox from 1916 to 1923.- Life as owner of the Red Sox :...
sold Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
to the rival New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
on January 2, 1920. Ruth had just broken the single-season home run record, hitting 29 in 1919. Legend has it that Frazee did so in order to finance the Broadway play No, No, Nanette
No, No, Nanette
No, No, Nanette is a musical comedy with lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach, music by Vincent Youmans, and a book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel, based on Mandel's 1919 Broadway play My Lady Friends...
, starring "a friend," but the play did not open on Broadway
On Broadway
"On Broadway" is a song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil in collaboration with the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.-Composition:...
until 1925.
During that period, the Red Sox, White Sox and Yankees had a détente; they were called "Insurrectos" because their actions antagonized league president Johnson
Ban Johnson
Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson , was an American executive in professional baseball who served as the founder and first president of the American League ....
. Although Frazee owned the Boston Red Sox franchise, he did not own Fenway Park
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball park near Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts. Located at 4 Yawkey Way, it has served as the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club since it opened in 1912, and is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium currently in use. It is one of two "classic"...
(it was owned by the Fenway Park Trust), making his ownership a precarious one; Johnson could move another team into the ballpark. His club was in debt, but Frazee felt the need to purchase its playing site (which he did in 1920). Further, providing the Yankees with a box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
attraction would help that mediocre club, which had sided with him against Johnson and "the Loyal Five" clubs. Finally, Ruth was considered a serious disciplinary problem, a reputation to be replicated in New York. Frazee moved to stabilize finances and cut distractions. It was a straight sale, no players in return.
After New York achieved great success and Boston did not win for a few decades, the sale of Babe Ruth came to be viewed as the beginning of the Yankees – Red Sox rivalry, described as the "Greatest Rivalry on Earth" by some journalists. The sale would later be attributed as the cause of the "Curse of the Bambino
Curse of the Bambino
The Curse of the Bambino was a superstition cited as a reason for the failure of the Boston Red Sox baseball team to win the World Series in the 86-year period from 1918 to 2004...
", a tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
curse blamed for the inability of the Red Sox to win the World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
, from 1918 to 2004.
1920 to 1939
After the sale of Ruth to the Yankees, Frazee continued to sell many of his star players. In the winter of 1920, Wally SchangWally Schang
Walter Henry Schang was a catcher in Major League Baseball. From 1913 through 1931, he played for the Philadelphia Athletics , Boston Red Sox , New York Yankees , St. Louis Browns and Detroit Tigers . Schang was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed...
, future star pitcher Waite Hoyt
Waite Hoyt
Waite Charles Hoyt was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball, one of the dominant pitchers of the 1920s, and the winningest pitcher for the New York Yankees during that decade...
, Harry Harper
Harry Harper
Harry Clayton Harper was a pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for four different teams between and . Listed at 6' 2", 165 lb., Harper batted and threw left-handed. He was born in Hackensack, New Jersey....
, and Mike McNally were traded to the Yankees for Del Pratt
Del Pratt
Derrill Burnham "Del" Pratt was a star running back for the University of Alabama before becoming a professional baseball player. Pratt signed with the St. Louis Browns in...
, Muddy Ruel
Muddy Ruel
Herold Dominic "Muddy" Ruel was an American professional baseball player, coach, manager and general manager. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for 19 seasons with the St. Louis Browns, New York Yankees, Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, and the Chicago White Sox...
, John Costello
John Costello
John Costello may refer to:*John Costello , American baseball pitcher*John A. Costello , Taoiseach of Ireland*John M. Costello , U.S. Representative from California...
, Hank Thormahlen, Sammy Vick and cash.
The following winter
1921 in baseball
-Headline Events of the Year:*First radio broadcast of the World Series.*Babe Ruth breaks Roger Connor's All-Time Home Run record of 138.-Champions:*World Series: New York Giants over New York Yankees -MLB statistical leaders:...
, iron man shortstop
Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...
Everett Scott
Everett Scott
Lewis Everett Scott , nicknamed "Deacon", was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball who played for 12 seasons with the Boston Red Sox , New York Yankees , Washington Senators , Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds . Scott batted and threw right-handed...
, and pitchers Bullet Joe Bush
Bullet Joe Bush
Leslie Ambrose "Bullet Joe" Bush born in Brainerd, Minnesota was a pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics , Boston Red Sox , New York Yankees , St. Louis Browns , Washington Senators , Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Giants...
and Sad Sam Jones
Sad Sam Jones
Samuel Pond "Sad Sam" Jones was a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played in the American League with the Cleveland Indians , Boston Red Sox , New York Yankees , St. Louis Browns , Washington Senators and Chicago White Sox . A native of Woodsfield, Ohio, Jones batted and threw...
were traded to the Yankees for Roger Peckinpaugh
Roger Peckinpaugh
Roger Thorpe Peckinpaugh was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball for the Cleveland Indians , New York Yankees , Washington Senators and Chicago White Sox...
(who would be immediately shipped to the Washington Senators
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
), Jack Quinn
Jack Quinn (baseball)
John Picus "Jack" Quinn, born Joannes Pajkos , was a pitcher in Major League Baseball. Quinn pitched for eight teams in three major leagues and made his final appearance at the age of 50.-Biography:Born in Štefurov, Slovakia , Quinn emigrated to America as an...
, Rip Collins
Rip Collins
Harry Warren Collins was a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Yankees , Boston Red Sox , Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Browns . Collins batted and threw right-handed...
, Bill Piercy and $50,000.
One particularly controversial deal was that of Joe Dugan
Joe Dugan
Joseph Anthony Dugan , was an American professional baseball player. Nicknamed "Jumping Joe", he played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop and third baseman from 1917 through 1931. Dugan played for the Philadelphia Athletics , Boston Red Sox , New York Yankees , Boston Braves and Detroit...
and Elmer Smith, who were traded to the Yankees on July 23, 1922, for Elmer Miller, Chick Fewster, Johnny Mitchell
Johnny Mitchell (baseball)
John Franklin Mitchell , is a former professional baseball player who played shortstop from 1921-1925.-External links:...
, and future superstar Lefty O'Doul
Lefty O'Doul
Francis Joseph "Lefty" O'Doul was an American Major League Baseball player who went on to become an extraordinarily successful manager in the minor leagues, and also a vital figure in the establishment of professional baseball in Japan.-Player:Born in San Francisco, California, O'Doul began his...
, who was at the time a mediocre pitching prospect. The trade of Dugan helped the Yankees edge the St. Louis Browns
1922 St. Louis Browns season
The St. Louis Browns season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Browns winning 93 games, the only time in franchise history that the Browns topped the 90 win plateau. In the American League standings, the Browns finished in second place behind the New York Yankees. The Browns set a...
in a tight pennant race, and the resulting uproar helped create a June 15 trading deadline that went into effect the next year.
Perhaps an even more outrageous deal was the trade of Herb Pennock
Herb Pennock
Herbert Jefferis Pennock was a left-handed Major League Baseball pitcher best known for his time spent with the star-studded New York Yankee teams of the mid to late 1920s and early 1930s. Pennock won two World Series championships with the Red Sox and then four World Series championships with the...
, occurring in early 1923. Pennock
Herb Pennock
Herbert Jefferis Pennock was a left-handed Major League Baseball pitcher best known for his time spent with the star-studded New York Yankee teams of the mid to late 1920s and early 1930s. Pennock won two World Series championships with the Red Sox and then four World Series championships with the...
was traded by the Red Sox to the Yankees for Camp Skinner, Norm McMillan, George Murray
George Murray (baseball)
George King "Smiler" Murray was a baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators, and Chicago White Sox.-Biography:...
and $50,000.
Several notable trades involving Frazee and the Yankees occurred before the Babe Ruth sale. On December 18, 1918, outstanding outfielder Duffy Lewis
Duffy Lewis
George Edward "Duffy" Lewis , born in San Francisco, California, was a left fielder and left-handed batter who played Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox , New York Yankees and Washington Senators...
(mentioned above), pitcher Dutch Leonard
Dutch Leonard (left-handed pitcher)
Hubert Benjamin "Dutch" Leonard, was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who had an 11-year career from 1913–1921, 1924-1925. He played for the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers, and holds the major league modern-era record for the lowest single-season ERA of all time — 0.96...
, and pitcher Ernie Shore
Ernie Shore
Ernest Grady Shore was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox during some of their best years in the 1910s....
were traded to the Yankees for pitcher Ray Caldwell
Ray Caldwell
Raymond Benjamin Caldwell, , was an American major league pitcher from 1910 to 1921. He was known for throwing the spitball, and he was one of the 17 pitchers allowed to continue throwing the pitch after it was outlawed in 1920.Caldwell was notorious during his playing career for his addiction to...
, Slim Love
Slim Love
Edward Haughton "Slim" Love was a Major League Baseball pitcher who played 6 seasons in the Major Leagues for the Washington Senators , the New York Yankees , and Detroit Tigers...
, Roxy Walters
Roxy Walters
Alfred John Walters born in San Francisco, California was a catcher in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees , Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians ....
, Frank Gilhooley
Frank Gilhooley
Frank Patrick Gilhooley [Flash] was an outfielder in Major League Baseball, playing mostly as a right fielder from through for the St. Louis Cardinals , New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox . Listed at 5' 8", 155 lb., Gilhooley batted left-handed and threw right-handed...
and $15,000.
As all three players were well regarded in Boston — Lewis had been a key player on the 1910s championship teams, Shore had famously relieved Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
and retired 27 straight, and Leonard had only four years before set a modern record for earned run average
Earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...
— this trade was regarded as not such a good one in Boston. Then, on July 13, 1919, submarine-style pitching star Carl Mays
Carl Mays
Carl William Mays was a right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1915 to 1929. Despite impressive career statistics, he is primarily remembered for throwing a beanball on August 16, 1920, that struck and killed Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians, making Chapman one of two people to die...
was traded to the Yankees for Bob McGraw, Allan Russell and $40,000.
Mays would go on to have several good years for the Yankees.
Following these trades, the Red Sox finished in the second division with poor records in the 1920s and 1930s. Over an eight-year period from 1925 to 1932, the Red Sox averaged over 100 losses in a season. One of the few bright spots on these teams was Earl Webb
Earl Webb
William Earl Webb was an American right fielder in Major League Baseball, playing from 1925 to 1933. He played for five teams, including the Boston Red Sox for three years. He was born in White County, Tennessee and died in Jamestown, Tennessee. In 1931, while playing for the Red Sox, he hit a...
, who set the all-time mark for most doubles in a season in 1931 with 67. The Red Sox’ fortunes began to change in 1933, however, when Tom Yawkey
Tom Yawkey
Thomas Austin Yawkey, born Thomas Austin , was an American industrialist and Major League Baseball executive. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Yawkey became president of the Boston Red Sox in 1933, and was the sole owner of the team for 44 seasons, longer than anyone else in baseball history.-Early...
bought the Red Sox. Yawkey would acquire Lefty Grove
Lefty Grove
Robert Moses "Lefty" Grove was a professional baseball pitcher. After having success in the minor leagues during the early 1920s, Grove became a star in Major League Baseball with the American League's Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Red Sox, winning 300 games in his 17-year MLB career...
, one of the greatest pitchers of all-time, Joe Cronin
Joe Cronin
Joseph Edward Cronin was a Major League Baseball shortstop and manager.During a 20-year playing career, he played from 1926–45 for three different teams, primarily for the Boston Red Sox. Cronin was a major league manager from 1933–47...
, who was one of best hitting shortstops as well as manager, Jimmie Foxx
Jimmie Foxx
James Emory "Jimmie" Foxx , nicknamed "Double X" and "The Beast", was a right-handed American Major League Baseball first baseman and noted power hitter....
, the slugging first baseman, and Wes Ferrell
Wes Ferrell
Wesley Cheek Ferrell was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball from 1927 through 1941. Primarily a starting pitcher, Ferrell played for the Cleveland Indians , Boston Red Sox , Washington Senators , New York Yankees , Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves...
, an outstanding pitcher. Wes Ferrell's brother Rick Ferrell
Rick Ferrell
Richard Benjamin Ferrell was an American professional baseball player, coach, scout and executive. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from to for the St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators. Ferrell was regarded as one of the best catchers in baseball during the...
was an outstanding catcher who's .303 batting average is 12th on the all time Red Sox list. These moves paid off, as the Red Sox were once again competitive in the late thirties.
1940 to 1949
In 19391939 in baseball
-Headline Event of the Year:*On May 17, 1939, Princeton University and Columbia University played the first televised baseball game. On August 26, the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers played the first televised Major League Baseball game...
, the Red Sox purchased the contract of outfielder
Outfielder
Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...
Ted Williams
Ted Williams
Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox...
from the (minor league) San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
, ushering in an era of the team sometimes called the "Ted Sox." Williams is generally considered one of the greatest hitters of all time, because he consistently hit for both high power and high average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
. Stories of his ability to hold a bat in his hand and correctly estimate its weight down to the ounce have floated around baseball circles for decades. His book The Science of Hitting is widely read by students of baseball. He is also the last player to hit over .400 for a full season, hitting .406 in 1941. Williams feuded with sports writers his whole career, calling them "The Knights of the Keyboard," and his relationship with the fans was often rocky as he was seen spitting towards the stands on more than one occasion.
In 1946, with the help of a mid-season trade (Rudy York
Rudy York
Preston Rudolph York was a Major League Baseball first baseman who played for the Detroit Tigers , Boston Red Sox , Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Athletics . York was born in Ragland, Alabama...
from Detroit
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
, the Sox were able to win the 1946 Pennant (The first one in 28 years). Along with Williams, the Red Sox
1946 Boston Red Sox season
During the 1946 Boston Red Sox season, the Red Sox won their sixth American League championship, with a record of 104 wins and 50 losses. In the World Series, the Sox lost in 7 games to the St. Louis Cardinals...
reached the 1946 World Series
1946 World Series
-Game 1:Sunday, October 6, 1946 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, MissouriThe Red Sox won Game 1 when Rudy York hit a home run into the left field bleachers.-Game 2:Monday, October 7, 1946 at Sportsman's Park in St...
, but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals
1946 St. Louis Cardinals season
The St. Louis Cardinals season was a season in American baseball. It was the team's 65th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 55th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 96-58 during the season and finished first in the National League. In the World Series, they won in 7 games over the...
in seven games, 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. Williams did not fare well in the series, gathering only five singles in 25 at-bats
At bat
In baseball, an at bat or time at bat is used to calculate certain statistics, including batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. It is a more restricted definition of a plate appearance...
, for a .200 average. However, his performance may have been affected by an elbow injury he had received a few days before when he was hit by a pitch
Hit by pitch
In baseball, hit by pitch , or hit batsman , is a batter or his equipment being hit in some part of his body by a pitch from the pitcher.-Official rule:...
in an exhibition game
Exhibition game
An exhibition game is a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition...
. Williams would never play in a World Series again. Williams served two stints in the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
as a pilot and saw active duty
Active duty
Active duty refers to a full-time occupation as part of a military force, as opposed to reserve duty.-Pakistan:The Pakistan Armed Forces are one of the largest active service forces in the world with almost 610,000 full time personnel due to the complex and volatile nature of Pakistan's...
in both World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, and missed at least five full seasons of baseball.
In the series however, Rudy York would hit game winning home runs in games 1 and 3. Bobby Doerr would hit .409 with a 2-run homer in the game four loss. The loss to the Cardinals in game 7 of 1946 World Series is not without controversy as the Cardinals' Enos Slaughter
Enos Slaughter
Enos Bradsher Slaughter , nicknamed "Country", was an American Major League Baseball right fielder. During a 19-year baseball career, he played from 1938–1942 and 1946-1959 for four different teams, but is noted primarily for his time with the St...
scored the go ahead run all the way from first base on a base hit
Hit (baseball)
In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice....
to left field. The throw from Leon Culberson
Leon Culberson
Delbert Leon Culberson was a Major League baseball outfielder. He was born in Halls, GA.Culberson hit for the cycle on July 3, 1943. In 1946, he appeared in the World Series for the Boston Red Sox and was the outfielder who fielded Harry Walker's hit that resulted in Slaughter's Mad Dash.He died...
was cut off by shortstop Johnny Pesky
Johnny Pesky
John Michael Pesky , nicknamed "The Needle" and "Mr. Red Sox", was a Major League Baseball shortstop, third baseman, and manager. During a 10-year career, he played in 1942 and from 1946-1954 for three different teams. He missed all of the 1943, 1944, and 1945 seasons while serving in World War...
who relayed the ball to the plate just a hair too late. Some say Pesky hesitated or "held the ball" before he turned to throw the ball, but this has been disputed. OF Leon Culberson was in the game because Dom DiMaggio
Dom DiMaggio
Dominic Paul DiMaggio , nicknamed "The Little Professor", was a Major League Baseball center fielder. He played his entire 11-year baseball career for the Boston Red Sox...
was injured while sliding into second base after his 2-run base hit that tied the game. Despite Leon Culberson's throwing blunder he did hit a home run in game five.
The right-field bullpens in Fenway Park were built in part for Williams' left-handed
Left-handed
Left-handedness is the preference for the left hand over the right for everyday activities such as writing. In ancient times it was seen as a sign of the devil, and was abhorred in many cultures...
swing, and are sometimes called "Williamsburg." Before this addition to right field, it was over 400 feet (121.9 m) in that area of the ballpark. In 1946 Williams would hit the longest homer in Fenway Park at 502 feet (153 m), where a red seat still marks its landing spot.
The Red Sox featured several other players during the 1940s, including SS
Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...
Johnny Pesky
Johnny Pesky
John Michael Pesky , nicknamed "The Needle" and "Mr. Red Sox", was a Major League Baseball shortstop, third baseman, and manager. During a 10-year career, he played in 1942 and from 1946-1954 for three different teams. He missed all of the 1943, 1944, and 1945 seasons while serving in World War...
(for whom the right field foul pole in Fenway — "Pesky's Pole
Pesky's Pole
Pesky's Pole, commonly referred to as The Pesky Pole, is the nickname for the right field foul pole at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. It is named after Johnny Pesky, who played second base, shortstop and third base for the Red Sox from 1942 to 1952, except for 1943-45 during World War II....
" — is affectionately named by fans, and in 2006 the Red Sox officially named it such), 2B Bobby Doerr
Bobby Doerr
Robert Pershing Doerr is a former Major League Baseball second baseman and coach. He played his entire 14-year baseball career for the Boston Red Sox . He led American League second basemen in double plays five times, tying a league record, in putouts and fielding percentage four times each, and...
, and CF Dom DiMaggio
Dom DiMaggio
Dominic Paul DiMaggio , nicknamed "The Little Professor", was a Major League Baseball center fielder. He played his entire 11-year baseball career for the Boston Red Sox...
(brother of Joe DiMaggio
Joe DiMaggio
Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio , nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak , a record that still stands...
).
The Red Sox narrowly lost the AL pennant in 1948
1948 Major League Baseball season
The Boston Braves won the NL pennant. Hopes for an all-Boston World Series were ended when the Cleveland Indians won a 1-game playoff against the Boston Red Sox to take the AL pennant.- External links :*...
and 1949
1949 Major League Baseball season
-Regular season standings:-World series:-Awards and honors:-Statistical leaders:-All-Star game:-Cycles:*Wally Westlake, Pittsburgh Pirates, June 14 vs. Boston Braves*Gil Hodges, Brooklyn Dodgers, June 25 at Pittsburgh Pirates*Stan Musial, St...
. In 1948, they finished in a tie with Cleveland
1948 Cleveland Indians season
The Cleveland Indians season was a season in American baseball. The team won a one-game playoff against the Boston Red Sox and would then go onto win their second World Series in franchise history, its first in 28 years.-Off-season:...
, and their loss to Cleveland in a one-game playoff ended hopes of an all-Boston World Series. Curiously, manager Joe McCarthy chose journeyman Denny Galehouse
Denny Galehouse
Dennis Ward Galehouse born in Marshallville, Ohio was a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians , Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Browns...
to start the playoff game when the young lefty phenom Mel Parnell
Mel Parnell
Melvin Lloyd Parnell is a former Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher.Parnell spent his entire ten-year career with the Boston Red Sox , compiling a 123-75 record with 732 strikeouts, a 3.50 earned run average, 113 complete games, 20 shutouts, and 1752.2 innings pitched in 289 games...
was available to pitch. In 1949, the Sox
1949 Boston Red Sox season
The 1949 Boston Red Sox season involved the Red Sox finishing second in the American League with a record of 96 wins and 58 losses.- Regular season :...
were one game ahead of the New York Yankees
1949 New York Yankees season
The New York Yankees season was the team's 47th season in New York, and its 49th season overall. The team finished with a record of 97-57, winning their 16th pennant, finishing 1 game ahead of the Boston Red Sox. New York was managed by Casey Stengel. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee...
, with the only two games left for both teams being against each other, and they lost both of those games.
1950 to 1959
The 1950s were viewed as a time of tribulation for the Red Sox. After Williams returned from the Korean WarKorean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
in 1953, 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, owner Tom Yawkey refused to sign players of African descent, even passing up chances at future Hall-of-Famers Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
and Willie Mays
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays, Jr. is a retired American professional baseball player who played the majority of his major league career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his...
, both of whom tried out for Boston and were highly praised by team scouts. Jackie Robinson was even worked out by the team at Fenway Park, however it appeared that owner Tom Yawkey did not want an African American player on his team at that time. Ted Williams hit .388 at the age of 38 in 1957
1957 Major League Baseball season
The 1957 Major League Baseball season involved the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants playing their final seasons as New York-based franchises before their moves to California for the following season, leaving New York without a National League team until the birth of the Mets in...
, but there was little else for Boston fans to root for. Williams retired at the end of the 1960 season
1960 Major League Baseball season
The 1960 Major League Baseball season was held between the American and National Leagues. It was also the final season that a 154-game schedule was played in both the AL and the NL, before the AL began using the 162-game schedule the following season, with the NL following suit in .-Awards and...
, famously hitting a home run in his final at-bat as memorialized in the John Updike
John Updike
John Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....
story "Hub fans bid Kid adieu". The Sox finally became the last Major League team to field an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
player when they promoted infielder
Infielder
An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field.-Standard arrangement of positions:In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles...
Pumpsie Green
Pumpsie Green
Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green is a former Major League Baseball backup infielder who played with the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets . He was a switch-hitter who threw right-handed....
from their AAA farm team in 1959. In Green's Fenway debut he tripled.
The 1950s had bright highlights like Pete Runnels .322 batting average in '58 and Jackie Jensen's 1958 MVP award.
1960 to 1969: Resurgence to the Impossible Dream
The 1960s also started poorly for the Red Sox, though 1961 saw the debut of Carl "Yaz" YastrzemskiCarl Yastrzemski
Carl Michael Yastrzemski is a former American Major League Baseball left fielder and first baseman. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year baseball career with the Boston Red Sox . He was primarily a left fielder, with part of his later career...
, (uniform #8) who developed into one of the better hitters of a pitching-rich decade. In 1967 the Red Sox also had slugging 1B George Scott, SS Rico Petrocelli
Rico Petrocelli
Americo Peter "Rico" Petrocelli is an American retired baseball shortstop and third baseman who played his entire career in the American League with the Boston Red Sox...
who would hit 40 home runs in the '69 season, 1967 rookie center fielder Reggie Smith
Reggie Smith
Carl Reginald Smith is a former Major League Baseball outfielder, coach and front office executive. During a 17-year big league career , Smith appeared in 1,987 games, hit 314 home runs and batted .287. He was a switch-hitter who threw right-handed. In his prime, he had one of the strongest...
and Cy Young Award winner Jim Lonborg
Jim Lonborg
James Reynold Lonborg is a former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher who played with the Boston Red Sox , Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies...
.
Red Sox fans refer to 1967 as the year of the "Impossible Dream." The 1967 season
1967 Major League Baseball season
The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Boston Red Sox four games to three in the 64th World Series, which was the first World Series appearance for the Red Sox in 21 years. Following the season, the Kansas City Athletics relocated to Oakland.-Awards and honors:...
is remembered as one of the great pennant races in baseball history because four teams were in the AL pennant race until almost the last game. The team had finished the 1966 season in ninth place, but they found new life with Yastrzemski as the team went to the 1967 World Series
1967 World Series
The 1967 World Series matched the St. Louis Cardinals against the Boston Red Sox in a rematch of the 1946 World Series, with the Cardinals winning in seven games for their second championship in four years and their eighth overall...
. Yastrzemski won the American League Triple Crown
Triple crown (baseball)
In Major League Baseball, a player earns the Triple Crown when he leads a league in three specific statistical categories. For batters, a player must lead the league in home runs, run batted in , and batting average; pitchers must lead the league in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average...
with a .326 average 44 home runs and 121 RBI (the most recent player to accomplish such a feat) and put forth what is considered one of the best seasons in baseball history. But the Red Sox lost the series — again to the St. Louis Cardinals
1967 St. Louis Cardinals season
The St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 86th season in St. Louis, Missouri, its 76th season in the National League, and its first full season at Busch Memorial Stadium. The Cardinals went 101-60 during the season and won the NL pennant by 10½ games over the San Francisco Giants...
, in seven games. Legendary pitcher Bob Gibson
Bob Gibson
Robert "Bob" Gibson is a retired American professional baseball player. Nicknamed "Hoot" and "Gibby", he was a right-handed pitcher who played his entire 17-year Major League Baseball career with St. Louis Cardinals...
stymied the Sox winning three games.
The season started with a Billy Rohr one-hitter at Yankee Stadium. In Detroit, Yastrzemski hit a game tying home run in the ninth. Then Dalton Jones
Dalton Jones
James Dalton Jones is a former Major League Baseball player who played nine seasons in the big leagues for the Boston Red Sox , Detroit Tigers , and Texas Rangers .-Biography:...
won it with a homer in the following inning. 1967 also saw the renewal of a rivalry with the Yankees. In a series at the Bronx, Boston third baseman Joe Foy
Joe Foy
Joseph Anthony "Joe" Foy was a Major League Baseball third baseman.-Boston Red Sox:Born in New York City, Foy was signed as an amateur free agent by the Minnesota Twins in 1962, but was selected in that year's minor league draft by the Boston Red Sox...
hit a grand slam in the opener then the following night hit another homer. The Yankee's pitching took revenge and started throwing the ball at Red Sox hitters. At Fenway one night against the Angels, rookie Reggie Smith hit 3 home runs in one night (which included hit from both sides of the plate). Newly acquired 2nd baseman Jerry Adair
Jerry Adair
Kenneth Jerry Adair was a professional baseball player for the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, and Kansas City Royals from Sand Springs, Oklahoma.-Baltimore Orioles:...
won it in extra innings with a home run into the Green Monster net in LF. The Red Sox won the final games against the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park. In the first game 1B George Scott broke the tie with a home run to center field. Then Carl Yastrzemski won the AL home run contest by hitting his 44th into the bullpen. This broke a tie with Twin's Harmon Killebrew. In the next game Jim Lonborg surprised everyone by bunting for a hit in the 5th inning. The BoSox scored 5 times that inning to take the lead. Twin's pinch hitter Rich Collins popped to Rico Petrocelli to give the Boston Red Sox its first pennant since 1946.
Also during the 1960s, a local Bostonian named Tony Conigliaro
Tony Conigliaro
Anthony Richard Conigliaro , nicknamed "Tony C" and "Conig", was a Major League Baseball outfielder and right-handed batter who played for the Boston Red Sox and California Angels . He was born in Revere, Massachusetts, and was a 1962 graduate of St. Mary's High School...
slugged 24 home runs as an 18-year-old rookie in 1964. "Tony C" became the youngest player in Major League Baseball to hit his 100th home run, a record that stands today. However, he was struck just above the left cheek bone by a fastball thrown by Jack Hamilton in August 1967. Conigliaro sat out the entire next season with headaches and blurred vision and although he did have a productive season in 1970, he was never the same.
The Red Sox went to the World Series to face the St. Louis Cardinals. In the opener at Fenway Park, Red Sox pitcher José Santiago hit a home run off legendary Bob Gibson. But they lost 2–1. In the following game Jim Lonborg pitched a no-hitter until the 8th inning when Julian Javier hit a leadoff double. Carl Yastrzemski hit two home runs in a 5–0 victory. The Series then shifted to St. Louis. In the third game Cardinals Nelson Briles pitched a 5–2 victory, Reggie Smith homered for the Sox. In game 4 Bob Gibson shut out Boston 6–0 in a complete game victory. Down 3 games to 1 the Red Sox had Jim Lonborg to start game five. He pitched a 3-hitter and catcher Elston Howard hit a bloop single that gave the them the win. In game six at Fenway Park. Manager Dick Williams started rookie pitcher Gary Waslewski to start it in a 8–4 victory. In the 4th inning Carl Yastrzemski, Reggie Smith and Rico Petrocelli hit home runs. Rico also homered in the 2nd inning. In game 7 Bob Gibson won against Jim Lonborg 7–2 to end the season.
1970 to 1979
Soon after the Impossible Dream, the team began to wear a red hat with a navy blue B and a navy blue brim — sporting them for four seasons from 1975 to 1978 — in contrast to the traditional navy hat with a red B.Although the Red Sox played competitive baseball for much of the late 1960s and early 1970s, they never finished higher than second place in their division. The closest they came to a divisional title was 1972
1972 Major League Baseball season
The 1972 Major League Baseball season was the first to have games cancelled by a player strike. It was also the last season in which American League pitchers would hit for themselves on a regular basis; the designated hitter rule would go into effect the following season.-Labor strife and more...
, when they lost by a half-game to the Detroit Tigers
1972 Detroit Tigers season
The Detroit Tigers won the American League East division championship with a record of 86-70 , finishing one-half game ahead of the Boston Red Sox. They played one more game than the Red Sox due to a scheduling quirk caused by the 1972 Major League Baseball strike -- a game which turned out to...
. The start of the season was delayed by a players' strike, and because games cancelled by the strike were not made up, the Red Sox were scheduled for one less game than the Tigers, and ended up losing the division title to the Tigers by a half-game. On October 2, 1972, they also lost the second to last game of the year to the Tigers, 4–1; in that game, Luis Aparicio
Luis Aparicio
Luis Ernesto Aparicio Montiel is a former shortstop in professional baseball. His career in Major League Baseball spanned three decades, from through . Aparicio played for the Chicago White Sox , Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox . He batted and threw right-handed...
fell rounding third (after Yastrzemski hit an apparent triple in the third inning) and tried to scamper back to third, but Yastrzemski was already on third. (As the lead runner, and not forced to advance, Aparicio was awarded the base, and Yastrzemski was out, his hit being reduced to a double.)
1975
The Red Sox won the AL pennant in 19751975 Major League Baseball season
The 1975 Major League Baseball season was held between the American and National Leagues.-News and notes:*Frank Robinson beacme the first black manager in the Major Leagues. He managed the Cleveland Indians....
, with Yastrzemski surrounded by other players such as rookie outfielders Jim Rice
Jim Rice
James Edward "Jim" Rice , nicknamed "Jim Ed", is a former Major League Baseball left fielder.Jim Rice played his entire career for the Boston Red Sox from 1974 to 1989...
and Fred Lynn
Fred Lynn
Fredric Michael "Fred" Lynn is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Red Sox , California Angels , Baltimore Orioles , Detroit Tigers and San Diego Padres .Fred Lynn was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in and to the College Baseball Hall of Fame...
the "Gold Dust Twins," veteran outfielder Dwight Evans
Dwight Evans
Dwight Michael Evans , nicknamed "Dewey", is an American former professional baseball right fielder and right-handed batter who played with the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles in Major League Baseball....
"Dewey," catcher Carlton Fisk
Carlton Fisk
Carlton Ernest Fisk , nicknamed "Pudge" or "The Commander", is a former Major League Baseball catcher. During a 24-year baseball career, he played for both the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox .Fisk was known by the nickname "Pudge" due to his 6'2", 220 lb frame...
"Pudge," and pitchers Luis Tiant
Luis Tiant
Luis Clemente Tiant Vega , born November 23, 1940 in Marianao, Cuba, , is a former right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Cleveland Indians , Minnesota Twins , Boston Red Sox , New York Yankees , Pittsburgh Pirates and California Angels...
"El Tiante" and eccentric junkballer Bill Lee
Bill Lee (left-handed pitcher)
William Francis Lee III , nicknamed "Spaceman", is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. He played for the Boston Red Sox from - and the Montreal Expos from -...
"The Spaceman." With many different personalities in the clubhouse, the 1975 Red Sox were as colorful as they were talented. Fred Lynn won both the American League Rookie of the Year award and the Most Valuable Player award, a feat which had never been accomplished at that time and was not duplicated until Ichiro Suzuki
Ichiro Suzuki
, usually known simply as is a Major League Baseball right fielder for the Seattle Mariners. Ichiro has established a number of batting records, including the sport's single-season record for hits with 262...
did it in 2001. Lynn would hit .331 with 21 home runs and Jim Rice would tally 22 homers and a .309 average. In the playoffs
1975 American League Championship Series
-Game 1:Saturday, October 4, 1975 at Fenway Park in Boston, MassachusettsBoston Red Sox starter Luis Tiant allowed just one run on three hits to defeat the Oakland Athletics, 7–1, in the ALCS opener....
, the Red Sox swept the Oakland A's
1975 Oakland Athletics season
The Oakland Athletics' 1975 season involved the A's finishing first in the American League West with a record of 98 wins and 64 losses. They went on to play the Boston Red Sox in the 1975 American League Championship Series, losing in three straight games....
. Carl Yastrzemski returned to left field and had two assists. Yaz also helped the offense with a home run off Vida Blue
Vida Blue
Vida Rochelle Blue Jr. is a former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. During a 17-year career, he pitched for the Oakland Athletics , San Francisco Giants , and Kansas City Royals He won the American League Cy Young award and Most Valuable Player Award in 1971...
in game two, Rico Petrocelli
Rico Petrocelli
Americo Peter "Rico" Petrocelli is an American retired baseball shortstop and third baseman who played his entire career in the American League with the Boston Red Sox...
hit a game winning home run off future hall of fame closer Rollie Fingers
Rollie Fingers
Roland Glen Fingers is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. During his 18-year baseball career, he pitched for the Oakland Athletics , San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers . He became only the second reliever to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992...
.
In the 1975 World Series
1975 World Series
The 1975 World Series was played between the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds . It has been ranked by ESPN as the second-greatest World Series ever played...
, they faced the Cincinnati Reds
1975 Cincinnati Reds season
The 1975 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. It consisted of the Reds winning the National League West with a record of 108-54, 20 games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds went on to win the National League Championship Series by defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in...
, also known as The Big Red Machine
The Big Red Machine
The Big Red Machine is the nickname given to the Cincinnati Reds baseball team which dominated the National League from 1970 to 1976, recognized as among the best in baseball. Over that span, the team won five National League Western Division titles, four National League pennants, and two World...
, a team considered a baseball dynasty during the 1970s. Luis Tiant won games 1 and 4 of the World Series but after five games, the Red Sox trailed the series 3 games to 2. Game 6 played at Fenway Park is thought to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, game in postseason history. The Sox struck first on a 1st inning Fred Lynn blast. But by the 8th they were down 6–3 in the bottom of the eighth when pinch hitter
Pinch hitter
In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead ; the manager may use any player that has not yet entered the game as a substitute...
Bernie Carbo
Bernie Carbo
Bernardo 'Bernie' Carbo is a former outfielder and designated hitter who played from through for the Cincinnati Reds , St. Louis Cardinals , Boston Red Sox , Milwaukee Brewers , Cleveland Indians and Pittsburgh Pirates . He batted left-handed and threw right-handed...
hit a three run homer into the center field bleachers off Reds fireman Rawly Eastwick
Rawly Eastwick
Rawlins Jackson "Rawly" Eastwick is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher who played from 1975 to 1981.-Career:...
to tie the game. In the top of the eleventh inning, right fielder
Right fielder
A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound...
Dwight Evans
Dwight Evans
Dwight Michael Evans , nicknamed "Dewey", is an American former professional baseball right fielder and right-handed batter who played with the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles in Major League Baseball....
made a spectacular catch of a Joe Morgan
Joe Morgan
Joe Leonard Morgan is a former Major League Baseball second baseman who played for the Houston Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, and Oakland Athletics from 1963 to 1984. He won two World Series championships with the Reds in 1975 and 1976 and was also named the...
line drive and doubled Ken Griffey Sr. at 1st base to preserve the tie. The Red Sox ultimately prevailed in the bottom of the twelfth inning when Carlton Fisk
Carlton Fisk
Carlton Ernest Fisk , nicknamed "Pudge" or "The Commander", is a former Major League Baseball catcher. During a 24-year baseball career, he played for both the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox .Fisk was known by the nickname "Pudge" due to his 6'2", 220 lb frame...
hit a deep fly ball which sliced towards the left field foul pole above the Green Monster
Green Monster
The Green Monster is a popular nickname for the thirty-seven foot , two-inch high left field wall at Fenway Park, home to the Boston Red Sox baseball team...
. As the ball sailed into the night, Fisk waved his arms frantically towards fair territory, seemingly pleading with the ball not to go foul. The ball hit approximately six inches to the fair side of the foul pole and bedlam ensued at Fenway as Fisk rounded the bases to win the game 7–6.
The Red Sox lost game 7 even though they had an early 3–0 lead on a RBI single by Carl Yastrzemski. Starting pitcher
Starting pitcher
In baseball or softball, a starting pitcher is the pitcher who delivers the first pitch to the first batter of a game. A pitcher who enters the game after the first pitch of the game is a relief pitcher....
Bill Lee threw a slow looping curve which he called a "Leephus pitch" or "space ball" to Reds first baseman Tony Perez who hit the ball over the Green Monster and across the street. The Reds scored the winning run in the 9th inning. Carlton Fisk said famously about the 1975 World Series, "We won that thing 3 games to 4."
1976
After the 1975 World Series, the Red Sox were in a financial dilemma. The Red Sox had to sign prospective free agents Lynn, Carlton FiskCarlton Fisk
Carlton Ernest Fisk , nicknamed "Pudge" or "The Commander", is a former Major League Baseball catcher. During a 24-year baseball career, he played for both the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox .Fisk was known by the nickname "Pudge" due to his 6'2", 220 lb frame...
, and Rick Burleson
Rick Burleson
Richard Paul Burleson is a former Major League Baseball shortstop. "Rooster," as he was nicknamed was a famously intense ballplayer...
. The Red Sox were explaining that they couldn't afford Lynn, Burleson, and Fisk. To make matters worse, the Red Sox were about to buy Rollie Fingers
Rollie Fingers
Roland Glen Fingers is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. During his 18-year baseball career, he pitched for the Oakland Athletics , San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers . He became only the second reliever to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992...
and Joe Rudi
Joe Rudi
Joseph Oden Rudi is a former left fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Kansas City & Oakland Athletics , California Angels and Boston Red Sox . He batted and threw right-handed...
from the Oakland A's
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
. Many fans wondered how Boston could afford to sign Fingers and Rudi if they did not have the money to sign the three players that led them to the 1975 World Series. However, commissioner Bowie Kuhn
Bowie Kuhn
Bowie Kent Kuhn was an American lawyer and sports administrator who served as the fifth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from February 4, , to September 30,...
stepped in and vetoed the deal, thus allowing Boston to re-sign Lynn, Fisk, and Burleson. Thanks to this distraction, the Red Sox won 83 games in 1976
1976 Major League Baseball season
The 1976 Major League Baseball season was the last season in which both the AL and the NL had the same number of teams until 1993. The season ended with the Cincinnati Reds taking the World Series Championship for the second consecutive season by sweeping the New York Yankees in four games...
, finishing in third place.
1977
The 1977 season1977 Major League Baseball season
The American League had its third expansion as the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays began play. However, the National League did not expand, thus they remained at twelve teams, to the AL's 14, until the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins joined in 1993....
was a bounce-back with the hiring of Don Zimmer
Don Zimmer
Donald William "Popeye" Zimmer is a former infielder, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball, currently serving as a senior advisor to the Tampa Bay Rays baseball organization...
as manager and the signing of reliever Bill Campbell from the Minnesota Twins
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
. They fought with the Baltimore Orioles
1977 Baltimore Orioles season
The Baltimore Orioles season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Orioles finishing second in the American League East with a record of 97 wins and 64 losses.- Offseason :* November 1, 1976: Darryl Cias was released by the Orioles....
for first place for much of the first half, even sporting seven All-Stars at the All-Star game
1977 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 1977 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 48th playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League and National League , the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 19, 1977, at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York, New York the...
at Yankee Stadium. However, the Yankees eclipsed them both after the All-Star game. The Orioles and Red Sox would finish tied for 2nd place with 97 victories apiece.
Jim Rice, George Scott, Carl Yastrzemski, Carlton Fisk, Fred Lynn and Butch Hobson helped the Red Sox with 213 home runs.
1978
The 1978 season1978 Major League Baseball season
The 1978 Major League Baseball season saw the New York Yankees defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers to win their second consecutive World Series, and 22nd overall, in a rematch of the prior season's Fall Classic...
began with three more signings. The first brought in pitcher Dennis Eckersley
Dennis Eckersley
Dennis Lee Eckersley , nicknamed "Eck", is a former American Major League Baseball pitcher. Eckersley had success as a starter, but gained his greatest fame as a closer, becoming the first of only two pitchers in Major League history to have both a 20-win season and a 50-save season in a career .He...
from Cleveland. The other brought speedy second baseman Jerry Remy
Jerry Remy
Gerald Peter "Rem Dawg" Remy is a Major League Baseball broadcaster and former Major League Baseball second baseman. Remy grew up in Somerset, Massachusetts.-Playing career:...
from the California Angels
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California, United States. The Angels are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The "Angels" name originates from the city in which the team started, Los Angeles...
. The third stole Mike Torrez
Mike Torrez
Michael Augustine Torrez is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball.-Career:Torrez had an 18-year career from 1967 to 1984. He played for the St...
away from the hated Yankees. With these acquisitions, the Red Sox took off and fought with the Milwaukee Brewers
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
for first place much of the first half. Just like the previous season, they sported seven All-Stars in the All-Star game
1978 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 1978 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 49th midseason exhibition between the all-stars of the American League and the National League , the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was played on July 11, 1978 at San Diego Stadium in San Diego, California, home of the...
at Jack Murphy Stadium
Qualcomm Stadium
Qualcomm Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium, in San Diego, California, in the Mission Valley area....
. However, injuries to Fisk and Burleson would prevent the Sox to retain first place as the Yankees caught up to them.
In 1978, the Red Sox and the Yankees
1978 New York Yankees season
The 1978 New York Yankees season was the 76th season for the Yankees. The team finished with a record of 100-63, finishing one game ahead of the Boston Red Sox to win their third American League East title. The two teams were tied after 162 games, leading to a one-game playoff, which the Yankees...
were involved in a tight pennant race. The Yankees were 14½ games behind
Games behind
In sports, the phrase games behind or games back , is a common way to reflect the gap between a leading team and another team in a sports league, conference, or division...
the Red Sox in July behind the hitting of MVP Jim Rice, Yaz, Carlton Fisk, Fred Lynn and George Scott, and on September 10, after completing a 4-game sweep of the Red Sox (known as "The Boston Massacre"), the Yankees tied for the divisional lead.
For the final three weeks of the season, the teams fought closely and the lead changed hands several times. By the final day of the season, the Yankees' magic number
Magic number (sports)
In certain sports, a magic number is a number used to indicate how close a front-running team is to clinching a season title. It represents the total of additional wins by the front-running team or additional losses by the rival team after which it is mathematically impossible for the rival team...
to win the division was one — which meant 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 5–0, forcing a one-game playoff
1978 American League East tie-breaker game
The 1978 American League East tie-breaker game was played between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts on October 2, 1978....
to be held at Fenway Park on Monday, October 2.
The Red Sox took a 2–0 lead on a Yastrzemski homer and a run scoring single by Rice. Although Bucky Dent
Bucky Dent
Russell Earl "Bucky" Dent , is a former American Major League Baseball player and manager. He earned two World Series rings as the starting shortstop for the New York Yankees in and , and was voted the World Series MVP in 1978...
's three-run home run in the 7th inning off Mike Torrez
Mike Torrez
Michael Augustine Torrez is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball.-Career:Torrez had an 18-year career from 1967 to 1984. He played for the St...
just over the Green Monster — which gave the Yankees their first lead — is the most remembered moment from the game, it was Reggie Jackson
Reggie Jackson
Reginald Martinez "Reggie" Jackson , nicknamed "Mr. October" for his clutch hitting in the postseason with the New York Yankees, is a former American Major League Baseball right fielder. During a 21-year baseball career, he played from 1967-1987 for four different teams. Jackson currently serves as...
's solo home run in the 8th that proved the difference in the Yankees' 5–4 win, which ended with Yastrzemski popping out to Graig Nettles
Graig Nettles
Graig Nettles , nicknamed "Puff", is a former Major League Baseball third baseman. During a 22-year baseball career, he played for the Minnesota Twins , Cleveland Indians , New York Yankees , San Diego Padres , Atlanta Braves and Montreal Expos .Nettles was one of the best...
with Rick Burleson
Rick Burleson
Richard Paul Burleson is a former Major League Baseball shortstop. "Rooster," as he was nicknamed was a famously intense ballplayer...
representing the tying run at third. Although Dent became a Red Sox demon, the Red Sox would get retribution in 1990 when the Yankees fired Dent as their manager during a series at Fenway Park.
After the 1978 season, things would go bad for Boston as they let go of two clubhouse leaders. First, Luis Tiant
Luis Tiant
Luis Clemente Tiant Vega , born November 23, 1940 in Marianao, Cuba, , is a former right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Cleveland Indians , Minnesota Twins , Boston Red Sox , New York Yankees , Pittsburgh Pirates and California Angels...
would sign with the hated Yankees. Also, Bill Lee ended up on the upcoming Montreal Expos
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
.
After the loss in 1978, John Cheever
John Cheever
John William Cheever was an American novelist and short story writer. He is sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs." His fiction is mostly set in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the Westchester suburbs, old New England villages based on various South Shore towns around Quincy,...
said to Diane White, "All literary men are Red Sox fans. To be a Yankee fan in literary society is to endanger your life". He also compared the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry to the Trojan War
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
, with the Red Sox portraying the Trojans (broadbacked Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Michael Yastrzemski is a former American Major League Baseball left fielder and first baseman. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year baseball career with the Boston Red Sox . He was primarily a left fielder, with part of his later career...
in a noble frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
, his poignant popup soaring beyond the topless towers of Troy
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
before the dream is dashed by the grit-gloved Graig Nettles
Graig Nettles
Graig Nettles , nicknamed "Puff", is a former Major League Baseball third baseman. During a 22-year baseball career, he played for the Minnesota Twins , Cleveland Indians , New York Yankees , San Diego Padres , Atlanta Braves and Montreal Expos .Nettles was one of the best...
).
1979 to 1989
After the 1978 playoff game, the Red Sox did not reach the postseason for the next seven years. In 1979, Carl YastrzemskiCarl Yastrzemski
Carl Michael Yastrzemski is a former American Major League Baseball left fielder and first baseman. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year baseball career with the Boston Red Sox . He was primarily a left fielder, with part of his later career...
would hit his 3000th career hit and Fred Lynn
Fred Lynn
Fredric Michael "Fred" Lynn is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Red Sox , California Angels , Baltimore Orioles , Detroit Tigers and San Diego Padres .Fred Lynn was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in and to the College Baseball Hall of Fame...
won the batting crown. The Sox would finish in third with a 91–69 record. Despite plus-.500 finishes in 1980 and 1981, the Red Sox decided not to resign Fred Lynn, Carlton Fisk, and Rick Burleson. Fisk would go to the White Sox, Lynn and Burleson went to the California Angels, in two separate trades that brought in Frank Tanana
Frank Tanana
Frank Daryl Tanana is a former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He was the California Angels' 1st round draft pick in 1971....
, Joe Rudi
Joe Rudi
Joseph Oden Rudi is a former left fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Kansas City & Oakland Athletics , California Angels and Boston Red Sox . He batted and threw right-handed...
, Carney Lansford
Carney Lansford
Carney Ray Lansford is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball and the hitting coach of the Colorado Rockies...
who would win the 1981 batting title, Rick Miller, and Mark Clear
Mark Clear
Mark Alan Clear is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher who played for the California Angels , Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers . He batted and threw right-handed....
. The Red Sox would win 89 games in 1982 with 14 wins from reliever Mark Clear and a .349 batting average from rookie Wade Boggs
Wade Boggs
Wade Anthony Boggs is an American former professional baseball third baseman. He spent his 18-year baseball career primarily with the Boston Red Sox, but also played for the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays...
. Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Michael Yastrzemski is a former American Major League Baseball left fielder and first baseman. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year baseball career with the Boston Red Sox . He was primarily a left fielder, with part of his later career...
retired after the 1983 season, during which the Red Sox finished sixth in the seven-team AL East, posting their worst record since 1966.
However, in 1986, it appeared that the team's fortunes were about to change. The team's hitting and offense had remained strong with Jim Rice
Jim Rice
James Edward "Jim" Rice , nicknamed "Jim Ed", is a former Major League Baseball left fielder.Jim Rice played his entire career for the Boston Red Sox from 1974 to 1989...
, Dwight Evans
Dwight Evans
Dwight Michael Evans , nicknamed "Dewey", is an American former professional baseball right fielder and right-handed batter who played with the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles in Major League Baseball....
, Bill Buckner
Bill Buckner
William Joseph Buckner is a former Major League Baseball first baseman. Despite winning a batting crown in , representing the Chicago Cubs at the All-Star Game the following season and accumulating over 2,700 hits in his twenty-year career, he is best remembered for a fielding error during Game 6...
, Don Baylor
Don Baylor
Donald Edward Baylor is a Major League Baseball coach currently the hitting coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and a former player and manager. During his 19-year playing career, he was a power hitter who played as a first baseman, outfielder, and designated hitter...
, and future Hall of Famer
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...
Wade Boggs
Wade Boggs
Wade Anthony Boggs is an American former professional baseball third baseman. He spent his 18-year baseball career primarily with the Boston Red Sox, but also played for the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays...
who would win 5 batting titles. Roger Clemens
Roger Clemens
William Roger Clemens , nicknamed "Rocket", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who broke into the league with the Boston Red Sox, whose pitching staff he would help anchor for 12 years. Clemens won seven Cy Young Awards, more than any other pitcher. He played for four different teams over...
led the pitching staff, going 24–4 with a 2.48 ERA
Earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...
to win both the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
Cy Young
Cy Young Award
The Cy Young Award is an honor given annually in baseball to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball , one each for the American League and National League . The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955...
and Most Valuable Player
MLB Most Valuable Player Award
The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award is an annual Major League Baseball award, given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America...
awards. Clemens became the first starting pitcher to win both awards since Vida Blue
Vida Blue
Vida Rochelle Blue Jr. is a former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. During a 17-year career, he pitched for the Oakland Athletics , San Francisco Giants , and Kansas City Royals He won the American League Cy Young award and Most Valuable Player Award in 1971...
in 1971. A starting pitcher has not won the MVP award in either league since.
The Red Sox won the AL East for the first time in 11 seasons, prompting a playoff series against the California Angels
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California, United States. The Angels are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The "Angels" name originates from the city in which the team started, Los Angeles...
in the AL Championship Series
1986 American League Championship Series
The 1986 American League Championship Series was a back-and-forth battle between the Boston Red Sox and the California Angels for the right to advance to the 1986 World Series to face the winner of the 1986 National League Championship Series...
. The teams split the first two games in Boston, but the Angels won the next two games at their home stadium, taking a 3–1 lead in the series. With the Angels poised to win the series, the Red Sox trailed 5–2 heading into the ninth inning of Game 5. A two-run homer
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
by Baylor cut the lead to one. With two outs and a runner on, and one strike away from elimination, Dave Henderson
Dave Henderson
David Lee Henderson , nicknamed Hendu, is an American former Major League Baseball player who played for the Seattle Mariners , Boston Red Sox , San Francisco Giants , Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals . He batted and threw right-handed...
homered off Donnie Moore
Donnie Moore
Donnie Ray Moore was an American relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Chicago Cubs , St...
to put Boston up 6–5. Although the Angels tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, the Red Sox won in the 11th on a Henderson sacrifice fly
Sacrifice fly
In baseball, a sacrifice fly is a batted ball that satisfies four criteria:* There are fewer than two outs when the ball is hit.* The ball is hit to the outfield....
off Moore. The Red Sox then found themselves with six- and seven-run wins at Fenway Park in Games 6 and 7 to win the American League title.
1986 World Series and Game Six
In the 1986 World Series1986 World Series
The 1986 World Series pitted the New York Mets against the Boston Red Sox. It was cited in the legend of the "Curse of the Bambino" to explain the error by Bill Buckner in Game 6 that allowed the Mets to extend the series to a seventh game...
the Red Sox played the New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
. Boston won the first two games in Shea Stadium
Shea Stadium
William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, usually shortened to Shea Stadium or just Shea , was a stadium in the New York City borough of Queens, in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. It was the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Mets from 1964 to 2008...
but lost the next two at Fenway, knotting the series at 2 games apiece. After Bruce Hurst
Bruce Hurst
Bruce Vee Hurst is a former Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher. He is best remembered for his brilliant performance for the Boston Red Sox in the postseason. He was even named World Series M.V.P...
recorded his second victory of the series in Game 5, the Red Sox returned to Shea Stadium looking to garner their first championship in 68 years. However, Game 6 would go down as one of the most devastating losses in club history. After pitching seven strong innings, Clemens was lifted from the game with a 3–2 lead. Years later, Manager John McNamara
John McNamara (baseball)
John Francis McNamara is a former manager and coach in Major League Baseball. He managed six major league teams, directing the 1986 Boston Red Sox to the American League pennant, only to experience an excruciating defeat in that season's World Series at the hands of the New York Mets.-Playing,...
said Clemens was suffering from a blister and asked to be taken out of the game, a claim Clemens denied. The Mets then scored a run off reliever
Relief pitcher
A relief pitcher or reliever is a baseball or softball pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed due to injury, ineffectiveness, fatigue, ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as being substituted by a pinch hitter...
Calvin Schiraldi
Calvin Schiraldi
Calvin Drew Schiraldi is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He is best remembered as the losing pitcher of Game 6 and Game 7 of the 1986 World Series.-Amateur career:...
to tie the score 3–3. The game went to extra innings
Extra innings
Extra innings is the extension of a baseball or softball game in order to break a tie.Ordinarily, a baseball game consists of nine innings , each of which is divided into halves: the visiting team bats first, after which the home team takes its turn at bat...
, where the Red Sox took a 5–3 lead in the top of the 10th on a solo home run by Henderson, a double by Boggs and an RBI single by second baseman Marty Barrett. After recording two outs in the bottom of the 10th, the Red Sox were one strike away from breaking their championship drought. The champagne was on ice in the Red Sox clubhouse, a graphic appeared on the NBC telecast hailing Barrett as the World Series MVP, and a message even appeared briefly on the Shea Stadium
Shea Stadium
William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, usually shortened to Shea Stadium or just Shea , was a stadium in the New York City borough of Queens, in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. It was the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Mets from 1964 to 2008...
scoreboard congratulating the Red Sox as world champions. After so many years of abject frustration, Red Sox fans around the world could taste victory. However, after three straight singles
Single (baseball)
In baseball, a single is the most common type of base hit, accomplished through the act of a batter safely reaching first base by hitting a fair ball and getting to first base before a fielder puts him out...
off Schiraldi and a wild pitch
Wild pitch
In baseball, a wild pitch is charged against a pitcher when his pitch is too high, too short, or too wide of home plate for the catcher to control with ordinary effort, thereby allowing a baserunner, perhaps even the batter-runner on strike three or ball four, to advance.A wild pitch usually...
by Bob Stanley
Bob Stanley
Robert William "Bob" Stanley is a former Major League Baseball right-handed relief pitcher who played with the Boston Red Sox.Over his 13-year career, Stanley played only for the Red Sox from 1977-89...
, the Mets tied the game at 5. It looked as though the Red Sox would record the third out leaving the score tied when Mookie Wilson
Mookie Wilson
William Hayward "Mookie" Wilson is an American former Major League Baseball center fielder and current coach for the New York Mets. He played 12 years in baseball for the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays . He was a switch hitter primarily known for his impressive speed and positive attitude...
hit a slow ground ball
Types of batted balls in baseball
In baseball, a batted ball is any ball that, after a pitch, is contacted by the batter's bat. One or more of several terms are used to describe a batted ball, depending on how it comes off the bat and where in the field it lands....
to first; the ball rolled through Bill Buckner's
Bill Buckner
William Joseph Buckner is a former Major League Baseball first baseman. Despite winning a batting crown in , representing the Chicago Cubs at the All-Star Game the following season and accumulating over 2,700 hits in his twenty-year career, he is best remembered for a fielding error during Game 6...
legs, allowing Ray Knight
Ray Knight
Charles Ray Knight is a former right-handed Major League Baseball third baseman best remembered for his time with the Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets...
to score the winning run from second. While Buckner was singled out as responsible for the loss, many observers — as well as both Wilson and Buckner — have noted that even if Buckner had fielded the ball cleanly, Wilson possibly would still have been safe, leaving the game-winning run at third with two out. Many observers questioned why Buckner was in the game at that point considering he had bad knees and that Dave Stapleton had come in as a late-inning defensive replacement in prior series games. It appeared as though McNamara was trying to reward Buckner for his long and illustrious career by leaving him in the game. The Sox took a 3–0 lead on home runs by Dwight Evans
Dwight Evans
Dwight Michael Evans , nicknamed "Dewey", is an American former professional baseball right fielder and right-handed batter who played with the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles in Major League Baseball....
and Rich Gedman
Rich Gedman
Richard Leo Gedman is a former Major League Baseball catcher and left-handed batter who played with the Boston Red Sox , Houston Astros and St...
but the Mets then won Game 7, concluding the devastating collapse and feeding the myth that the Red Sox were "cursed."
This World Series loss had a strange twist: Red Sox General Manager Lou Gorman
Lou Gorman
James Gerald "Lou" Gorman was an American baseball executive, and the former general manager of the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball...
was vice president, player personnel, of the Mets from 1980 to 1983. Working under Mets' GM Frank Cashen
Frank Cashen
John Francis Cashen is a former Major League Baseball general manager. He is widely considered to be the architect of the World Champion 1986 New York Mets and was also an executive while the Baltimore Orioles won the 1966 World Series and 1970 World Series.-Early life:Cashen was born in...
, with whom Gorman served with the Orioles, he helped lay the foundation for the Mets' championship.
The Red Sox returned to the postseason in 1988. With the club in fourth place midway through the 1988 season at the All-Star break, manager John McNamara
John McNamara (baseball)
John Francis McNamara is a former manager and coach in Major League Baseball. He managed six major league teams, directing the 1986 Boston Red Sox to the American League pennant, only to experience an excruciating defeat in that season's World Series at the hands of the New York Mets.-Playing,...
was fired and replaced by Joe Morgan
Joe Morgan (manager)
Joseph Michael Morgan is a retired American infielder, manager, coach and scout in Major League Baseball.-Early life:...
on July 15. 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 Magic. But the magic was short-lived, as the team was swept by the Oakland Athletics
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
in the ALCS
1988 American League Championship Series
-Game 1:Wednesday, October 5, 1988 at Fenway Park in Boston, MassachusettsIn an interview conducted before Game 1, José Canseco denied reports in that day's Washington Post by baseball reporter Thomas Boswell that he had used steroids...
. Ironically, the MVP of that Series was former Red Sox pitcher and Baseball Hall of Fame player Dennis Eckersley
Dennis Eckersley
Dennis Lee Eckersley , nicknamed "Eck", is a former American Major League Baseball pitcher. Eckersley had success as a starter, but gained his greatest fame as a closer, becoming the first of only two pitchers in Major League history to have both a 20-win season and a 50-save season in a career .He...
, who saved
Save (sport)
In baseball, a save is credited to a pitcher who finishes a game for the winning team under certain prescribed circumstances. The number of saves, or percentage of save opportunities successfully converted, is an oft-cited statistic of relief pitchers...
all four wins for Oakland.
1990s
In 1990, the Red Sox would again win the division and face the Athletics in the ALCS1990 American League Championship Series
-Game 1:Saturday, October 6, 1990 at Fenway Park in Boston, MassachusettsThe opening game of the series saw a battle of aces, as Oakland sent Dave Stewart to the hill against Boston's Roger Clemens. The game was a scoreless pitchers duel until the bottom of the fourth, when Red Sox third baseman...
. However, the outcome was the same, with the A's sweeping the ALCS in four straight. That same year, Yankees fans started to chant "1918!" to taunt the Red Sox. The demeaning chant would echo at Yankee Stadium each time the Red Sox were there. Also, Fenway Park became the scene of Bucky Dent
Bucky Dent
Russell Earl "Bucky" Dent , is a former American Major League Baseball player and manager. He earned two World Series rings as the starting shortstop for the New York Yankees in and , and was voted the World Series MVP in 1978...
's worst moment as a manager, although it was where he had his greatest triumph. In June, when the Red Sox swept the Yankees during a four-game series at Fenway Park, the Yankees fired Dent as their manager. Red Sox fans felt retribution to Dent being fired on their field.
Tom Yawkey died in 1976, and his wife Jean Yawkey
Jean R. Yawkey
Jean Remington Yawkey was the wife of Tom Yawkey and owner of the Boston Red Sox from 1976 to her death in 1992....
took control of the team until her death in 1992. Their initials are shown in two stripes on the Left field wall in Morse code
Morse code
Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...
. After Jean Yawkey's death, control of the team passed to the Yawkey Trust, led by John Harrington
John Harrington (Red Sox CEO)
John L. Harrington is an American business manager. He was the CEO of the Boston Red Sox.-Early life and career:He graduated from Boston College in 1957, and received his MBA from Boston College in 1966. After college, he was an officer in the U.S. Navy, then worked for both the General Accounting...
. The trust sold the team in 2002, concluding 70 years of Yawkey ownership.
In 1994, General Manager Lou Gorman
Lou Gorman
James Gerald "Lou" Gorman was an American baseball executive, and the former general manager of the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball...
was replaced by Dan Duquette
Dan Duquette
Daniel F. Duquette is the Executive Vice-President of Baseball Operations for the Baltimore Orioles. He was the General Manager of the Montreal Expos from September through January and for the Boston Red Sox from through March...
, a Massachusetts native who had worked for the Montreal Expos
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
. Duquette revived the team's farm system
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
, which during his tenure produced players such as Nomar Garciaparra
Nomar Garciaparra
Anthony Nomar Garciaparra is a former Major League Baseball player. After playing parts of 9 seasons as an All-Star shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, he played third base, first base, and designated hitter for the Oakland Athletics, first base and third base for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and...
, Carl Pavano
Carl Pavano
Carl Anthony Pavano is an American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher currently with the Minnesota Twins.-Early career:...
, and David Eckstein
David Eckstein
David Mark Eckstein is a former American professional baseball player who was an infielder in Major League Baseball for ten seasons. He played college baseball for the University of Florida, and has played professionally for the Anaheim Angels, St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays, Arizona...
. Duquette also spent money on free agents, notably an eight-year, $160 million deal for Manny Ramírez
Manny Ramírez
Manuel "Manny" Arístides Ramírez Onelcida is a retired Dominican-American professional baseball outfielder. He was recognized for great batting skill and power, a nine-time Silver Slugger and one of 25 players to hit 500 career home runs. Ramirez's 21 grand slams are third all-time, and his 28...
after the 2000 season.
Many fans were upset when Roger Clemens
Roger Clemens
William Roger Clemens , nicknamed "Rocket", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who broke into the league with the Boston Red Sox, whose pitching staff he would help anchor for 12 years. Clemens won seven Cy Young Awards, more than any other pitcher. He played for four different teams over...
and Mo Vaughn
Mo Vaughn
Maurice Samuel 'Mo' Vaughn , nicknamed "The Hit Dog", is a former Major League Baseball first baseman. He played from 1991 to 2003...
left the team as free agents. After Clemens had turned 30 and then had four seasons, 1993–96, which were by his standards mediocre at best, Duquette said the pitcher was entering "the twilight
Twilight
Twilight is the time between dawn and sunrise or between sunset and dusk, during which sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere illuminates the lower atmosphere, and the surface of the earth is neither completely lit nor completely dark. The sun itself is not directly visible because it is below...
of his career." Clemens went on to pitch well for another ten years and win four more Cy Young
Cy Young
Denton True "Cy" Young was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. During his 22-year baseball career , he pitched for five different teams. Young was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937...
awards. In 1999, Duquette called Fenway Park "economically obsolete" and, along with Red Sox ownership, led a push for a new stadium. Despite support from the Massachusetts Legislature
Massachusetts General Court
The Massachusetts General Court is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the Colonial Era, when this body also sat in judgment of judicial appeals cases...
and other politicians, issues with buying out neighboring property and steadfast opposition within Boston's city council eventually doomed the project.
On the field, the Red Sox had some success during this period, but were unable to return to the World Series. In 1995, they won the newly-realigned American League East
American League East
The American League Eastern Division is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions . This division was created before the start of the 1969 season along with the Western Division...
, finishing seven games ahead of the Yankees. However, they were swept in three games in a series against the Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
. Their postseason losing streak reached 13 straight games, dating back to the 1986 World Series
1986 World Series
The 1986 World Series pitted the New York Mets against the Boston Red Sox. It was cited in the legend of the "Curse of the Bambino" to explain the error by Bill Buckner in Game 6 that allowed the Mets to extend the series to a seventh game...
. During the 1990s a group of young talented players joined the team such as infielders Nomar Garciaparra
Nomar Garciaparra
Anthony Nomar Garciaparra is a former Major League Baseball player. After playing parts of 9 seasons as an All-Star shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, he played third base, first base, and designated hitter for the Oakland Athletics, first base and third base for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and...
and John Valentin
John Valentin
John William Valentin is a former shortstop and third baseman in Major League Baseball. He played most of his major league career with the Boston Red Sox, with his final season being for the New York Mets. He batted and threw right-handed...
. Garciaparra would win the 1997 rookie of the year honor while hitting 60 home runs in his first two full seasons. John Valentin would make 1994 triple play while being one of the best AL hitters.
The 1996 season certainly had its individual highlights. Roger Clemens tied his major league record by fanning 20 Detroit Tigers
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
on September 18 in what would prove to be one of his final appearances in a Red Sox uniform. Mo Vaughn had another All-Star season (.326 batting average, 44 home runs, 143 runs batted in) and newcomer Heathcliff Slocumb
Heathcliff Slocumb
Heath "Heathcliff" Slocumb is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. He batted and threw right-handed....
saved 31 games. However the Red Sox lost 19 of their first 25 games and finished third with an 85–77 record. They led the league in unearned runs. Even so, home attendance increased over 1995, to 2.3 million fans. Out of contention in 1997, the team traded closer Slocum to Seattle for catching prospect Jason Varitek
Jason Varitek
Jason Andrew Varitek is an American professional baseball catcher who is a free agent. After being traded as a minor league prospect by the Seattle Mariners, Varitek has played his entire major league career for the Boston Red Sox...
and right-handed pitcher Derek Lowe
Derek Lowe
Derek Christopher Lowe is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. He throws and bats right-handed. He is 6'6" and 230 pounds.-Early years:...
.
In 1998, the Red Sox dealt pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
s Tony Armas, Jr.
Tony Armas, Jr.
Antonio José Armas , better known as Tony Armas, Jr., is a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher who is currently a free agent. He last appeared in a Major League game in 2008...
and Carl Pavano
Carl Pavano
Carl Anthony Pavano is an American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher currently with the Minnesota Twins.-Early career:...
to the Montreal Expos
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
in exchange for pitcher Pedro Martínez
Pedro Martínez
Pedro Jaime Martínez is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He is an eight-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award winner, and 2004 World Series champion...
. Martínez became the anchor of the team's pitching staff and turned in several outstanding seasons. In 1998, the team won the American League Wild Card, but again lost the American League Division Series
American League Division Series
In Major League Baseball, the American League Division Series determines which two teams from the American League will advance to the American League Championship Series...
to the Indians.
A year later, the 1999 Red Sox
1999 Boston Red Sox season
The 1999 Boston Red Sox season involved the Red Sox' finishing 2nd in the American League East with a record of 94 wins and 68 losses. Pedro Martinez won the AL Cy Young Award and become the second pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues....
were finally able to overturn their fortunes against the Indians. Cleveland took a 2–0 series lead, but Boston won the next three games behind strong pitching by Derek Lowe
Derek Lowe
Derek Christopher Lowe is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. He throws and bats right-handed. He is 6'6" and 230 pounds.-Early years:...
, Pedro Martínez and his brother Ramón Martínez
Ramón Martínez (baseball pitcher)
Ramón Jaime Martínez is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball. He won 135 games over a 13-year career, mostly with the Los Angeles Dodgers...
. Game 4's 23–7 win by the Red Sox was the highest-scoring playoff game in major league history. Game 5 began 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 without allowing a hit while the team's offense rallied for a 12–8 win behind two home runs and seven RBIs from outfielder Troy O'Leary
Troy O'Leary
Troy Franklin O'Leary is a former left fielder in Major League Baseball who played with the Milwaukee Brewers , Boston Red Sox , Montreal Expos and Chicago Cubs and also in the Australian Baseball League for the Daikyo Dolphins...
. After the ALDS victory, the Red Sox lost the American League Championship Series
American League Championship Series
In Major League Baseball, the American League Championship Series , played in October, is a round in the postseason that determines the winner of the American League pennant...
to the Yankees, four games to one. The one bright spot was a lopsided win for the Sox in the much-hyped Martinez-Clemens game.
Early 2000s
In 2000, the Red Sox failed to take advantage of Nomar Garciaparra'sNomar Garciaparra
Anthony Nomar Garciaparra is a former Major League Baseball player. After playing parts of 9 seasons as an All-Star shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, he played third base, first base, and designated hitter for the Oakland Athletics, first base and third base for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and...
career year and Pedro Martínez's
Pedro Martínez
Pedro Jaime Martínez is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He is an eight-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award winner, and 2004 World Series champion...
historic season (18–6, 1.74 ERA, and his third Cy Young Award). Despite a few other standouts, they stumbled to an 85–77 clip. In 2001, though the Red Sox got an outstanding performance from new acquisition Manny Ramírez
Manny Ramírez
Manuel "Manny" Arístides Ramírez Onelcida is a retired Dominican-American professional baseball outfielder. He was recognized for great batting skill and power, a nine-time Silver Slugger and one of 25 players to hit 500 career home runs. Ramirez's 21 grand slams are third all-time, and his 28...
who would homer in his first at bat at Fenway as a member of the Red Sox. Ramirez was also a great RBI hitter. 2000 was a good year from Trot Nixon
Trot Nixon
Christopher Trotman Nixon is an American retired professional baseball right fielder. He played from 1996-2008 for three different teams, but is noted primarily for his time with the Boston Red Sox...
a defensive RF with a powerful bat, Garciaparra played only a meager 21 games, and Martinez pitched just 116 innings. To top it off, the Red Sox fired manager Jimy Williams
Jimy Williams
James Francis "Jimy" Williams is an American former manager of three Major League Baseball teams. He was born in Santa Maria, California.-Playing career:...
and replaced him with pitching coach
Coach (baseball)
In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, or head coach, who determines the lineup and decides how to substitute players during the game...
Joe Kerrigan
Joe Kerrigan
Joseph Thomas Kerrigan is a former relief pitcher, manager and longtime pitching coach in Major League Baseball.-Biography:...
, under whom they went 17–26.
In 2002, the Red Sox were sold by Yawkey trustee and president Harrington to a consortium headed by principal owner John Henry. New England Sports Ventures: Henry, Lucchino, Werner, Couric, Otten, George Mitchell, Cammarata, Eskandarian, New York Times/Boston Globe, Voter.com, Weld, Rasky, Colin Powell, Cokie Roberts, Byron Dafoe, Jo Jo White. The group underbid the next highest bidder, James Dolan, in a complex deal arranged by Mitchell and Bud Selig.
Tom Werner
Tom Werner
Thomas Charles "Tom" Werner is an American television producer and businessman who, via his investment in New England Sports Ventures, is chairman of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool Football Club....
served as executive chairman, Larry Lucchino
Larry Lucchino
Lawrence Lucchino, is the current President and CEO of the Boston Red Sox, and a member of John W...
served as president and CEO, serving as vice chairman was Les Otten
Les Otten
Leslie B. "Les" Otten , is the former CEO of the American Skiing Company. Since resigning as Chief Executive Officer in 2001, Otten has been involved in numerous other businesses and industries, including Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox....
. Within twenty-four hours, Dan Duquette was fired as GM of the club on February 28, with former Angels GM Mike Port
Mike Port
Michael D. Port is an American professional baseball executive. He was vice president, Umpiring for Major League Baseball from August 2005 through March 2011, when he left that position. He has been a front-office executive for three MLB clubs...
taking the interim helm for the 2002 season. A week later manager Joe Kerrigan was fired and replaced by Grady Little.
While nearly all offseason moves were made under Dan Duquette, such as signing outfielder Johnny Damon
Johnny Damon
Johnny David Damon is an American professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter. From 2000–2008, he was third among active players in runs and seventh in hits and stolen bases . He is currently second among active leaders in triples , five behind Carl Crawford...
away from the Oakland A's, the new ownership made additions after their purchase of the team, including trading for outfielder Cliff Floyd
Cliff Floyd
Cornelius Clifford Floyd, Jr. is a former Major League Baseball outfielder.-Early years:Floyd was born to parents Cornelius Clifford Floyd, Sr. and Olivia Floyd. After spending 13 years as an only child, Floyd was joined by brother Julius...
and relief pitcher Alan Embree
Alan Embree
Alan Duane Embree is a Major League Baseball relief pitcher who is currently a free agent. Previously, Embree played with the Cleveland Indians , Atlanta Braves , Arizona Diamondbacks , San Francisco Giants , Chicago White Sox , San Diego Padres , Boston Red Sox , New York...
. Nomar Garciaparra
Nomar Garciaparra
Anthony Nomar Garciaparra is a former Major League Baseball player. After playing parts of 9 seasons as an All-Star shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, he played third base, first base, and designated hitter for the Oakland Athletics, first base and third base for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and...
, Manny Ramírez
Manny Ramírez
Manuel "Manny" Arístides Ramírez Onelcida is a retired Dominican-American professional baseball outfielder. He was recognized for great batting skill and power, a nine-time Silver Slugger and one of 25 players to hit 500 career home runs. Ramirez's 21 grand slams are third all-time, and his 28...
, and Floyd (in limited time) all hit well, while Pedro Martínez
Pedro Martínez
Pedro Jaime Martínez is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He is an eight-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award winner, and 2004 World Series champion...
put up his usual outstanding numbers. Derek Lowe
Derek Lowe
Derek Christopher Lowe is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. He throws and bats right-handed. He is 6'6" and 230 pounds.-Early years:...
, newly converted into a starter, won 20 games—becoming the first player to save 20 games and win 20 games in back-to-back seasons. The Red Sox won 93 games but they finished 10½ games behind the Yankees for the division and 6 behind the Angels for the wild card.
In the off season, Port was replaced by Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
graduate Theo Epstein
Theo Epstein
Theo Nathan Epstein is the President of Baseball Operations for the Chicago Cubs.On November 25, 2002, he became the youngest GM in the history of Major League Baseball when the Boston Red Sox hired him at the age of 28...
after Oakland's
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
Billy Beane
Billy Beane
William Lamar "Billy" Beane III is a former Major League Baseball player and the current general manager and minority owner of the Oakland Athletics...
turned down the position. At the age of 28, Epstein became the youngest general manager in the history of the Major Leagues up to that point. He was raised in Brookline
Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...
.
Kevin Millar
Kevin Charles Millar is an American former professional baseball first baseman and current analyst for MLB Network and New England Sports Network. Millar played college baseball at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, where he continues to reside in the off-season. Millar is the nephew of former...
's challenge to his teammates to show more determination. In addition to Millar, the team's offense was so deep that eventual 2003 batting champion Bill Mueller
Bill Mueller
William Richard Mueller is a former Major League Baseball third baseman. Mueller's playing career was spent with the San Francisco Giants , Chicago Cubs , Boston Red Sox , and Los Angeles Dodgers . He won the American League batting title in 2003, and helped the Red Sox win the 2004 World Series...
was 7th in the lineup behind sluggers Manny Ramírez
Manny Ramírez
Manuel "Manny" Arístides Ramírez Onelcida is a retired Dominican-American professional baseball outfielder. He was recognized for great batting skill and power, a nine-time Silver Slugger and one of 25 players to hit 500 career home runs. Ramirez's 21 grand slams are third all-time, and his 28...
and the newly acquired David Ortiz
David Ortiz
David Américo Ortiz Arias , known as David Ortiz, nicknamed "Big Papi", is a Dominican American professional baseball player who is currently a free agent. Previously, Ortiz played with the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox...
.
Ortiz started the season as a platoon player with Mueller, Shea Hillenbrand
Shea Hillenbrand
Shea Matthew Hillenbrand is a professional baseball player who last played for the York Revolution of the independent Atlantic League....
, and Jeremy Giambi
Jeremy Giambi
Jeremy Dean Giambi is a left-handed, former Major League Baseball player for the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, and Boston Red Sox. He also played in the minors for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox. He is the younger brother of Colorado Rockies first...
, collectively playing first and third base. However, Hillenbrand became upset with his lack of playing time. GM Theo Epstein, noting that Mueller was hitting very well in his limited role, traded Hillenbrand to the Arizona Diamondbacks
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks are a professional baseball team based in Phoenix. They play in the West Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From 1998 to the present, they have played in Chase Field...
for pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
Byung-Hyun Kim
Byung-Hyun Kim
Byung-Hyun Kim is a South Korean professional baseball pitcher for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball. He is best known for his years with the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Boston Red Sox. In 2001, Kim took over mid-season as the Diamondbacks' closer and saved 19...
. Receiving much more playing time following the trade, Ortiz settled down and contributed significantly in the second half of the season. Epstein's decision ended up greatly benefiting the team, as the Red Sox broke many batting records and won the AL Wild Card on September 25 with a victory over the Baltimore Orioles
2003 Baltimore Orioles season
The 2003 Baltimore Orioles season involved the Orioles finishing 4th in the American League East with a record of 71 wins and 91 losses.-Offseason:*December 2, 2002: Bill Pulsipher was signed as a Free Agent with the Baltimore Orioles....
at Fenway.
In the 2003 American League Division Series
2003 American League Division Series
-Oakland Athletics vs. Boston Red Sox:-Game 1, September 30:Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York-Game 2, October 2:Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York-Game 3, October 4:Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota-Game 4, October 5:...
, the Red Sox rallied from a 0–2 series deficit against the Oakland Athletics
2003 Oakland Athletics season
The Oakland Athletics' 2003 season involved the A's finishing 1st in the American League West with a record of 96 wins and 66 losses.-Offseason:...
to win the best-of-five series. In extra innings of game three at Fenway pinch hitter Trot Nixion belted a homer into the center field bleachers to give the Sox victory. Derek Lowe
Derek Lowe
Derek Christopher Lowe is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. He throws and bats right-handed. He is 6'6" and 230 pounds.-Early years:...
, who had become a starter
Starting pitcher
In baseball or softball, a starting pitcher is the pitcher who delivers the first pitch to the first batter of a game. A pitcher who enters the game after the first pitch of the game is a relief pitcher....
after several years as a relief pitcher, returned to his former role to save Game 5, a 4–3 victory, by striking out the A's Terrence Long
Terrence Long
Terrence Deon Long is a former outfielder in Major League Baseball. Long batted and threw left-handed....
with the tying run on third base. The team then faced the New York Yankees
2003 New York Yankees season
The New York Yankees' 2003 season was the 100th season for the Yankees. The team finished with a record of 101-61 finishing 6 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox. New York was managed by Joe Torre. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium. In the playoffs, they defeated the Boston Red Sox in 7 games in...
in the 2003 American League Championship Series
2003 American League Championship Series
-Game 1:Wednesday, October 8, 2003 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New YorkBacked by three home runs, Tim Wakefield shut the Bombers down in Game 1.-Game 2:Thursday, October 9, 2003 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York...
. In the deciding seventh game Boston took a 4–0 lead on home runs by Nixon and Kevin Millar. But two Giambi homers made it 4–2. Boston led 5–2 thanks to a shot by David Ortiz in the eighth inning, but Pedro Martínez
Pedro Martínez
Pedro Jaime Martínez is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He is an eight-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award winner, and 2004 World Series champion...
, who was still pitching into the 8th inning, allowed three runs to tie the game, including a two-run bloop double by Jorge Posada
Jorge Posada
Jorge Rafael Posada Villeta is a Major League Baseball player who is currently a free agent and has played his entire career for the New York Yankees. He served as the Yankees primary catcher for most of his career, though following off-season knee surgery, he was moved to designated hitter for...
. The Red Sox could not score off Mariano Rivera
Mariano Rivera
Mariano Rivera is a Panamanian right-handed baseball pitcher who has played 17 years in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. Nicknamed "Mo", Rivera has served as a relief pitcher for most of his career, and since 1997, he has been the Yankees' closer...
over the last three innings and eventually lost the game 6–5 when Yankee third baseman
Third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run...
Aaron Boone
Aaron Boone
Aaron John Boone is a former Major League Baseball infielder whose famous home run off Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield won the 2003 American League Championship Series for the New York Yankees. He played for the Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Florida Marlins, Washington...
hit a solo home run off Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield
Tim Wakefield
Timothy Stephen Wakefield is an American professional baseball pitcher. Wakefield began pitching with the Red Sox in 1995, making him the longest-serving player currently on the team. Wakefield is also the oldest current active player in the majors, and one of two active knuckleballers, the other...
.
Some placed the blame for the loss on manager Grady Little
Grady Little
William Grady Little is a former manager in Major League Baseball. He managed the Boston Red Sox from 2002 to 2003 and the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2006 to 2007...
for failing to remove Martínez in the 8th inning after some observers believe he began to show signs of tiring. Others credited Little with the team's successful season and dramatic come-from-behind victory in the ALDS. Nevertheless, Boston's management decided a change was in order. Little's contract expired after the season, and the organization decided not to exercise his option. He was replaced by former Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
manager Terry Francona
Terry Francona
Terry Jon Francona , nicknamed "Tito," is a former Major League Baseball manager and a former player. He was a first baseman and outfielder in the majors from 1981 to 1990. After retiring as a player, he managed several minor league teams in the 1990s before managing the Philadelphia Phillies for...
.
2004
During the 2003–04 offseason, the Red Sox acquired another ace pitcher, Curt SchillingCurt Schilling
Curtis Montague "Curt" Schilling is a former American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He helped lead the Philadelphia Phillies to the World Series in and won World Series championships in with the Arizona Diamondbacks and in and with the Boston Red Sox. Schilling retired with a...
, and a closer, Keith Foulke
Keith Foulke
-Career:After graduating from Hargrave High School in Huffman, Texas in 1991, he attended Galveston College and Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho. He began his career in the minor-league system of the San Francisco Giants, but was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1997 with five other prospects...
. Expectations once again ran high that 2004 would be the year that the Red Sox ended their championship drought. The regular season started well in April, but through mid-season the team struggled due to injuries, inconsistency and defensive woes.
Pitching remained strong from Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling and Tim Wakefield. Offense was too much for the 2004 Red Sox led by Ortiz, Ramirez, Damon and Jason Varitek. But management shook up the team at the MLB trading deadline on July 31, when they traded the team's popular yet often injured shortstop, Nomar Garciaparra
Nomar Garciaparra
Anthony Nomar Garciaparra is a former Major League Baseball player. After playing parts of 9 seasons as an All-Star shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, he played third base, first base, and designated hitter for the Oakland Athletics, first base and third base for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and...
, to the Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
, receiving Orlando Cabrera
Orlando Cabrera
Orlando Luis Cabrera, nicknamed "O-Cab" and "The OC", is a Colombian-American baseball infielder.He won a World Series championship in 2004 with the Boston Red Sox. He has played for the Montreal Expos, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics, Minnesota Twins,...
of the Montreal Expos
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
and Doug Mientkiewicz
Doug Mientkiewicz
Douglas Andrew Mientkiewicz is a first baseman who last appeared in the majors in with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He bats left-handed and throws right-handed...
of the Minnesota Twins
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
in return. In a separate transaction, the Red Sox also traded minor leaguer Henri Stanley to the Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
for center fielder Dave Roberts. Many Sox fans initially blasted the trade as bringing the team inadequate compensation for Garciaparra. However, the club would turn things around soon after, winning twenty-two out of twenty-five games and qualifying for the playoffs as the AL Wild Card. Players and fans affectionately referred to the players as "The Idiots", a term coined by Johnny Damon
Johnny Damon
Johnny David Damon is an American professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter. From 2000–2008, he was third among active players in runs and seventh in hits and stolen bases . He is currently second among active leaders in triples , five behind Carl Crawford...
and Kevin Millar
Kevin Millar
Kevin Charles Millar is an American former professional baseball first baseman and current analyst for MLB Network and New England Sports Network. Millar played college baseball at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, where he continues to reside in the off-season. Millar is the nephew of former...
during the playoff push to describe the team's eclectic roster and devil-may-care attitude toward their supposed curse
Curse of the Bambino
The Curse of the Bambino was a superstition cited as a reason for the failure of the Boston Red Sox baseball team to win the World Series in the 86-year period from 1918 to 2004...
.
2004 ALDS and ALCS
Boston began the postseason by sweeping the AL WestAmerican League West
The American League West is one of three divisions in Major League Baseball's American League. The division currently has four teams, but it has had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. Although its teams currently only reside along the west coast and in Texas, historically the...
champion Anaheim Angels
2004 Anaheim Angels season
The Anaheim Angels 2004 season was the franchise's 44th since its inception. The regular season ended with a record of 92-70, resulting in the Angels winning their fourth American League West division title, their first since...
in the ALDS
2004 American League Division Series
-Anaheim Angels vs. Boston Red Sox:-Game 1, October 5:Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New YorkPitching dominated in Game 1 as Mike Mussina faced Johan Santana. The Twins got on the board first when Shannon Stewart singled home Michael Cuddyer. Then in the sixth, Jacque Jones hit a solo home run to make...
. However, Curt Schilling suffered a torn ankle tendon
Tendon
A tendon is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue that usually connects muscle to bone and is capable of withstanding tension. Tendons are similar to ligaments and fasciae as they are all made of collagen except that ligaments join one bone to another bone, and fasciae connect muscles to other...
in Game 1 when he was hit by a line drive. The injury was exacerbated when Schilling fielded a ball rolling down the first base line. In the third game of the series, what looked to be a blowout turned out to be a nail-biter, as Vladimir Guerrero
Vladimir Guerrero
Vladimir Alvino Guerrero is a free agent Major League Baseball right fielder and designated hitter.In , he was voted the American League MVP...
hit a grand slam off Mike Timlin in the 7th inning to tie the game. However, David Ortiz
David Ortiz
David Américo Ortiz Arias , known as David Ortiz, nicknamed "Big Papi", is a Dominican American professional baseball player who is currently a free agent. Previously, Ortiz played with the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox...
hit a walk-off two-run homer in the 10th inning to win the game. The Sox advanced to a rematch in the 2004 American League Championship Series
2004 American League Championship Series
The 2004 American League Championship Series was the Major League Baseball playoff series to decide the American League champion for the 2004 season. It was played between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, at Fenway Park and the original Yankee Stadium, from October 12 to October 20, 2004...
against the New York Yankees
2004 New York Yankees season
The New York Yankees' 2004 season was the 102nd season for the Yankees. The Yankees opened the season by playing two games against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in Japan on March 30, 2004. The team finished with a record of 101-61, finishing 3 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox in the AL East. New...
.
The series started very poorly for the Red Sox. Schilling, pitching with an injured ankle, was routed for six runs in three innings. Yankees starter Mike Mussina
Mike Mussina
Michael Cole Mussina , nicknamed Moose, is a former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher. He played for the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees ....
had six perfect innings, and despite Boston's best efforts to come back, they ended up losing 10–7. In Game 2, with his Yankees leading 1–0 for most of the game, John Olerud
John Olerud
John Garrett Olerud , is a former American first baseman in Major League Baseball. Olerud played with the Toronto Blue Jays , New York Mets , Seattle Mariners , New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox ....
hit a two-run home run to put New York up for good. Following this, the Red Sox were down three games to none after a crushing 19–8 loss in Game 3 at home. In that game, the two clubs set the record for most runs scored
Run (baseball)
In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured...
in a League Championship Series game. At that point in the history of baseball, no team had come back to win from a 3–0 series deficit. In Game 4, the Red Sox found themselves facing elimination, trailing 4–3 in the ninth with Yankees closer
Closer (baseball)
In baseball, a closing pitcher, more frequently referred to as a closer , is a relief pitcher who specializes in closing out games, i.e., getting the final outs in a close game. Closers often appear when the score is close, and the role is often assigned to a team's best reliever. A small number of...
Mariano Rivera
Mariano Rivera
Mariano Rivera is a Panamanian right-handed baseball pitcher who has played 17 years in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. Nicknamed "Mo", Rivera has served as a relief pitcher for most of his career, and since 1997, he has been the Yankees' closer...
on the mound. After Rivera issued a walk to Kevin Millar, Dave Roberts came on to pinch run and promptly stole
Stolen base
In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base while the pitcher is delivering the ball to home plate...
second base. He then scored on an RBI
Run batted in
Runs batted in or RBIs is a statistic used in baseball and softball to credit a batter when the outcome of his at-bat results in a run being scored, except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play. The first team to track RBI was the Buffalo Bisons.Common nicknames for an RBI...
single
Single (baseball)
In baseball, a single is the most common type of base hit, accomplished through the act of a batter safely reaching first base by hitting a fair ball and getting to first base before a fielder puts him out...
by Bill Mueller
Bill Mueller
William Richard Mueller is a former Major League Baseball third baseman. Mueller's playing career was spent with the San Francisco Giants , Chicago Cubs , Boston Red Sox , and Los Angeles Dodgers . He won the American League batting title in 2003, and helped the Red Sox win the 2004 World Series...
which sent the game to extra innings. The Red Sox went on to win the game on a two-run home run by David Ortiz in the 12th inning. In Game 5, the Red Sox were again down late (by the score of 4–2) as a result of Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter
Derek Sanderson Jeter is an American baseball shortstop who has played 17 years in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. A twelve-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, Jeter's clubhouse presence, on-field leadership, hitting ability, and baserunning have made him a central...
's bases-clearing triple. But the Sox struck back in the eighth, as Ortiz hit a homer over the Green Monster to bring the Sox within a run. Then Jason Varitek
Jason Varitek
Jason Andrew Varitek is an American professional baseball catcher who is a free agent. After being traded as a minor league prospect by the Seattle Mariners, Varitek has played his entire major league career for the Boston Red Sox...
hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Dave Roberts, scoring the tying run. The game would go for 14 innings, featuring many squandered opportunities on both sides. In the bottom of the 14th, Ortiz would again seal the win with an RBI single that brought home Damon. The 14-inning game set the record for the longest American League Championship Series game ever played.
With the series returning to Yankee Stadium for Game 6, the comeback continued with Schilling pitching on a bad ankle. The three sutures in Schilling's ankle bled throughout the game, making his sock appear bloody red. Schilling struck out four, walked none, and only allowed one run over seven innings to lead the team to victory. Mark Bellhorn
Mark Bellhorn
Mark Christian Bellhorn is a Major League Baseball second baseman who is currently a free agent. He is a switch-hitter and throws right-handed. He stands 6-1 and weighs 205 lbs.-Personal life:...
also helped in the effort as he hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning. In the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees staged a rally and brought former Red Sox player Tony Clark
Tony Clark
Anthony Christopher Clark, known as Tony , is a former Major League Baseball first baseman and current MLB Network studio analyst....
to the plate as the potential winning run. Keith Foulke, pitching for the third day in a row, struck out Clark to end the game and force the deciding Game 7. In this game, the Red Sox completed their historic comeback owing to the strength of Derek Lowe
Derek Lowe
Derek Christopher Lowe is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. He throws and bats right-handed. He is 6'6" and 230 pounds.-Early years:...
's one-hit, one-run pitching and Johnny Damon's two home runs (including a grand slam in the second inning). The New York Yankees were defeated 10–3. Ortiz, who had the game-winning RBIs in Games 4 and 5, was named ALCS Most Valuable Player. The Red Sox joined the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs
1941–42 Toronto Maple Leafs season
The 1941–42 Toronto Maple Leafs season was the club's twenty-fifth season in the NHL. The Maple Leafs came off a very solid season in 1940–41, finishing with their second highest point total in club history, as they had a 28–14–6 record, earning 62 points, which was two fewer than the 1934–35 team...
and 1975 New York Islanders
1974–75 New York Islanders season
The 1974–75 New York Islanders season was the third season for the franchise in the National Hockey League. During the regular season, the Islanders finished in third place in the Patrick Division with a 33-25-22 record qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs...
as the only professional sports
Professional sports
Professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, are sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance. Professional athleticism has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger audiences, so that sports organizations...
teams in history to win a best-of-seven games series after being down three games to none, as would the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers
2009–10 Philadelphia Flyers season
The 2009–10 Philadelphia Flyers season was the Flyers' 43rd season in the National Hockey League .The Flyers began the 2009–10 season with some major changes, allowing goaltenders Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki to depart via free agency, replacing them with former Ottawa Senators netminder Ray...
.
2004 World Series: Death of the Curse of the Bambino
The Red Sox faced the St. Louis Cardinals2004 St. Louis Cardinals season
The St. Louis Cardinals 2004 season was the team's 123rd season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 113th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 105-57 during the season and won the National League Central division by 13 games over the NL Wild-Card Champion Houston Astros...
in the 2004 World Series
2004 World Series
The 2004 World Series was the Major League Baseball championship series for the 2004 season. It was the 100th World Series and featured the American League champions, the Boston Red Sox, against the National League champions, the St. Louis Cardinals...
. The Cardinals had posted the best record in MLB in 2004, and had previously defeated the Red Sox in the and 1967 World Series
1967 World Series
The 1967 World Series matched the St. Louis Cardinals against the Boston Red Sox in a rematch of the 1946 World Series, with the Cardinals winning in seven games for their second championship in four years and their eighth overall...
. The Sox began the series when Ortiz hit a 3-run homer to start the night. However Boston made many errors which allowed St. Louis to tie the game 9-all. But in the 8th inning the Red Sox won 11–9, marked by Mark Bellhorn's game-winning home run off Pesky's Pole
Pesky's Pole
Pesky's Pole, commonly referred to as The Pesky Pole, is the nickname for the right field foul pole at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. It is named after Johnny Pesky, who played second base, shortstop and third base for the Red Sox from 1942 to 1952, except for 1943-45 during World War II....
. It was the highest scoring World Series opening game ever (breaking the previous record set in 1932
1932 World Series
The 1932 World Series was played between the New York Yankees and the Chicago Cubs , with the Yankees holding home field advantage. The Yankees swept the Cubs, four games to none...
). The Red Sox would go on to win Game 2 in Boston thanks to another great performance by the bloody-socked Curt Schilling. Boston scored all six runs with two-out RBI hits by Varitek, Orlando Cabrera and Varitek. In Game 3, Manny Ramirez
Manny Ramírez
Manuel "Manny" Arístides Ramírez Onelcida is a retired Dominican-American professional baseball outfielder. He was recognized for great batting skill and power, a nine-time Silver Slugger and one of 25 players to hit 500 career home runs. Ramirez's 21 grand slams are third all-time, and his 28...
got Boston started with a 1st-inning solo home run. Pedro Martínez (in his first World Series performance) shut out the Cardinals for seven innings and led Boston to a 4–1 victory. In Game 4, Damon led off the game with a home run and the Red Sox did not allow a single run, and the game ended as Edgar Rentería
Edgar Rentería
Edgar Enrique Rentería Herazo , nicknamed "The Barranquilla Baby," is a Colombian professional baseball shortstop. He throws and bats right-handed. Previously, he has played for the Florida Marlins, the St...
hit the ball back to closer Keith Foulke. After Foulke lobbed the ball to first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, the Sox had won their first World Championship in 86 years. Boston held the Cardinals' offense to only three runs in the final three games and never trailed in the series. Fox commentator Joe Buck
Joe Buck
Joseph Francis "Joe" Buck is an American sportscaster and the son of legendary sportscaster Jack Buck. He has won numerous Sports Emmy Awards for his play-by-play work with Fox Sports.-Education:...
famously called the final play of the game with: "Back to Foulke
Keith Foulke
-Career:After graduating from Hargrave High School in Huffman, Texas in 1991, he attended Galveston College and Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho. He began his career in the minor-league system of the San Francisco Giants, but was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1997 with five other prospects...
. Red Sox fan
Red Sox Nation
Red Sox Nation refers to the fans of the Boston Red Sox. The phrase "Red Sox Nation" was first coined by Boston Globe feature writer Nathan Cobb in an October 20, 1986, article about split allegiances among fans in Connecticut during the 1986 World Series between the Red Sox and the New York...
s have longed to hear it: The Boston Red Sox are World Champions!"
Manny Ramírez was named World Series MVP. To add a final, surreal touch to Boston's championship season, on the night of Game 4 a total lunar eclipse colored the moon red over Busch Stadium
Busch Memorial Stadium
Busch Memorial Stadium, also known as Busch Stadium, was a multi-purpose sports facility in St. Louis, Missouri that operated from 1966 to 2005....
. The Red Sox won the title about eleven minutes before totality ended.
The Red Sox held a "rolling rally" for the team on Saturday, October 30, 2004. A crowd of more than three million people filled the streets of Boston to celebrate as the team rode on the city's famous Duck Boats
DUKW
The DUKW is a six-wheel-drive amphibious truck that was designed by a partnership under military auspices of Sparkman & Stephens and General Motors Corporation during World War II for transporting goods and troops over land and water and for use approaching and crossing beaches in amphibious...
. The Red Sox earned many accolades from the sports media and throughout the nation for their incredible season. In December, Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
named the Boston Red Sox the 2004 Sportsmen of the Year
Sportsman of the Year
Since its inception in 1954, Sports Illustrated magazine has annually presented the "Sportsman of the Year" award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Both Americans and non-Americans are eligible, though in the past the...
.
With the New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
winning Super Bowl XXXVIII
Super Bowl XXXVIII
Super Bowl XXXVIII was an American football game played on February 1, 2004 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas to decide the National Football League champion following the 2003 regular season....
in February, Boston became the first city since Pittsburgh in 1979 to have both Super Bowl and World Series champions in the same year. Their winning Super Bowl XXXIX
Super Bowl XXXIX
Super Bowl XXXIX was an American football game played on February 6, 2005, at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, to decide the National Football League champion following the 2004 regular season...
during the offseason made Boston the first city since Pittsburgh in 1979-1980 to have two Super Bowl and World Series championships over a span of 12 months. After the Bruins
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
won the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals
2011 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2011 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League , and the culmination of the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was the 118th year of the Stanley Cup's presentation. The Eastern Conference Champion Boston Bruins defeated the Western Conference Champion Vancouver...
, which made Boston the first city to win championships in all four sports leagues in the new millennium, Dan Shaughnessy
Dan Shaughnessy
Dan Shaughnessy is an American sports writer.-Career:After graduating from the College of the Holy Cross, Shaughnessy began his career as a beat reporter covering the Baltimore Orioles for the Baltimore Sun in 1977. He has been a sports writer for the Boston Globe for approximately 30 years,...
of The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
ranked all seven championships by the Patriots, Red Sox in 2004 and , the Celtics in , and the Bruins and picked the Red Sox win in 2004 as the greatest Boston sports championship during the ten-year span.
2005–2006
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 MartínezPedro Martínez
Pedro Jaime Martínez is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He is an eight-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award winner, and 2004 World Series champion...
, Derek Lowe
Derek Lowe
Derek Christopher Lowe is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. He throws and bats right-handed. He is 6'6" and 230 pounds.-Early years:...
, and Orlando Cabrera
Orlando Cabrera
Orlando Luis Cabrera, nicknamed "O-Cab" and "The OC", is a Colombian-American baseball infielder.He won a World Series championship in 2004 with the Boston Red Sox. He has played for the Montreal Expos, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics, Minnesota Twins,...
were replaced with David Wells
David Wells
David Lee Wells , nicknamed "Boomer", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. Wells was considered to be one of the game's better left-handed pitchers, especially during his years with the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays. He pitched the fifteenth perfect game in baseball history...
, Matt Clement
Matt Clement
Matthew Paul Clement is a former Major League Baseball starting pitcher. Clement played for the San Diego Padres , Florida Marlins , Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox . While on the Red Sox active roster, he was injured all of the 2007 season...
, and Edgar Rentería
Edgar Rentería
Edgar Enrique Rentería Herazo , nicknamed "The Barranquilla Baby," is a Colombian professional baseball shortstop. He throws and bats right-handed. Previously, he has played for the Florida Marlins, the St...
, respectively. The club re-signed its catcher, Jason Varitek
Jason Varitek
Jason Andrew Varitek is an American professional baseball catcher who is a free agent. After being traded as a minor league prospect by the Seattle Mariners, Varitek has played his entire major league career for the Boston Red Sox...
, and named him team captain
Captain (sports)
In team sports, a captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field...
. On April 11, the Red Sox opened their home season with a ring ceremony and the unveiling of their 2004 World Series Championship banner. Their opponent that day was the New York Yankees – the team the Red Sox had won four straight games against in 2004 to win the ALCS.
Pitchers Curt Schilling
Curt Schilling
Curtis Montague "Curt" Schilling is a former American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He helped lead the Philadelphia Phillies to the World Series in and won World Series championships in with the Arizona Diamondbacks and in and with the Boston Red Sox. Schilling retired with a...
and Keith Foulke
Keith Foulke
-Career:After graduating from Hargrave High School in Huffman, Texas in 1991, he attended Galveston College and Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho. He began his career in the minor-league system of the San Francisco Giants, but was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1997 with five other prospects...
, key players in the previous year's playoff drive, spent large parts of the season on the disabled list
Disabled list
In Major League Baseball, the disabled list is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players.-General guidelines:...
. More of the team's struggles stemmed from the declining performances of some of its key role players: first baseman Kevin Millar
Kevin Millar
Kevin Charles Millar is an American former professional baseball first baseman and current analyst for MLB Network and New England Sports Network. Millar played college baseball at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, where he continues to reside in the off-season. Millar is the nephew of former...
(only 9 home runs), second baseman Mark Bellhorn
Mark Bellhorn
Mark Christian Bellhorn is a Major League Baseball second baseman who is currently a free agent. He is a switch-hitter and throws right-handed. He stands 6-1 and weighs 205 lbs.-Personal life:...
(struck out once every 2.6 AB), and setup man
Setup pitcher
In baseball, a setup pitcher is a relief pitcher who regularly pitches before the closer. They commonly pitch the 7th and/or 8th innings, with the closer pitching the 9th....
Alan Embree
Alan Embree
Alan Duane Embree is a Major League Baseball relief pitcher who is currently a free agent. Previously, Embree played with the Cleveland Indians , Atlanta Braves , Arizona Diamondbacks , San Francisco Giants , Chicago White Sox , San Diego Padres , Boston Red Sox , New York...
(7.65 ERA). Without Foulke and Embree anchoring the pen, Theo Epstein took a chance on a number of journeymen who failed to bring stability. For much of the season Boston held first place in the AL East
American League East
The American League Eastern Division is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions . This division was created before the start of the 1969 season along with the Western Division...
but down the stretch the team struggled, squandering its lead over the Yankees and allowing the Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
to close the gap in the Wild Card race. The division crown would be decided on the last weekend of the season, with the Yankees coming to Fenway Park with a one-game lead in the standings. The Red Sox won two of the three games to finish the season with the same record as the Yankees, 95–67. However, a playoff was not needed. The Indians had a record of 93–69, thus qualifying both the Yankees and Red Sox for the playoffs. Since the Yankees had won the season series, 10–9, they won the division, whereas the Red Sox settled for the Wild Card. In the 2005 playoffs, the Red Sox faced the AL Central
American League Central
The American League Central Division is one of six divisions in Major League Baseball. This division was formed in the realignment in 1994, and its teams are all located in the Midwestern United States...
champion Chicago White Sox
2005 Chicago White Sox season
The 2005 Chicago White Sox season was the White Sox's 105th season. They finished with a 99-63 record in the regular season and won first-place the American League Central division by six games over the Cleveland Indians...
but were swept in three games.
On October 31, 2005, general manager Theo Epstein
Theo Epstein
Theo Nathan Epstein is the President of Baseball Operations for the Chicago Cubs.On November 25, 2002, he became the youngest GM in the history of Major League Baseball when the Boston Red Sox hired him at the age of 28...
resigned on the last day of his contract, reportedly turning down a three-year, $4.5 million contract extension. On Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving (United States)
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...
evening, the Red Sox officially announced the acquisition of pitcher Josh Beckett
Josh Beckett
Joshua Patrick Beckett is an American professional baseball pitcher with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. During his career in the playoffs, he won the 2003 World Series MVP Award with the Florida Marlins, and received the 2007 ALCS MVP award with the Red Sox.-Florida Marlins :A...
from the Florida Marlins
Florida Marlins
The Miami Marlins are a professional baseball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. Established in 1993 as an expansion franchise called the Florida Marlins, the Marlins are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Marlins played their home games at...
. Boston also added third baseman Mike Lowell
Mike Lowell
Michael Averett Lowell is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball third baseman. During a 13-year career, Lowell played for the New York Yankees , Florida Marlins , and the Boston Red Sox...
and relief pitcher Guillermo Mota
Guillermo Mota
Guillermo Reynoso Mota is a Major League Baseball relief pitcher. He stands tall and weighs . He throws and bats right-handed. Mota has played for the Montreal Expos, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Florida Marlins, the Cleveland Indians, the New York Mets, the Milwaukee Brewers and the San...
in the deal, while sending minor league prospects Hanley Ramírez
Hanley Ramirez
Hanley Ramirez is a shortstop in Major League Baseball for the Miami Marlins. Ramírez was named 2006 NL Rookie of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America. In 2009, Ramírez won the NL batting title and is a three-time All-Star starter...
, Aníbal Sánchez
Aníbal Sánchez
Aníbal Alejandro Sánchez, Jr. [a-NEE-bal] is a Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher with the Miami Marlins. He is listed as 6 feet tall and 180 pounds...
, Jesús Delgado, and Harvey García to the Marlins. On December 7, the Sox traded backup catcher Doug Mirabelli
Doug Mirabelli
Douglas Anthony Mirabelli is a former Major League Baseball catcher. He played for the San Francisco Giants , Texas Rangers , Boston Red Sox , and San Diego Padres before returning to the Red Sox to end his eleven year career...
to the San Diego Padres
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times...
for second baseman Mark Loretta
Mark Loretta
Mark David Loretta is a retired Major League Baseball infielder. Loretta played for the Milwaukee Brewers , Houston Astros , San Diego Padres , Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers...
(the team would later reacquire Mirabelli in May 2006). On December 8, the Sox gave up on Edgar Rentería
Edgar Rentería
Edgar Enrique Rentería Herazo , nicknamed "The Barranquilla Baby," is a Colombian professional baseball shortstop. He throws and bats right-handed. Previously, he has played for the Florida Marlins, the St...
, trading him and cash to the Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
for third base prospect Andy Marté
Andy Marté
Andy Manuel Marté is a Dominican professional baseball third baseman with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization in Major League Baseball. On December 1, 2010, Marte signed a minor league deal with the Pirates.-Career:Marté signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves in 2000, and succeeded at...
. On December 20, Johnny Damon
Johnny Damon
Johnny David Damon is an American professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter. From 2000–2008, he was third among active players in runs and seventh in hits and stolen bases . He is currently second among active leaders in triples , five behind Carl Crawford...
declined arbitration and a few days later signed a four-year, $52 million deal with the New York Yankees. With Mike Lowell now on board, the Sox let Bill Mueller
Bill Mueller
William Richard Mueller is a former Major League Baseball third baseman. Mueller's playing career was spent with the San Francisco Giants , Chicago Cubs , Boston Red Sox , and Los Angeles Dodgers . He won the American League batting title in 2003, and helped the Red Sox win the 2004 World Series...
go via free agency to the Dodgers. Meanwhile, Kevin Millar
Kevin Millar
Kevin Charles Millar is an American former professional baseball first baseman and current analyst for MLB Network and New England Sports Network. Millar played college baseball at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, where he continues to reside in the off-season. Millar is the nephew of former...
was not offered arbitration and signed with the Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
.
On January 19, 2006, the Red Sox announced that Theo Epstein
Theo Epstein
Theo Nathan Epstein is the President of Baseball Operations for the Chicago Cubs.On November 25, 2002, he became the youngest GM in the history of Major League Baseball when the Boston Red Sox hired him at the age of 28...
would be rejoining the Red Sox in a "full-time baseball operations capacity" and, five days later, he was renamed General Manager. The Sox signed Bronson Arroyo
Bronson Arroyo
Bronson Anthony Arroyo , is a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds and an aspiring musician. He has previously played for the Pittsburgh Pirates between 2000 and 2002 and Boston Red Sox from 2003 to 2005...
to a three-year contract, but later traded him to the Reds for outfielder Wily Mo Peña
Wily Mo Peña
Wily Modesto Peña is a Dominican professional baseball outfielder for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball...
. Veteran shortstop Álex González was signed to a one-year contract to replace Edgar Rentería
Edgar Rentería
Edgar Enrique Rentería Herazo , nicknamed "The Barranquilla Baby," is a Colombian professional baseball shortstop. He throws and bats right-handed. Previously, he has played for the Florida Marlins, the St...
. The team also filled the vacancy in center field left by Johnny Damon's departure by trading Mota, Marte, and prospect Kelly Shoppach
Kelly Shoppach
Kelly Brian Shoppach is a Major League Baseball catcher for the Tampa Bay Rays. He is nicknamed Shop.Shoppach was traded to the Indians from the Boston Red Sox organization on January 28, 2006, as part of the same deal that saw outfielder Coco Crisp sent to Boston and highly regarded prospect Andy...
to the Cleveland Indians for center fielder Coco Crisp
Coco Crisp
Covelli Loyce "Coco" Crisp is an American professional baseball center fielder. Crisp is a switch-hitter and throws right-handed...
, relief pitcher David Riske
David Riske
David Richard Riske is a Major League Baseball Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher.-Career:Riske was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 56th round of the June amateur draft...
, and backup catcher Josh Bard
Josh Bard
Joshua David Bard is an American professional baseball catcher and designated hitter who is a free agent. Bard is a switch-hitter who throws right-handed....
. However, Crisp
CRISP
CRISP may refer to:*C-language Reduced Instruction Set Processor*Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients*Complementary Randomized Integrated Sensing and Processing...
fractured his left index finger
Index finger
The index finger, , is the first finger and the second digit of a human hand. It is located between the first and third digits, between the thumb and the middle finger...
after playing only the first five games of the 2006 season. Crisp would miss over 50 games during the season and did not live up to expectations.
Third baseman Mike Lowell
Mike Lowell
Michael Averett Lowell is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball third baseman. During a 13-year career, Lowell played for the New York Yankees , Florida Marlins , and the Boston Red Sox...
rediscovered his offense after a difficult season in Florida, and together with shortstop Álex González, second baseman Mark Loretta, and new first baseman Kevin Youkilis
Kevin Youkilis
Kevin Edmund Youkilis , also known as "Youk" , is an American professional baseball player with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball...
, the Red Sox had one of the best-fielding infields in Major League Baseball. On June 30, Boston set a major league record of 17 straight errorless games. This streak helped the Red Sox commit the fewest errors in the American League in 2006. During this span, they also recorded 12 consecutive victories, all in interleague play
Interleague play
Interleague play is the term used to describe regular season Major League Baseball games played between teams in different leagues, introduced in . Before the 1997 season, teams in the American League and National League did not meet during the regular season...
. The winning streak
Winning streak (sports)
In sports, a winning streak refers to a consecutive number of games won. A winning streak can be held by a team, as in baseball, football, basketball, hockey, or by an individual, as in tennis...
was the third longest in club history, behind only the 15 wins posted by the 1946 club and 13 victories in 1948. The Red Sox were well represented in the 2006 All-Star Game
All-star game
An all-star game is an exhibition game played by the best players in their sports league, except in the circumstances of professional sports systems in which a democratic voting system is used...
. David Ortiz and Mark Loretta started for the American League squad. Manny Ramírez, though elected to a starting role, did not appear due to a knee injury
Knee
The knee joint joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two articulations: one between the fibula and tibia, and one between the femur and patella. It is the largest joint in the human body and is very complicated. The knee is a mobile trocho-ginglymus , which permits flexion and extension as...
.
One of the brightest spots of the 2006 season was the emergence of new closer Jonathan Papelbon
Jonathan Papelbon
Jonathan Robert Papelbon is an American professional baseball pitcher with the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball. Before joining the Phillies, Papelbon played with the Boston Red Sox from 2005-2011....
. The 25-year-old rookie fireballer
Fireballer
In baseball, a fireballer is a pitcher who throws at a notably high velocity. Generally, this term is reserved for pitchers with the ability to throw a fastball in excess of...
was given the chance to save the April 5 game against the Texas Rangers. Two months later, he had saved 20 games in a row. On September 1, Papelbon left the game after experiencing shoulder pain
Shoulder problems
Shoulder problems including pain, are one of the more common reasons for physician visits for musculoskeletal symptoms. The shoulder is the most movable joint in the body. However, it is an unstable joint because of the range of motion allowed...
. He would eventually be shut down for the rest of the season. Papelbon ended up setting a Red Sox rookie record with 35 saves while recording a minuscule 0.92 ERA and earning an All-Star
All-star
All-star is a term designating an individual as having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry...
appearance. Also, David Ortiz provided a late-season highlight when he broke Jimmie Foxx's single season Red Sox home run by hitting 54 homers.
Down the stretch, the Sox wilted under the pressure of mounting injuries and poor performances. Boston would compile a 9–21 record in the month of August, with two six-game losing streaks included during that stretch. Despite Curt Schilling's resurgence in the starting rotation (15–7, 3.97 ERA), Josh Beckett had an inconsistent season, winning 16 games but allowing 36 homers and posting a 5.01 ERA. Injuries to Tim Wakefield, rookie Jon Lester
Jon Lester
Jonathan Tyler Lester is an American professional baseball pitcher with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball...
(diagnosed with lymphoma
Lymphoma
Lymphoma is a cancer in the lymphatic cells of the immune system. Typically, lymphomas present as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. Treatment might involve chemotherapy and in some cases radiotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation, and can be curable depending on the histology, type, and stage...
), and Matt Clement left the rotation with major holes to fill. Injuries to Jason Varitek, Trot Nixon, Wily Mo Pena, and Manny Ramírez severely hurt the offense. On September 21, 2006, The Red Sox finished 2006 with an 86–76 record and third place in the AL East, their lowest placing in nine seasons.
2007
General Manager Theo Epstein
Theo Epstein
Theo Nathan Epstein is the President of Baseball Operations for the Chicago Cubs.On November 25, 2002, he became the youngest GM in the history of Major League Baseball when the Boston Red Sox hired him at the age of 28...
's first major step toward restocking the team for 2007 was to pursue one of the most anticipated acquisitions in recent history. On November 14, Major League Baseball announced that the Red Sox had won the bid for the rights to negotiate a contract with Japanese superstar pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka
Daisuke Matsuzaka
is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball in the United States. He previously played for the Seibu Lions in Japan's Pacific League. He was selected the MVP of the inaugural and the second World Baseball Classic, and is an Olympic bronze...
. Boston placed a bid of $51.1 million, and had 30 days to complete a deal. On December 13, just before the deadline, Matsuzaka signed a 6-year, $52 million contract.
In the hopes of solidifying the starting rotation, the team announced that closer Jonathan Papelbon
Jonathan Papelbon
Jonathan Robert Papelbon is an American professional baseball pitcher with the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball. Before joining the Phillies, Papelbon played with the Boston Red Sox from 2005-2011....
would become a starter in 2007. With Papelbon becoming a starter and Keith Foulke leaving the team, the Red Sox began building up their bullpen in search of a new closer. J.C. Romero
J.C. Romero
Juan Carlos Romero is a Puerto Rican professional baseball pitcher. He has played for the Minnesota Twins , the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim , the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies and Colorado Rockies....
, Brendan Donnelly
Brendan Donnelly
Brendan Kevin Donnelly is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. He bats and throws right-handed.-Career:Donnelly was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 27th round of the 1992 amateur draft...
, Joel Piñeiro
Joel Piñeiro
Joel Alberto Piñeiro is a Puerto Rican Major League Baseball starting pitcher. He is 6'1" tall and weighs 200 pounds. He is right-handed and made his major league debut on August 8, .-Career:...
, and Japanese lefty Hideki Okajima
Hideki Okajima
is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher with the Boston Red Sox organization in the United States, currently with their AAA affiliate, the Pawtucket Red Sox. He played with the Yomiuri Giants and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league from 1994-2006...
all joined the Boston bullpen. However, no clear closer candidate emerged during Spring Training. Eventually, Papelbon wanted to return to the closer role, and Sox officials believed Papelbon had rehabilitated himself so well in the offseason that his health of this shoulder was no longer a concern. The Red Sox had a star closer once again.
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
. The Sox replaced him with Julio Lugo
Julio Lugo
Julio Cesar Lugo is a Dominican professional baseball infielder but is currently a free agent. He bats and throws right-handed. Lugo is the older brother of baseball pitcher Ruddy Lugo....
. Mark Loretta
Mark Loretta
Mark David Loretta is a retired Major League Baseball infielder. Loretta played for the Milwaukee Brewers , Houston Astros , San Diego Padres , Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers...
also was allowed to leave which opened up a spot for youngster Dustin Pedroia
Dustin Pedroia
Dustin Luis Pedroia is an American professional baseball second baseman with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. Pedroia has won several awards in Major League Baseball, including the 2007 American League Rookie of the Year and the 2008 AL MVP award...
. Fan favorite Trot Nixon
Trot Nixon
Christopher Trotman Nixon is an American retired professional baseball right fielder. He played from 1996-2008 for three different teams, but is noted primarily for his time with the Boston Red Sox...
filed for free agency and agreed on a deal with the Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
. With an opening in right field, the Sox pursued J.D. Drew, who had recently opted out of the remainder of his contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
to become a free agent. On January 25, 2007, the Red Sox and Drew agreed to a 5-year, $70 million contract. Another fan favorite, outfielder Gabe Kapler
Gabe Kapler
Gabriel "Gabe" Stefan Kapler is an American Major League Baseball outfielder.He has played portions of 13 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers, Colorado Rockies, Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, and the Tampa Bay Rays...
, announced his retirement at age 31 to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a manager. The Red Sox named him manager of their Class A affiliate, the Greenville Drive
Greenville Drive
The Greenville Drive is a minor league baseball team that plays in Greenville, South Carolina. They are a Class A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox and a member of the South Atlantic League. Prior to the 2005 SAL season, the team played in Columbia, South Carolina, was affiliated with the New York...
.
The Red Sox started quickly, moving into first place in the AL East by mid-April and never relinquishing their division lead. While Ortiz and Ramirez provided their usual offense, it was the hitting of Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis, and Dustin Pedroia that surprisingly anchored the club through the first few months. While Drew, Lugo, and Coco Crisp struggled to provide offense, Lowell and Youkilis more than made up for it with averages well above .300 and impressive home run and RBI totals. Pedroia started badly, hitting below .200 in April. Manager Terry Francona stuck with him and his patience paid off as Pedroia hit over .400 in May and finished the first half over .300. On the mound, Josh Beckett emerged as the ace of the staff, starting the year 9–0 and finishing 12–2 at the break. His success was needed as Schilling, Matsuzaka, Wakefield, and Tavarez provided consistent and occasionally good starts, but all struggled at times. The Boston bullpen, on the other hand, was there to pick up the starters often, anchored once again by Papelbon, a more experienced Manny Delcarmen, and Okajima. While Papelbon served as the stopper, the rise of Okajima as a legitimate setup man and occasional closer was a boon for the Sox, giving them more options late in the game. Okajima posted an ERA of 0.88 through the first half and was voted into the All-Star Game by the fans as the final selection. By the All-Star break, Boston had the best record in baseball and held their largest lead in the American League East
American League East
The American League Eastern Division is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions . This division was created before the start of the 1969 season along with the Western Division...
, 10 games over intra-division rivals the Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball 's American League ....
and New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
.
In the second half, more stars emerged for the Sox as they continued to lead the AL East division. Beckett continued to shine, reaching 20 wins for the first time in his career. At one point, veteran Tim Wakefield found himself atop the American League in wins, posting decisions in his first 26 starts, and finishing with a 17–12 record. However, as Wakefield, Matsuzaka, and Okajima became tired down the stretch, minor league call-up Clay Buchholz
Clay Buchholz
Clay Daniel Buchholz pitches for the Boston Red Sox of major league baseball. On September 1, 2007, in just his second major league start, he recorded a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles, becoming the third MLB pitcher since 1900 to throw a no-hitter in his first or second start...
provided a spark on September 1 by pitching a no-hitter in his second career start. Another call-up, outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury
Jacoby Ellsbury
Jacoby McCabe Ellsbury ; born September 11, 1983) is an American professional baseball center fielder with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball....
, was thrust into the starting lineup while Manny Ramírez rested through most of September. Ellsbury played brilliantly during the month, hitting .361 with 3 HR, 17 RBI, and 8 stolen bases. Mike Lowell continued to carry the club, hitting cleanup in September and leading the team in RBI for the season, setting a team record for a third baseman with 120 runs driven in. And eventual 2007 Rookie of the Year
MLB Rookie of the Year Award
In Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year Award is annually given to one player from each league as voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America . The award was established in 1940 by the Chicago chapter of the BBWAA, which selected an annual winner from 1940 through 1946...
Dustin Pedroia finished his outstanding first full season with 165 hits and a .317 average. The Red Sox became the first team to clinch a playoff spot for the 2007 season on September 22 with a come-from-behind defeat of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's American League. Since their inception in , the club has played at Tropicana Field...
. Boston captured their first AL East title since 1995 after a win on September 28 against the Minnesota Twins
2007 Minnesota Twins season
The Minnesota Twins' 2007 season started off with the Twins trying to repeat as champions of the AL Central.-Offseason:* January 11, 2007: Agreed to terms with Ramon Ortiz on a one-year contract....
and a loss by the New York Yankees
2007 New York Yankees season
The New York Yankees' 2007 season was the Yankees' 105th in New York and their 107th overall dating back to their origins in Baltimore. The season started with the Yankees trying to win the AL East championship, a title they had won every season since after the 1997 season, but ultimately they came...
against the Baltimore Orioles
2007 Baltimore Orioles season
The Baltimore Orioles' 2007 season involved the Orioles finishing with a record of 69 wins and 93 losses and fourth place in the AL East. On June 18, 2007 manager Sam Perlozzo was fired and replaced with bullpen coach Dave Trembley as interim manager. Trembley was named full-time manager on August...
.
In the playoffs, the Red Sox swept the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
2007 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim season
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 2007 season was the franchise's 47th season since inception. The regular season ended with a record of 94–68 and the Angels winning the American League West division title for the sixth time...
in the ALDS
2007 American League Division Series
-Cleveland Indians vs. New York Yankees:-Game 1, October 3:Fenway Park in Boston, MassachusettsIn Game 1, Boston starter Josh Beckett threw a complete-game shut out, allowing the Red Sox to win the opener...
. Facing the Cleveland Indians
2007 Cleveland Indians season
The Cleveland Indians' 2007 season saw the Indians win the AL Central title for the first time since 2001 and play for American League title before losing to the Boston Red Sox in seven games....
in the ALCS
2007 American League Championship Series
-Game 1:Friday, October 12, 2007 at Fenway Park in Boston, MassachusettsIn Game 1, the Cleveland Indians took the lead when Travis Hafner hit a home run to deep right field in the first inning against Josh Beckett. Beckett retired the next ten batters in a row, finishing by striking out seven while...
, Josh Beckett won Game 1 but the Sox stumbled, losing the next three games. Facing a 3–1 deficit and a must-win situation, Beckett pitched eight innings while surrendering only one run and striking out 11 in a masterful Game 5 win. The Sox captured their twelfth American League pennant by outscoring the Indians 30–5 over the final three games, winning the final two games at Fenway Park.
In the 2007 World Series
2007 World Series
-Game 1:Wednesday, October 24, 2007 at Fenway Park in Boston, MassachusettsThe Red Sox cruised to a blowout win in Game 1 behind ALCS MVP Josh Beckett, who struck out nine batters, including the first four he faced, en route to his fourth win of the 2007 postseason...
, the Red Sox faced the Colorado Rockies
2007 Colorado Rockies season
The Colorado Rockies' 2007 season started off with the team trying to improve on their 2006 record . They finished with a franchise record of 90 wins in 163 games and earned a playoff berth as the National League Wild Card team. The Rockies swept their first seven playoff games en route to winning...
. Beckett once again set the tone, pitching seven strong innings as the offense provided more than enough in a 13–1 victory. In Game 2, Schilling, Okajima, and Papelbon held the Rockies to one run again in a 2–1 game. Moving to Colorado, the Sox offense made the difference again in a 10–5 win. Finally, in Game 4, Jon Lester took Tim Wakefield's spot in the rotation and gave the Sox an impressive start, pitching 5⅔ shutout innings. The Rockies threatened, but thanks to World Series MVP Mike Lowell and aided by a pinch-hit home run by outfielder Bobby Kielty
Bobby Kielty
Robert Micheal Kielty is an American professional baseball outfielder for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball.-College :...
, Papelbon registered another save as the Red Sox swept the Rockies in four games. The Red Sox captured their second title in four years.
2008
The end of February sparked a controversy between Hank Steinbrenner and Red Sox NationRed Sox Nation
Red Sox Nation refers to the fans of the Boston Red Sox. The phrase "Red Sox Nation" was first coined by Boston Globe feature writer Nathan Cobb in an October 20, 1986, article about split allegiances among fans in Connecticut during the 1986 World Series between the Red Sox and the New York...
.
Red Sox Nation? What a bunch of bullshit that is...That was a creation of the Red Sox and ESPN, which is filled with Red Sox fans... Go anywhere in America and you won't see Red Sox hats and jackets, you'll see Yankee hats and jackets. This is a Yankee country. We're going to put the Yankees back on top and restore the universe to order. – Hank Steinbrenner, March 2008
Due to Steinbrenner's comments, Red Sox owner John Henry inducted Hank Steinbrenner into Red Sox Nation, allowing him to receive perks such as a shirts, pins, Green Monster seats, and an autographed hat by David Ortiz.
David Ortiz
David Américo Ortiz Arias , known as David Ortiz, nicknamed "Big Papi", is a Dominican American professional baseball player who is currently a free agent. Previously, Ortiz played with the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox...
would be injured on May 31. As a result, the usually quiet J. D. Drew
J. D. Drew
David Jonathan "J. D." Drew is an American professional baseball right fielder who is a free agent. He is a left-handed hitter, and began his major league career in with the St. Louis Cardinals...
stepped up by reinventing his image. He would hit .337 with 27 RBI in June 2008. Another part of the Red Sox' reinvention occurred in an early June game against the Tampa Bay Rays
Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's American League. Since their inception in , the club has played at Tropicana Field...
where pitcher James Shields hit Coco Crisp
Coco Crisp
Covelli Loyce "Coco" Crisp is an American professional baseball center fielder. Crisp is a switch-hitter and throws right-handed...
, resulting in Crisp going straight to Shields. Shortly after, both benches cleared out in a brawl. In July, the defending champions would send seven All-Stars to the game at the hated Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium was a stadium located in The Bronx in New York City, New York. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. The stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the former home of the New York...
, Dustin Pedroia
Dustin Pedroia
Dustin Luis Pedroia is an American professional baseball second baseman with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. Pedroia has won several awards in Major League Baseball, including the 2007 American League Rookie of the Year and the 2008 AL MVP award...
, David Ortiz
David Ortiz
David Américo Ortiz Arias , known as David Ortiz, nicknamed "Big Papi", is a Dominican American professional baseball player who is currently a free agent. Previously, Ortiz played with the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox...
, J. D. Drew
J. D. Drew
David Jonathan "J. D." Drew is an American professional baseball right fielder who is a free agent. He is a left-handed hitter, and began his major league career in with the St. Louis Cardinals...
, Manny Ramirez
Manny Ramírez
Manuel "Manny" Arístides Ramírez Onelcida is a retired Dominican-American professional baseball outfielder. He was recognized for great batting skill and power, a nine-time Silver Slugger and one of 25 players to hit 500 career home runs. Ramirez's 21 grand slams are third all-time, and his 28...
, Jonathan Papelbon
Jonathan Papelbon
Jonathan Robert Papelbon is an American professional baseball pitcher with the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball. Before joining the Phillies, Papelbon played with the Boston Red Sox from 2005-2011....
, Jason Varitek
Jason Varitek
Jason Andrew Varitek is an American professional baseball catcher who is a free agent. After being traded as a minor league prospect by the Seattle Mariners, Varitek has played his entire major league career for the Boston Red Sox...
, and Kevin Youkilis
Kevin Youkilis
Kevin Edmund Youkilis , also known as "Youk" , is an American professional baseball player with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball...
, with Ramirez, Youkilis, and Pedroia named starters to Francona's American League squad. In the 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 79th midseason exhibition between the all-stars of the American League and the National League , the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was played at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York, home of the New York Yankees, on...
at Yankee Stadium, J. D. Drew would hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning. He would earn All-Star Game MVP honors due to his stellar performance.
The Red Sox would catch the Tampa Bay Rays during the summer as the Rays began to decline slightly. While the pennant race caught fire, Manny Ramirez
Manny Ramírez
Manuel "Manny" Arístides Ramírez Onelcida is a retired Dominican-American professional baseball outfielder. He was recognized for great batting skill and power, a nine-time Silver Slugger and one of 25 players to hit 500 career home runs. Ramirez's 21 grand slams are third all-time, and his 28...
did not want any part of it since the Red Sox did not offer him a sufficient contract for the 2009 season. As a result, Manny Ramirez would go to the Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
in a three-way trade involving the Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
. The trade brought Jason Bay
Jason Bay
Jason Raymond Bay is a Canadian professional baseball player. An outfielder, he currently plays for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball...
to the Red Sox. In September, the Rays would hold on to win the Eastern Division title with a 97–65 record. As for Boston, they would win 95 games with a Wildcard berth. After defeating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California, United States. The Angels are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The "Angels" name originates from the city in which the team started, Los Angeles...
in the ALDS once again, they would lose to the Rays in a seven-game ALCS
2008 American League Championship Series
-Game 1:Friday, October 10, 2008 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FloridaBoston won a pitcher's duel on a sac fly by Jed Lowrie in the fifth and an RBI double by Kevin Youkilis in the eighth. Starter Daisuke Matsuzaka was nearly unhittable in Game 1 of the 2008 ALCS. He held the Rays hitless...
.
2009
After losing to the Tampa Bay RaysTampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's American League. Since their inception in , the club has played at Tropicana Field...
in the ALCS, the Red Sox would debut new road uniforms similar to their old 1986 road uniforms. The offseason had the Red Sox sign Rocco Baldelli
Rocco Baldelli
Rocco Dan Baldelli is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and designated hitter. Because of his excellent size and speed, and in reference to his hometown, he was nicknamed, "The Woonsocket Rocket," early in his professional career...
, John Smoltz
John Smoltz
John Andrew Smoltz is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher and active sportscaster. He is best known for his prolific career of more than two decades with the Atlanta Braves, in which he garnered eight All-Star selections and received the Cy Young Award in 1996...
, and Brad Penny
Brad Penny
Bradley Wayne "Brad" Penny is a Major League starting pitcher. Penny has spent portions of his career with the Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers....
. The Red Sox saw a postseason berth via the winning of the AL Wild Card, only to be swept away in the first round by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
On December 22, 2009, Sports Illustrated named general manager Theo Epstein
Theo Epstein
Theo Nathan Epstein is the President of Baseball Operations for the Chicago Cubs.On November 25, 2002, he became the youngest GM in the history of Major League Baseball when the Boston Red Sox hired him at the age of 28...
as number 3 on its list of the Top 10 GMs/Executives of the Decade (in all sports).
2010
Despite the additions of former Angels pitcher John LackeyJohn Lackey
John Derran Lackey is an American professional baseball pitcher with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. Lackey was drafted by the Anaheim Angels in 1999 and helped the franchise win its first World Series title in 2002, which was his first season in the major leagues...
, shortstop Marco Scutaro
Marco Scutaro
Marcos Hernandez "Marco" Scutaro is a Venezuelan professional baseball shortstop with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. A native of Yaracuy State, Venezuela, Scutaro formerly played with the New York Mets , Oakland Athletics and the Toronto Blue Jays...
, third baseman Adrián Beltré
Adrián Beltré
Adrián Beltré Pérez is a Major League Baseball third baseman for the Texas Rangers.The youngest player in the National League when he made his major league debut, he has also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers , the Seattle Mariners , the Boston Red Sox , and the Texas Rangers . He bats and...
and outfielder Mike Cameron
Mike Cameron
Michael Terrance Cameron is an American professional baseball outfielder who is currently a free agent. He has previously played for the Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Seattle Mariners, New York Mets, San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox, and Florida Marlins.Cameron has won 3...
, 2010 saw the Red Sox miss the playoffs for only the second time in the Terry Francona era, due largely to season-ending injuries to Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury. However, they did deny the defending World Series champion Yankees from clinching the AL East title, instead relegating them to the Wild Card on the final day of the regular season. The Red Sox began and ended their season playing the Yankees for the first time since . After the season, first baseman Mike Lowell
Mike Lowell
Michael Averett Lowell is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball third baseman. During a 13-year career, Lowell played for the New York Yankees , Florida Marlins , and the Boston Red Sox...
announced his retirement.