15 Years

The Talented Allen Ripley

holden
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Oct 2, 2003
12,723
MetroWest, MA
15 years ago tonight, Charlie Brown kicked that damn football right back into Lucy's stupid fat face.

You'd think that span of time would have provided the opportunity to become more philosophical about the meaning of sport and the role it plays in our lives, how it creates and strengthens relationships, how it shows us how to handle adversity and always put our best foot forward, win or lose. And I suppose I've taken advantage of that and learned from it and become, dare I say, more mature in the process.

And on the occasions when I think back about the 2004 ALCS and my heart practically soars from my chest, almost as if I have to clutch the air in front of me before it flies away, I realize that it wouldn't have meant nearly as much to me if I hadn't suffered all those existential losses beforehand. With this understanding comes wisdom.

But then I think about how awesome it was that it took place against the Yankees, how the tables were finally turned, how they and their fans must have felt like Clark Kent getting his ass kicked in the diner in Superman II, seeing their own blood for the first time and so shocked by the unprecedented pain that they cried, not even knowing what this salty fluid spilling from their eyes and running down their cheeks even was. "What strange new horror is this? The lights... too bright. I can't feel my extremities... DOES NOT COMPUTE."

And I kick back with a smile, lacing my hands behind my head, and as I picture the football slamming into Lucy's unsuspecting face, my smile evolves into a deep and well-earned laugh.

So no, fifteen years has not matured me as much as I sometimes think it has.
 

Papo The Snow Tiger

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Aug 18, 2010
1,409
Connecticut
I was so amped up in the hours leading up to Game 7 15 years ago tonight that I couldn't sit still and had to go out for a walk around the hood just to kill time. Of course I was wearing my Red Sox hat and colors. Coming down the sidewalk walking in the opposite direction was a guy I had never seen before, or have seen since. He was wearing his Red Sox hat and colors too. Without speaking our eyes met, and when we got to the point opposite each other, without even breaking stride, we gave each other a firm high five. It was like "brother, we're going to war together". Right then I got a sense that things were changing.

There was a big "1918" banner hung from the upper deck behind home plate at the Toilet that night. Bucky Dent threw out the first pitch that night. I also remember just before first pitch Fox showing some guy dressed up like a ghost wearing a "1918" sign around his neck wandering around the upper deck of the Toilet. A year earlier that would have pissed me off no end, but on that night it was like the New Yorkers were tempting fate. It was like they placing all their chips on that one last hand, and I remember thinking that if the Red Sox won that night we'd never have to put up with that kind of shit again. The world did indeed change for the better that night.
 

Jim Ed Rice in HOF

Red-headed Skrub child
SoSH Member
Jul 21, 2005
8,248
Seacoast NH
The third Wednesday of the month during the school year was Cub Scout pack meeting night. These are painful even in the best of circumstances but the run of sleepless nights was going to make this one even worse. To top it off they normally ran until around 8 or 8:30 and the guy who ran them was Mr. Scoutmaster and not a big sports fan. A few of us fathers cornered him before the meeting and told him he better wrap this shit up by 7:45 because that’s when we were all leaving.

Fastest pack meeting in history.
 

The Talented Allen Ripley

holden
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Oct 2, 2003
12,723
MetroWest, MA
Man, how big was Ortiz's HR in Game 7? Damon was thrown out at home just prior to that, and just as the battered Sox fan in me thought it was a herald of What Ifs to Come, I'm sure it sparked a smug sense of bravado in Yankees fans. And then BOOM.

Hell, given the one-sided history between the two teams, even Damon's second HR and Bellhorn's blast qualify as rug-pulls. The Yanks scored in the bottom of the 3rd to make it 6-1, and with Lowe on 2 days rest and a very taxed bullpen, who knew if that would hold up? Then in the top of the 4th Damon makes it 8-1. Similarly, the Yankees get 2 off of Pedro in the 7th to make it 8-3, who knows how momentum might shift at that point, then Bellhorn immediately answers with his tuning fork HR off the RF pole.

After Damon's grand slam I felt comfortable, sure, but I couldn't help but wait for the other shoe to drop, especially given what happened the prior year. But it was almost as if we let them score a few piddling runs here and there to give them a desperate glimmer of hope, only to piss in their faces at every turn.

It was awesome.
 

Mollyspop

New Member
Sep 21, 2019
23
I think the guy is great (well, at least his characters on TV and in movies), but I loved the cameras zooming in on Billy Crystal crying in the stands.
 

natpastime162

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
2,944
Pennsylvania
Years ago Bill Simmons' shared this video sent to his mailbag of someone using an old android phone from right-centerfield. Thought some of you might enjoy it, grainy, camera-shaking and all. Put it on mute for extra chills!

 

pedro1918

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 5, 2004
5,139
Map Ref. 41°N 93°W
Man, how big was Ortiz's HR in Game 7? Damon was thrown out at home just prior to that, and just as the battered Sox fan in me thought it was a herald of What Ifs to Come, I'm sure it sparked a smug sense of bravado in Yankees fans. And then BOOM.
The first pitch he saw. The MFYers didn't even get a chance to really enjoy Damon getting thrown out.

And I love seeing Damon in those clips. No matter what he did for the MFYers, that night has to be in the back of their minds. Because when I see him, it is always in the front of mine!!
 
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PedroKsBambino

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Apr 17, 2003
31,187
I was fortunate enough to be among 1000 or so Sox fans gathered behind the team’s dugout after that game. I can’t do justice to the feeling—I must have hugged and high-fived 50 strangers with the passion I normally reserve for family. The entire hour after the game—the clapping, the players coming out periodically, the hugging and pure unadulterated joy—is something I have never experienced before and doubt I’ll ever feel in quite the same way again.

I will also never forget walking around NYC the day of game 7, because for the first time in my life each Yankee fan I encountered (as I had my Sox hat on of course) were all scared. They knew it was something different and that evening they were proven correct. And for the first time in my life. I was liberated from worrying about the MFY.
 

donutogre

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
3,193
Philadelphia
Damon's grand slam remains one of my absolute favorite baseball moments of all time. The first Ortiz homer was a big deal. But the Damon slam sent me and everyone at Bukowski's in Cambridge into a glorious frenzy that lasted all night long. Ahh, memories.
 

JimD

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 29, 2001
8,681
An enjoyable part of the experience for me (living outside of Boston sports radio territory) was ESPN's Mike & Mike playing the Gene Wilder audio clip 'Alive ... it's alive ... IT'S ALIVE!' from Young Frankenstein at the start of each hour as they recapped the comeback each day.
 

Leskanic's Thread

lost underscore
Silver Supporter
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
2,774
Los Angeles
Got two words for you: Curt Leskanic.
Also Leskanic? Still can't believe that happened.
Obviously, I agree with both of you.

I had just moved to Somerville in the fall of 2004, living in an apartment with one of my best friends. I remember walking around through a drug store (maybe a Walgreen's, perhaps an Osco's) on Broadway, shopping for snacks in the hours before game 7. We wandered up and down the aisles for about ten minutes before realizing neither of us had focused on anything in particular...just riding a buzz created by a mixture of stress, exhaustion, excitement, and fear.

I agree strongly with what others have said: the Ortiz home run was just huge. Damon being thrown out gave you that pit in your stomach, the "oh no, here we go again" sensation. To have that wiped out on the next pitch was stabilizing. I have no idea what would have happened if that game had, like the three before, entered the late innings with just a two or three run differential. I don't know if I would have survived.

When game 7 ended, after cheering and yelling and calling family members who needed calling, my buddy and I went outside to join up with more friends of ours who lived in the area. The whole group walked down Highland Ave to hit up Davis Square. A random guy came out of a house along the way, carrying a bulging trash bag. From that bag, he started pulling out t-shirts, ones that had a clearly bootlegged Sox-font saying "Boston" across the front, the number 21 on the back, with the player name "Yankees Suck." He handed those shirts out to everyone who passed by, yelling with delirium, "I don't need these anymore!" We took them, even though none of us needed them anymore either.

It's perhaps dumb (in that grand-scheme-of-things way where spectator sports just shouldn't be so important) that these few days and the ensuing ones up to the parade changed me, and are still some of the best of my life. Nevertheless...
 

EpsteinsGorillaSuit

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 9, 2003
311
15 years ago, we got this gift of a post-season.

Like other posters, I also experienced a long-suffering loved-one - in my case my father - swear the team off (for the last time!) after game three.

While that was going on, I wound up watching the remainder of that series with a bunch of crazy strangers at the local Boston sports bar. Some of them no longer post here, some are slinging meat (not a euphemism), others are Brexiting and still others have gone dark. Regardless, I consider those people my brothers until the end of time. We went through that entire four day experience together like the actual team. Mainers expression after the final out of game seven...

Oh yeah, back to my old man. After telling me he was going to skip the rest of the ALCS and watch C's preseason games instead, I found him awake post ~2am ET every night after I got home from the Connecticut Yankee. He picked up the phone on one ring pretty much each time. The best one was after game seven of course.
Hey DeJesus - we watched all of game 5 together at the Connecticut Yankee. Will never forget it. Didn't lose faith except when I resigned myself to Wakefield losing the game on a passed ball.

The next season, OFT and I went to a Giants-Padres game specifically to cheer for Dave Roberts with ridiculous enthusiasm.

Pretty sure I still have a photo of our whole crew at the CY from game 4 of the WS. Will look for it.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Dec 24, 2002
48,204
Hey DeJesus - we watched all of game 5 together at the Connecticut Yankee. Will never forget it. Didn't lose faith except when I resigned myself to Wakefield losing the game on a passed ball.

The next season, OFT and I went to a Giants-Padres game specifically to cheer for Dave Roberts with ridiculous enthusiasm.

Pretty sure I still have a photo of our whole crew at the CY from game 4 of the WS. Will look for it.
Oh hell yeah. I suspect that there are many of us here on SoSH that bonded in person specifically that season/playoff run. What an amazing time we had, games aside.


Please share via PM if you do find the pic. I love that you went to cheer for Roberts but I would expect nothing less knowing you guys.

What an amazing time.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
SoSH Member
Sep 27, 2016
21,753
Pittsburgh, PA
I moved from NH to Jersey City in Aug 2004 and watched Games 6 and 7 at The Riv in NYC. Taking the PATH home and slowly realizing the train was full of MFY fans staggering back from the Toilet was among the most satisfying feelings of my life. There was nary a sound in that car, everyone was staring straight down, not making eye contact with anyone, let alone me with my Sox cap and feet not touching the floor. I was scared for a few moments that there might be trouble, but there was no life in any of them. They were zombies.
I was right in there with you, somewhere in the mass of bodies packed in there. Think I was in the lower level, standing near the bathrooms with a view of the bar. Three things I'll never forget from that night:

(1) Right before the game, some yankee-fan asshole comes in through the basement door (the only way you could still get in there) chanting something obscene, expecting a normal NYC bar scene - and suddenly confronts like 300 Red Sox fans in a bar with capacity 120. He basically did the full Kool-aid Man - eyes got big as saucers, he shut up immediately, and all but backed out of there.

(2) Kenny Albert, for some reason, appearing in the same door with some ESPN crew or something in like the 6th inning, getting absolutely nothing out of the patrons there (I guess they were going to cut to live shots as in, "here's what red sox fans in new york are doing!"?), and bagging it within an inning and getting out of there.

(3) The postgame scene in there, with people I'd never met congratulating me, people walking around with champagne bottles coming out of nowhere and just pouring them on people (or in your drink, depending). Just awash in brotherly love. And champagne. But mostly love.
 

Dick Drago

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 28, 2002
1,311
Years ago Bill Simmons' shared this video sent to his mailbag of someone using an old android phone from right-centerfield. Thought some of you might enjoy it, grainy, camera-shaking and all. Put it on mute for extra chills!

That's a cool angle---and it looks even closer than the one we saw on TV.
 

Dick Drago

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 28, 2002
1,311
I was right in there with you, somewhere in the mass of bodies packed in there. Think I was in the lower level, standing near the bathrooms with a view of the bar. Three things I'll never forget from that night:

(1) Right before the game, some yankee-fan asshole comes in through the basement door (the only way you could still get in there) chanting something obscene, expecting a normal NYC bar scene - and suddenly confronts like 300 Red Sox fans in a bar with capacity 120. He basically did the full Kool-aid Man - eyes got big as saucers, he shut up immediately, and all but backed out of there.

(2) Kenny Albert, for some reason, appearing in the same door with some ESPN crew or something in like the 6th inning, getting absolutely nothing out of the patrons there (I guess they were going to cut to live shots as in, "here's what red sox fans in new york are doing!"?), and bagging it within an inning and getting out of there.

(3) The postgame scene in there, with people I'd never met congratulating me, people walking around with champagne bottles coming out of nowhere and just pouring them on people (or in your drink, depending). Just awash in brotherly love. And champagne. But mostly love.

Yeah, I was also sweating it out at the Riv--a sea of Sox fans. I got there at 5 to get a seat at the bar with my then wife, because we knew the crowd would get crazy later on. Nerves so shot from watching at home games 5 and 6 that I just had to be around other Sox fans to share the tension. It was really the 2nd Damon home run that made me begin to believe...kind of a flashback to watching ALDS game 7 (also at the Riv) and O'Leary homering for the 2nd time. Just like in '99 I had to look closely---not being able to hear the sound I was not convinced that it was happening live, but maybe a replay of the earlier homer. It made me catch my breath -- at times I had to step out and get some fresh air when the Yankees were at bat---counting down the outs made me so nervous. Derek Lowe was dealing that night....but I was convinced there would be a few seeing eye ground ball singles, then someone like Sheffield would crank one out. My memory is he was using his curve more often, and lots of flailing from Yankee bats. Pandemonium broke out in the Riv at the end. It felt like we had all played in the game, more than simple spectators at a bar. Hugs, hi-fives with complete strangers. Sheer joy--and yes, the Ortiz homer...the sudden turn of emotions, thinking maybe that a 1st inning opportunity had been completely wasted by the out at home-plate....only to erupt when the ball flew off Ortiz' bat.
 

Marbleheader

Moderator
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Sep 27, 2004
11,726
Man, how big was Ortiz's HR in Game 7? Damon was thrown out at home just prior to that, and just as the battered Sox fan in me thought it was a herald of What Ifs to Come, I'm sure it sparked a smug sense of bravado in Yankees fans. And then BOOM.

Hell, given the one-sided history between the two teams, even Damon's second HR and Bellhorn's blast qualify as rug-pulls. The Yanks scored in the bottom of the 3rd to make it 6-1, and with Lowe on 2 days rest and a very taxed bullpen, who knew if that would hold up? Then in the top of the 4th Damon makes it 8-1. Similarly, the Yankees get 2 off of Pedro in the 7th to make it 8-3, who knows how momentum might shift at that point, then Bellhorn immediately answers with his tuning fork HR off the RF pole.

After Damon's grand slam I felt comfortable, sure, but I couldn't help but wait for the other shoe to drop, especially given what happened the prior year. But it was almost as if we let them score a few piddling runs here and there to give them a desperate glimmer of hope, only to piss in their faces at every turn.

It was awesome.
http://champagne.atspace.org/game_7_posts_0551_to_0600.html
 

Earthbound64

Member
SoSH Member
How good the book was is arguable but the Win it For thread was touching. And the Sox delivered.
I was just a lurker at the time, but I really wish I had written in for my mother's parents - both of whom lived to see 2004, and both of whom died before the end of the 2005 playoffs, so it ended up being literally the last chance they had to see it.
 

doldmoose34

impregnated Melissa Theuriau
SoSH Member
this has been an enjoyable thread to relive the Four Days, especially coming two week afer joining a number of the SoSH Old Guard at the memorial for the legendary RedSoxStiff. Having been a Sox fan since birth (1955), and been thru all 49 years of heartbreak, let me again tell the tale of the 6th day

game 3 was originally scheduled for Friday night, but was rained out. That friday afternoon, I had a couple appointments in the Peoples republic of Cambridge, which I'd scheduled because my prep school's football team was playing the Harvard JV at 3. I'm standing on the sidelines in a Sox hat as the raw mist is falling about 15' away from then Harvard AD Billy Cleary. there is a bit of comotion as a group of gentlemen walk by me and shake Cleary's hand, the group was on a tour of the campus. One man stood out, tall black guy in a great looking leather trench coat, and the kids on the Harvard bench run over to shake his hand. As the group turns to leave he looks right at me and my hat and gives me a little nod.... Mariano Rivera.

i'm a little on the superstitious side, and needing all the karma we could get on Sat night I made sure to wear a Patriots hat and we got the football score 19-8. so the next night i wore a pair of jeans, Pat Patriot hoodie and drank a couple tall White Russians, pre-game 2nd and 5th. I didn't change the clothing or drinking routine for the next 7 games.

2007 is the forgotten step child of the teams, dominance much like last year from day 1, 2013 will always be special because of the tragic events and the way the team united the area, last year was a thing of joy but you're only a virgin once, 15 years ago we all lost our virginity
 

Nator

Member
SoSH Member
Damon's grand slam remains one of my absolute favorite baseball moments of all time. The first Ortiz homer was a big deal. But the Damon slam sent me and everyone at Bukowski's in Cambridge into a glorious frenzy that lasted all night long. Ahh, memories.
That grand slam was such a tension breaker. My wife (a lifelong Cubs fan who finally got rewarded for her fandom in 2016) was watching when Damon came to bat she said, "Oooh! Maybe he'll hit a grand slam!" I responded, "I'll just take a base hi...."Then Johnny made contact. It was well hit, but didn't look 100% like a home run until the gaping lid of The Toilet's welcoming short right field came screaming into frame.

How may heart attacks did that grand slam prevent? It was the 1st time all series we got to enjoy a few innings without feeling like we were about to join the choir invisible.
 

DamageTrain

Member
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Sep 29, 2014
669
Vermont
I was worried I would get kicked out of my hotel room after the noise I made during that grand slam. Years and years of pent up frustration released. A howl and a scream combined. Was in D.C. on business. Later that night heard a small horde of Sox fans screaming in the streets as they traversed that beautiful night.
 
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RedOctober3829

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
55,298
deep inside Guido territory
Lots and lots of cheap beer was drank on the night of October 20th. I was a junior in college and hanging out in the dorms watching with friends. I went to school in NC so I was one of just a couple Red Sox fans. All I could do was think of the older generation of people back home that could finally witness us slaying the dragon. I called my dad after the game was over and it took about a minute or two to get coherent words out. It was a lot of silence and just saying I can't believer we did it we finally did it. To this day, after all the success our local teams have had this night can never be compared to anything else. Those 4 days were more of a religious experience than a sports experience. Before the game, reading the Win It For thread and posting in it was both emotional and cathartic.
 

Huntington Avenue Grounds

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Jul 17, 2008
1,899
Lunenburg, MA
Got there early to get a table with my friends up in the dining area, it was a long pregame and very long, enjoyable evening. I remember as the game wound down, the scene outside was incredible; sox fans who couldn't get in were against the window, a contingent of NYC police were behind them and another group of onlookers were behind the police. After the game ended and we went to leave, we were ushered out the back door as things had gotten too crazy out front. Was a bit nervous for the 1st half block, then the world just went back to normal, until the PATH.

That game was the only time I ever physically tracked pitches, figured Dlowe had ~40 in him and we might get 3 innings, tops.

I have a pic somewhere if the celebration, will have to dig it up by the 20th anniversary!

I was right in there with you, somewhere in the mass of bodies packed in there. Think I was in the lower level, standing near the bathrooms with a view of the bar. Three things I'll never forget from that night:

(1) Right before the game, some yankee-fan asshole comes in through the basement door (the only way you could still get in there) chanting something obscene, expecting a normal NYC bar scene - and suddenly confronts like 300 Red Sox fans in a bar with capacity 120. He basically did the full Kool-aid Man - eyes got big as saucers, he shut up immediately, and all but backed out of there.

(2) Kenny Albert, for some reason, appearing in the same door with some ESPN crew or something in like the 6th inning, getting absolutely nothing out of the patrons there (I guess they were going to cut to live shots as in, "here's what red sox fans in new york are doing!"?), and bagging it within an inning and getting out of there.

(3) The postgame scene in there, with people I'd never met congratulating me, people walking around with champagne bottles coming out of nowhere and just pouring them on people (or in your drink, depending). Just awash in brotherly love. And champagne. But mostly love.
Yeah, I was also sweating it out at the Riv--a sea of Sox fans. I got there at 5 to get a seat at the bar with my then wife, because we knew the crowd would get crazy later on. Nerves so shot from watching at home games 5 and 6 that I just had to be around other Sox fans to share the tension. It was really the 2nd Damon home run that made me begin to believe...kind of a flashback to watching ALDS game 7 (also at the Riv) and O'Leary homering for the 2nd time. Just like in '99 I had to look closely---not being able to hear the sound I was not convinced that it was happening live, but maybe a replay of the earlier homer. It made me catch my breath -- at times I had to step out and get some fresh air when the Yankees were at bat---counting down the outs made me so nervous. Derek Lowe was dealing that night....but I was convinced there would be a few seeing eye ground ball singles, then someone like Sheffield would crank one out. My memory is he was using his curve more often, and lots of flailing from Yankee bats. Pandemonium broke out in the Riv at the end. It felt like we had all played in the game, more than simple spectators at a bar. Hugs, hi-fives with complete strangers. Sheer joy--and yes, the Ortiz homer...the sudden turn of emotions, thinking maybe that a 1st inning opportunity had been completely wasted by the out at home-plate....only to erupt when the ball flew off Ortiz' bat.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

Found no thrill on Blueberry Hill
SoSH Member
Sep 9, 2008
42,271
AZ
Everyone has pretty much covered all the most memorable moments so many times but there's one that sticks with me. Nobody talks about it and to me though not as iconic as Roberts' steal it was actually the moment when I thought "holy shit, we may get this done."

Game 5. Sox get to Mussina early but then he basically goes into cruise control and they get absolutely nothing for six innings. Belhorn knocks him out of the game with a lead-off double in the 7th down 4-2, but then the bullpen gets them out of it. It ended with a soul crushing double play with Manny at the plate and Belhorn never made it past second.

The crowd was basically silent. The night before seemed a bit like a memory. Two innings left, and Rivera lurking. Yankees got a lead off double in the top of the 8th and Cairo gets bunted over to third for A-Rod. Speed at third and a great hitter at the plate. Sac fly, grounder not right at someone, bobble, passed ball, it's a three run game. Timlin gets him swinging. There were so many other huge at bats that this one gets lost, but it was huge.

But that's not what I'm talking about. The Yankees strand the runner and Fenway livens up just a little but it's still really quiet. 4-5-6 are up and it's nearly as desperate as the bottom of the ninth was the night before. If they don't get something done right now the bottom of the lineup has to do it against Rivera. Rivera had pitched two innings the night before, so Torre is going to see what Gordon can do before bringing him in.

And then Papi crushes one opposite field over the Monster. That was the moment when I knew they were in the thing. The night before wasn't just a cruel tease. They were still losing. They still only had six outs to work with with Rivera lurking for the bottom of the line up. But it was just like the Roberts' steal -- they weren't going quietly. If Ortiz makes an out there, I think they lose the series quietly. If Rivera comes in without inherited runners or with a 2-run lead, and the bottom of the order, I think it's trouble. It felt like the moment when the crowd figured it out too. Gordon was completely rattled and they had a runner on third before you could blink.
 

Don Buddin's GS

Member
SoSH Member
Just watched "Four Days in October" again to mark the occasion. So many little nuances you forget after 15 years. What a great experience.

So glad that the Astors just beat those fucks to prevent the Spankees from coming back from an 0-3 series hole.

They are not worthy.
 

Al Zarilla

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 8, 2005
58,867
San Andreas Fault
Just watched "Four Days in October" again to mark the occasion. So many little nuances you forget after 15 years. What a great experience.

So glad that the Astors just beat those fucks to prevent the Spankees from coming back from an 0-3 series hole.

They are not worthy.
Yankees won game one 7-0. That game got pretty much blanked out in my mind too.
 

bosockboy

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
19,861
St. Louis, MO
Everyone has pretty much covered all the most memorable moments so many times but there's one that sticks with me. Nobody talks about it and to me though not as iconic as Roberts' steal it was actually the moment when I thought "holy shit, we may get this done."

Game 5. Sox get to Mussina early but then he basically goes into cruise control and they get absolutely nothing for six innings. Belhorn knocks him out of the game with a lead-off double in the 7th down 4-2, but then the bullpen gets them out of it. It ended with a soul crushing double play with Manny at the plate and Belhorn never made it past second.

The crowd was basically silent. The night before seemed a bit like a memory. Two innings left, and Rivera lurking. Yankees got a lead off double in the top of the 8th and Cairo gets bunted over to third for A-Rod. Speed at third and a great hitter at the plate. Sac fly, grounder not right at someone, bobble, passed ball, it's a three run game. Timlin gets him swinging. There were so many other huge at bats that this one gets lost, but it was huge.

But that's not what I'm talking about. The Yankees strand the runner and Fenway livens up just a little but it's still really quiet. 4-5-6 are up and it's nearly as desperate as the bottom of the ninth was the night before. If they don't get something done right now the bottom of the lineup has to do it against Rivera. Rivera had pitched two innings the night before, so Torre is going to see what Gordon can do before bringing him in.

And then Papi crushes one opposite field over the Monster. That was the moment when I knew they were in the thing. The night before wasn't just a cruel tease. They were still losing. They still only had six outs to work with with Rivera lurking for the bottom of the line up. But it was just like the Roberts' steal -- they weren't going quietly. If Ortiz makes an out there, I think they lose the series quietly. If Rivera comes in without inherited runners or with a 2-run lead, and the bottom of the order, I think it's trouble. It felt like the moment when the crowd figured it out too. Gordon was completely rattled and they had a runner on third before you could blink.
Urban legend is that Gordon was puking in the bullpen from nerves prior to going in. And that was absolutely Papi’s most forgotten big homer.
 

lexrageorge

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2007
18,095
I forgot to add during my earlier post that I did have the pleasure to listen to Suzyn Waldman on the radio during my drive from New Jersey to southern CT during the afternoon between Games 6 and 7. She was absolutely livid that the Yankees would be trotting out Kevin Brown and Vazquez for Game 7. I still remember her prophetically saying "If we have to rely in Javy Vazquez to save this season, we're done" (or something to that effect). It was my best trip over the George Washington ever.

Later, Mike and the Mad Dog came on, and I think it was Russo that was insistent on the fact that the Yankees will not lose Game 7, as it was Mickey Mantle's birthday.
 

pedro1918

Member
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Mar 5, 2004
5,139
Map Ref. 41°N 93°W
On the afternoon of Game 7, Russo picked the Red Sox. “The Red Sox will dance at Yankee Stadium tonight.”

It was Francesca who used the Mantle line. And he was correct. The game went past midnight so technically the Yankees lost on Whitey Ford’s birthday!
 
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candylandriots

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Mar 30, 2004
12,327
Berlin
I don’t think I’ve told my 4 days story here. Started by going to Game 3 with my uncle for his birthday. Was not the best present, for obvious reasons. The next night I was going with one of my best friends. We both had to be in New York early on Monday morning. We considered bagging it. I remember being in the taxi to Fenway, and the driver asking if we were going to the wake tonight. As soon as that ball landed, we hightailed it out of there to try and get 4 hours of sleep, assuming we had just prolonged the inevitable. I had neglected a bunch of shit at home because of the playoffs, and I think that game 5 was on a different day because of rain. I had to pick up our car from being repaired, about 20 miles away. I got home, stuck a tape in the VCR, went to pick up my car, swapped in a different tape, and started watching the first one in another room. We all know what that game was like. I still think it might be the best game I ever watched. Certainly the most tense. Onto game 6. I was at the toilet, sitting in the same section as that asshole running around in the ghost costume. I’ve never been in a more toxic sporting atmosphere than at that game. Yankee fans could sense it slipping away, and they were not happy about it. I zipped up my jacket over my Sox sweatshirt, because I was sure I was going to be the target of someone’s ire. I was a mess before game 7. I went with a friend. We shared exactly the same birthday. It happened to be October 20. I was in the toilet for the grand slam, thinking I could make it back before the pitching change was finished. But I didn’t care. That whole game was a celebration of everything Red Sox. I feel like there were more Sox fans than Yankees fans that night. It was still one of the happiest nights of my life. Even better after having been at the Boone game, riding home with Freddy and his stupid frying pan, among other injustices of that night. I’ll never forget those days, and still have reminders of them in my house. That was a pretty sweet birthday present.
 

Soxfan in Fla

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 30, 2001
7,187
I don’t think I’ve told my 4 days story here. Started by going to Game 3 with my uncle for his birthday. Was not the best present, for obvious reasons. The next night I was going with one of my best friends. We both had to be in New York early on Monday morning. We considered bagging it. I remember being in the taxi to Fenway, and the driver asking if we were going to the wake tonight. As soon as that ball landed, we hightailed it out of there to try and get 4 hours of sleep, assuming we had just prolonged the inevitable. I had neglected a bunch of shit at home because of the playoffs, and I think that game 5 was on a different day because of rain. I had to pick up our car from being repaired, about 20 miles away. I got home, stuck a tape in the VCR, went to pick up my car, swapped in a different tape, and started watching the first one in another room. We all know what that game was like. I still think it might be the best game I ever watched. Certainly the most tense. Onto game 6. I was at the toilet, sitting in the same section as that asshole running around in the ghost costume. I’ve never been in a more toxic sporting atmosphere than at that game. Yankee fans could sense it slipping away, and they were not happy about it. I zipped up my jacket over my Sox sweatshirt, because I was sure I was going to be the target of someone’s ire. I was a mess before game 7. I went with a friend. We shared exactly the same birthday. It happened to be October 20. I was in the toilet for the grand slam, thinking I could make it back before the pitching change was finished. But I didn’t care. That whole game was a celebration of everything Red Sox. I feel like there were more Sox fans than Yankees fans that night. It was still one of the happiest nights of my life. Even better after having been at the Boone game, riding home with Freddy and his stupid frying pan, among other injustices of that night. I’ll never forget those days, and still have reminders of them in my house. That was a pretty sweet birthday present.
I was in the toilet for the grand slam had me confused for a moment. You were in Yankee Stadium, of course you were in the toilet. Lol.
 

brs3

sings praises of pinstripes
SoSH Member
May 20, 2008
5,200
Jackson Heights, NYC
My senior year at UMass was 03, and I had turned my apartment bedroom door into a newspaper headline clipping countdown to winning the world world series. It was a really nice door sized montage to that great team. When Boone's HR was in the air, I punted the ottoman across the apartment(for those who remember Alpine Commons, the ottoman went from the living room area all the way to the utility closet), tore the door montage to shreds like a angry child, and went to bed.

Fast forward a year. I was working as a roofer. I watched all of the playoffs at home, or at a bar with a couple of friends. Decide to go out to UMass for the 19-8 game to visit friends still there. I hadn't really partied during any of the games, and this was a full fledged party going on. By the time the 5 inning rolled around, I had given up that night, but I didn't give up on the team. They were too good for this. It's something I'd say again and again and sometimes be wrong about in ensuing years, but I did not lose faith after Game 3.

Game 4 was a Sunday, and I went to my watering hole where I had watched most of the postseason. The place was dead. I watched most of the game alone. When the Red Sox tied it in the 9th, the bar shut the place down, rolled up the big screen and kicked the few of us out. I was living at home with my parents. My dad was probably watching Gunsmoke or something, so I went to the basement, into my Red Sox boy cave, which has pull out Herald posters of Sox mega stars from the late 90's and early 00's on the walls. I watched the Sox come back on a 13 inch static tv. So, of course, the rest of the series was spent in the same basement. The basement pretty much remains the same today, just a ton more crap in the room since I moved out. The posters are tearing and fading.There's an entire wall of the ALCS/WS win cut outs of every newspaper I could find. Someday I'll try to salvage it, or just take photos.

2003-2004 was the greatest and worst of the greatest. Dominating last year day 1 til the end and going through the Yanks and reigning champs was prob the closest I've felt to that same kind of excitement.
 

Manramsclan

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 14, 2005
3,371
.... I think that game 5 was on a different day because of rain.
It was and so was game 4 I think. I remember this because they used Game 5 tickets (or Game 3 at Fenway) for game 4 and Game 4 tickets (or Game 2 at Fenway) for game 5 (at least this is true of the tickets given to season ticket holders).

I know this because I almost made the biggest boneheaded move of my life. I came up from NYC, where I was living at the time, on the Fung Wah bus supremely hungover after game 3 debacle. I had two sets of tickets given to me by my buddy whose parents were season ticket holders. I was supposed to deliver one set to his other friend who was going to go to Game 5. He flat out told me, "Give him the ones that say 2 on them, not the ones that say 3." I did the opposite and didn't realize it until we got to the gate and they wouldn't let us in. Thank god this was the age of cell phones because I was able to call the kid and go back and get them. But damn it was close. I saw three walk-offs in a row at Fenway with Trot in 03 vs. A's, Papi in 04 against the Angels of Washburn, and then Papi in '04 against the Yankees. It was like a psychic tide breaking. Unreal.
 

PedroKsBambino

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Apr 17, 2003
31,187
I’ve never been in a more toxic sporting atmosphere than at that game. Yankee fans could sense it slipping away, and they were not happy about it. I zipped up my jacket over my Sox sweatshirt, because I was sure I was going to be the target of someone’s ire.
Agreed---I have worn my Sox hat/shirt to dozens of games in visiting stadiums and at least 10 in Yankee Stadium and that night was the one time I hid mine. I was physically scared after the reversal of the ARod slap call---there were things flying onto the field and tremendous anger in the stands, the most mild aspect of which was all the swearing and chants. Where I was sitting at least that disappated as people talked to friends who saw the replay on TV and were told it was a clear, no-brainer dirty play and easy call. But the first 90 seconds or so were UGLY and I was very happy that no one knew who I was rooting for.
 

budcrew08

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 30, 2007
8,549
upstate NY
That series.

I was a young intern working overnight shifts in the ICU during Games 1-3. Sick and dying patients every night. I was running scared. Interns in the ICU are terrified. I tried to check in occasionally but really couldn't follow the games at all.

Game 4 - I was post call, so, sleep deprived and cranky. Still, I turned on the game and stayed there, barely moving for the duration. I was happy but really too tired to celebrate Ortiz's game winner.

My young son and I had developed a tradition late that season. He would go to bed with the game still on but I would write him a note about what happened and leave it for him while he ate breakfast before school the following morning. I was usually in the hospital long before he would get up - so these notes were our way of discussing the game. I left him a note after Game 4 explaining about Millar's walk, Dave Robert's steal, Mueller's drive and how the Sox had come back against Mo. Ortiz was the hero.

Game 5...back on call in the ICU. About midway through the game an elderly man was admitted to our service. He had a Yankees shirt on. He was admitted for heart failure. We, of course, began talking baseball and the series. He was a huge baseball fan and had an encyclopedic knowledge of the game and the history of baseball. He was a consummate gentleman and we bonded instantly. My shift ended about the 7th inning with the Sox down 4-2. I said goodnight to my patient and he wished me the same stating, "Those Sox will win someday. Hang in there." I drove home and turned on the game...I remember the disconsolate walk to my car as the fall chill settled all around me. I didn't even turn on the radio - I was too sad. When I got home and turned the game on I heard the crowd roaring before the picture came on and I knew something good had happened. Ortiz (of course) hit a HR to tighten things up. I sank into my chair (fatigue be damned) and endured ( I think that's really the right word) the most excruciating 2 hours of my sporting (fandom) life. 14th inning. Ortiz again. Sox walk off again. Writing down the night's recap for my boy was amazing. No celebrating on our field!

Game 6. The weirdest game I have ever seen. Still can't believe all those (correct) calls went our way. My elderly patient had the game on in his room. He asked if I would watch with him. I chuckled and said, "I think I'm gonna be a little busy tonight, but I'll check in from time to time." He said he hoped I would get some down-time and thanked me for taking good care of him. I told you he was a gentleman. I checked in after evening rounds about the 2nd inning. He bade me pull up a chair and watch for a while. He said I looked tired (this octogenarian in florid heart failure thought I needed a rest!) and told me to take a "half-inning off". I did. This may be unfamiliar to folks who haven't worked in an intensive care unit but the work is endless. Critically ill patients everywhere you look. More coming in, crashing, dying. It's an intense 36 hour shift and there is usually no time to eat, pee, or (hah!)sleep. I swear this is true: I sat there and watched the ENTIRE game without a single call, page, admission, alarming monitor, abnormal lab value, crashing patient....nothing for 3+ hours. Unheard of. When the game was over, I left quietly. My patient had nodded off in the later innings. Note tucked into lunchbox that day...Game 7 was coming and it was anybody's series now.

Game 7: Off. Watching with my wife and son...cheering the early inning heroics and sweating out Pedro's inning. REDEMPTION!! FINALLY!! Went to check on my patient...but got a bad feeling when his room was cleaned out - generally an ominous sign in the ICU. Well, it was a season for miracles. He had improved and been discharged out of the ICU and was getting ready to go home.

A brief coda: A few weeks later, I received a package at the hospital. My patient's son was a student at Harvard. He had asked him to buy me a World Series Championship T-shirt as a thank you. He wrote me a wonderful note. I'll keep that to myself - but I still have it.

A few days ago on the 15th anniversary, my son- now grown - sent me a text with screenshots of my postgame notes to him. Pretty cool.
An amazing story. Thanks for sharing.
 

Humphrey

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 3, 2010
3,163
My two cents worth:
1. In 2003, Grady left Pedro in there (SEVERAL TIMES OVER, OF COURSE) to face Matsui- who delivered a bullet down the right field line for a double (hit or came close to hitting the chalk). Same situation next year in Game 5- Tito leaves Pedro in with the bases loaded- Matsui hits the ball just as hard, literally knocks Trot Nixon down, but he catches it. Fate or luck or what?
2. Best call I ever made- last out of Game 6. Tony Clark up there (wouldn't that have been a kick in the balls if he delivered after he was so bad for the Red Sox?). The instant Foulke let the ball go, I yelled out, "he ain't hittin' that". Strike Three!
 

deanx0

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 7, 2004
2,506
Orlando, FL
All my life, I've always worried way too much about tempting fate, celebrating too much too early, or running afoul of karma. In 2004, I worked for Sports Publishing and worked with Shaun and the SoSH mods to publish the Win it For book. That was one thing. The other was that Sports Publishing would work with an in-market newspaper to create a celebration full-color book on the championship season in each of the big 4 sports (as well as College Football and Basketball). Generally, the book would be available within a week of the final game. But to be this timely, the staff would work on two books simultaneously and eventually abandon the book about the losing side. As the lone Red Sox fan on the staff, I had to lead the content charge on the Red Sox book starting after Game 7 of the ALCS, while a different group started building the Cardinals book. I was sick the whole week, thinking this was the worst idea in the world and just ultimate hubris. Thank God it worked out.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
SoSH Member
Sep 27, 2016
21,753
Pittsburgh, PA
I don’t think I’ve told my 4 days story here. Started by going to Game 3 with my uncle for his birthday. Was not the best present, for obvious reasons. The next night I was going with one of my best friends. We both had to be in New York early on Monday morning. We considered bagging it. I remember being in the taxi to Fenway, and the driver asking if we were going to the wake tonight. As soon as that ball landed, we hightailed it out of there to try and get 4 hours of sleep, assuming we had just prolonged the inevitable. I had neglected a bunch of shit at home because of the playoffs, and I think that game 5 was on a different day because of rain. I had to pick up our car from being repaired, about 20 miles away. I got home, stuck a tape in the VCR, went to pick up my car, swapped in a different tape, and started watching the first one in another room. We all know what that game was like. I still think it might be the best game I ever watched. Certainly the most tense. Onto game 6. I was at the toilet, sitting in the same section as that asshole running around in the ghost costume. I’ve never been in a more toxic sporting atmosphere than at that game. Yankee fans could sense it slipping away, and they were not happy about it. I zipped up my jacket over my Sox sweatshirt, because I was sure I was going to be the target of someone’s ire. I was a mess before game 7. I went with a friend. We shared exactly the same birthday. It happened to be October 20. I was in the toilet for the grand slam, thinking I could make it back before the pitching change was finished. But I didn’t care. That whole game was a celebration of everything Red Sox. I feel like there were more Sox fans than Yankees fans that night. It was still one of the happiest nights of my life. Even better after having been at the Boone game, riding home with Freddy and his stupid frying pan, among other injustices of that night. I’ll never forget those days, and still have reminders of them in my house. That was a pretty sweet birthday present.
Our experiences were pretty parallel, except I think your ticket budget was way higher than mine (college-student) at that point. I had tickets to Game 3, which was rained out on the Friday night. Tickets for it would be honored, but not until the Monday night - and I had midterms all that week. SoSHers congregated the night of the rainout in a local bar, first to assess the weather prospects and then just to trade nervous glances. I know @Lose Remerswaal and of course @BoSoxLady were there, I remember it was like a dozen of us. I ended up having to sell my make-up game tickets for face value to someone else. For what would become, as you say, the greatest ballgame either of us have ever seen - Game 5. Only thing that's come close for me since was 2016 WS Game 7. Voluntarily gave up tickets to that game, and unlike Robin Williams I can't even say that I had to go see about a girl.

The girl I was dating at the time was into playing sports, but not watching. Despite being a Bostonian herself, she couldn't be bothered to join me for any games, even playoff games. Well, I somehow got her to start watching Game 5 as it got to crunch time in the 6th and 7th... and she stayed, transfixed, right up until the walk-off in the 14th. Not even a complaint. Was fascinated to watch baseball for those 2+ hours, and then the spell was broken. Never got her to watch a game again, she never came to the Riv with me, but the drama for that particular game just jumped out of the TV at people, even (effectively) neutrals.

I've told the Game 6 stories before, but: I went with BeanTownGirl, who I'm not sure has been here in a decade, and only a few rows away from @PseuFighter . We watched Schilling warm up from the upper deck, they weren't throwing anything but insults at that point, but he didn't just appear to be ignoring all the BS - he seemed to be completely unaware of anything other than his pitches, it might as well have been spring training. Nobody knew how he was doing it or how long he could keep it up. The Bernie HR in the 7th got groans from us, and a bloodthirsty crowd leaned into the game for the first time... and the next two batters went down via popup and K, to finish Schilling's night. By the time of the A-Rod shenanigans the crowd was, as you said, in a frothy rage. They reached that tipping point with the West conference-and-reversal calling him out, and suddenly, from mid-upper deck, we were suddenly underneath a curtain of bottles and other objects flying from all around us towards the field. We were terrified, I think Pseu watched the rest of the game standing 2 feet in front of the exit passage. But we also realized - with how far back the upper deck sat from the field-level seats, the bottles couldn't possibly have come close to reaching the field, so we comforted ourselves knowing that a bunch of rich Yankee-fan fucks sitting below just got hit HARD by objects thrown by their cheap-seats brethren. I know a few from the bleachers did reach the field, of course - that made TV - but it still gives me a smile remembering how many hundreds (seriously, they were everywhere) ended up just being friendly fire from on high.
 

reggiecleveland

sublime
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Mar 5, 2004
27,957
Saskatoon Canada
I am sure I write this somewhere, and my stories suck compare to those of you in and around Boston.

But I knew this guy who was/is a Yankee/Laker/habs/NY Giants fan, and was always a "count the ringzzzz" dick in a major way. He was/in an alcoholic and when tanked would yell "Bill Buckner" at me at social events. I was an assistant coach and he was fundraiser for the college hoops team so I was stuck seeing this clown a lot. In some unrelated drunken exploits he was sent packing by the University and glommed onto helping another rival team, and in his own lovable manner began to spam some of us with emails about their wins, recruiting successes, etc. After game 7 and I emailed him with the "biggest choke or greatest comeback?" question. He replied right away and assured me the curse was not over until the Sox won the series and added he would see me next week when his "new" team would crush us. He added my nephew (now our best player wouldn't "score for shit").
The next Friday came. I was on hiatus from coaching to raise my own kids, so was in the stands watching. Drunky Mcpinstripe had entered the arena bragging about his advance scouting he had given, and the pounding he was going to deliver as revenge for his shabby treatment. Again he barked at any around him that it was time to drop my nephew from their fantasy team since he knew he could shoot and had sagely instructed the opponents to sag off him. Fastforward and hour and my nephew had dropped a ton of jumpers and was on his way to 41 points in a 50 point blow out. I had avoided this guy since the ugly breakup as a booster, and him being a dick Yankee fan and all. He was draped over a railing with about 2 minutes left when I snuck up behind him and said, "Unless we sub in Javier Vasquez we should be able to hold on." He did some "win 20 more rings" retort, but it had no sting. I asked him if he could volunteer as advanced scout for all our future opponents. Anyway that was my best post 2004 postseason moment.