- 2 days ago
How the Red Sox finally won the World Series in 2004, and all they went through in the 85 seasons before it
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00:00A Yankee fan came up to me and said, you know, I'm still going to chant 1918.
00:13I said, well then you're an idiot.
00:14There's no more curse.
00:16No more curse.
00:17What curse?
00:18What curse?
00:19There's no such thing.
00:21It's over.
00:22The whole Bambino thinks they're sham.
00:24Past history.
00:2486 years it took us to bring it home.
00:27There's no more jinx, no more hacks, no more monkey in their back.
00:29Thank God.
00:29Screw the curse.
00:32We had swept aside so much crap.
00:35The Plune home run.
00:37Bucky Dan.
00:38Babe Ruth.
00:39Phil Buckner.
00:40That's gone.
00:41Sayonara.
00:42After the biggest comeback in baseball history against stinking Yankees.
00:49The curse is over.
00:51This is turning my whole world upside down.
00:53World Champions, yeah, baby.
00:56And Boston is going crazy.
00:57The curse is broken.
00:59For more than 100 years, the Boston Red Sox, the Old Town team, has been the most interesting
01:22in baseball.
01:27With a rich and often painful past that's been both complex and endearing, the history of
01:33the Red Sox is woven in the fabric of each of the six New England states.
01:36Its story embedded in the generations.
01:39Its story embedded in the generations.
01:41Baseball is a religion in New England.
01:46Its cathedral, a ballpark built in 1912, is as famous as the team itself.
01:56Given the Red Sox's success through the years, it's hard to believe that Boston fans went
02:02so long before finally seeing their team win the World Series.
02:06World Champions for the first time in 86 years.
02:11Can you believe it?
02:13What was it?
02:14What was it?
02:15What was it?
02:16What was it?
02:17Eight decades?
02:18What was it?
02:19Before their magical championship in 2004, the Sox had taken the Fall Classic to its limit
02:26four times.
02:27Four times lost game seven, each more painful than the one before.
02:35Whoever came up with the phrase, long-suffering, had Red Sox fans in mind.
02:42Until the dream was realized, being a Sox fan was far, far from easy.
02:48A living nightmare.
02:50You grow up in this town.
02:52Your parents are Red Sox fans.
02:54Your grandparents are Red Sox fans.
02:56You become a Red Sox fan.
02:58And you get tortured for the rest of your life.
03:02Being a Red Sox fan is like a Charles Dickens novel.
03:05Everyone is just trying to survive the situation.
03:10For me, there's a psychological war in my own mind dealing with each season.
03:17Did you just say 1986 to me?
03:24The assumption that something bad will happen.
03:27That every Red Sox ship has a leak and every leak is big enough to sink the ship.
03:32Every year you say, well, they're not going to get me again.
03:34They're not going to get me again.
03:36Then all of a sudden you go, I think this is it.
03:39And they got you again.
03:40And then, bango, you're in the toilet again.
03:45It's almost an existential motif.
03:47The myth of Sisyphus.
03:49Where you're rolling that rock up a hill.
03:51And you think you're finally there.
03:52It rolls right down again.
03:53Everybody remembers the story of Job.
03:56Job is this guy whose life is going great.
03:58And all of a sudden, he loses all his property.
04:01His children are sick.
04:03The Red Sox are Job.
04:05You know, this is a Jobian existence.
04:07Everything's going fine.
04:08And then all of a sudden, boom.
04:10It's not just loss, but crushing, crushing, crushing loss.
04:19We're launched as a dynasty.
04:21When Ben Johnson created the American League, he determined very early on that the team in
04:29Boston was going to be one of his flagship franchises.
04:32Boston had this aura that they were the team that was always going to win.
04:37One way or another, Boston was going to come out on top.
04:41With great pitching and defense, Boston won five of the first 15 World Series, including
04:501903, with the immortal Cy Young on the mound.
04:54In 1912, the Sox christened Fenway Park with a second championship, and won again in 1915,
05:001916, and 1918.
05:05The pitching star of that team was Babe Ruth, who the Sox had bought from an industrial league
05:11in Baltimore in 1914.
05:13Ruth was only 19 years old, but he won big right away.
05:18He won 18 games.
05:20Next year, 1960, and in 1917, he won 23 and 24 games.
05:24In the World Series in 1918, he pitched his shutout, and then pitched seven scoreless innings
05:29to extend his scoreless streak.
05:32They were turning it over to New York.
05:34New York never was able to beat the Red Sox before this.
05:43The Red Sox could never beat New York after the sale, either.
05:47Ruth goes there, they build the ballpark, and they become this dynasty.
05:55Frazee's name becomes Mudd, and the Red Sox go the exact opposite direction, become the
06:00worst they ever were.
06:03In terms of his obligation to the fans, I don't see how he can be defended.
06:07Almost everything that people think they know about Harry Frazee is thoroughly incorrect.
06:13According to the legend, Frazee was this failed theatrical producer, was just a real screw-up,
06:19who bought the Red Sox, and didn't really have the money to do it, really didn't care about
06:24baseball.
06:25He's broke.
06:26He needs to pay his bills, and he has no money.
06:28So he sold Babe Ruth, his only big commodity.
06:32So they sell him for money so they can fund a play in New York.
06:36I mean, it's ludicrous.
06:40He took the money, and he produced a musical called No-No Nanette.
06:45Not only do I hate that musical, but I hate all musicals.
06:51I remember as a kid, I hated Nanette Fabray, and whenever I heard her name, I'd go, ah, hate
06:55her.
06:56Hate her.
06:57Just based on the first name.
07:00If there was no play, then we could have kept him for the whole time.
07:04It's just so bad that they had to trade him just for this one play.
07:10Harry Frazee was sitting in a taxi, and he was bragging that he'd sold Ruth, and the cab
07:14driver slammed the brakes, pulled him out, and punched him in the nose.
07:18All of that is incorrect.
07:19The notion that Ruth was sold to produce No-No Nanette, which wasn't on Broadway for five
07:25more years.
07:26It's just absurd.
07:27But Harry Frazee becomes the perfect patsy in this town, because he's from New York, and
07:32he's dead.
07:33Whether or not one is wild about Harry, there's little dispute about the success of the two
07:39teams after the trade.
07:40Until the fall of 2004, the world championship count stood Yankees 26, Red Sox 0.
07:49That gap, the almost incomprehensible divide between the fortunes of the two close rivals, left
07:57many fans in Boston intensely bitter.
08:00And, if you think about it, understandably envious.
08:04If you had seen all those championship flags, you'd have been jealous too.
08:08You have to have a villain in all great shows.
08:13And the Yankees are the villain.
08:15The Yankees are evil.
08:17They're oil.
08:18They're insurance companies.
08:19They're everything that we don't like in our life.
08:28Like that bad quality in human beings.
08:32I hate them.
08:34I hate Yankee fans.
08:36I hate their team.
08:38I'm filled with rage.
08:41If you had said to my dad that one day we would watch Wade Boggs riding a horse around
08:48Yankee Stadium to celebrate his championship with the Yankees, his head would have blown
08:53up.
08:55In the Red Sox' 86 years of disappointment, many at the hands of the Yankees, seasons came
09:00and went.
09:02But not 1978.
09:04This is supposed to be the best team they've ever had.
09:06They've just blown everybody out.
09:08Just pedal to the metal.
09:10The Red Sox couldn't do anything wrong.
09:13The Yankees couldn't do anything right.
09:18After six, the Sox led 2-0.
09:23Then in the seventh, with two on and two out, up came the unimposing Bucky Dent.
09:28Tension eases somewhat here at Fenway with two out in the shortstop with Bucky Dent coming
09:34up.
09:35I can remember that moment when Bucky Dent came up and thinking, this is no problem.
09:39You know, we're out of the inning.
09:41We're out of the inning.
09:41We're out of the inning.
09:43We're out of the inning.
09:44We're out of the inning.
09:45He's hopping around like the three students were all laughing at him.
09:47I mean, just waiting for the guy to get put away.
09:49But Dent, the previous pitch, broke his bat.
09:52There was a long pause while he went to get another bat.
09:57While he was putting the pine tar on it, instead of warming up, Torres is just standing there.
10:04He's gazing around, looking at the crowd.
10:06And as soon as Dent gets back into the batter's box.
10:14The next pitch.
10:16And as soon as the ball lofted into the air, it's a pop-up.
10:22It's a fly ball.
10:23Everybody thought it was a fly ball.
10:24But then it started to sail.
10:26Drifts and sail.
10:27Drifts and sail.
10:29Straszki goes back.
10:30Oh, no.
10:30He goes back.
10:31Oh, no.
10:32He's right next to the wall.
10:33And it just dropped into the screen ever so softly.
10:39Ball hit hard to left field.
10:41Straszki goes back.
10:42He looks up.
10:43It's going to be out of here.
10:44A home run for Bucky Dent.
10:47You could see Straszki's knees buckle.
10:50He physically slumps as if he'd been punched in the stomach.
10:54And then I saw him go down to his knees and punch the ground.
10:57And it was like the air went out of the ballpark.
11:00It was this incredible silence.
11:03You could actually hear Steinbrenner clapping by the dugout.
11:06It was so quiet elsewhere in the park.
11:08It was amazing.
11:09And of all the hitters, this guy had hit four home runs all year.
11:12Bucky Dent.
11:14Bucky Dent was like some utility schmo.
11:17And obviously, he's just become part of the language up here in Boston.
11:21Bucky Dent.
11:21Bucky Dent.
11:22The name sounds like a swear, doesn't it?
11:24Bucky Dent.
11:25You Bucky Dent.
11:26You Bucky Dent bastard.
11:27Yeah, Jesus.
11:28He has a new middle name, which you're not allowed to say on TV.
11:31Bucky Bleepin' Dent.
11:32Bucky Bleepin' Dent.
11:33Maybe you can say it on HBO.
11:34Bucky F***in' Dent.
11:38Every time I go up there, they always put my middle initial up there.
11:41You know, BF Dent.
11:42As if Dent's homer wasn't torture enough, the game rested in the arms of Boston's hero,
11:51Carl Yastrzemski.
11:53Two down.
11:54Hurlson in third.
11:55Five to four.
11:56Yankees.
11:57Bottom of the ninth inning.
12:00And he pops it up.
12:01Greg Nettles.
12:02He makes the catch.
12:03The headline of the paper was,
12:05Destiny 5, Red Sox 4.
12:10And I thought, that says it all.
12:12October 2nd, 1978, is a gloomy day for the Boston Red Sox.
12:17Historically, the Boston Red Sox had been exochronic folly.
12:25Now that was Red Sox baseball.
12:28Most folks believe you could have traced the start of the Sox misfortune to the 46 series.
12:33Game 7.
12:34Johnny Pesky holds the ball for a split second,
12:37while Enos Slaughter scores the series winning run all the way from first.
12:42Why didn't he throw home?
12:43Two years later, Denny Galehouse was mysteriously picked to start a playoff game against the Indians.
12:51Why him?
12:52A nobody.
12:53While other more worthy pitchers sat.
12:56Of course, Denny was bombed.
12:58The Indians went to the 48 series, and the Sox went home.
13:03Here, where that ball was, it was in the sun.
13:05This one had turned it around.
13:06Or else it could have possibly scored if the ball gets by and you see it recover.
13:10There is some kind of a curse.
13:12There is a curse.
13:14Do I believe in curses?
13:16In my business?
13:18A little bit.
13:19That man in a third was hit right there.
13:22He is.
13:23Never should have traded Ruth, man.
13:25Never should have traded.
13:27He cursed us.
13:29It's the only thing that seems out there.
13:32You know, different players have come and gone.
13:33Different general managers.
13:35The one thing that never changes is Babe Ruth, who's defamed.
13:40The greatest ball player who ever lived.
13:42Dwight Evans on the track and the ball leaps.
13:46He can't get it.
13:47And all you really have to do is look at Dwight Evans for the whole story.
13:51It's worth more than a thousand words.
13:52When you come this close as many times, you just start to look toward the larger forces.
13:57That's what the curse is about.
13:59Superstition over science.
14:00It's just a fun way to explain the unexplainable, which is the Red Sox.
14:06The classic case a couple of years ago, Pedro Martinez calls out the Babe for no apparent reason.
14:10I don't believe in them curses.
14:13Wake up to them bambino and have me face him.
14:15Maybe I'll drill him in the ass.
14:17Pedro gets hurt, never wins another game the rest of the year.
14:20Don't be taunting the big guy.
14:22For a piano and creating all this utter nonsense is an insult to anyone's intelligence.
14:29Unless you're a nitwit, typical, thumb-sucking New England ragtime.
14:36Read it this way.
14:37Ah, woe is this.
14:38Blah, blah, blah, blah.
14:39P. W. N. C. Sears.
14:44Provincial, whining, narcissistic, chronic complainers.
14:50Anything but the facts are used as a crutch as an excuse for why they haven't won.
14:56We're cursed.
14:57And maybe it's easier to accept a curse.
15:00It takes the heat off.
15:01It's better to point fingers and say it's the damn bambino.
15:05It's Harry Frazee, yeah.
15:07That's why.
15:07That's the attraction of the curse.
15:10It seems to explain everything.
15:15It's cute.
15:16It fits.
15:17Oh, that's why we've lost.
15:19We don't have to examine the real history of the club, you'll realize that there's a reason
15:28why they've won and lost.
15:29You win or lose by who picks your talent.
15:33You bring in the best players, you win.
15:35You give me the best team and you can have the curse on the outside and we'll see who wins.
15:39It's difficult to know for sure why it took the Sox 86 years to win the World Series.
15:45Looking back, there were a lot of reasons, starting with the very place Sox fans most identify with, their beloved home, Fenway Park.
15:54Anyone who's been around the team for a period of time has to acknowledge that the ballpark has hurt this franchise in many, many more ways than it has helped.
16:06They have almost always tried to tailor the team to the contours of the ballpark.
16:14The green monster, the left field wall, big right-handed hitter, strong, get ball over the wall.
16:19The Red Sox, over the years, have gone out and tried to get that certain individual, that certain player, who has that perfect Fenway Park swing.
16:30Let's get that guy because, you know what, he's hitting 35 home runs now.
16:34We bring him in here, he can hit 55 with that swing.
16:37Jimmy Fox, Rudy Yark, Dick Gurnett, Walter Dropo, Vern Stephens.
16:44Dick Stewart was the first one I remember.
16:45He was everything you'd expect from a right-handed slugger with the Red Sox.
16:48He didn't care about anything except hitting home runs.
16:52Over the years, they have been this big, slow, lumbering type of team.
16:57They never quite got it that the way you win the whole thing is have the best pitching.
17:02If you play a few games in Fenway Park, you have to have great pitching.
17:08But there's something else to consider.
17:10The Red Sox' shameful scorecard on race relations.
17:14Yep.
17:15I grew up in Dorchester, which is a predominantly black neighborhood, and we were a mile and a half away from Fenway, but we had never been to games.
17:23Nobody talked about going to games.
17:24None of the adults who looked for the Red Sox.
17:26My uncle used to tell me, why would I go to Fenway just to get beat up?
17:29If you really look at the history of the Boston Red Sox, it's not a lot of fun.
17:34Actually, it was appalling.
17:36The Red Sox were the last team in the majors to embrace integration when Pumpsy Green finally came to Boston in the middle of 1959.
17:44That's a full 12 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.
17:48More than two after he retired.
17:49Much of the blame was pinned on owner Tom Yockey, a transplanted Southerner who fostered an attitude of institutional racism that would haunt the Sox still decades after he was gone.
18:05In terms of Tom Yockey, where's the smoking gun?
18:10Where's the document where he uses the N-word?
18:13Yockey didn't leave a document like that, but he did leave a document.
18:16He left a document on the field for decades.
18:20Just look at it.
18:22You know, you want proof?
18:23There it is.
18:27There you go.
18:28In three of Boston's World Series appearances, 1946, 1967, and 1975, just one more win, and we'd have never heard of the Curse of the Bambino.
18:45You could say the same about 1986, except 86 was so unnerving, so surreal.
18:52That's when even the most ardent realists began to think, maybe there was something to the curse.
18:58It started in the postseason, AL Championship, Sox down three games to one.
19:06In the ninth, down three, Boston Rally.
19:09With two outs, the Sox still trailed 5-4, when Donnie Moore came in to face Dave Henderson.
19:17To left field and deep, and it's gone!
19:22Unbelievable!
19:23I can just see him just floating.
19:31I was babysitting my new niece, Amanda, and I went crazy.
19:34I woke her up, and she was screaming, and I told her it was all for a good cause.
19:41Those things never happened to the Red Sox.
19:43Finally, it's our turn.
19:46Finally, we have a storybook finish, pulling out of the coffin and crushing other teams' heart.
19:51A reprieve of sorts for several decades of futility.
20:01The comeback in the playoffs in 86 should have enabled them to forever put the idea of them being chokers behind.
20:08It should have been history.
20:09This team throws off all odds and comes back and beats you.
20:12The World Series was next.
20:19And there was New York again.
20:21Only this time, the light at the end of the tunnel wasn't the Yanks.
20:25It was the Mets.
20:30With the Sox up three games to two, game six went into the tenth inning.
20:33And again, Dave Henderson hit a dramatic homer.
20:37They even added another to take a 5-3 lead.
20:40Three more outs.
20:42The Red Sox needed just three more outs.
20:49I can still see Rice with the two hands catching it and bringing it down.
20:52One out.
20:53One away.
20:55And then Keith Hernandez came up.
20:57And center with Henderson.
20:58Boom.
21:01Boom.
21:03October 25th, 1986, bottom of the tenth, Red Sox up 5-3.
21:14Two out was Gettysburg, July 3rd, right before Pickett's Charge.
21:19It was really possible at that moment.
21:23I was down in the bowels of Shea Stadium.
21:26I watched them roll those carts of champagne into that locker room.
21:30I watched them put the world championship t-shirts on everybody's seat.
21:35It was sewn up.
21:36It was going to be the ultimate purging of everything.
21:39Just stood on the bar.
21:40I'm going to have a heart attack.
21:41I was sobbing.
21:43I'm jumping up and down.
21:44We got off the sofa, got off our chairs.
21:46My nails were dug into my hands.
21:49I've waited my whole life for this.
21:52Hey.
21:52It's time to wait some more.
21:56And all the people around me couldn't imagine why I was crying.
21:59And my brother turned around and he said, she was the same way in 1918.
22:04I couldn't believe that my team was going to win.
22:06I was ecstatic.
22:09People all over New England are holding babies in front of television screens.
22:13I woke my son.
22:14I could not let him sleep.
22:15He would never forgive me.
22:16I carried him from the room.
22:18I brought him over to the couch.
22:19And I told him, come see something that nobody's seen in 70 years.
22:24And the Mets are down to their last out.
22:27And Gary Carter at the plate.
22:32Gary Carter.
22:34Eiling, my uncle in New Jersey, who's the big Mets fan.
22:38The second, the last out is made.
22:40They rush the field and a champagne comes out.
22:42His phone's going to ring.
22:43It's going to be us rubbing it in his face.
22:45My brother was just dialing.
22:47Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do.
22:48And then had his thumb over the last number.
22:53And he pops it foul.
22:55Damn it.
22:56Guedman went over and there was a chance to make a play.
22:57And I remember thinking, no, no, no.
22:58I don't want it to end on a foul pop to the catcher.
23:00I want it to be classic.
23:01I want it to be a strikeout.
23:02And when the ball ended in the season, I thought, great.
23:04Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop.
23:08Lined into left field.
23:09Base hit for Carter.
23:10Oh.
23:11I remember Vin Scully saying,
23:14And the Mets are still alive.
23:16I said, yeah, right.
23:18And with two out, representing the time run, Kevin Mitchell.
23:23I don't think Kevin Mitchell was wearing a cup or a jock or anything.
23:25He had been in the clubhouse making plane reservations back to San Diego.
23:28He was drinking a beer with Keith Hernandez.
23:30Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do.
23:33Curveball.
23:33And that's going to be hit to center.
23:35He's hit.
23:35No.
23:36No.
23:37Now Sutter with two out in the 10th inning.
23:40The time runs are aboard.
23:42And Ray Knight will be the batter.
23:44And now we're starting to sweat a little bit.
23:46There was this sort of, like, pit at the bottom of your stomach forming.
23:49The hairs start to crickle on the back of your neck.
23:52All I thought was, get it out.
23:54Get it out.
23:55Get it out.
23:56Chiraldi's expression was like me in algebra class when I was called for my homework.
24:03My brother kept dialing.
24:05And that's going to be hit into center.
24:07He obeys there.
24:09What?
24:09It's cornered to score.
24:11Oh, I can't believe this.
24:12But no, they're not going to blow this.
24:14It's impossible.
24:14And the Mets refuse to go quietly.
24:18Five, four, Red Sox.
24:20McNamara comes out.
24:21It signals for the bullpen.
24:23The gate opens up.
24:24And out comes Stanley.
24:25And I screamed.
24:26Uh-oh.
24:27Uh-oh.
24:27No.
24:28He's the reason he loses.
24:29Oh, God.
24:30Oh, shit.
24:32There's ever a guy that just epitomized a Red Sox loserdom, Bob Stanley.
24:36He just had that sad, kind of droopy face.
24:39You have the time run 90 feet away.
24:42And here's Mookie.
24:42He had two strikes on Mookie.
24:46They get to one strike away.
24:48Not once.
24:48Fouled away again.
24:49Not twice.
24:50Fouled away.
24:51But three times.
24:52Tension mount some more.
24:53With two out in the tent.
24:54Five, four, Red Sox.
24:56Ray Knight at first.
24:57My quadriceps are tense.
24:58My patellas are bursting.
24:59My back's hurting.
25:00Because I haven't been able to jump up yet.
25:03My brother, to his credit, kept dialing each pitch.
25:06But you've got the sense of, oh, shit.
25:09Something's going to happen.
25:10He's going to go to the backstop.
25:11Here comes Mitchell to score the tying run.
25:15What happened?
25:16What just happened?
25:17And Ray Knight is in second place.
25:19I watched them wheel that champagne back out and grab those t-shirts and stuff them back in the bag.
25:33It was really like a horror film.
25:35I couldn't believe my eyes.
25:36We couldn't have dreamt this thing up.
25:39I just turned to botanizing.
25:41Give me everything on the top shelf and put it in a big glass.
25:43No, it can't be happening.
25:46It just can't be happening.
25:48But it was.
25:49My brother hung up the phone.
25:52And there was a sense of, this game's lost.
25:55So the winning run is in second base.
26:01With two out, three and two to Mookie Wilson.
26:06And then the unbelievable happened.
26:08The whole world slowed down for me.
26:13It stopped time.
26:15It was like watching a slow motion car accident.
26:17It just couldn't have really happened.
26:23It had to have been a movie.
26:24Or somebody's idea of a cruel joke.
26:27I was in complete, uttered, catatonic shock.
26:37My son just collapsed.
26:39I picked him up and he was just sobbing.
26:42I felt like I'd done the worst thing to him.
26:45A human being could do.
26:46I mean, to do that to your kid.
26:48I didn't say a word.
26:50I just got up from the sofa.
26:52And I walked up two flights of stairs to the bedroom.
26:56He looked at me.
26:59He looked at me aimlessly on my head.
27:02And he said, son, this is the darkest day in this town since Jack Kennedy was shot.
27:07The Red Sox would go on to lose game seven, blowing a three-run lead.
27:21Still, it would be a simple ground ball that went through Bill Buckner's legs that would haunt Sox fans for the next 18 years.
27:27I'll never forget Vince Scully's words.
27:32There's a little roller up along first.
27:34Little roller up along first.
27:36Behind the bag.
27:37Behind the bag.
27:39Behind the bag.
27:40It gets through Buckner.
27:41It gets through Buckner.
27:43Here comes night and the Mets win it.
27:46Here comes night and the Mets win it.
27:48After that, Red Sox fans were convinced that for sheer disappointment, nothing could top Buckner.
27:57And for the better part of the next two decades, they were right.
28:06It was the seventh game of the 2003 playoffs, when the Sox blew a late three-run lead and then lost the game in the bottom of the 11th, thanks to Aaron Bleeping Boom.
28:17The Yankees go to the World Series for the 39th time.
28:22Of course, as it had to be, it was the hated Yanks who brought Boston down.
28:27Those same Yanks who beat up the Sox in the first three games of the 2004 playoffs, including a 19-8 spanking in game three.
28:36Worst loss in Red Sox playoff history.
28:39This is a nightmare for the Red Sox and their fans.
28:43When they were down three games to none, after giving up 19 runs in game three.
28:48It's like a mob hit.
28:50You don't even know what hit you.
28:51We just couldn't stop the bleeding.
28:53It was cruel.
28:54Just horrific.
28:55It was devastating.
28:56No team's ever come back in the history of baseball from 3-0.
28:59I had no hope whatsoever for game four.
29:01And I really thought...
29:02Go to hell.
29:02I'm never watching this team again.
29:04Any Sox fan that tells you they thought that we were going to come back,
29:06and any Yankee fan that thought it was possible,
29:08at that point, is lying through their f***ing teeth.
29:14There's no point in watching the game.
29:16It's just going to prolong my agony.
29:18Why do it?
29:22But, you know, I couldn't pull myself away entirely.
29:25I was watching the play through my fingers.
29:27I'm watching it like this.
29:29And we'd all be breathing.
29:34The Red Sox, with three outs away, were being swept.
29:38Yankee ace Mariano Rivera was ready to close down the season.
29:42And even though pinch runner Dave Roberts was on first,
29:45the Sox hopes were slim.
29:47We were in the chair.
29:49They put the little thing on us.
29:51They were about to slip the switch.
29:54And the governor called and said,
29:56Wait a minute.
29:57This guy can run.
29:59Roberts is going.
30:00The shot is thrown.
30:01Roberts safe.
30:03Yes.
30:04It was this close.
30:05I can still see him sliding in a second.
30:07Kind of sitting up in the couch.
30:08This close to being out.
30:11That was an inch away.
30:15That was a millisecond away from being another terrible year.
30:21Ouch.
30:22Game's not over yet.
30:24Keep him alive.
30:26Keep him alive.
30:27Bill Miller is at the plate.
30:29There are moments when your faith is tried and when you feel like God is hiding.
30:35I'm just praying.
30:40I'm literally praying.
30:41Mariano Rivera in the postseason.
30:43Six for six.
30:44Save chances.
30:46He had two blown saves this year.
30:48And who do you think he blew them against?
30:51We have his number.
30:53He's going to give it up.
30:55All right.
30:55Go ahead.
30:55Please.
30:56This is a direct petition.
30:58And the great Mariano essentially becoming Charlie Brown and flying in the air and his clothes
31:13flying off.
31:14Three excruciating innings later, with the game still tied, David Ortiz, or Big Papi as Sox fans
31:22called him, came through on a promise he had delivered the night before.
31:26David Ortiz commented that he saw a woman on the sidewalk and she was crying like a baby.
31:33He said, we need to turn those frowns upside down and we cannot let Red Sox nation cry.
31:43We're going to drive.
31:44Keep the right.
31:45Way back.
31:46And this ball is gone.
31:49He will be mobbed at home plate and the Red Sox live to play again.
31:53I was pissed because I thought to myself, how dare you not get swept?
32:00I stopped caring.
32:02I let go.
32:03I had moved on.
32:05And now there's going to be another game?
32:08How dare you win that game?
32:10You guys are stringing me along, aren't you?
32:16All the things that always go against the Red Sox started to go for the Red Sox.
32:21Ortiz hits it to deep left field.
32:24Back at the monster and gone.
32:26It's a one-run game.
32:28Everything just started going our way.
32:31Nixon with a base hit to center.
32:33Just seemed like one small miracle after the next.
32:36Clark hits it into the right field corner.
32:39That ball is going to bounce and go into the seats for a ground rule double.
32:45And that could have taken a run off the board for the Yankees.
32:49The ball had hit the side of the wall.
32:51It kind of crawled up and went in there.
32:52Very odd.
32:53Talk about a fortuitous bounce for the Red Sox.
32:58Any other Red Sox here.
33:00That ball doesn't bounce into the stands.
33:03Sox lose.
33:04Two times in New York, umpires' calls are reversed in the Red Sox' favor.
33:09And then to have A-Rod turn out to be a humongous goat.
33:13He swatted the ball out of a player's hand.
33:17He reaches out with his left hand and does this little bitch slap.
33:20This little limp-wristed slap.
33:21Slapping the ball away with those big hamburger helper gloves of his.
33:26It was such a bushly play.
33:28It's just something you'd do on a playground when you were like six years old.
33:31The man I saw that one-ump go like this.
33:34And they're going to call him out.
33:36And for him to stand there at first base and go like this.
33:40And it's just like so un-Red Sox-like to see these moments unfold the same way in our favor.
33:52It was remarkable.
33:54Just incredible.
33:55It was just astounding.
33:58The larger forces were aligned with the Red Sox this time.
34:00It all happened.
34:02Ortiz fights it off center field.
34:05Damon run it up.
34:06Thanks to Ortiz again, Boston's good fortune had continued in Game 5.
34:12The Sox' second straight extra inning win.
34:14And somehow, against all odds, things had gone even better in Boston's Game 6 win at Yankee Stadium.
34:20On that night, a valiant Kurt Schilling, with his mangled ankle, pitched the game of his life in a red sock.
34:30My friend Tim, who's a doctor, kept calling me and telling me,
34:34this is the greatest pitching performance in the history of baseball.
34:41You can't make it up.
34:42You really could.
34:43We'll have to stitch his tendon on it.
34:45Look at the blood on his sock.
34:48And I kept saying, I thought it was stitched.
34:50Why is there blood?
34:51And he said, there's blood.
34:52Trust me, it's blood.
34:54He blew it by the bat of Tony Clark.
34:57Achilles in the Odyssey.
35:00It's Wyatt Earm facing them, the bad guys.
35:03Schilling was denying the curse.
35:05With sheer determination and willpower.
35:07He pitched through it and beyond it.
35:11Yes!
35:12We have literally no pressure on him.
35:14All the pressure on him.
35:15I have to admit, I still, I was still waiting for us to drop the ball.
35:18We thought, the other shoe's going to drop.
35:21When are we going to blow it?
35:22It didn't happen.
35:26And here's Ortiz.
35:27He rips one into right field.
35:30Damon hits it in the air to right field.
35:32Sheffield back in the corner.
35:34Winslam!
35:35And it's 6-0.
35:36It felt like that part in A Christmas Story where Ralphie finally snaps and beats up Scott Farkas.
35:43We danced on their lawn.
35:59We danced on their lawn.
36:01The thing that made me the happiest of all was that the Yankee fans were squirming.
36:06Watching the Yankee fans flee like rats deserting the sinking ship was a sight to behold.
36:23To see the Yankee fans with that look, it is so familiar in Boston.
36:30I almost felt bad because they weren't used to it.
36:36No, screw up.
36:38Let them suffer.
36:41When you're a winner, you really don't give a shit.
36:43It was so satisfying.
36:51Ground ball in the infield.
36:54And in the American League, Boston is second to none.
36:57The Red Sox have done it.
36:59They've pulled off the miracle.
37:01The most stunning comeback in baseball history.
37:04The Boston Red Sox become the first team ever to win a series.
37:08Went down three games.
37:10Monumental collapse.
37:11You can say it in any language you want.
37:13It's the same.
37:13Monumental collapse.
37:15It's huge.
37:17It's the ultimate.
37:19I walked down the street like I was Spartacus.
37:22As a Red Sox fan living in New York, it's a wonderful thing because you get to see Yankee fans struggling with their new identity, which is the greatest chokers in the history of sport.
37:38They'll never be able to erase that headline.
37:45And in this office, I'm going to have it bolted to the wall.
37:47So you have to take the entire wall out if you want to take that headline out of here.
37:50They won't win the World Series.
37:59One more series.
38:01When they lost to the Mets, the Cardinals, those were a curse of the Bambino moments.
38:06They had nothing to do with the Yankees.
38:09The curse is not over yet.
38:11They went 86 years without winning a World Series.
38:16They needed to do that.
38:24It was no contest.
38:29I just don't speak.
38:32Sweet.
38:33The Cardinals were just the poor props to this thing, a part of the Red Sox story.
38:37It was a mosquito trying to stop a charging rhino.
38:40They were playing with the house's money.
38:42I was constantly in consultation with my people, saying, how can it happen this easily?
38:50It's a feeling I never anticipated.
38:58But I have to tell you, it remains beyond explanation.
39:01Working our way toward a total...
39:03And the best thing about it is...
39:06Cardinals have the second most towers beyond the Yankees.
39:10So, nobody was really too hurt that they lost.
39:15Lunar Eclipse.
39:19Rebel back to the mound.
39:20Fought with it.
39:22Got him at first base.
39:24And the Boston Red Sox can finally say it.
39:27For the first time in 86 years.
39:29For the first time since 1918.
39:32They are champions of the world.
39:34I was stunned.
39:47I don't think I said...
39:47I didn't say anything.
39:49All I did...
39:49Tears were just streaming down my face.
39:51I just...
39:52I just...
39:53Um...
40:08It...
40:08It...
40:08It...
40:08Was it just a dream?
40:10It's just now becoming okay.
40:14That is real.
40:16It really happened.
40:17It's just...
40:18From being clinically dead against the Yankees.
40:21To coming back and winning the World Series.
40:24It was just...
40:24Mind-boggling.
40:26I was in a state of shock for...
40:28I'm probably still in it.
40:30If it was a movie, it would be a bad movie.
40:34Because people would say...
40:35That could never happen.
40:37It's ridiculous.
40:38Hmm.
40:39It was Edgar Renteria...
40:41Who made the last out of the World Series.
40:44He was wearing number three.
40:46And he was just like the babe.
40:48Whose curse...
40:49Real or imagined...
40:51Was no match for the Sox in 04.
40:54It took 86 years.
40:57But the Red Sox...
40:58Boston's team...
41:00New England's team...
41:01Had finally...
41:03Won the World Series.
41:10It lingers in the aftermaths...
41:13And the present day status of people's lives...
41:15Like no other sports story.
41:20The Red Sox...
41:22Are uniquely...
41:24A team of memory.
41:29The pursuit of this...
41:31Across 86 years...
41:33Through so much heartache...
41:34And tears...
41:35And loyalty.
41:38It's the perfect ending...
41:40To the perfect story.
41:49When the moment finally came...
41:50Everybody had somebody...
41:52That they thought of.
41:53Somebody who didn't live to see...
41:54Who didn't live to see...
41:55Who didn't live to see...
41:56The championship...
42:00Was for...
42:01Somebody who didn't live to see...
42:02Somebody who didn't live to see...
42:04All of the past...
42:07Red Sox players...
42:08Johnny Pesky...
42:13God rest his soul...
42:19Ted Williams...
42:20Take him all day...
42:21Yes...
42:22The Red Sox...
42:24The Red Sox...
42:36Connect people...
42:38They connect generations...
42:40To a time in their life...
42:42Being a Red Sox fan...
42:52Is not about baseball...
42:53It's about family...
42:54A love for a team...
42:59That brings people together...
43:01In an appreciation of...
43:02What links us...
43:04And so you celebrate that legacy...
43:06With the person that you love...
43:07Even if they're not here anymore...
43:08Especially if they're not here...
43:27This is a moment of communication...
43:29With the past...
43:30It's a moment of communication...
43:31With the ghosts...
43:32With the people who wished...
43:33And never saw...
43:35You just have to go up...
43:37And let him know...
43:38They...
43:39We love you Poppy...
43:42We love you Red Sox...
43:44Thank you for doing this for us...
43:48And so when fortunes turn...
43:50They don't just turn for you...
43:51They turn for all the ghosts...
43:56And it becomes deeply emotional...
43:58It's so much associated...
43:59With people you love...
44:01The world has changed...
44:02And nothing will ever be the same...
44:03And it's wonderful...
44:04The world has changed...
44:05And nothing will ever be the same...
44:06And it's wonderful...
44:07The world has changed...
44:08And nothing will ever be the same...
44:09And it's wonderful...
44:10The world has changed...
44:11And nothing will ever be the same...
44:12And it's wonderful...
44:13The world has changed...
44:15The world has changed...
44:16And nothing will ever be the same...
44:17And it's wonderful...
44:18The world has changed...
44:19The world has changed...
44:20And nothing will ever be the same...
44:21And it's wonderful...
44:22My wife is expecting twins...
44:23Around opening day...
44:24Those children are going to be born into a world...
44:25Where the Red Sox are the world champions...
44:26And that's a beautiful world to be brought into...
44:27And the Boston Red Sox are the world champions...
44:28Can you believe it?
44:29And the Boston Red Sox are the world champions...
44:30Can you believe it?
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