Fenway Park

by John Powers

  Still, the Sox trailed, 3-2, in the series going back to the Bronx, where the previous season had ended painfully. “We’re in the same position as last year and we came awfully close,” Henry observed. “But the odds are still against us.”

  Yet the club continued its historic resurrection in Babe Ruth’s old playpen as Curt Schilling, pitching on a sutured right ankle that bled through his sock, dazzled the Yankees, 4-2, in Game 6. Then Derek Lowe starved the hosts in the finale and Damon crushed them with a second-inning grand slam. “How many times can you honestly say you have a chance to shock the world?” crowed Millar after the 10-3 knockout that put Boston into the World Series for the first time since 1986.

  STANDELLS GET A SECOND ACT

  BY BRIAN MACQUARRIE

  Any time the Red Sox prevail at Fenway Park, you hear it: the slinky raunch of the guitar, the snide snarl of the vocals, the backhanded celebration of Boston in the lyrics. Hundreds of thousands of Sox fans recognize the Standells’ “Dirty Water” as the unlikely anthem for their beloved team and city.

  But for one Red Sox fan in California, “Dirty Water” means much more. For Dick Dodd of Buena Park, the song’s surprising staying power has provided a link to his rock ‘n’ roll past, which included opening for the Rolling Stones, and a connection to a place he had never seen before “Dirty Water” came out.

  Dodd sang the 1960s proto punk ode to a grungy Boston. Dodd was the drummer for the Los Angeles-based Standells when “Dirty Water” hit the airwaves, and he is the one who added the raspy opening that set the mood for the attitude-laced song.

  “I’m gonna tell you a story,” Dodd said one day in 2005, repeating his lyrics as he looked upward into a sunny California sky. “I’m gonna tell you about my town. I’m gonna tell you a big bad story, baby . . .”

  After the Standells broke up in the early 1970s, Dodd bounced around as a restaurant manager, an office employee for a construction-equipment company, and a chauffeur. Over the years, his daydreams often drifted 3,000 miles to Boston. And now, the Standells, who reunited after all those years and perform from time to time, have played twice for Fenway fans.

  Dodd was stunned by the odds-defying popularity in Boston of a song that peaked at No. 11 on the pop charts back in 1966. “When you get to be my age, you get a little choked up by this,” Dodd said.

  Dodd said he began following the Red Sox in the mid-1980s. But he was unaware the team had adopted “Dirty Water” until the day he heard the distinctive chords pulsating around Fenway Park at the end of an ESPN telecast of a Red Sox game. They were playing his song. “The crowd was singing every word,” Dodd said, shaking his head in amazement.

  Some four decades after the song’s release, Dodd was still surprised that “Dirty Water” became a hit in the first place. None of the four Standells had been to Boston before creating the song. The band recorded “Dirty Water” only at the prodding of their producer, the late Ed Cobb, who wrote the hit after a visit to Boston, during which he was mugged on the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge over the Charles River, Dodd said.

  Dodd and the Standells were invited by the Red Sox to perform “Dirty Water” as a Fenway Park surprise before Game 2 of the 2004 World Series. It was a dream come true for Dodd.

  “Nobody knew we were going to be there, number one. And I don’t care who you are, you’re going to get nervous with Fenway Park sold out,” Dodd said. “Then everyone went freaking crazy, and right at that moment, when I knew I wasn’t singing it alone, it was just unbelievable. God, I just wanted to hug everybody.”

  When the Red Sox searched in 1997 for a theme to celebrate each home victory, General Manager Dan Duquette and Manager Jimy Williams chose the down-and-dirty sound of the Standells. And even though the team ownership changed, the Red Sox are committed to the song as their victory music.

  Red Sox co-owner Tom Werner strolled with the ALCS trophy outside Fenway Park before the 2004 World Series.

  Sox co-owner John Henry (center) played guitar with members of the Standells at a playoff rally in October 2007.

  This time the opponents were the Cardinals, who’d beaten the Red Sox in the 1946 and 1967 World Series and who boasted the season’s best record. Once again the Sox, who became the first team in 56 years to start a pure knuckleballer in a Series game, won in a most unorthodox fashion, surviving a blown 7-2 lead and four errors to win, 11-9, on Mark Bellhorn’s two-run homer off Pesky’s Pole in the eighth.

  Despite making another four errors the next night, the Sox won again, 6-2, behind the sore-ankled but irrepressible Schilling. Fate seemed to be turning in their favor after decades of disappointment. And when Martinez stifled St. Louis, 4-1, at Busch Stadium to win Game 3, the Sox fans who’d made the trip to St. Louis sensed the end of an 86-year drought. “One more game,” they chanted behind the visiting dugout. “One more game.”

  Boston won it easily, with Lowe shutting out the Cardinals, 3-0, and closer Keith Foulke flipping the ball to Mientkiewicz for the final out that sent thousands into the streets around Fenway to celebrate. “This is like an alternate reality,” said Henry, as the players—now an infamous band of self-proclaimed Idiots—sprayed each other and Johnny Pesky with champagne. “All of our fans waited their entire lives for this.”

  When the Sox next took the Fenway diamond on April 11, 2005, it was as champions. What made the Opening Day celebration even sweeter for their long-tormented fans was that the Yankees had to watch the proceedings from the opposite dugout. “I think everybody was curious to see just what the Red Sox would do on the day they got their World Series rings,” said New York Manager Joe Torre, whose players clapped politely throughout.

  The ceremonies, the first on the premises since 1919, were on the scale normally reserved for coronations. After five flowing red banners commemorating the 1903, 1912, 1915, 1916, and 1918 World Series victories had been draped along the Wall, they were eclipsed by one for 2004 that stretched from end to end. “We had some grown men on our bench about to cry,” Damon said.

  Damon and his teammates received regal diamond and ruby rings while franchise icons Pesky and Carl Yastrzemski hoisted the championship flag atop the flagpole in left-center field. Then it was back to work. Boston began its title defense in style with an 8-1 triumph. But anyone with a sense of history and drama knew that when New York returned for the final weekend, the season likely would be on the line.

  TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY

  On the night the Red Sox completed their historic comeback in the 2004 American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium, Boston police fired pepper-pellet guns into an unruly crowd outside Fenway Park, killing Victoria Snelgrove, a 21-year-old Emerson College student, and wounding two other people. In 2005, the City of Boston reached a $5 million settlement with the Snelgrove family, the largest wrongful death settlement in city history.

  In 2007, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis announced that the type of pellet gun blamed in the death of Snelgrove, who was struck in the eye, would never again be used by Boston police. An independent panel concluded in 2005 that Snelgrove’s death was an avoidable tragedy that was caused by poor planning and “serious errors in judgment” by Boston police officers and commanders. Two officers were suspended for 45 days and other officers received demotions and written reprimands.

  The Snelgrove family also reached an undisclosed settlement in a suit against FN Herstal, the maker of the weapon. Shortly after their daughter’s death, Richard and Dianne Snelgrove established a memorial fund that has funded children’s playgrounds in and around her hometown of East Bridgewater and scholarships at East Bridgewater High School and Emerson College.

  “Why do [the Red Sox] draw two million people? Why do they get 30,000 people at the end of the season, even when they’re not in it? People come to see the ballpark, to see the Green Monster, to be close to the players. Boston must balance development growth with the preservation of what makes our city so livable—our historic character, scale, and charm. We are distinct
from other American cities because we view our buildings as resources, not liabilities.”

  —Thomas M. Menino, mayor of Boston

  Despite losing Martinez to the Mets and Foulke to knee surgery and missing Schilling for nearly half the campaign after off-season ankle repair, the Sox remained in first place from late June until the final 10 days of September. But New York, which had been seven games under .500 in May, returned for the decisive series at Fenway a game ahead in the division.

  It was God’s plan, Damon reckoned, that the two blood rivals would go head-to-head for the title. After a split of the first two games gave New York the AL East crown, Boston needed either a Sunday victory or a Cleveland loss to the White Sox to avoid a one-game Fenway playoff with the Indians for the wild-card spot. The clubhouse message board was bluntly optimistic: “TOMORROW. PACK FOR 3 DAY TRIP.”

  “Our goal was to get into the postseason and our goal in the postseason is to win the World Series,” said Schilling, after Cleveland’s loss mooted his teammates’ 10-1 triumph and earned them a trip to Chicago for the divisional series. “We got Step One done.”

  Step Two, though, proved a stumbling block as the White Sox, who hadn’t won a home playoff game in 46 years, claimed the first two games by counts of 14-2 (Boston’s worst October loss by run margin) and 5-4 (after trailing, 4-0) to send their scarlet counterparts home for an elimination game. “Our backs are truly against the wall,” acknowledged Epstein. “It’s the personality of this team not to do things easily.”

  The White Sox finished things off with a 5-3 decision in Fenway and went on to sweep Houston to win their first World Series since 1917, ending a drought that had been a year longer than Boston’s. “No one can ever take away what we did last year,” said Kevin Millar. “This year we fought. We just weren’t the better team.”

  Fans soon found out there was fighting going on behind the scenes, too. On Halloween night, Epstein walked out of Fenway wearing a gorilla suit to avoid reporters’ questions about why he’d just turned down a contract extension. When he returned (in street clothes) in January, he had a new contract and nothing but good things to say about Sox CEO Larry Lucchino.

  Front-office drama aside, multiple additions and deletions were inevitable during the off-season. Pitcher Josh Beckett and third baseman Mike Lowell, who had both won rings with the Marlins, arrived in a seven-player deal. Departing free agents included Damon (to the Yankees), Mueller (Dodgers), and Millar (Orioles).

  REMDAWG’S LONG RUN

  In February 1988, former Boston second baseman Jerry Remy was named analyst for Red Sox games on New England Sports Network. Little did he know at the time that his tenure in front of the camera would stretch nearly three times longer than his playing career did.

  Play-by-play partners have included local legend Ned Martin, Sean McDonough, Bob Kurtz, and Don Orsillo, with whom Remy has worked the past 11 seasons. Perhaps owing in part to Remy’s local roots and his clear-cut, concise game analysis, his popularity soared—he gained a nickname (“RemDawg”), a website called the Remy Report, and even a couple of restaurants that bear his name.

  Remy was chosen from among five finalists in 1988 to succeed Bob Montgomery on NESN. The other candidates were also former Sox players: Dick Radatz, Rick Miller, Jim Lonborg, and Mike Andrews. Montgomery, a former Sox catcher who began as a TV analyst in 1982, continued in that role on Channel 38 through 1995.

  In July 2010, Remy and NESN agreed to a multiyear contract extension. This followed a three-and-a-half-month absence from the booth during the 2009 season while he recuperated from lung cancer surgery, along with a post-surgery infection and bout with depression. Just before his return to the booth in August 2009, he said he’d received so much support from fans that he felt guilty about not coming back sooner.

  “I have boxes and boxes of cards, letters, prayers, tweets, e-mails,” said Remy. “But I was crying reading them. . . . In a way, you feel like you’ve done something right for these people.” Returning to the TV booth, he realized, was the way to thank them.

  Jerry Remy acknowledged the fans upon returning to the NESN broadcast booth with Don Orsillo in August 2009, following Remy’s surgery for lung cancer.

  The Red Sox and Yankees lined up for the national anthem as the first Red Sox pennant in 86 years flew over Fenway Park on Opening Day 2005.

  War veterans escorted the World Series trophy and rings.

  Red Sox legend Johnny Pesky (6) finally received a World Series ring, along with congratulations from team executives (left to right) John Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino.

  The sight of Damon, clean-shaven and pinstripe-crisp, unleashed a cascade of boos when he made his return the following season to Fenway, where a “JUDAS DAMON” sign hung from a balcony. “People around here are born to hate the Yankees,” Damon shrugged. “That’s what they are booing, the uniform.”

  Damon came back to torment his former supporters in August when New York tore the Sox to shreds with a five-game sweep that was even worse than the infamous Boston Massacre that sent the 1978 Sox into a tailspin. The carnage began with a Friday doubleheader that produced 12-4 and 14-11 defeats. The doubleheader consumed 8 hours and 40 minutes, with the nightcap establishing a mark as the longest nine-inning game ever at 4 hours and 45 minutes. It didn’t end until 1:22 a.m., after most of the faithful had departed.

  Much of the damage was done by Damon, who was 6 for 12 with two homers, a triple, and seven RBI. But Saturday’s loss, a 13-5 pratfall in which Beckett walked nine batters and conceded nine earned runs, was even more unsightly. “Never happened before, to get beat up this bad,” concluded Ortiz after Boston had allowed a dozen or more runs in three consecutive games for the first time in franchise history. “Doesn’t matter where we were, we’re going in the wrong direction.”

  After 8-5 and 2-1 losses completed the club’s first five-game sweep since 1954, the Sox had fallen six-and-a-half games behind New York. Boston ended the season 11 back in third place, their lowest finish in the division since 1997. It was, Epstein concluded, “an imperfect year” but it was followed by an extraordinary season that restored Boston to the top of the baseball heap.

  MONKEY BUSINESS

  It was a Monday night in October 2005, and Theo Epstein had just rejected a contract offer, seemingly ending his brilliant tenure as the 11th general manager in Red Sox history after just three years. In their basement offices, Epstein and members of his baseball operations staff saw camera crews gathering outside to capture him leaving Fenway Park. How could they get Epstein out of the building without facing the camera crush?

  It happened to be Halloween, and someone had a gorilla costume handy. Epstein slipped into the suit and walked out of Gate D, past the cameras with a smile on his concealed face. Three months later, after Epstein had discussed working for the Dodgers and Sox CEO Larry Lucchino had talked with Jim Beat-tie about replacing Epstein, their feud was over. Theo was back in the fold, and his gorilla suit was being auctioned off at the annual benefit concert, Hot Stove, Cool Music—for $11,000.

  After those negotiations became something of a spectacle in 2005 (Epstein called it “far too public”), he vowed that he would not reveal the end date of any future contract. Lucchino later said, “Walls have crumbled, perceptions of one another have changed, and appreciation of one another has grown.”

  “I regret that it came to that and I wish we all could have handled it differently—me included,” said Epstein in 2007. “I’m not in this job to be recognizable or ‘famous’ on the local scene. I’m in this job because I want the Red Sox to have a chance to win the World Series every year and I like contributing at this level.”

  With an unprecedented five playoff teams in his first six seasons as Sox GM, Epstein was not just another guy in a suit.

  Before a game with Kansas City on August 2, 2005, Manny Ramirez showed off a sign that he had stashed inside the scoreboard of the Green Monster.

  Bobby Doerr acknowledged the fans o
n August 2, 2007—“Bobby Doerr Day” at Fenway Park. Doerr’s No. 1 had previously been retired by the Red Sox in 1988. The number is displayed on the façade in right field behind Doerr.

  Fenway denizens received an early hint that a remarkable season had arrived in 2007 when the Sox swept their first home encounter with New York in April, coming from at least two runs down to win all three games. After trailing by four in the eighth inning of the opener, Boston won, 7-6, when Coco Crisp knocked in two with a triple and Alex Cora singled him home with the winner. Then Ortiz knocked in four runs to spur his mates to a 7-5 triumph, and the Sox finished off the Yankees with four consecutive homers (from Ramirez, J. D. Drew, Lowell, and Varitek) off rookie left-hander Chase Wright in the finale.

  “I haven’t been part of anything like that, not even in Little League,” marveled Lowell after the Sox had prevailed, 7-6, to sweep New York at home for the first time since 1990.

  For the rest of the season, the Red Sox had the Yankees and everyone else in their rearview mirror, boosting their divisional lead to 11½ games on July 5 by sweeping Tampa Bay at home. The difference was a convenient convergence of inspired pitching and a couple of precocious rookies in second baseman Dustin Pedroia and center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, the products of a beefed-up farm system.

  The most intriguing newcomer, though, was Daisuke “Dice-K” Matsuzaka. The Sox lured the Japanese right-hander from the Seibu Lions with a $50 million contract after spending approximately that much for the privilege of chatting with him over sushi. Matsuzaka, known as “The Monster” back home, won 15 games to go along with 20 by Beckett and 17 by Wakefield. Jonathan Papelbon, a starter turned cold-hearted closer, chipped in 37 saves.