Welcome again to the previous.
On Friday, we walked down the earliest stretches of Red Sox memory lane to revisit their first, 1,000th, 2,000th, and three,000th victories.
Partly two, we soldier on, via the top of the Ted Williams period into the Carl Yastrzemski years, and much past.
No. 4,000 – July 5, 1953 (10-2, Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park/Connie Mack Stadium)
Pink Sox supervisor: Lou Boudreau
President of the USA: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Boston’s 4,000th and 10,000th victories have been gained precisely 72 years aside, on July 5 1953 and 2025.
There was a component of full circle-ness for the Boston ball membership on that day in Philadelphia. Some 52 years earlier, then often known as the Individuals, that they had defeated the Athletics for his or her first-ever victory. Now, they have been the Pink Sox, and it was the A’s who have been on the cusp of adjusting their identify.
Within the early a long time of the twentieth century, the 2 golf equipment had been the crown jewels of the American League. Led by Connie Mack, their part-owner since their inception in 1901 and supervisor for his or her first 50 seasons, the A’s gained the World Sequence in 1910, 1911, 1913, 1929 and 1930. Lengthy earlier than legendary NBA coach Pat Riley trademarked the time period ‘Three-peat’ and tried to steer the Lakers to 1, the A’s could have accomplished the sports activities world’s first four-peat, if not for the Pink Sox, who snatched the 1912 pennant (and gained the championship).
However by the Nineteen Thirties, the A’s have been in hassle. Not like Boston’s new younger millionaire proprietor Tom Yawkey, who had cash to burn, Mack needed to shed wage. Whereas Mack and different homeowners tightened their belts amidst the Nice Despair, Yawkey acquired a number of Philly stars, together with Jimmie Foxx and Lefty Grove.
July 5 wasn’t the final time the Pink Sox would play the A’s in Philadelphia, however the finish was drawing close to.
Through the ‘54 season, a heartbroken Mack gave his sons, Earle and Roy, permission to promote his beloved crew. By ‘55, that they had a brand new proprietor and a brand new residence, in Kansas Metropolis.
Additional finishing the Boston-Philadelphia circle, the Pink Sox accomplished their 4,000th win beneath supervisor Lou Boudreau, who in the end departed Boston after the ‘54 season to helm the A’s for his or her first three seasons in Kansas Metropolis.
Trying on the A’s in the present day, enjoying in a minor league ballpark in Sacramento as they assemble a brand new ballpark in one more metropolis, it’s arduous to consider they have been as soon as Boston’s rival dynasty on the east coast. The distinction between the membership that deserted Philadelphia and Shibe, and the membership that performs at Fenway to this present day, is stark.
However with out Yawkey, the Pink Sox could very nicely have met an identical destiny. Between Might 1926 and the top of the ‘33 season, they performed in a charred, dilapidated Fenway which had final its left discipline bleachers to a fireplace in Might ‘26. When Yawkey took over in ‘33, he not solely repaired the ballpark, however made a number of upgrades. Twice, in reality, as a second fireplace ravaged the newly-upgraded outfield seats on Jan. 5, 1934.
Although they by no means managed to win a championship in Yawkey’s lifetime, and can eternally be remembered because the final crew to combine, the Pink Sox and Fenway survived and remained as a result of he determined they need to.
And in consequence, you’re studying this.
No. 5,000 – Aug. 27, 1966 (3-2 at Baltimore Orioles, Memorial Stadium)
Pink Sox supervisor: Billy Herman
President of the USA: Lyndon B. Johnson
As we attain the midway level of this retrospective, it’s value declaring that regardless of many prolonged peaks and valleys of their franchise historical past, the Pink Sox reached every thousandth victory with some measure of consistency; it takes between 12-14 seasons for them to achieve a brand new benchmark.
That was notably spectacular within the aftermath of the Babe Ruth sale, when the Pink Sox did not compile a single profitable season from 1920-33.
Win No. 5,000 was additionally the membership’s first within the growth period. With the additions of the California Angels and a brand new Washington Senators – the earlier Senators having relocated to turn out to be the Minnesota Twins in ‘61 – the Pink Sox now needed to take care of 9 AL rivals, not seven.
On Aug. 27, 1966, the Pink Sox, with a 57-77 document, have been within the cellar as soon as once more. Their hosts, the Baltimore Orioles, have been en path to a World Sequence championship.
So unsurprisingly, it was a detailed one. It was additionally the primary of the 1000’s to be gained at night time, regardless of proprietor Tom Yawkey main his beloved Fenway Park into the trendy age of baseball again on June 13, 1947.
A number of Pink Sox and Orioles legends confronted off at Memorial Stadium that summer season night: Luis Aparicio led off for Baltimore, with Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson batting third and cleanup.
This win can also be distinctive due to who didn’t play. Carl Yastrzemski, whose 3,308 video games performed in a Pink Sox uniform will seemingly stand because the franchise document till the top of time, appeared in 160 of his crew’s 162 video games in ‘66.
This wasn’t one among them.
After falling to the Orioles 3-2 within the twelfth inning the night time earlier than, the Pink Sox flipped the script. Led by Joe Foy, who went 2 for 4 with a double, run, and two RBI, the Pink Sox scored all three runs off Orioles starter Frank Bertaina, knocking him out of the sport after simply 4.2 innings. A younger Tony Conigliaro performed proper discipline. Regardless of issuing 5 walks, Jim Lonborg pitched 7.2 shutout innings, and was picked up by Invoice Brief and Don McMahon, who recorded two outs apiece to complete off the soon-to-be champs.
The next 12 months, a Pink Sox roster with lots of those self same gamers put collectively the Inconceivable Dream season.
No. 6,000 – Might 6, 1978 (Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park)
Pink Sox supervisor: Don Zimmer
President of the USA: Jimmy Carter
The circumstances of win No. 1,000 and No. 6,000 have been oddly similar:
Fenway Park, doubleheader, Chicago White Sox.
With 38-year-old Yaz now enjoying first base, Carlton Fisk behind the dish, and a legendary outfield contingent in Jim Rice, Fred Lynn, Dwight Evans and Bernie Carbo, Pink triumphed over White twice that day. Jerry Remy, acquired from the California Angels the earlier December, was simply starting to forge a bond with the Pink Sox that might stay till his passing in 2021.
However each time anybody in Boston thinks in regards to the 1978 Pink Sox, they sadly solely bear in mind the brutal interval that punctuated the season’s sentence. Ending with a 99-63 document to match the Yankees, the rivals went to a tiebreaker.
The Pink Sox could have triumphed in each ends of the doubleheader on that day in Might, however within the recreation that mattered most, the triumph belonged to a person named Bucky Dent.
Or “Bucky (Expletive) Dent” as he was identified from that day on.
As Yankees-related postscript, Boston’s supervisor in ’78 went on to be a central determine in one more chaotic second in baseball’s best rivalry. 1 / 4 of a century later, the Pink Sox and Yankees met within the ’03 ALCS. When Pedro Martinez threw a pitch close to Karim Garcia’s head and sparked a bench-clearing brawl throughout Recreation 3, Don Zimmer charged on the Pink Sox pitcher. Martinez instinctively tossed the previous Boston skipper and then-Yankees coach, 72 on the time, to the bottom.
No. 7,000 – April 14, 1990 (4-3, Milwaukee Brewers at Fenway Park)
Pink Sox supervisor: Joe Morgan
President of the USA: George Bush
Win No. 7,000 was one other one-run shut shave. This time, over the Milwaukee Brewers, who have been, again then, an American League East crew.
It wouldn’t be an early Nineties Pink Sox triumph with out Roger Clemens, although it wasn’t essentially his finest work. ‘Rocket’ struck out 10, however allowed all three Brewers runs, on eight hits and a stroll, over his 6.2 innings. By comparability, Brewers starter Chris Bosio exited after 5 scoreless innings of two-hit ball, solely to look at Don August surrender all 4 runs (three earned) within the sixth.
Wade Boggs, main off and play third, collected two of Boston’s seven hits and plated a run within the contest. Dwight Evans, batting fifth because the designated hitter, was the holdover from win No. 6,000 again in ’78.
The Pink Sox entered the Nineties on a excessive word. They completed that season with an 88-74 document for the AL East crown. However like all Pink Sox crew since 1918, October introduced little pleasure and no glory.
However again, for a second, to this closing thousandth victory of the twentieth century.
It could very nicely have been the final one at Fenway, too. Boston’s ballpark was already a dinosaur when the Pink Sox triumphed over the visiting Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 early within the 1990 season. And when Main League Baseball gave the Pink Sox the ’99 All-Star Recreation, they did so beneath the idea that the emerald jewel of Boston wasn’t lengthy for this world.
As an alternative, by the point the Pink Sox reached their 8,000th victory, early within the new millennium, the ball membership and its historical cathedral have been on the cusp of reaching one thing even larger.
However for that story, you’ll have to attend for Half 3.
