Aftermath 1986

The 86 season was over; Sox fans were again disappointed. Dwight Evans summed it up: “I don’t want to hold my head up because I’m a loser now. But I’ve done all that I can do. There’s no way I’m going to walk with my chin against my chest either.” Dewey would go on to have an all-star season in 87 but would retire in 1991 without winning a championship. “There were no tears, no fears, just blank faces and empty feelings, ” wrote Dan Shaughnessy.

In a rather bizarre move, the city fathers scheduled a parade for the next day from Copley Square to City Hall. Why a parade after a crushing end to the season? It was probably more out of pity for the team than celebration. An estimated 750,000 fans showed up at City Hall Plaza. Significantly, only about half the players attended. “We’ll be back next year, ” said Bill Buckner. “These are fans who deserved the championship, not the fans of New York. We’ll bring it here in 87”, said Bob Stanley. Brave words, but I don’t think either of them really believed it.

Not all fans wanted a parade. A man from Marblehead wrote: “A parade for the the Red Sox. For the team that blew four leads in two games…Parades are for winners.” A fan from Wollaston said the obvious: “Do the Celtics celebrate  their losses to the Lakers in the finals with a parade? Sure the Sox tried their hardest, but so did the Cleveland Indians….Appreciaton day is just a prime example of how politicians use something as sacredly American as baseball to improve their image.” A colleague of mine was very direct: “They gave the team a parade for s______
canning the World Series.”

Jackie MacMullan, writing in the Globe about game 3 (which in my opinion was very important) talked about Oil Can: “he made it clear the day before that the Mets could be had. ‘They can be mastered’ ” Boyd promised. “‘I don’t think Bobby Ojeda is that confident out there when he is pitching in Fenway.’ ” Not a very smart thing for the Can to say, especially about a former teammate.

Already, there were rumblings from the Rocket. First he vowed he would not make the trip to Shea Stadium the following May for a charity exhibition. “The fans were throwing beer bottles at us from the stands, and when Jack Rogers (the Sox traveling secretary) was hit by one of the bottles, two officers just stood and laughed….The security people were kneeling beside our wives and telling them that the Red Sox stink….They didn’t buy tickets. They’re supposed to their job.” I’m sure the real language in Shea Stadium was much stronger than that.

The Clemens article by longtime Globe journalist Neil Singelais went on to speculate that Roger, who earned less than a $300,000 base in 1986, was going to ask for 900 grand per season or 3.6 million over four years. GM  Lou Gorman, rather foolishly, responded that the club had no intention of signing any pitcher for more than two years. Gorman also stated that he didn’t anticipate any major problems in dealing with Clemens’ agents. Come on Uncle Lou (rest in peace). It wouldn’t be that easy.