This is a write up for a final assignment in my Sports History and Culture class at Iona College.
The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox share one of sport’s great rivalries. For more than a century, these teams have competed fiercely, claimed titles, and offered many of baseball’s finest players and moments. They did so with an air of fierce competition and often came to serious blows. But there was always a begrudging respect between the teams and fanbases. Boston fans aspired to Yankee glory and New York fans knew they always could lose to the Red Sox. The complexion of the rivalry changed in 2004, but the competition and respect remained.
These teams also have a unique amount of commonality born through pain. Both franchises represented their cities through moments of tremendous suffering and loss with composure, heart, and tremendously exciting baseball. These seasons, 2001 and 2013, were compelling and exciting years when considering just the play on the diamond. But when accounting for the full context and backdrop, these years have taken on memorable places in the canon of the fanbases and baseball more generally.
I have painfully clear memories of both tragic events that defined all that came after for both these teams. In fact, 9-11 is the first significant world event I have any memory of.
2001
September 11th, 2001 was a uniquely terrible day for the United States of America, and particularly New York City. It has remained in the city’s memory and altered the course of domestic and international events. Twenty one years after that horrid day, it remains the single most world altering day of the 21st century.
I was seven years old and grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut. I spent that day in school, second grade, when the attacks happened and my school was close enough that I walked home. We were let out a bit early from school and I vividly remember walking into our home, turning into the television room, and seeing my brother and our au pair staring right through the television that was showing the footage of the day. I saw the the video of the second tower fall and knew immediately something bad had happened. But it took time to fully grasp the enormity of the day’s events.
I was close enough to the city that some neighbors were New Yorkers and either had family in the city or worked there themselves. One particular neighbor was a police officer and had friends in the NYPD and I believe the NYFD. I distinctly remember going over to their house after that day and he was different. Much quieter and reserved than before. I never confirmed my guess that he knew people who died in the towers but I also never really wanted to know. He seemed different for a long while and didn’t rebound to his normal gregarious self until a bit after, or when the Yankees were playing.
That’s one place I clearly diverged from my neighbors. I’m a died in the wool Boston Red Sox fan and have no love for the New York Yankees organization or fanbase. But that fall, I had a different respect for the Yankees due to their fans seeking relief and distraction from a uniquely terrible pain. It certainly relieved my neighbor’s pain and allowed him to feel some joy and happiness amidst what I could only presume was a wildly harsh time in his life.
I didn’t fully grasp what that Yankees run meant until years later, when I watched the highlights of the World Series and the Oakland series. And when I did grasp it, it struck me how remarkable a run it was and how impressive that team was.
The late 90’s to early 2000’s Yankees are the last great dynasty in MLB’s history. We haven’t had a repeat champion since the 1999 and 2000 Yankees. And the 1998 edition of the team has a claim as the greatest single-season unit in baseball’s storied history. 114 wins in the regular season and barely challenged in the postseason is unmatched dominance.
The 2001 Yankees were 95-65 in a 160 game season, an increase from their 87-74 record from the prior year but not the best team the franchise had put together in recent memory. They finished 13.5 games clear of the Boston Red Sox for first place in the AL East for the 5th of what would be 11 consecutive seasons at the top of the division.
Then came the playoffs, starting with a divisional series against the Oakland Athletics. This was just before the moneyball philosophy took hold. Jason Giambi, Jason Isringhausen, and Johnny Damon were all still A’s. Oakland also had a markedly better record, 102 wins. But they were the Wild Card team thanks to the Seattle Mariners’ 116 win season in their same division. So the Yankees got a fortunate break with home field advantage. And they promptly lost it. Oakland won the first two games of the series behind excellent pitching from Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson with Isringhausen closing both games.
New York needed a hero in game three to extend their series. And they got it with Jorge Posada’s solo home run to quiet the Oakland crowd (back when they drew sizable crowds). Shane Spencer got the only other hit for the Yanks all day off Barry Zito, and the Yankee pitching and defense did the rest. Mike Messina, acquired from divisional rival Baltimore to improve the pitching rotation with no more David Wells or David Cone, held up his end of the bargain. He pitched seven shutout innings and left the game after the series defining play.
Terence Long doubled down the right field line with Jeremy Giambi at first base. Shane Spencer fished the ball from the corner as Giambi rounded third and the throw from the outfield missed both cut-off men. Shortstop Derek Jeter ran up to get the ball at the first baseline to shovel the ball to Posada at home plate who tagged a running Giambi out to end the inning. The flip is regarded as one of the most famous plays in all Yankees postseason history and in Derek Jeter’s remarkable career. He was in the wrong position from a textbook standpoint, but he made the play and kept the Yankees ahead. Whenever discussing Jeter’s career, this is one of the signature plays discussed. Partly due to the unusual nature of the play and the fact that Giambi could’ve slid and changed Posada’s ability to make the play. Alas, it’s Jeter’s moment and the Yankees won the game 1-0.
They then dominated Game 4 9-2 and forced a trip back to Yankee Stadium. Oakland went ahead 2-0 in the first two games, mirroring what they did in the first two games of the series. But could not hold on. Alfonso Soriano notched a two rbi single and capitalized on two errors to claim the lead. Oakland hung tight, but failed to find a last answer. The Yankees won 5-3 and survived the first round of what would be a dramatic postseason.
Seattle was next and this was a shockingly easy series. The Mariners set the American League record for wins with 116, which tied the 1906 Cubs’ record for all of Major League Baseball. Ichiro Suzuki was the Rookie of the Year, Batting Champion, and runaway League MVP. Bret Boone set the record for most RBI by a second baseman (141). Eight Mariners made the All-Star game. On paper, it should’ve been a war. And yet, this was a five game victory for New York.
Close wins in Seattle set the tone (4-2 and 3-2 scores). The Mariners offered their only serious pushback with a 14-3 demolition in the Bronx for game 3. Alfonso Soriano walked off the game off, then Andy Pettite completed his series MVP performance to lift the Yankees to a 12-3 demolition and the 38th World Series in Yankee history.
The Arizona Diamondbacks provided a more dramatic test and combined with the Yankees for possibly the greatest World Series ever played. But the first two games were not close. Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson dominated in the first two games to lift Arizona to 9-1 and 4-0 wins.
Just like the Oakland series, New York needed a comeback and would have to do it against a better opponent against the backdrop of a stadium on edge. This was the first major sporting event held after the attacks and Yankee Stadium was tightly secured, especially with President George W. Bush taking to the mound to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. He did so with ease and gave the Yankee fans the first of many things to cheer for.
Roger Clemens was next. He shut down the Diamondbacks for just one run. Jorge Posada hit a home run and David Justice drove in the game winning run. Mariano Rivera notched the save and the Yankees won 2-1.
Games 4 and 5 are the ones that sit in Yankee fan memory and for good reason. Arizona led Game 4 in the ninth and was an out away from going up 3-1 in the series. A Yankee offense that did nothing against Curt Schilling all game had to get two runs in the ninth off Arizona closer Byung-hyun Kim. Tino Martinez played hero with a game tying homer that sent Yankee Stadium into the loudest reaction manager Joe Torre had ever experienced. It would only be surpassed by Derek Jester’s career defining hit, a walk off opposite field home run in the tenth, just after the clock struck midnight to signal the start of the month of November. This, along with the flip, are he two plays that define Derek Jester’s career for many fans and observers, and for good reason. They show Jeter’s postseason ability and calmness in the clutch.
New York needed more heroics the next night when they faced an identical position. The Yankees trailed by two in the ninth facing Kim and delivered. Third baseman Scott Brosius, the MVP of the 1998 World Series, blasted a two run homer to left to tie the game. Alfonso Soriano added to his own heroics with an RBI single to score Chuck Knoblauch and send the Series to the desert with New York ahead 3-2 in the series.
The heroics didn’t carry into Game 6. Randy Johnson pitched heroically and Arizona’s offense steamrolled Andy Pettite to win 15-2 and force Game 7.
The final game was a worthy conclusion. Curt Schilling and Roger Clemens dueled beautifully. Tied at 1 in the sixth, Soriano added to his postseason highlight film with a solo homer to chase Schilling and give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. New York failed to score against Johnson, who came on a day after a lengthy start, and tasked Mariano Rivera with another save. He was so sure-handed and dominant in the clutch all his career. Yet this was one of the only times he ever slipped. Arizona played two runs, capped by Luis Gonzalez’ bloop bases loaded single to score Jay Bell and win the franchise’s first World Series.
New York left the Desert empty handed. Their chance for a fourth straight World Series came up short. And yet, this is the most talked about postseason run of that age of the Yankees. It had the most dramatic collection of games between the home games against Oakland and Arizona. Even Seattle had a walk off in the mix. The backdrop of 9/11 added weight to the proceedings and even if you cheered against the Yankees regularly, they conducted themselves so perfectly in representing their wounded city that even the most cynical anti-Yankee fan couldn’t help but respect them.
The fact that the Yankees gave their fans two near identical comebacks in the World Series with their backs to the wall is remarkable. The fact that they came so close to winning without doing so is painful. But the team lifted New York and gave an ailing city something to cheer for and hold onto for the rest of their lives.
It took me until my late high school and early college years to grasp the enormity of the 2001 postseason run the New York Yankees went on. It’s the one time I would’ve been ok with the Yankees winning a World Series. I never thought I would experience a postseason run that was anything like it. And then came 2013.
2013
Twelve years after the attacks in New York, Boston held an annual day of athletic celebration with the Boston Marathon on Patriots Day. The day honors the events of April 19th, 1775, in Lexington and Concord which began the American Revolutionary War. April 19th isn’t always the holiday itself, it got moved to the nearest Monday to the day itself, but it’s still called Patriots Day. The Monday itself, known as Marathon Monday, is an institution in Boston. Red Sox play at eleven, Marathon runners come through in the early afternoon, and everyone enjoys their day off.
2013’s Patriots Day was April 15th. I was a freshman at Boston University. I spent the morning doing homework and watching the Red Sox play their annual morning game. I had a few friends who went down to the finish line on Boylston Street. I declined to join the festivities, but enjoyed the day all the same. The Red Sox walked off the Tampa Bay Rays and I went to get myself some lunch. Then I looked up at the television in the dining hall and saw a nightmarish scene.
At 2:49 PM ET, two bombs exploded at the finish line. Planted there by brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, these bombs killed three, injured hundreds, cost 17 people limbs, and gripped Boston in fear. I started walking from my place on campus toward the mayhem, got as far as Kenmore Square, then turned around and went back to my dorm so I could look through my contact list and see if my friends were safe. My friends who were at the finish line walked off the spot of the first bomb explosion five minutes before it went off. Another classmate was running the marathon and finish close to simultaneously with the bombs going off.
The week got more surreal when on that Thursday night and Friday morning, the escaping Tsarnaev brothers got in a fire fight in Cambridge, just across the river from Boston, killing an MIT Police officer named Sean Collier, who one of my friends had talked with 30 minutes before he went on that fateful shift. One brother died in the chaos and the other got in another confrontation in Watertown. One police officer was seriously injured by a gunshot and another was hit by a hand grenade and died from his injuries a year later.
We in Boston awoke to an order of lockdown as the Boston, Cambridge, and Watertown police worked with the National Guard to find the escaped brother. That night, on April 19th, the escaped brother was captured and Boston celebrated the great work of our police officers.
At this point I should note that the Marathon Bombing and 9/11 are not comparable. Almost 3,000 people died in an act of organized mass homicide and the two tallest towers in America fell. The Boston Marathon Bombing, awful as it was, was not on the scale of 9/11. Yet, It’s the closest I’ve ever been to a war zone and easily the most terrifying situation I’ve ever seen. The moment I saw the mayhem in Kenmore Square, I understood what being in Lower Manhattan on September 11th felt like. And I pray no one has to endure that type of situation ever again.
The next day, the Boston Red Sox played their first home game after Patriots Day and brought fan favorite David Ortiz back. He spoke to the crowd and uttered the famous words “This Jersey that we wear today, it doesn’t say Red Sox. It says Boston. This is our f****** city. And nobody gonna dictate our freedom. Stay strong, Thank you!” in front of a crazy crowd. Daniel Nava hit a three run home run to put the Red Sox over the Kansas City Royals on an emotional day, 4-3.
As the Yankees did for New York in 2001, the Red Sox rallied for Boston. They relieved the city’s anxieties, and helped the city heal and recover from the traumatic day thanks to their remarkable performance.
On the diamond, Boston turned a last place Team into a first place 97 win team and a division winner, the first since claiming the World Series in 2007.
The postseason for he Red Sox was not as legendary as the 2001 Yankee run, which is effectively committed to baseball’s memory now a days. But, there were still legendary moments and, unlike the Yankees, a happy ending.
I attended Game 1 of the ALDS against Tampa, in which the Red Sox demolished the Rays 12-2. David Ortiz hit two home runs in game two, to win it 7-4 for Boston. Tampa walked off the Sox in Game 3, 5-4, but Boston a Game 4 win 3-1 to eliminate Tampa from the postseason.
The ALCS gave Boston their hardest test on paper: the defending American League Champion Detroit Tigers. Miguel Cabrera won the League MVP. Max Scherzer won the Cy Young. Anibal Sanchez won the ERA title and held the Sox hitless through 8 & 1/3 innings for a 1-0 victory in Game 1 of the series. And Game 2 was perilous. Detroit led 5-1 in the eight before Boston staged a rally. Boston loaded the bases with two outs for a struggling David Ortiz. The slugger swung at the first pitch and launched a grand slam over a famously tumbling Torii Hunter to tie the game at 5 apiece. Jarrod Saltalamacchia walked the game off with a single in the 9th and Boston tied the series.
This is regarded as a highlight moment in Ortiz’ career, as the homer for Jeter against Arizona is. A moment showing clutch performances and legendary heroics. It was the only big hit he got in the series, but he did his job.
Boston shutout Detroit at Comerica in Game 3. John Lackey stymied the Tigers and Mike Napoli drove in the only run of the day with a home run. Sox won 1-0.
Detroit answered with a 5 run second inning in Game 4 and won 7-3 in a matchup that was never close.
The Red Sox snagged a close Game 5 win with Koji Uehara pitching brilliant for his 2nd of 3 saves gotten on the series. Napoli again had the game’s defining hit with an enormous homer.
Game 6 back at Fenway mirrored the first game. Detroit led Boston late but the Sox struck for another grand slam. This one came in the seventh off Shane Victorino’s bat and sent Boston to the World Series. ALCS MVP Uehara earned the save.
The World Series against St. Louis was, like the rest of the postseason, competitive, but seemed fated to go for Boston.
The first two games were split. Boston took Game 1 8-1 and St. Louis took Game 2 4-2.
Game 3 ended in complete chaos. After Boston tied the game in the 8th, St. Louis got runners to second and third. Jon Jay hit a hard ground ball to a diving Dustin Pedroia who turned and threw it to home for the out. Saltalacchia threw the ball to third, where it got away from Will Middlebrooks and into left. Jonny Gomes got to he ball and threw to beat Allen Craig running to the plate. However, Craig had stumbled around third and was interfered with by Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks and was awarded home plate and the walk off run to secure a 5-4 win.
Boston needed to rally and did behind David Ortiz in Game 4, aided by a Jonny Gomes home run and Koji Uehara picking off Kolten Wong for the final out of the game, they did for a 4-2 win.
Boston stole one more win in Game 5 on the road. Pedroia and Orzit combined for a run in the first with back to back doubles, then David Ross drove in the winning runs in the seventh. Jon Lester and Uehara pitched the team to a 4-2 win and set up a series winning chance at home.
Game 6 was not a competition. It was a coronation. Shane Victorino notched a three rbi double in the third and Boston tacked on three more runs in the fourth. John Lackey pitched brilliantly and Uehara secured a 6-1 victory to claim the team’s 3rd World Series since 2004.
Winning and Losing with Honor
I asked some older Yankee fans who had a clearer memory of the 2001 World Series and asked if this run compared to theirs 12 years earlier. All of them said yes, but you need to win to make it complete. The Yankees, for all their excellence and dramatics, didn’t win the World Series. Boston did.
The consensus seems to be that the 2001 Yankees were a better baseball team on paper than the 2013 Red Sox. That’s interesting since the Yanks won two fewer regular season games and didn’t have home field advantage in the AL playoffs while Boston had the best MLB record in 2013. But I agree with the consensus. The Yankees were a healthier franchise, having made the prior three straight World Series and saw more success with that core after the 2001 season. Boston turned over much of their team before another winning season and was last place in the division the season prior. Plus, New York boasted a better closer and starting rotation.
I bring this conversation up to show how different a position the franchises were in when they made their runs and how despite being a more talented unit, the Yankees did not achieve the final goal of a World Series crown. And yet, that almost doesn’t matter.
Both fan bases and cities suffered considerably in their respective seasons of glory. Both saw their cities altered. And both were immeasurably benefited by their baseball teams providing relief and a chance for healing through sport. They both remind the populace why sports matters. It’s a beautiful way to test individual and collective metal and achieve some measure of excellence. It teaches teamwork, unity, and can lift a people’s spirit with heroics. Derek Jeter, Alfonso Soriano, Mariano Rivera, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Koji Uehara, and many other players provided dramatic moments that defined both these franchises.
Boston and New York learned how to deal with traumatic terrorist attacks that few American cities have had to deal with. And both cities’ baseball teams provided drama, excitement, and glory with the backdrop of pain. These teams deserve special respect and admiration. Only one won the World Series in their respective run, but Yankee fans, and MLB fans more generally don’t look to Game 7 of the World Series when first thinking of the ‘01 team. They think of Games 4 and 5 against Arizona, or the flip in Oakland. Similarly, Ortiz’ grand slam against the Tigers is sown in MLB fans’ memories, in some cases among the younger fans, even before the heroics in 2004 that redefined the Red Sox. So are the Victorians and Uehara moments. And all of these memories took on a higher place in Baseball memory because the teams were carrying their cities through pain.
I never want my or any other city to experience anything as awful as 9/11 or the Marathon Bombing ever again. But at least the two cities affected were fortunate enough to have baseball teams to lift up the fan bases. I attended Game 1 of the playoffs and partied in the Boston streets after the ALCS and World Series. Boston got a special treat. I can only imagine how heartily Yankee fans must’ve partied after the 2001 ALDS, ALCS, and the three dramatic home World Series games. They deserved the parties and the fun. It’s the lone time I would’ve been ok with the Yankees winning a World Series. And I know Yankee fans who feel the same towards the 2013 Red Sox.
Chris's Corner 