It’s All in the Numbers…..

Posted on February 16, 2012 by fenwaypark100

The Red Sox have, what could best be described as, a two tier system of recognizing the immortals who have called Fenway Park their home. The top-tier is the retired numbers. These are the creme de la creme, the pièce de résistance and they are honored on Fenway’s venerable right field facade…..

and on the outside wall on Van Ness Street as well.

They hang in numerical order, however the order in which they were retired reads 9, 4, 1, 8, 27, 6 and 14. The blue number 42 is Jackie Robinson’s number which is retired throughout all of Major League Baseball.

Ted Williams and Joe Cronin’s numbers were retired together on a rainy night in May of 1984. Ted addressed the crowd from a podium set up on the field and a very ill Joe Cronin was on hand but remained in a box upstairs. He passed away before the end of the season.

Ted (9) played 19 seasons, all with the Red Sox. He missed five years owed to WW II and Korea. A 17 time all-star, he was twice named the MVP. He also was a two-time winner of the triple crown, a six-time batting champ, and the last man to hit .400. (.406 in 1941) He was enshrined in Cooperstown in 1966 and in his speech there intoned Major League Baseball to considered players from the old Negro Leagues for enshrinement. In 1971, that came to be.

Cronin (4) was the player manager for the Red Sox from 1935-45 and after his playing days were finished, he managed them in 1946 and 47 as well. A career .301 hitter, he was a five time all-star while playing in Fenway Park. He went on to become the Red Sox General Manager and the American League President as well. He was enshrined in Cooperstown in 1956.

Bobby Doerr’s number 1 joined the ranks of the immortals in May of 1988. He played for 14 seasons from 1937-1951 all with the Red Sox. A nine time all-star, he was elected to the National Hall of Fame in Cooperstown by the Veteran’s Committee in 1986. Often referred to as the “unofficial” captain of the 1946 pennant winning team, he hit .409 in the 1946 World Series. He was the Red Sox first base coach when they won the pennant in 1967.

In August of 1988, just days after he was inducted into Cooperstown, Carl Yastrzemski’s number 8 joined the roll call of Fenway immortality and was installed on the famous facade. “Yaz” was the 1967 MVP and an all-star in 18 of his 23 seasons. He played more games in a Red Sox uniform, 3308, than any player in their history. He is the last player to win the coveted Triple Crown, accomplishing it in 1967.

In April of 1997, Jackie Roosevelt Robinson became part of the Fenway facade when baseball commissioner Bud Selig retired his number 42 throughout baseball. Jackie had a tryout with the Red Sox in 1945, he didn’t make the cut. Yikes!

Carlton Fisk’s number 27 made its way to the Fenway facade in September of 2000, just two short months after the catcher had made his way to the hallowed halls of Cooperstown. The 1972 American League Rookie of the Year, Fisk spent 11 seasons with the Red Sox and was an all-star seven times. And then there was that October night in game six of the 1975 World Series when his 12th inning homer hit the foul pole in left which now bears his name. His homer won the game, tied the Series and sent New England into rapturous joy!

The next number to be so honored was Johnny Pesky’s number 6. He is the only player to have his number retired who is not in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Pesky’s honor was a reward for a lifetime of achievement with the Boston Red Sox. Johnny has served the Red Sox as a player, a coach, a manager, a special assistant, a TV broadcaster and a goodwill ambassador. Loved by one and all, he may well be the most popular man to ever don a Red Sox uniform.

The last number to adorn Fenway’s facade of immortality belongs to Jim Rice. Number 14 joined the ranks in July of 2009 just days after his enshrinement in Cooperstown. Rice played 16 seasons with the Red Sox from 1974-1989. An eight time all-star he was the 1978 MVP and from 1976-1980 he was among the most feared hitters in baseball.

What will be the next number to join the ranks of Fenway Park immortals? Some things to consider and look for; when was the last time a player wore number 26 (Wade Boggs) or 21 (Roger Clemens) or 45 (Pedro)? My money is on Pedro!

             And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history, February 16, 2012.

 

Posted in Fenway Park Baseball | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Strolling Down Van Ness Street…..

Posted on February 15, 2012 by fenwaypark100

If you walk to the end of Yawkey Way you will come to the corner of Van Ness Street.

 And on that corner is the Red Sox players parking lot. It was at this corner in 1961 when my dad picked me up to reach the bus window and…..

I handed this man a program and procured my first autograph.

Baltimore Oriole’s pitcher Chuck Estrada. 

I’ve long since lost the program but…..

I still have my 1961 Chuck Estrada baseball card and I still root for the Orioles, except, of course, when they are playing the Red Sox.

Dominic DiMaggio heads into Fenway after parking his car in the lot on Van Ness Street for a game in 1948. 

In the days of Fenway yesteryear, the players would pull into the lot, head to the entrance and encounter autograph collectors along the way. As years passed, the players became less and less accessible and today it is a veritable fortress. However, Van Ness Street itself has turned into what is tantamount to a museum.

Just pass the players lot, displayed on the brick of Fenway,  are seven commemorative emblems signifying the seven World Championships won by the Boston Red Sox.

The Boston Americans won the first World Series ever, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates five games to three in what was scheduled to be a best out of nine set.

The first in 1903 when they called the Huntington Avenue Grounds their home, and the last in 2007 when they swept the Colorado Rockies to capture their second World Championship in four years.

In between, there was drama, domination, anguish and joy.

In Fenway Park’s first season, they set a team record of 105 wins and ran away with the pennant. Their 105 wins that season remains a team record 100 years later. In the World Series, they won it four games to three yet played eight games. Game two, the first ever at Fenway Park, ended in a 6-6 tie called by darkness.

http://www.amazon.com/First-Fall-Classic-Politicos-Reinvented/dp/0767929683/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1329293841&sr=8-5

In 1914, Fenway Park saw its second World Series in two years, only the Red Sox were not in it. Their national league neighbors, known in 1914 as the “Miracle Braves” came from last place in mid July to the pennant and then swept Connie Mack’s Philadelphia A’s in four games. They played in the brand new Fenway Park, as their new Braves Field was under construction. For obvious reasons, this is not on display at Fenway.

In 1915, Babe Ruth joined the Red Sox rotation, going 15-6 but amazingly did not appear in the World Series won by the Red Sox in five games over the Phillies.

In 1916, young Babe Ruth established himself as the top left-handed pitcher in the game, going 23-12 and although he started but one game in the World Series; it was a complete game, 14 inning, 2-1 win in game two, still a World Series record for the longest complete game win in the Fall Classic. The Red Sox prevailed against the Brooklyn Robins in five games.

http://www.amazon.com/Babe-Red-Stockings-Chronicle-1914-1919/dp/1571671129/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329295928&sr=1-1

Interesting enough, the 1915 and 1916 World Series’ were played at the brand new Braves Field. So in Fenway Park’s first five seasons, four times a team from Boston made it to the World Series, but Fenway saw but two of them.

Then came 1918, a season shortened by war. Babe Ruth was now the biggest star in the game both pitching (13-7) and hitting (league leading 11 home runs). He opened the Series with a 1-0 shutout of the Cubs at Commiskey Park. He threw again in game four at Fenway winning 3-2 and giving the Red Sox a three games to one lead in a Series they clinched two days later.

http://www.amazon.com/Babe-Ruth-1918-Red-Sox/dp/0595148263/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1329294848&sr=8-3-fkmr1

The 2004 World Series brought the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park their first World Championship in 86 years. That needs more that a paragraph and I will address that just a bit down the road!

And we’re only half way down Van Ness Street!

              And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history, February 15, 2012.

 

Posted in Fenway Park Baseball | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Yawkey Way, Jersey Street and Fenway Park.

Posted on February 14, 2012 by fenwaypark100

One thing being a teacher has taught me is this, there are times when we are so enmeshed in something, that it is such a part of us, we take for granted that others have a heightened awareness level of that with which we are so enmeshed. For example, having been enmeshed in the life and career of Babe Ruth, I assume that EVERYBODY knows that he was raised, for the most part in an orphanage. I have come to realize, that most simply don’t know that!

And as I make my way around Fenway Park, it occurred to me that many folks may not know things which are simply taken for granted. So, here goes.

These banners represent the first four years the Red Sox won the American League pennant. You will note that three are red, which represent World Series Championships. The blue 1904 banner tells us that they did not win the World Series in 1904, the reason was there was not one played.

You see this man, John McGraw the manager of the New York Giants, the national league champs, really hated this man,

He is Ban Johnson, he was president of the new american league. McGraw said that the american league was a minor league and thus his team was already the World Champs because they won the pennant in the only “major league.” He totally discounted the fact that the Boston Americans, had defeated the Pirates the previous year. Anyway, McGraw, the Giants and the national league got lambasted in the press and we’ve had a World Series ever since. (With the exception of the players strike in 1994).

Back to Fenway Park and Yawkey Way.

Looking down Yawkey Way, the banners indicate the years pennant banners and World Series banners flew above Fenway Park.

The 2004 blue banner tells us this photo was taken during the 2004 World Series!

It marks a change in the way the franchise perceives itself, for just a few short years ago, they celebrated by hanging banners for winning the american league eastern division. It is clear that this version of the Red Sox are not satisfied with that. Their goal, to play in the World Series every year! This is a throw back 100 years to their expectations in Fenway Park’s first decade.

Yawkey Way, once called Jersey Street has undergone a transformation and today a ticket is required to participate in the festivities which take place before each game.

It is a far cry from the simplicity of days gone by.

Jersey Street 1946 All Star Game.

And Yawkey Way has incorporated into the Fenway Park experience, the history of the ball park and the franchise. In so doing they make a bold statement about it’s expectations to maintain itself as one of the premier franchises in all of baseball.

Tomorrow we’ll take a walk down Van Ness Street.

          And so it is on this date in Fenway Park history, February 14, 2012.

Posted in Fenway Park Baseball | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“And if They Turn Out Good Enough, I Owe Every Word to You”…… Joan Baez

Posted on February 13, 2012 by fenwaypark100

Today I just want to say thanks to all of you who are following and reading this blog! The excitement is building as we head to the 2012 baseball season and Fenway Park’s 100th birthday!

For me, there is the added excitement as the final edit of Images of America, Fenway Park, has been completed and it is on its way to print!

It will be available April 9, 2012, just days before Fenway’s actual 100th birthday game on April 20th. It is available, at a discount for preorder at Amazon,

http://www.amazon.com/Fenway-Images-America-David-Hickey/dp/0738576883/ref=sr_1_44?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327256647&sr=1-44

And directly from the publisher as well, http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/9780738576886/Fenway-Park

It is a pictorial history of Fenway Park’s first 100 years with about 40 photos never before published. So if you like what you have seen and read here, you will love what you will see and read there! Not one photo you have seen on this blog, is in this book but Fenway’s story unfolds through the eyes and hearts of a plethora of different photographers, past and present. So if you love baseball, if you love history, if you love the Red Sox, if you love Fenway, you will love Images of America, Fenway Park! A tip of the Fenway cap to my co-authors David Hickey and Kerry Keene; we made it without killing each other, close but not quite, you’re the best!

 Happy Birthday Fenway.

    And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history, February 13, 2012.

Posted in Fenway Park and Football, Fenway Park Baseball, Fenway Park Other | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

” Dick (Williams) I can’t play all these games, bench me or trade me.” George Thomas

Posted on February 11, 2012 by fenwaypark100

The roads we choose to travel take us places and we sometimes wonder how we have arrived at where we are. The longer I live, the more convinced I become that if we trust and follow our energy it will reward us. I was rewarded this past week when my energy brought me to the Plantation Celebrity Golf Classic where I shared a round with these guys.

Left to right, Scott, Yours Truly, Marv Foley, George Thomas and Bart.

Marv played five years as a back up catcher with the Chicago White Sox and the Texas Rangers. He retired as a player in 1984 but he never left the game.  A “baseball lifer” as he put it, he is the only minor league manager in baseball history to win titles in all three triple A leagues. Today he works in player developement for the Colorado Rockies.

Marv, in action at Yankee Stadium in April of 1980 as he tags out Eric Soderholm.

Marv, in action on the tee box February 9, 2012 on the Bobcat course at Plantation Golf and Country Club. Marv “Say My Name” Foley sank three birdie putts of 30 feet or better!

Now George, well George and I are another story…..

George Thomas Boston Red Sox 1966-1971. 

You see our energy had mingled before! It was on a magical day forty-five years ago; I a 14-year-old high school sophomore, standing behind section 27 at Fenway Park, with my dad, he a 29-year-old utility player for the Boston Red Sox, in the first base dugout with his teammates.

George, batted but 95 times for the Red Sox in 1967. He hit .213 with one home run and six RBI. I know, you’re thinking, Humph not very impressive stats. Maybe not, but don’t let that fool you, George Thomas was a force! You see, any man to whom baseball has been his vocation, his profession will tell you, there is so much more that goes into the game then what we as fans witness on the field.

There is an energy that each player brings to the field every day, to the club house, on airplane rides, in the cab, in the hotel and to the day-to-day rites and rituals of a major league team. To be in the presence of the energy that is George Thomas brings a positive force into the lives of those he touches. And so it was with the 1967 Red Sox!

Teammates (L to R) Mike Ryan, Ken Harrelson and Russ Gibson light George’s cigar celebrating the birth of daughter number two in 1967.

George was as versatile, a utility man who has ever played the game. He played every position except pitcher which made him an invaluable part of every team for which he played. This coupled with a remarkable wit, self-deprecating sense of humor and a tremendous capacity to apply the needle, endeared him to managers, coaches and teammates.  And, he was a competitor.

George (hatless left) is separated by mates after mixing it up with Tiger pitcher Dennis Ribant (hatless right). Apparently they disagreed on the location of some of Ribant’s pitches. And in spring training no less. 

He found numerous ways to interject his humor into virtually every aspect of the game. After playing several games in a row in April of 1967, he went to Manager Dick Williams and said, “Dick, I can’t play all these games, bench me or trade me.” Then there was the time he adopted a pet cockroach and put him on a leash to walk him around the dugout. Always quick with a remark, he strolled to the plate one day in spring training, Johnny Bench was catching and as he dug in he said, “oh I see we play the same position only you have yours written on your shirt.”

George brought that positive energy to the Plantation on Thursday and during dinner we spoke of that special day at Fenway Park four and a half decades ago. The energy of that day reverberates and nearly a half century later it is still palpable and I did not realize why until just this week. On October 1, 1967 in Fenway Park and throughout the city, the state and indeed all of New England, millions of people were united, and what united them was joy; pure, rich, unadulterated joy!

On Thursday, George and Diane Thomas shared their joy with us at the Plantation and I smiled as we were leaving, for after 47 years married, they left hand and hand. It can’t get any better than that!

         And so it is on this date in Fenway Park history, February 11, 2012.

 

Posted in Fenway Park Baseball, Fenway Park Other | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The 2012 Plantation Community Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic, Where the Green Meets the Green.

Posted on February 10, 2012 by fenwaypark100

I am a man of many blessings and one for which I am and will always be grateful evermore is an ability to view the world through the eyes and heart of the ten-year old boy who still lives in me. There is nothing which brings him out more than my yearly privilege to handle the responsibilities of emcee at the Otto Graham Memorial Putting Contest for the Plantation Foundation Celebrity Classic every February.

The tournament is in its third decade and since the inception of the foundation, over $2,000,000 has been raised.

The putting green is laid out in a nine-hole challenge where celebrity pairs competed to best the score shot by Plantation’s Director of Golf Operations Keith Struble and Head Pro Mike Domalski. Yesterday they shot 17.

The Voice of the Red Sox, Joe Castiglione, hits his putt on the first hole of the challenge.

Castiglione is entering his 29th year as the radio voice of the Red Sox. An astute student of the history of baseball, Joe has collected an extensive library on the games history. He recently donated over 400 books about baseball to the Boston Public Library.

The team of Rookies of the Year, finish up their ninth hole of the challenge. Gary Peters (left) and Don Schwall paired up for this event. 

Schwall pitched for the Red Sox in 1961 going 15-7 and winning the American League Rookie of the Year Award. Don pitched in the 1961 All Star Game at Fenway Park and struck out Hall of Famer Stan Musial. Peters pitched for the Red Sox in 1971, 72 and 73 after being acquired from the White Sox; with whom he was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1963 when he was 19-8. Gary was a two-time all-star with the White Sox and he was an outstanding hitting pitcher clouting 19 career home runs.

Rico Petrocelli, Red Sox shortstop of the 1967 American League Champs and third baseman of  the 1975 pennant winners.

Rico joined the Red Sox in 1963 and played through the 1976 season. A member of the 1965 all-star team he hit 40 home runs in 1969 becoming the first American League shortstop to crack the 40 home run barrier. A long time Fenway favorite, Rico hit 210 career home runs.

Sam Jones (right) confers with his partner Cazzie Russell before the contest begins.

Sam played for the Boston Celtics for 12 seasons from 1957-1969. He won ten World Championship rings with the Celtics including eight in a row from 1959-1966. In 1984 he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame and in 1996 he was named one of the 50 greatest players in the history of the NBA. Cazzie was one of the greatest college basketball players of all time and the overall number one pick of the New York Knicks in 1966. He played 12 seasons in the NBA and was a member of the 1970 World Champion New York Knicks.

“Jungle Jim” Rivera, 89 years young, selects his ball for the putting contest.

Jim broke in with the St. Louis Browns in 1952 and was traded to the White Sox the following year. He played 10 seasons in the big leagues and was a member of the 1959 “Go Go” White Sox American League champs.

Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto confers with event co-ordinator Ron Noble.  

Votto played in the event for the first time this year. The 2010 National League MVP is a two-time all star and he has led the national league in on base percentage the last two seasons.

Plantation Golf and Country Club Director of Golf Operations Keith Struble.

Keith summed up the events of the day best when he said the real winner of the day was the Plantation Foundation and the countless charities they serve. Oh, and I forgot to tell you about what happened when 1967 met 2012. Tomorrow…..

And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history, the day when the greens of the Plantation, met the greens of the outfield grass, February 10, 2012.

 

Posted in Fenway Park Baseball, Fenway Park Other | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“It’s the closest thing I’ve found to pitching, golf is all about the next shot, pitching is all about the next pitch.” Luis Tiant

Posted on February 9, 2012 by fenwaypark100

Today, the green of the golf course…..

 Meets the green of Fenway Park…..

The Plantation Foundation of Venice Florida holds its annual Celebrity Golf Classic today and seventy-five celebrities from the sports world will gather to raise money for the foundation.

Among them will be several who once called Fenway Park their home. Entering his twenty-ninth year, as the radio voice of the Red Sox, Joe Castiglione will be on hand.

                         http://redsocksdiaries.com/wp-content/audio/worldseries.mp3

The 1961 American League Rookie of the Year will be there,

Don Schwall was the second Red Sox player to win the Rookie of the Year Award. 

Ike Delock pitched for the Red Sox for 11 years in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Former Red Sox lefty reliever Mark Guthrie will be playing. Mark broke in with the Twins.

Gary Peters who played at Fenway Park in the 1970s will make his annual appearance.

Two time All Star and Red Sox Hall of Famer Rico Petrocelli will join the field for his second time.

George Thomas who was a member of the 1967 Impossible Dream Red Sox team is a regular player and supporter of the Classic.

There will be several individuals who have been part of the Fenway Park story who will be there as well. Check tomorrow and see how things went!

      And so it is on this date in Fenway Park and the Plantation Foundation

                                            history, February 9, 2012. 

Posted in Fenway Park Baseball | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Game over, Series over and the Red Sox are World Champs again”! Joe Buck

Posted on February 8, 2012 by fenwaypark100

Post season play returned to Fenway Park in 2007 and it involved yet another historic Red Sox comeback. This time it was the Cleveland Indians who fell victim to the Fenway magic.

Manny hits walk-off homer in Game II of the division series against the Angels.

After sweeping the Angels in the Division Series, CC Sabathia and the Indians came to Fenway to open the Series that would decide the American League Champ!

The Red Sox pounded Sabathia in game one on their way to a 10-3 win. The following night, the Fenway Faithful watched the Indians score seven times in the 11th inning to even the series and the action switched to Jacobs Field in Cleveland where the Indians took games three and four grabbing a commanding three games to one lead. Facing elimination, the Red Sox rode an 11 strike out performance by Josh Beckett to a 7-1 win and a trip home to Fenway.

In the bottom of the first inning, of game six, JD Drew stepped to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. He ran the count to 3-1 and then…..

Blam! A Fausto Carmona fastball landed in the centerfield bleachers, the Red Sox were ahead 4-0 and hearts sank in Cleveland.

 The rout was on as the Red Sox added six in the third on their way to a 12-2 drubbing of the Tribe. It was now down to yet another winner take all game the next night and a Red Sox rookie pitcher from Japan would get the start.

Dice K was worthy of the task and with help from Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon he held the Indians to only two runs while Dustin Pedroia’s three hit five RBI night led the offense propelling the Red Sox to an 11-2 win and into their second World Series in four years; something which had not happened since Fenway Park opened her doors nearly a century before.

Their unlikely opponent in the World Series was the Colorado Rockies who won a phenomenal 21 of 22 games in a September stretch in which they captured the wild card. They then swept both the Phillies and the Diamondbacks and then awaited the outcome of the Red Sox, Cleveland series.

On October 24th Fenway Park was the sight of the opening of the Series.

 After Josh Beckett struck out the side in the top of the first inning, Dustin Pedroia led off for Boston.

And he took Jeff Francis’ second pitch over the left centerfield wall and deep into the Fenway night staking Beckett and the Red Sox to a 1-0 lead. They never looked back, as every Red Sox regular but Mike Lowell had an RBI in a 13-1 romp.

Hideki Okajima

Game two pitted Curt Schilling against Ubaldo Jimenez and this game was everything game one was not. Schilling, in what had been the Red Sox formula all year, got some help from Okajima and Papelbon beat Colorado 2-1 and the Red Sox headed to Colorado just two games away from winning another World Series.

In game three Jacoby Ellsbury’s 4-5 spurred the Red Sox to a 10-5 win in a game that saw the Sox jump ahead 6-0, the Rockies get to 6-5 before the Red Sox put it out of reach. One win now was all that separated the Red Sox from being champions of the world.

In, what was the best played game of the Series, the Boston Red Sox defeated the Colorado Rockies 4-3 in game four, completing their second sweep in four years and earning the title World Champs for the seventh time!

 Third baseman Mike Lowell was the Series MVP.

Manager Terry Francona became the first Red Sox manager to win two World Series since Bill Carrigan did it in 1915 and 1916. It also made him 8-0 in World Series games as Red Sox manager. That’s the most World Series game wins to start a managerial career in major league history, and the most wins without a loss over a manager’s career.

And the Fenway Faithful were pinching themselves, for the glory days of early Fenway Park had returned!

                   And so it was at this time in Fenway Park history October 2007,

                                                    World Championship time. 

Posted in Fenway Park Baseball | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Happy Birthday Babe and Clint and Brady…..

Posted on February 6, 2012 by fenwaypark100

Today marks the 117th anniversary of the birth of the one and only George Herman Ruth. And in his honor I offer snippets and tidbits, some which you may know and some you may not; about the man who remains the greatest baseball player who ever lived.

Babe was in and out of St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys several times from the time he was seven until he was 19. He caught for their baseball team. Note mask and right-handed glove.

This is the oldest known baseball card of Babe Ruth with the Baltimore Orioles sometime between February and July of 1914. It sold at auction in 2007 for $52,875.

Close up of Babe in the card.

The saloon which Babe’s dad owned once stood on the same ground that today is centerfield of Orioles Park at Camden Yards; which honors Babe’s beginnings with a statue outside.

Babe left Baltimore in July of 1914, sold to the Red Sox along with Ben Egan and Ernie Shore. The price was somewhere between $8000.00 and $25,000.00.

Babe arrived in Boston on a late morning train on July 11, 1914. At 3PM he was on the mound at Fenway Park beating the Cleveland Indians.

On his second day in Boston, he met 17-year-old Helen Woodford who worked at Landers Coffee Shop.  In October he took her home  and married her at St. Paul’s Church in Ellicott City Maryland.

At the time of Ted Williams’ birth in August of 1918, Babe was playing left field at Fenway Park.

He first led the league in home runs in 1918 when he hit 11 and was 13-7 as a pitcher. The following year he set a new home run record when he hit 29, breaking the record which had been held by Ned Williamson of the Chicago Cubs who hit 27 homers in 1884.

Ned Williamson held the single season home run record from 1884 until 1919, Babe held it from 1919 until 1961.

Babe hit only 49 of his 714 career home runs with the Red Sox, however, by the time he was sold to the Yankees, he had hit the longest home run in every big league ball park! He still holds the Red Sox record for most grand slam home runs in a season. He hit four in 1919. From 1918 through 1931, Babe led the league in home runs every year but two. And in those years he was injured!

Babe had back to back twenty win seasons in 1916 and 1917, no other Red Sox left-handed pitcher has ever done that! He shares the American League record with Ron Guidry (1978) for most shutouts (9) in a season by a left-handed pitcher. In the 1916 and 1918 World Series, Babe hurled 29 2/3 consecutive scoreless World Series innings. It broke the record which Christy Mathewson  had set in the 1903 World Series.

 When Babe Ruth retired in 1935, he held 54 major league records, the one of which he was most proud was the one, once held by Christy Mathewson!

He passed away in 1948 at the age of 53. He has not played since 1935 yet he still provides the measuring stick of greatness by which the all time greats are measured, first as the best left-handed pitcher in the game and then as the greatest slugger of all time! So Happy Birthday Babe, you too Clint and you too Brady.

        And so it is on this date in Fenway Park history, February 6, 2012 Babe’s

                                              birthday and Clint’s and Brady’s.

Posted in Fenway Park Baseball | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

“A ground ball, stabbed by Foulke…..He underhands to first and the Red Sox are the World Champions. For the first time in 86 years the Red Sox have won baseball’s world championship. Can you believe it”? Joe Castiglione

Posted on February 6, 2012 by fenwaypark100

It has been said that a picture is worth 1000 words…..

Enjoy the following 22,619 words!

July 2004, Fenway Park Boston…..

A slight disagreement between ARod and Jason Varitek turns into…

A leather sandwich for the Yankee third baseman and ignites a spark that turns around the Red Sox season.

On Saturday October 16, 2004 the New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox 19-8 at Fenway Park to take a three games to nothing lead in the ALCS and turn Fenway into a morgue.

The next night they were ahead 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth and Mariano Rivera entered the game needing just three outs to win the game, sweep the series and send the Fenway Faithful home to ponder once again when, if ever, will the Red Sox win another World Series.

Kevin Millar led off with a walk and Dave Roberts ran for him,

stole second,

and scored,

on a single by Bill Mueller to tie the score and set up the 12th inning heroics of, this man,

David Ortiz comes home after his two run homer wins game four 6-4.

The following night, with the Red Sox losing 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning and once again on the brink of elimination, Ortiz led off with a home run and when Jason Varitek hit a sacrifice fly with two outs, the game was tied. Setting up yet more heroics for the man they call, Big Papi!

“Papi” singled in Manny Ramirez in the bottom of the 14th sending the Fenway Faithful into a frenzy, keeping the Red Sox alive and sending the ALCS back to Yankee Stadium for yet another Game Six!

Before the game, Curt Schilling underwent a procedure in the clubhouse in which his popping ankle tendon was stapled and sutured. He limped to the mound at Yankee Stadium and pitched his way into Fenway Folklore and baseball history with seven innings of courage and guile; surrendering but one run before turning the ball and game over to Bronson Arroyo with the Red Sox leading 4-1. The Red Sox prevailed 4-2 and in so doing they made baseball history becoming the first team ever to be trailing in a post season series three games to none and come back to win three straight. The following night they sought to make history once again.

In the first inning it was Big Papi who set the tone with a two run homer staking the Red Sox to a 2-0 lead.

And then Johnny Damon took over hitting a grand slam home run in the second inning and a two run homer in the fourth.

Derek Lowe took over from Damon, leaving after six innings with an 8-1 lead and propelling the Red Sox into history!

And on October 20, 2004 the Red Sox celebrated their trek into baseball history on the grass at Yankee Stadium.

Three days later the Fenway Faithful gathered for the first World Series game at Fenway Park in 18 years.

And in the very first inning, David Ortiz stepped in with two men on, nobody out and…..

 surprise, surprise, he hit a three run homer! The Red Sox won game one 11-9.

Behind the bat of Jason Varitek and the arm of Curt Schilling, they won game two, 6-2.

In what was Pedro’s last game pitched for the Red Sox, he won 4-1 in game three of the Series. And…..

On October 27, 2004 at 11:40 PM in St. Louis Missouri, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series. It was their first World Series Championship since Babe Ruth wore a Red Sox uniform in 1918. Each member of the Red Sox received $223,619.79, and the undying love, admiration and gratitude of the Royal Rooters, the Fenway Faithful, Red Sox Nation!

 

             And so it was, at this time in Red Sox history, October 2004,

                                     World Series Championship time! 

Posted in Fenway Park Baseball | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment