A-Rod & Tek go at it and rekindle baseball’s greatest rivalry
I consider 2004 to be one of the most magical baseball summers of my life. While the Minnesota Twins going 92-70 to capture the AL Central crown certainly played a large role in that, the fabled rivalry between the New York Yankees & Boston Red Sox began to take center stage after the All-Star Break.
Because 2004 is now two decades in the rear view mirror, younger Twinkie Town fans may not recall the significance of The Curse of the Bambino. Here’s the preamble in as much of a nutshell as I can encase it:
In the 1910s, a young slugger and dominant starting pitcher (Shohei Ohtani 1.0) named Babe Ruth starred for the Red Sox—tallying titles in 1915, 1916, and 1918. But Boston owner Harry Frazee was slightly more concerned about his cable TV contracts Broadway producer status and sold Ruth to the Yankees before the 1920 season.
The Bambino quickly became the most dominant and popular athlete in baseball—nay, the world—and catapulted the Pinstripes to the top of the MLB heap.
Meanwhile, the BoSox would win exactly 0 championships from 1918-2003. Especially noteworthy: the Bronx’s dominance over Beantown. As if Bucky (Bleeping) Dent wasn’t bad enough, 2003 opened the wound raw: chants of “1918” reigned down from The House That George (Steinbrenner) Built, a wild brawl broke out, and a seemingly locked-down Sox victory quickly slipped away. It ended like it always had—and seemingly always would:
Understandably, the Sox were a bit shell-shocked on July 24, 2004—sitting 9.5 GB the AL East-leading Yanks. But things began to change that Saturday afternoon in Fenway Park.
With the Yankees up 3-0 (of course) in the 3rd inning, Alex Rodriguez stepped to the plate. In itself this was a kick to the nether regions for Boston fans, as A-Rod had been heavily courted by Red Sox management only to find himself a Yankee after Aaron Boone injured himself playing pick-up basketball.
On this occasion, however, Rodriguez was plunked by a Bronson Arroyo bender. As the third-sacker slowly removed his protective gear, he directed some choice words towards Arroyo—taking offense at the perhaps-intentional beaning.
Right then, veteran Sox catcher Jason Varitek piped in with the opinion that “we don’t hit .260 hitters”—and the bell rang:
When the dust finally settled, the slugging transitioned from fisticuffs to the maple-and-ash variety, with each club pummeling the baseball.
Again, though, as if written in the stars, the Yankees held a 10-8 lead heading to the bottom of the ninth—meaning Mariano Rivera could be deployed.
But this time, BOS refused to play the red-headed stepchild. After a Nomar Garciaparra double and a Kevin Millar single, Bill Mueller dug in against Mo and did the impossible:
For the first time in a long, long while, the Red Sox threw an effective counterpunch to a New York onslaught.
I remember listening to the radio coverage of this eastern seaboard shakedown in my 1992 Ford F-150 as I drove home from my grandparents’ northern MN cabin. Wanting to see the Yankees fail as much as anyone on this planet, I had the thought “could this be the year the Red Sox finally punch NYC in the mouth?”. Just maybe—especially with Tek having done exactly that to A-Rod.
You may be wondering “what does this have to do with my beloved Twins?”. Well, after such newfound momentum, Boston would be looking to make a big move at the upcoming trade deadline—and Minnesota would prove a willing confederate. Tune in next week for that tale!