October 27th, 2004 is a day that will be remembered and revered forever in New England. In fact, I wouldn’t doubt that it becomes a holiday in Boston, Massachusetts, or the entire region one day in the future.
Ten years ago, it was pretty good to be a Bostonian. Tommy Terrific had just won two out of the last three Super Bowls, and the Patriots were marching towards their third championship in four years.
Yet, Brady’s three rings never represented as much to so many people as the demolition of a Curse that had engulfed the Hub since 1918.
On October 27th, 2004, the Red Sox were able to put together the finishing touches on a thorough domination of the under-matched St. Louis Cardinals by sweeping them to win the World Series.
Back in 1918, when the Red Sox won their fifth World Series championship in fifteen years, no one in New England could have envisioned that they would require 86 years to get another one.
Of course, most contemporaries were distracted with the international events at the time, as World War I was viciously drawing to a close.
In any case, the events of October 2004 were just the exact opposite of what die-hard Red Sox fans were used to seeing.
Just a year earlier, the Sox had held a 5-2 lead at Yankee Stadium in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, and in typical Red Sox fashion, they found a way to blow it.
The images of Aaron Boone circling the bases after his walk-off home run and Tim Wakefield’s look of despondency walking off of the mound just inserted another chapter of pain into the emotionally destructive novel that was the pre-2004 Boston Red Sox.
So in 2004, the Yankees went up 3-0 in the ALCS. Everyone knows about Dave Roberts’ steal and David Ortiz’s walk-off hits in Games 4 and 5. Everyone remembers the iconic image of Curt Schilling pitching with a bloody sock in Game 6 and the utter dismantling of the Yankees by the Sox in Game 7.
But if you were sitting there in New England ten years and a couple of weeks ago, you were just waiting for something to go wrong. It was simply the Red Sox tradition.
In the ninth inning of Game Four of the Fall Classic, when the Red Sox were three outs away from winning it all, even the most optimistic fan had to wonder when everything would take a turn for the worst.
Even when Fox play-by-play announcer Joe Buck added to the importance of the moment by saying “Red Sox fans have longed to hear it” while calling the final out, I’m fairly certain that half of New England suffered a panic attack.
I mean, Buck performed his job masterfully, but he delivered that line before the final out had been recorded. Such anxiety was normal in the heart-stopping life of a Red Sox fan.
When closer Keith Foulke underhanded the ball to first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz to end the 2004 World Series, Red Sox fans across the world could finally rejoice. Some cried. Some were in disbelief.
Either way, October 27, 2004 was a day that represented so much to so many. That World Series win was not only for the ’04 Red Sox and their fans, but also for the great players who had never won a championship in a Boston uniform.
It was also for the many die-hards that had passed away before that day and had never seen their beloved Red Sox at the pinnacle of the baseball world.
In Boston, there’s life, death, and the Red Sox. For many, the night the Sox ended their 86 year drought was one of those “once in a lifetime moments”, an honor usually reserved for only the greatest of times.
10 years later, the Red Sox have won the World Series twice more and the whole idea of a Curse is long gone. In fact, no other franchise has won as many championships in the time period.
Many young New Englanders don’t know anything besides success with their favorite sports teams, but it’s important to remember that their parents and grandparents knew nothing besides losing when it came to the Sox.
What really sums up the significance of this day to me are two specific scenes from the hit television series Lost. In a telling scene, protagonist Jack Shephard explained his views on fate to another character by saying that the Red Sox will never win the World Series because of it.
Later on, Jack is being held captive by another character Ben. Jack doesn’t believe that Ben has contacts with the outside world, so Ben told him of the events that had taken place since Jack’s place crash landed.
Ben told him that the United States had re-elected President Bush, and Jack began to believe him at this point. However, when Ben stated that the Red Sox had won the World Series, Jack immediately believed that Ben was fibbing.
Jack, a Red Sox fan, started laughing, and told Ben, “If you wanted me to believe you, you probably should have picked somebody else besides the Red Sox.”
As Ben offered him further details on Boston’s comeback from being down 3-0 against the Yankees, Jack continued to laugh and said “Sure, sure they did.”
Ben then turned on the TV in the room and played Fox’s broadcast of the last out of the 2004 World Series, which prompted Jack to walk up to the TV in full disbelief.
But Jack wasn’t ‘t alone in these sentiments of disbelief. If you had told anyone in Boston after the Yankees took a 3-0 lead in the ALCS that the Red Sox would win eight consecutive games to win the World Series, you’d have been dismissed as crazy or delusional.
But that’s the magic of a single night in October 2004, when millions of people throughout New England turned to their families and friends and said “I can finally die in peace.”
[Photo Credit: sportsonearth.com]
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