ARod’s Shattered Dreams of Joining Boston

Van Everyman

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When Henry came here to break the news that the deal fell apart—with some vague kind of “What a world” comment—my head almost blew open. The idea of a professional sports team owner not just chatting on a fan site but actually breaking news about the biggest deal in professional sports history was fucking intoxicating.
 

teddywingman

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Jul 31, 2009
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I was just lurking, but damn I was so happy when the deal fell through. Absolutely hated ARod so much already that I didn't want to see him help put the Sox over the top. It would have felt hollow to me.

I was not thrilled, but still somewhat satisfied when he signed with the Yanks. It was yet another galvanizing moment in the battle between Good and Evil.

I kinda miss those days, but wouldn't be alive if they had continued much longer.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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I had to look it up:

GEORGE STEINBRENNER: “We understand that John Henry must be embarrassed, frustrated and disappointed by his failure in this transaction . . . Unlike the Yankees, he chose not to go the extra distance for his fans in Boston . . . It is time to get on with life and forget the sour grapes.”
Where Are They Now?
 

trekfan55

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What I mostly remember is that Texas really wanted to trade him and Arod really wanted to be traded.

So my thought (and many others) was that by Spring Training the Sox would work out a deal. After all, the Yankees were set at SS.

As for The Boss, I will always remember that he left the lights on at Yankee Stadium after Game 7.
 

AlNipper49

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Or LanternJaw… too bad The Ezboard meltdown a couple years later wiped out a bunch of the archives or we could all go back and relive it… except maybe the few who stayed in in Pripyat, I wonder what happened to them… I wasn't a member until later, but was reading, and sometimes things really popped off. I remember the all night explosion based on a rumor that the Sox were going to trade Nomar for Delgado being a pretty seismic event for one night.

As I remember it the deal was Manny, Lester, and a lot of Manny's salary to Texas for ARod. Then Nomar would've been flipped to the ChiSox or Magglio. It looked like the Sox were keeping the offense about the same, but really improving the defense. OTOH the amount of money the Sox were eating made it seem a bit lopsided, but I might be editing my memories on that side. I think that Magglio wound up having some kind of serious leg injury that season that derailed his offense often gets overlooked as another bullet dodged...
I still have all of the posts. Unfortunately they are a pain in the balls to import.
 

Harry Hooper

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I believe the MLBPA objected to the money that Rodriguez was giving up in a re-worked contract with the Sox.
 

CR67dream

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The day after it all fell apart, a few of us had our posts pulled, and were quoted in a Philadelphia Inquirer article. IIRC, OCST and myself excoriated those members who were whining and crying about it. My quoted post told everyone that the world wasn't falling apart, we had a great team yesterday and still had a great team today. I may have been a little harsher....
 

Strike4

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It was such a different world of Red Sox fandom and so much more seemed at stake. Two weeks after Boone's home run off Wakefield, after not speaking to each other, my roommate (a woman with no real interest in sports otherwise) shattered a dish on the floor and yelled at me, "Why did you make me like the Red Sox?!"

I still wonder sometimes whether it was me or the era.
 

JimD

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I had to look it up:

GEORGE STEINBRENNER: “We understand that John Henry must be embarrassed, frustrated and disappointed by his failure in this transaction . . . Unlike the Yankees, he chose not to go the extra distance for his fans in Boston . . . It is time to get on with life and forget the sour grapes.”
Reading this SiaS quote again, 17 years later, brings back a flood of memories and still gets a reaction out of me. It's another reason why the 2004 experience can never be repeated, not in Boston sports and maybe not for any other fanbase either. We can certainly debate whether the ARod deal would have been good for the Sox, but to have the Yankees nonchalantly walk in and trade for him without giving up much (Oh, Aaron Boone is injured? Guess we'll just have to get ARod then ...), like they waltzed in to MLB Superstars-R-Us - it just felt like the perfect counterpunch to Theo getting Schilling. There were so many individual moments that built the seemingly impregnable Yankees dynasty like bricks in a wall. To have that Sox team topple the MFY's, the way it happened ... it still almost doesn't feel real.
 

BaseballJones

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Reading this SiaS quote again, 17 years later, brings back a flood of memories and still gets a reaction out of me. It's another reason why the 2004 experience can never be repeated, not in Boston sports and maybe not for any other fanbase either. We can certainly debate whether the ARod deal would have been good for the Sox, but to have the Yankees nonchalantly walk in and trade for him without giving up much (Oh, Aaron Boone is injured? Guess we'll just have to get ARod then ...), like they waltzed in to MLB Superstars-R-Us - it just felt like the perfect counterpunch to Theo getting Schilling. There were so many individual moments that built the seemingly impregnable Yankees dynasty like bricks in a wall. To have that Sox team topple the MFY's, the way it happened ... it still almost doesn't feel real.
Thats a great way to put it. Seemed like the Yankees could just acquire whomever they wanted, whenever they wanted, even if it was just a luxury item.

2004 was sooooo sweet.
 

yeahlunchbox

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Jan 21, 2008
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I was filled with rage when he went to the Yankees. I remember slamming my steering wheel. Valentine's Day wasn't it?

It all worked out.
Baseball Reference says February 16th, but I could have sworn it was Valentine's Day about 3:30. Maximum impact for ruining Valentine's Day plans throughout New England.
 

yeahlunchbox

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I believe the MLBPA objected to the money that Rodriguez was giving up in a re-worked contract with the Sox.
Yes. The Red Sox wanted to convert money in the contract to giving ARod the ability to use the Red Sox logo in advertisements he did. The Sox maintained that his ability to use the Sox logo in ads he did made him more marketable and was worth more than the money he was giving up and the MLBPA disagreed.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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I was a massive Nomah! and Manny fan and saw the overall trade as a negative for "chemistry", but realized that the overall value was probably a net positive for the Sox so I was okay with it.
When it fell apart, I knew it was going to be bad for Nomar who always seemed like a sensitive guy to me. You could tell that he was damaged by it and I knew something was going to happen to him.
When NY got ARod it was just yet another knife in the side. Thought '04 was going to be a disaster because of it all.
 

Return of the Dewey

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I was a member back then. The 2003-2004 SoSH contained what I believe are the top 10 mega threads in SoSH history.
1. Game Thread Game 7-2004 ALCS (a/k/a Win It For thread)
2. Game Thread Game 4 -2004 ALCS
3. Game Thread Game 5 -2004 ALCS
4. Game Thread Game 6 -2004 ALCS
5. ARod Trade Thread
6. Schilling Trade Thread
7. Game Thread Game 4 WS
8. Game Thread Game 3 WS
9. Game Thread Game 2 WS
10. Game Thread Game 1 WS

And, probably, the Game Threads for Games 1-7 of the 2003 ALCS would be next on the list (although filled more with heartache than joy). It really was a special time to not only be a Red Sox fan, but also to be a Red Sox fan on the SoSH site. I would spend (waste) hours reading through main board threads for news, and griping on game threads. Everything was life and death. My youngest of three boys was born in September 2004, and I believe that I posted on the Win It For Thread something to the effect about Winning It For them so that they would never have to be a Sox fan who constantly feared that the team would blow it/choke. Well, they're 16, 18 and 19 now, and their fan mentality is that they believe that the Sox will always pull out the win, but, if they don't, they just shrug it off and move to the next game. It's what I envision St. Louis fans to be. Long strange trip.
 

trekfan55

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Reading this SiaS quote again, 17 years later, brings back a flood of memories and still gets a reaction out of me. It's another reason why the 2004 experience can never be repeated, not in Boston sports and maybe not for any other fanbase either. We can certainly debate whether the ARod deal would have been good for the Sox, but to have the Yankees nonchalantly walk in and trade for him without giving up much (Oh, Aaron Boone is injured? Guess we'll just have to get ARod then ...), like they waltzed in to MLB Superstars-R-Us - it just felt like the perfect counterpunch to Theo getting Schilling. There were so many individual moments that built the seemingly impregnable Yankees dynasty like bricks in a wall. To have that Sox team topple the MFY's, the way it happened ... it still almost doesn't feel real.
It's very hard to understand the mentallity that existed back then.

The Yankees are still a team with more money than anyone and can still outbid others and sign the mega contracts like they did Gerrit Cole, but back in 2003 it was another level.

They had come from LF and outbid the Sox for Contreras (which earned them the Evil Empire monicker).

And now, after the Sox deal fell through they went and got Arod. Not only did they get him (and I syill do not like how they got him) but they actaully made him switch to 3rd base. This is a big deal. Arod was aiming to be the best SS in history, and he actually moved positions with a lesser SS staying put.
 

bosockboy

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Several months later the Nomar trade was a seminal moment in the board’s history. Pre-smartphone and social media era it was much more difficult to get info real time so it was all SOSH. Moving Nomar was even more stunning to me than the failed ARod pursuit.
 

RG33

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I was a member back then. The 2003-2004 SoSH contained what I believe are the top 10 mega threads in SoSH history.
1. Game Thread Game 7-2004 ALCS (a/k/a Win It For thread)
2. Game Thread Game 4 -2004 ALCS
3. Game Thread Game 5 -2004 ALCS
4. Game Thread Game 6 -2004 ALCS
5. ARod Trade Thread
6. Schilling Trade Thread
7. Game Thread Game 4 WS
8. Game Thread Game 3 WS
9. Game Thread Game 2 WS
10. Game Thread Game 1 WS
I respectfully disagree. My votes would be:

1. “Win it for” thread
2. Deflategate thread
3. Deflategate thread
4. Deflategate thread
5. Deflategate thread
6. Deflategate thread
7. Deflategate thread
8. Deflategate thread
9. Deflategate thread
10. Deflategate thread
 

Nator

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Several months later the Nomar trade was a seminal moment in the board’s history. Pre-smartphone and social media era it was much more difficult to get info real time so it was all SOSH. Moving Nomar was even more stunning to me than the failed ARod pursuit.
It was the first time in my life I learned that F5 could be pressed to refresh a webpage. I feel like I smashed that button to pieces for days on end during this saga.
 

OurF'ingCity

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Yes. The Red Sox wanted to convert money in the contract to giving ARod the ability to use the Red Sox logo in advertisements he did. The Sox maintained that his ability to use the Sox logo in ads he did made him more marketable and was worth more than the money he was giving up and the MLBPA disagreed.
I think the Sox were also going to give ARod a bunch of additional opt-outs that he didn’t otherwise have in his contract.
 

lexrageorge

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It's very hard to understand the mentallity that existed back then.

The Yankees are still a team with more money than anyone and can still outbid others and sign the mega contracts like they did Gerrit Cole, but back in 2003 it was another level.

They had come from LF and outbid the Sox for Contreras (which earned them the Evil Empire monicker).

And now, after the Sox deal fell through they went and got Arod. Not only did they get him (and I syill do not like how they got him) but they actaully made him switch to 3rd base. This is a big deal. Arod was aiming to be the best SS in history, and he actually moved positions with a lesser SS staying put.
Not only did the Yankees get A-Rod, they got him for a player (Soriano) whose value was but a fraction of Manny's; Manny really would have been a no-doubt HoF'er except for getting caught doing what most of MLB was doing around that time anyway.
 

Valek123

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I recall about a 50-50 split also, and even amongst those in support of the deal was a significant number of them essentially saying we dislike the player but like the skill set.

I also recall the ezboard had a flood of new members and lurkers not long before that with Schillings participation in the forum. "What's P&G?".
 

Bergs

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Baseball Reference says February 16th, but I could have sworn it was Valentine's Day about 3:30. Maximum impact for ruining Valentine's Day plans throughout New England.
My recollection is that it was a weekday, so the 16th checks out for me.
 

jon abbey

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Not only did the Yankees get A-Rod, they got him for a player (Soriano) whose value was but a fraction of Manny's; Manny really would have been a no-doubt HoF'er except for getting caught doing what most of MLB was doing around that time anyway.
Soriano was much younger and a 2B at the time, his bWAR from 2004 on was 18.8, Manny's was 22.7. More interestingly, the Rangers got a short list of NY prospects to choose from to complete the deal, and they chose Joaquin Arias (who?) instead of Robinson Cano. A-Rod had 54 bWAR from 2004 on, Cano had 69.5.

(This is just adding some facts, I have hated A-Rod since he was on TEX)
 

LoweTek

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I hated the deal at the time. I recognized his skills but always thought ARod was the definition of entitled a-hole. He was insufferable and I didn't want him anywhere near the Red Sox. I still feel the same way about him. He should do more mirror self-kiss pics. It defines him well.

As I recall he had a lot of trouble getting the big hits in Yankee playoff games. I can't imagine how this place would react if he put up a playoff or World Series Ohfer, all with runners on. ARod did it routinely for years, often grounding into DPs IIRC.

His arm's length, always strained relationship with Jeter put some tension in the Bronx clubhouse too. He didn't care. He wanted to be the SS. I swear he pouted about it for his entire time there.

The Red Sox in the end, dodged a bullet, IMO.
 

OurF'ingCity

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Soriano was much younger and a 2B at the time, his bWAR from 2004 on was 18.8, Manny's was 22.7. More interestingly, the Rangers got a short list of NY prospects to choose from to complete the deal, and they chose Joaquin Arias (who?) instead of Robinson Cano. A-Rod had 54 bWAR from 2004 on, Cano had 69.5.

(This is just adding some facts, I have hated A-Rod since he was on TEX)
Yeah in the comparison between Soriano vs. Manny, they would have been better off with Manny but not hugely so. The real killer for the Rangers was exchanging Lester (who went on to give the Sox something like ~28 bWAR for very little money) for Arias, who ended up being the epitome of a replacement-level player (career bWAR of 1.0, most of which was from a single decent season he had on the Giants).
 

yeahlunchbox

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I hated the deal at the time. I recognized his skills but always thought ARod was the definition of entitled a-hole. He was insufferable and I didn't want him anywhere near the Red Sox. I still feel the same way about him. He should do more mirror self-kiss pics. It defines him well.

As I recall he had a lot of trouble getting the big hits in Yankee playoff games. I can't imagine how this place would react if he put up a playoff or World Series Ohfer, all with runners on. ARod did it routinely for years, often grounding into DPs IIRC.

His arm's length, always strained relationship with Jeter put some tension in the Bronx clubhouse too. He didn't care. He wanted to be the SS. I swear he pouted about it for his entire time there.

The Red Sox in the end, dodged a bullet, IMO.
In fairness, he was a vastly superior SS to Jeter and the only reason he played third instead of short was Jeter's pouting. If Jeter was the leader and captain the media made him out to be he would have moved to third for the betterment of the team.
 

lexrageorge

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Would that have been considered tampering?
No, because Millar was a player. And players can say almost anything they want about players on other teams.

Only front office personnel can be guilty of tampering, as they actually sign the contracts and write the checks.
 

BaseballJones

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ARod wasn't a great playoff performer overall, but he was pretty awesome during their 2009 title run.

.365/.500/.808/1.308, 5 2b, 15 r, 6 hr, 18 rbi, in 52 at-bats

And from 2004-2010 with the Yankees, in the playoffs he hit .275/.402/.517/.919 with 10 hr and 30 rbi in 48 games. Which, going up against the best pitching in the game, is pretty good. He really tailed off at the end though, as from 2011-2015 in the playoffs he hit .106/.204/.106/.310 in 13 games, which really sunk his overall playoff numbers.
 

Manuel Aristides

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Several months later the Nomar trade was a seminal moment in the board’s history. Pre-smartphone and social media era it was much more difficult to get info real time so it was all SOSH. Moving Nomar was even more stunning to me than the failed ARod pursuit.
I can remember being at my mother's house, refreshing SoSH and BDD constantly through the then 5pm(?) trading deadline. At 5:15(?) or so I came downstairs to join the rest of the family entertaining some family friends, and one of those friends, who didn't know a damn thing about baseball, somehow knew and told me. Must have gotten a text from a friend, something like that. Totally gobsmacked me, but I was over Nomar's attitude that season (the Jeter extra inning affair seemed egregious at the time). I remember where I was sitting when they told me and everything. Ran back upstairs and probably didn't come back down til dinner.
 

Minneapolis Millers

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ARod wasn't a great playoff performer overall, but he was pretty awesome during their 2009 title run.

.365/.500/.808/1.308, 5 2b, 15 r, 6 hr, 18 rbi, in 52 at-bats

And from 2004-2010 with the Yankees, in the playoffs he hit .275/.402/.517/.919 with 10 hr and 30 rbi in 48 games. Which, going up against the best pitching in the game, is pretty good. He really tailed off at the end though, as from 2011-2015 in the playoffs he hit .106/.204/.106/.310 in 13 games, which really sunk his overall playoff numbers.
OK, but in 04, he went 2-17 with 1 HR, 2 RBIs, and 3 BBs in games 4-7, when the Sox were orchestrating the greatest come-from-behind abusement in sports history.

Not. Clutch! That's what we most remember.
 

Shaky Walton

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I was devastated about the A-Rod deal being killed by MLB and him going to the Yankees made it infinitely worse. That it came on the heals of the Grady Boner Game made it, for me, a brutal gut punch.

If you had told me at the time that the 2003 Game 7 loss and the A-Rod Debacle would serve as a constant reminder that things that look incredibly bad often have a positive ending, I would have said something impolite. But damn, 2004 was made sweeter by the fact that it came after the events of the year before and I firmly believe that the Sox would not have won with Purple McBluelips.
 

BaseballJones

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OK, but in 04, he went 2-17 with 1 HR, 2 RBIs, and 3 BBs in games 4-7, when the Sox were orchestrating the greatest come-from-behind abusement in sports history.

Not. Clutch! That's what we most remember.
Ha! For sure. We will conveniently forget that if Roberts gets thrown out (and he was safe by like an inch), ARod's ALCS line would have been: .368/.455/.789/1.244, with 8 r, 2 2b, 2 hr, and 5 rbi.

But Roberts was safe and the rest is history.
 

Oil Can Dan

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Ha! For sure. We will conveniently forget that if Roberts gets thrown out (and he was safe by like an inch), ARod's ALCS line would have been: .368/.455/.789/1.244, with 8 r, 2 2b, 2 hr, and 5 rbi.

But Roberts was safe and the rest is history.
I still can't really believe it all happened.

Also, I believe it's Slappy McBluelips.
 

TapeAndPosts

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OK, but in 04, he went 2-17 with 1 HR, 2 RBIs, and 3 BBs in games 4-7, when the Sox were orchestrating the greatest come-from-behind abusement in sports history.

Not. Clutch! That's what we most remember.
I am glad we are remembering these days, when I first started lurking on SoSH. Way back then I wrote a haiku about A-Rod's ALCS performance, which I will share with you because you are my people.

A-Rod slapped the ball
Only way he could get it
Out of the infield.
 

LoweTek

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In fairness, he was a vastly superior SS to Jeter and the only reason he played third instead of short was Jeter's pouting. If Jeter was the leader and captain the media made him out to be he would have moved to third for the betterment of the team.
No doubt A-Rod was the better SS but two pouters is better than one!
 

Devizier

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Who knew he randomly put up a 1029 OPS season at age 33 bookended by two good not great years?
Wasnt he a BALCO guy?

All I can find is this from ESPN:
Magglio Ordonez: Implicated
Ordonez, currently a member of the Detroit Tigers, was named in a New York Times article on Jan. 24, 2008. The story reported sources who said Canseco offered to keep Ordonez's name out of his second book if he would invest in a movie project with him.
 

BaseballJones

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Think about the four big players in that mega-deal. Here were their 2003 numbers....

Leaving Boston:
OF Manny Ramirez (31) - 117 r, 36 2b, 1 3b, 37 hr, 104 rbi, .325/.427/.587/1.014, 160 ops+, 5.4 bWAR
SS Nomar Garciaparra (29) - 120 r, 37 2b, 13 3b, 28 hr, 105 rbi, .301/.345/.524/.870, 121 ops+, 6.1 bWAR

Coming to Boston:
OF Magglio Ordonez (29) - 95 r, 46 2b, 3 3b, 29 hr, 99 rbi, .317/.380/.546/.926, 139 ops+, 5.6 bWAR
SS Alex Rodriguez (27) - 124 r, 30 2b, 6 3b, 47 hr, 118 rbi, .298/.396/.600/.995, 147 ops+, 8.4 bWAR

Plus Jon Lester leaving, and Brandon McCarthy coming to Boston.

I mean....four absolute studs in their primes....what a frigging blockbuster that would have been. It all worked out for Boston, but with respect to the four position players (losing Lester would have ended up being huge, even though McCarthy would become a legit MLB pitcher), on a pure talent and production level, Boston appeared to be getting the upper hand in that deal.
 

phrenile

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too bad The Ezboard meltdown a couple years later wiped out a bunch of the archives or we could all go back and relive it
It seems a shame to bump an A-Rod thread this late in the playoffs, but someone was asking in tonight's game thread, so . . . here it is.
 

EpsteinsGorillaSuit

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Sosh had a 200 page thread about pulling Kevin Millar back from going to Chunichi in 2003. Theo Epstein did at least one Q&A. G38 was in the chat room while negotiating his extension/no trade clause. John Henry called P&G profane. Heady times.
 

E5 Yaz

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Schwarber on Fenway: ‘I can’t imagine being in the bullpen. They’re crazy out there — good crazy. … You don’t realize how lucky you are to have a fanbase like this. … You cannot take that for granted. You cannot take that for granted.’