The 2004 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox! It just doesn't get old. The American League Wild Card winners defeat the Anaheim Angels, AL West Champions, 3 games - 0 and take the AL East Champion New York Yankees to all 7 games - after being down 3 games - 0 to win the 2004 American League pennant to meet the National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals in the 100th World Series.

After going 98-64 in the regular season, the American League Baseball Club of Boston went 11-3 in the post season en route to winning their sixth world championship and first since 1918. Led by Curt Schilling, suffering from a torn tendon, the Sox swept two of their three post season opponents and came back for the biggest come back in post season history.

	Game 1 October 5	9-3, Red Sox Lead Series 1-0	There really wasn't any doubt what the outcome of this game would be. I sat back and enjoyed the show.
	Game 2 October 6	8-3, Red Sox Lead Series 2-0	I got a little wiggly when Vlad Guererro singled in a couple of runs in the 5th - It was an unbelieveably pitched game to that point, but then the Angels' wheels came off the cart.
	Game 3 October 8	8-6, Red Sox Win Series 3-0	Watching Ortiz's Walk-off homer head over the wall was awesome. I jumped up and down in my living room for at least 5 minutes! It's a good thing we're no longer apartment dwellers. I can still remember Dave Henderson's homerun in 1986 against the Angels, but this was just as good.
	Game 1 October 12	10-7, Yankees Lead Series 1-0	This was brutal...sitting at a pool side bar during our Florida vacation filled with Yankees fans - including my brother-in-law. Awful. I was hoping for the Twins to advance and this was not looking good.
	Game 2 October 13	3-1, Yankees Lead Series 2-0	This got even worse. Our vacation was close to an end and we still couldn't get a break.
	Game 3 October 16	19-8, Yankees Lead Series 3-0	We got on the plane, the game had started. The game came in on an intermittent basis while on the plane, but the baggage took 45 minutes to get there - by the time we got to the cab, it was 13-something. Awful.
	Game 4 October 17	6-4, Yankees Lead Series 3-1	I couldn't stay up. After the Yankees went ahead, I went to bed, I couldn't do it to myself. I lived through last year - this was worse. I'd lived through 1986, and still cry...I couldn't do it. I was out of my mind when I woke up and saw the sports cast, though.
	Game 5 October 18	5-4, Yankees Lead Series 3-2	I watched every pitch of every game after that. A lot of late nights, but I was fortunate my boss was understanding! It was a great piece of redemption for Tim Wakefield, but I was freaked out when it went as long as it did!
	Game 6 October 19	4-2, Series Tied 3-3	Schilling was nothing if not inspirational, starting the game with his tendon stitched up. This was the most amazing thing I had ever seen in sport.
	Game 7 October 20	10-3, Red Sox Win Series 4-3	Johnny Damon goes yard with a rare post-season Red Sox Grand Slam. At the end of the game, in our sleepy bedroom neighborhood - horns honked, and revelers yelped. The Sox were AL Champs!! UNBELIEVEABLE!!!
	Game 1 October 23	11-9, Red Sox Lead Series 1-0	How often does a team which commits 4 errors win a world series game? At least once.
	Game 2 October 24	3-0, Red Sox Lead Series 2-0	How often does a team which commits 4 errors win a world series game? Apparently twice....in a row! Ugly stuff.
	Game 3 October 26	4-1, Red Sox Lead Series 3-0	It's starting to become real. Tempered by the amazing feat the Sox had completed six days prior, it began sinking in that the Sox really had a shot to win it all. Finally. Baring in mind, though, that they had just won a series they had been down 3-0.
	Game 4 October 27	3-0, Red Sox Win Series, 4-0	A sound clip I will hear in my head as long as I live - "Stabbed by Foulke...he has it (cognizent of 1986, Joe Castiglione wanted to make sure the radio listener knew the ball was under control)...he underhands to first (the ball is under control...if only McNamara had made the defensive replacement 18 years ago!)...and the Red Sox are World Champions! For the first time in 86 years, the Red Sox have won baseball's world championship! Can you believe it?" I remember this clip much better than the TV broadcast I was actually watching. Joe Buck isn't a Sox fan, Joe Castiglione is. Mientkiewicz held that ball for what seemed to be 3 seconds before jumping up to celebrate. It was real.

Major League Baseball's recap of the Sox Championship run
The Boston Globe's World Championship Commemorative Section

Bobby Doerr, Joe Cronin, Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams, Carlton Fisk. Jackie Robinson's #42 in Dodger Blue, a fitting tribute in the ballpark of the team who could have had him first. Click here for "Dressed to the Nines: A History of the Baseball Uniform" from the Hall of Fame. Here's a FAQ of the Retired Number

Dismissing History

	1946 World Series Champions
	St. Louis Cardinals in 7 Games. Notable for Enos Slaughter's "mad dash" and Johnny Pesky "holding the ball"
	1967 World Series Champions
	St. Louis Cardinals in 7 Games. Notable for the Red Sox "Impossible Dream," Bob Gibson pitching Game 7 on three days rest, and Jim Lonborg pitching on two.
	1975 World Series Champions
	Cincinati Reds in 7 Games. Notable for Carlton Fisk's Game 6 Home Run in what is commonly referred to as one of the greatest games in World Series History.
	1986 World Series Champions
	New York Mets in 7 Games. Most notable for Mookie Wilson's bleeder down the first base line in Game 7 under Bill Buckner's legs...
These are simply the World Series heartbreaks.  There is, of course, Bucky “Bleeping” Dent’s homerun in the 1978 playoff game (the Yankees went on to win the series that year) and of particular note was the 2003 ALCS. I can’t get the image out of my mind: we’re in California – the three of us – watching game 7 from our San Diego hotel room, debating whether or not I should run out and get a bottle of bubbly and a cigar.  Then, the fateful moment.  Grady Little walks to the mound…and walks back…ALONE!!  Quite possibly the biggest sporting heartbreak I have ever witnessed – even greater perhaps than Billy Buckner’s E in 1986 – Aaron “Freaking” Boone taking Wake, the ALCS MVP if the Sox win – yard to go to the Series.  Dismissing history indeed.

 

Note: the dog in our life is named for former Red Sox infielder, Pokey Reese. He's shown in the lower right corner of this page.