[Marbleheader]

So, we're clearing out a lot of old VCR tapes that haven't been watched in years. I've been playing the ones that the labels have come off of. Some are random Sox games over the years, nothing terribly exciting. Then I hit play on one of the few remaining unlabeled tapes. It's the introductions to the 1998 ALDS. Jaret Wright against Pedro Martinez. Daytime baseball at the Jake. I was stuck listening at work, so I had set a tape at home. Lewis singles, Valentin singles. Mo clears the bases. Pedro about to give the fans somethining they hadn't seen since the mid-80's, a playoff win.

My mind wanders during the commercial breaks and I see the '15 Years Ago Today' thread. All I can think is, 'ten years'. It's been 10 damn years since Pedro suited up for the first time. Google tells me, his first spring start with Boston was March 6, 1998. This a a picture from that outing.



You look at the pitcher and wonder if he knew what he was in for. Even more, did we have any idea what we were in for?

Pedro sits the side down in order in the first.

I worked at the MFA and would walk over to the park to try to grab a seat and watch a game. It didn't take long before Pedro starts were the fuel that got me though the week. Seeing Pedro against the A's this week, it's a good week.

The acquisition of Pedro certainly made headlines. However, until I acually got to see him perform on a regular basis, it didn't hit me just what we had.

How different the club was before he arrived, and how that compares to this team, the franchise and the fans of the 2007 World Champions.

It was fun to watch, it still is.

[mabrowndog]

I'll go out on a limb and proclaim this a main board-worthy topic.

[The Four Peters]

I'm sure this has been rehashed by many, but I must add my thoughts.

To think that Pedro's beginning with the Sox was 10 years ago really startled me. The team and the fans have come so far, and gone through so much, in that time. While I can honestly say I didn't have an inkling what we would get out of him at the time, I don't think anyone can say they expected what followed.

Despite the petty crap he would bring upon the team every once in a while, or watching him be an "average, un-Pedro-like" pitcher the last couple years, my memories are focused on the vibe and atmosphere around the region whenever he would pitch from 98-02. "Pedro's pitching" was an acceptable answer to "What are the plans for tonight?"

Lastly, I find it fascinating that his contract extension signed when reaching the Sox should probably go down as the perfect contract ever. He was one of the highest paid pitchers in the game for a seven-year span. The Sox got one of the top 5 pitching peaks ever, as well as an engaging and popular personality. Both side should have been completely and utterly satisfied with contract in total. That always fascinated me, and summed up the essence of Pedro. "Everyone came away happy". Except the opposing team, of course.

Marbleheader, thanks for brightening up my night.

[jacklamabe65]

And thank God his last game pitching in a boston uniform was a Game 3 gem in the World Series - with the clincher the following evening.

[amh03]

I had an encounter with Pedro years ago that I'll never forget. I was at the ballpark early - they weren't letting ticket holders in yet, so I was hanging around the corner of Van Ness & Yawkey Way. Pedro pulled up and into the players parking lot - the last one to arrive. All the professional autograph seekers had gone. So, I was the only one there asking if he'd sign for me. He looked around to make sure there was no one else around and came over to sign my hat (that was all I had). I thanked him and told him he was the best and he asked "Why, because I am giving you an autograph?" I said no - because you're the best pitcher I've ever seen at Fenway. He looked at me and said "I'm not the best you've ever seen". I said - yea, I thought he was. And he said "nope - Roger Clemens is the best pitcher you've ever seen here at Fenway".

[mabrowndog]

What I remember most is how much excitement and promise his acquisition and subsequent debut generated. The 1997 season, the first following Roger's departure, had been such an abomination for the pitching staff. Consider that the bright spots were Wakefield's adequate season (12-15, 4.25) and opening day starter (!!!) Tom Gordon putting up a 3.59 ERA in 25 outings. Meanwhile Aaron Sele, Jeff Suppan, Steve Avery, Wayback Wasdin, Vaughn Eshelman & Bret Saberhagen combined for a 5.72 ERA over 92 starts. It had been the swan song for Heathcliff Slocumb (which sent Gordon into the closer's role in spite of his track record as a starter). Big chunks of bullpen time belonged to the likes of Mark Brandenburg (31 G, 5.49) and Chris Hammond (29 G, 5.92). And who the hell were Ricky Trilicek and Kerry Lacy, and how the hell did they amass 70 relief innings that season?

Pedro made us forget all about that.

[GoWhalers]

Now I'm not as old as some of you on this board, I was only 10 in 1997 but goddamn if Pedro wasn't something unreal. I remember that throughout middle school I'd be doing my homework every night with the red sox games on the radio in my room listening to Pedro throw gems and this new shortstop come and light the world on fire.

Pedro completely messed up my frame of reference as a young baseball fan. It took me a little while to realize that a 3.50 era doesn't suck and a 1.80 era isn't good, it's absolutely unreal. Just looking at the stats from those years is completely insane, dude threw almost a 300 ERA+ as a goddamn starter. I hear people talk about how great Koufax or Gibson were, or how hard Radatz threw a billion miles an hour. Pedro's going to be my mythological hero for years and years to come.

[JohntheBaptist]

I love looking at those sleeves he used to cut along the underside.

I was actually thinking today that I'll never really become attached to a baseball player again like I was (still pretty much am, actually) with him. Not only was he so easy to become attached to, and not only am I now entirely too old to do so, but there was very much a time and place element to the Pedro thing. It's like when all those Crystal-types wax about "seeing The Mick play." Watching Pedro pitch... there was and is nothing like it.

All that being said, the fact that that trade happened ten years ago is really bugging me out. That's astounding.

This post has been edited by JohntheBaptist: 05 March 2008 - 01:07 AM

[Punchado]

I remember thinking, "Really? I mean, really, the Red Sox got him?" It just seemed unfathomable that a deal like this would go down and the Red Sox come out with the best player. Just didn't happen.

That was nothing compared to actually seeing him pitch, though -- against a lot of guys who we now know were cheating.

[gars finnvold]

I agree with the "Oh my God, we really got him" feeling when the trade happened, but what capped it was when the Duke then signed him to the seven year deal.

[FenwayWhalers]

GoWhalers, on Mar 4 2008, 08:25 PM, said:

Now I'm not as old as some of you on this board, I was only 10 in 1997 but goddamn if Pedro wasn't something unreal. I remember that throughout middle school I'd be doing my homework every night with the red sox games on the radio in my room listening to Pedro throw gems and this new shortstop come and light the world on fire.

Pedro completely messed up my frame of reference as a young baseball fan. It took me a little while to realize that a 3.50 era doesn't suck and a 1.80 era isn't good, it's absolutely unreal. Just looking at the stats from those years is completely insane, dude threw almost a 300 ERA+ as a goddamn starter. I hear people talk about how great Koufax or Gibson were, or how hard Radatz threw a billion miles an hour. Pedro's going to be my mythological hero for years and years to come.

You were only 10 when the Whalers moved? Way to carry the torch!

(Sorry I had to)

[PedroisGod]

Although I wasn't really introduced to Pedro until around 1999 or 2000, and became a Red Sox fan shortly after, I can share a story about 1997. Not too long ago, I was reading archives from the New York Times, and there were trade rumors from the offseason of 1997/1998 and I came across a ton of rumors that reported the Yankees and Blue Jays as possible front runners to acquire Pedro, and it got me thinking; What if this had actually happened?

Not only would my personal allegiances be different, and I'd probably be wearing a Jays hat or even a Yankees hat right now, but baseball and Red Sox history as we know it would never have taken place. I don't think there would be any 2003 ALCS run, or 2004 WS, and it's possible there'd be no 2007 WS. I don't think it's too often that one player has such a profound impact on one franchise.

This post has been edited by PedroisGod: 05 March 2008 - 02:44 AM

[sonsoftrotnixon]

Pedro brought me back to baseball. Hard to believe it's been 10 years. While I had been a fan for years, I found myself only casually following the team in the 90's. I don't know whether it was poor front-office management, ownership, or whatnot, but for several years in the early 90's I just read the box scores and watched the standings without paying too close attention. Pedro was the first player to impact my "fandom" in such a way as I couldn't wait for the team to get back on the field so I could watch him pitch.

[LoweTek]

GoWhalers, on Mar 4 2008, 11:25 PM, said:

I hear people talk about how great Koufax or Gibson were, or how hard Radatz threw a billion miles an hour. Pedro's going to be my mythological hero for years and years to come.

As Radatz was for many of us except he pitched for a team with a winning percentage of .382 with a .251 team batting average. When folks like me, JackLamabe65, 67WasBest, Since67, Stiffy and the other older members speak fondly of (I'll stick to pitchers) names like LaMabe, Monbouquette, Radatz, Moorehead, Earl, Rohr, Bucky, Lonborg, Santiago, Bell, Tiant, Wise, Jenkins, Space, Stange, Hurst, Stanley, etc. this is why. It's somehow heartwarming and reassuring to see you younger guys expressing fond remembrance for a time gone past.

[Jimbodandy]

Thanks MH and TFP for reminding me what it was like to plan the whole week around Pedro's starts.

I think that we all knew that he was a great pitcher when the deal was done, but seeing his starts in person in early '98 was something else. The aura he had about him, the confidence, was amazing. You knew that every start could be something that we've never seen before.

He never had that no-hitter or 20K night that others have, but he put together a run of dominant starts unlike anything that I had ever seen. And some of those individual performances (ALDS game 5, the Tampa game, the Yankee game) were at least as dominant as some of the no-hitters that we've seen around here.

Good times.

[AlNipper49]

The biggest testament to how big Pedro was for us was when we (LTF and another friend of ours) were in New Orleans probably 5 or 6 years ago now. We had drunk about 20 beers the night before. The next morning we could barely walk much less eat, talk normally or look at a beer without wanting to throw it through a window.

But we woke up at 9am to start asking around for a place to watch the afternoon game that day that Pedro was pitching. I think it was against some crap team like KC, but there was no way we were going to miss a Pedro start. It actually took us a few hours to find a place and we were the only schmucks in the place.

[Cumberland Blues]

I'm very much a baseball on the radio guy. I got cable (and later a dish when we moved to the sticks) cuz Pedro was must see TV. I unplugged the dish when he left.

[RoyHobbs]

Pedro's a provider of one of those "I remember where I was when..." moments in my life.

The 17-K gem against the Yankees = sitting on my old p.o.s. college-hand-me-down couch in my first dumpy apartment in Derry, NH, the glow of the TV, my jaw agape, shouting in joy. I don't remember much from my life but the senses from that evening are still vivid. I can close my eyes and see the whole scene, and in the middle is Pedro hurling away.

Good times. Old times. Missed times.

ADD: Oh god!, and the Ice Williams game. I had to follow the last innings in my car in the garage for some reason. I sat out there in the dark in my Nissan Sentra until fucking Flaherty wrecked it. Nostalgia.

This post has been edited by RoyHobbs: 05 March 2008 - 12:26 PM

[norm from cheers]

When I think of Pedro, I will always think of the '99 All Star Game. What a magical night at Fenway for many reasons as a Red Sox Fan and Pedro set the tone from the get-go.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=ovwig2K1Ozs


Sorry, not savvy enough to do the link thing.

[Larry Gardner]

mabrowndog, on Mar 4 2008, 09:32 PM, said:

And who the hell were Ricky Trilicek and Kerry Lacy, and how the hell did they amass 70 relief innings that season?

Hey Dog, I was living in the Detroit area at the time, and on 6/13/97, my 40th B-day, I flew to Shea to see the 1st ever interleague game. If I remember correctly, Kerry Lacy got the save that night..........I think I remember him wearing #53..