SOSH has a new author

snowmanny

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Dec 8, 2005
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I would argue that it was more than just the peak of the rivalry. It was the peak of our entire fandom of any team in any sport, ever. Nothing will ever matter as much again.
I think this is right. Celtics 80’s was very high. Bruins 70’s was very high for a lot of people I know. For me the Patriots peak was 2014 because of how desperately I wanted Brady and Belichick to get #4 and how much I hated all of America for dismissing Brady’s skill along with Deflategate/Spygate. But Red Sox -Yankees in that era tops it all and 2004 was the apex.

Edit: whatever game 5 changed and whatever relative ease game 7 granted by being a blowout was all overwhelmed by the monsoon-level stress that was game 6. Any other year the Sox lose that game...Clark hits a walk-off pop fly or there’s an error or the umpires refuse to overturn their blown calls.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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We had a thread a while back about when we KNEW the Sox would beat the Yankees in 2004. For me it was only when Bellhorn hit the homer in game 7 following Pedro's shaky inning of work (in which he gave up a couple of runs and let the dormant Yankee crowd back into it). Until then, I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But yeah, 2003 and 2004, back to back ALCS matchups, both going 7 games.....it was absolutely unreal.
 

Archer1979

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Nice work BaseballJones! Congratulations.

I still remember that series so vividly. I tend to get a tad superstitious when the Sox are on a playoff run and 2004 was no exception (examples... same shirt -unwashed; lights on while the game is going well, off when they go bad; and for some odd reason, laundry running). I kept mixing it up until the Sox won Game 4 so the shirt stayed on and was still in it's relative dawn of funk. Game 5 seemed like a tease... yet I was eternally optimistic back then so when Ortiz bounced a homer off the Volvo sign, I knew the Sox were going to win. The most gut-wrenching for me, by far, was Ortiz's last at bat against Loaiza. Loaiza was supposed to have been the trade deadline pickup that would put NY's pitching staff in the World Series. Pitch after pitch after pitch after pitch to Ortiz (ten in all). At that point, Ortiz had the '67 Yaz-like aura so it was just a matter of time, just felt like hours.

Anyways, congratulations on the success! The game certainly did deserve to be immortalized in print.
 

Dotrat

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Congrats @BaseballJones! This is wonderful.

And @DJnVa, one of my best friends is a Bronx-born Yankee lifer, and we kept joking that the Series was killing us--because we had to go to work and try to function, with no success, through the work days following Game 4.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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You guys are amazing. I'm so encouraged by all of you. This book, ten days before launch date (Aug 24), is all the way up to #57 in the category of baseball books. I'm quite sure it's because of SOSH. It would be beyond my wildest dreams to get into the top 10.


43463
 

edoug

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Jul 15, 2005
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You guys are amazing. I'm so encouraged by all of you. This book, ten days before launch date (Aug 24), is all the way up to #57 in the category of baseball books. I'm quite sure it's because of SOSH. It would be beyond my wildest dreams to get into the top 10.


View attachment 43463
And you were originally going to do the history of macramé. Good decision. ;)
 

kartvelo

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For many of us it didn't. We all remembered 2003 when it seemed the Sox had game 7 in hand but they lost, just as they had so many previous times when they seemed to be in the driver's seat. Sure, they had won single important games before but they had yet to win a crucial series against the Yankees and to follow up with a World Series victory in our lifetimes. I personally felt the possibility of impending doom until they took a big lead in game 7.
I started to feel optimistic when the Sox sounded The Bell/horn of Doom in the 8th.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
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Congrats Baseball Jones, what an accomplishment! Game 5 was my favorite of the 4/7. I’m already Jones’ing to read it!
 

Manramsclan

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Jul 14, 2005
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24 hours! Game 5 started the same day Game 4 ended.
haha I wrote 36 and deleted it and I would've still been wrong.
That said, drinking myself nearly to death after game 3 and getting on the Fung Wah bus to go up to Boston for game 4 was a part of it all for me too.
 

Norm Siebern

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May 12, 2003
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Congratulations Baseball Jones! What a fantastic achievement! I pre-ordered it today and am looking forward to reading.

This summer I read "The Greatest Game," by Richard Bradley, in which the author takes a deep dive into the October 2, 1978 playoff between the Red Sox and Yankees specifically and the '78 season in general. I was at that game in person, and enjoyed the book thoroughly, while obviously hating the ending. It left me wishing that someone would produce a work on the 2004 playoffs, so that I could enjoy that ending. You have made that wish come true. Can't wait.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Congratulations Baseball Jones! What a fantastic achievement! I pre-ordered it today and am looking forward to reading.

This summer I read "The Greatest Game," by Richard Bradley, in which the author takes a deep dive into the October 2, 1978 playoff between the Red Sox and Yankees specifically and the '78 season in general. I was at that game in person, and enjoyed the book thoroughly, while obviously hating the ending. It left me wishing that someone would produce a work on the 2004 playoffs, so that I could enjoy that ending. You have made that wish come true. Can't wait.
Awesome, thank you! I hope it’s worth your wait!!
 

Cumberland Blues

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I watched this game w/ Mike F and yecul at the Vermont Pub & Brewery...Mike had some superstitions about watching extras in the pub, so he went home to watch after the 9th...yecul & I stayed till the end. I would argue for this game as the best game of all time. Someone above likened ot to a heavyweight title fight - and that is apt only if it's a fight with multiple knockdowns and both guys getting up off the mat and going back for more.

And this...100x this...
I would argue that it was more than just the peak of the rivalry. It was the peak of our entire fandom of any team in any sport, ever. Nothing will ever matter as much again.
The 13 months starting in October 2003 were exhausting...I do not know if I could've sustained that level of intensity any longer had they not won in 2004 - I cannot imagine anything ever mattering like those damn baseball games mattered.
 

canyoubelieveit

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Apr 8, 2006
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Please consider ordering it through an independent bookseller. Thanks!
Any specific recommendations of where to buy it? I usually order stuff through Amazon like a putz.

Really look forward to reading this book! Was at Fenway for the game, have rewatched or relistened to it about 10,000 times since (after about the 8000th time I started to believe the odds were no worse than 50/50 that the final knuckleball to Sierra would go to the backstop). Always eager for a new way to relive the magic.
 

SoxJox

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Dec 22, 2003
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Congrats John. But do I really have to read it again? I already know the outcome. Just kidding. Great effort. You make us all proud.

And, we need to get you on record. SOSH. Long or soft "O"?
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
24,375
Any specific recommendations of where to buy it? I usually order stuff through Amazon like a putz.

Really look forward to reading this book! Was at Fenway for the game, have rewatched or relistened to it about 10,000 times since (after about the 8000th time I started to believe the odds were no worse than 50/50 that the final knuckleball to Sierra would go to the backstop). Always eager for a new way to relive the magic.
If you’d like an autographed copy (or non-autographed) you can order it from my website.

johnvampatella.com

But now I feel a little dirty because this is out and out commercializing here. Mods forgive me.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Congrats John. But do I really have to read it again? I already know the outcome. Just kidding. Great effort. You make us all proud.

And, we need to get you on record. SOSH. Long or soft "O"?
I pronounce it like Saduhara Oh, or as in, Oh, I didn’t know that’s how it’s pronounced.
 

ZachCrouch

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Ordered.

I was at this game solo in the old Roof Box seats (pre State Street Pavilion). Got out of work early to make first pitch at 5 and got home at like 1am.

I have so many wonderful memories of that game and night. Fenway was unlike anything I have seen before or since. The crowd was hanging onto hope with our fingernails and wouldn’t give in to the Yankees either.

I cannot wait to read this. Congrats!
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Thanks guys. I’m so encouraged by all of you! For those of you that remember the game, what was the low point for you and what (besides the end) was a high point?
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Good ones. I agree with the low point. Of course it was Jeter with the opposite field double. Ugh.

A high point for me was when they secured the third out of the 13th inning, which was as nerve-wracking an experience as I’ve ever had watching the Red Sox. Getting out of that inning was like the biggest exhale ever.
 

Beomoose

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Thanks guys. I’m so encouraged by all of you! For those of you that remember the game, what was the low point for you and what (besides the end) was a high point?
Low point for me was that I had to work during the early part of the game (Game 4 too). Listened to Dave Roberts living in Gordon's head in the 9th on my S-10's radio driving home. Highest High is obviously Papi's walk-off bloop, but when we survived Tek catching Wake without damage I was riding pretty high in "we're WINNING this FUCKIN GAME!" mode.
 

Rheal With Cheese

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One of the frustrating low points was bottom of the 7th. Down 2, top of the order coming up that inning and with Rivera looming It felt like their best of the last chances. Bellhorn doubled to turn the lineup over and then there are 2 on with 1 out and Manny/Papi coming up.

So it felt like their last two best shots and then Tom Gordon comes in and Manny taps into a relatively weak double play. I guess Gordon won the 7th.

I do remember the next inning with Papi hitting the laserVolvo off the Volvo sign thinking “why couldn’t Manny have just popped up and left a base runner”

maybe momentum turned when the Yankees played for 1 run in the 8th with the Jeter bunt only to have A-Rod k with 1 out and a big run on 3rd.

Then after the Papi homer free swinging Millar goes down 0-2 before drawing the walk.

Someone could probably write a good book about just the what if’s seventh and eighth innings alone in that game

Even back then, when it was done, but especially after the series, game five was my favorite, not only because of the fact that I was at the time coming off like a great last stand in Fenway. Had Pedro, had Matsui getting buzzed, Varitek deciding to hit righty vs Mussina. It was pretty much tense and tight for both teams from inning 1 through inning 14. Didn’t Ortiz almost hit a A winning home run that just went foul on right in one of the extra innings. That last at bat - longest at bat of the game. Maybe the series.

greatest Fenway game Of all time. Good luck with the book! I’ll buy a copy in time
 

Murderer's Crow

Dragon Wangler 216
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Thanks everyone! I appreciate it. It was a blast to write and a number of SOSH folks helped give it a look over and give me feedback during the process. In many ways, this is a SOSH book.

I hope those of you that read it like it!
Is it alright if I buy it to support you and then burn it?
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Is it alright if I buy it to support you and then burn it?
Haha you can do whatever you like with it!

I think it’s a fair treatment of the game even from a Yankee point of view but I obviously understand why a Yankee fan would be, uh, less interested in revisiting that game.
 

Murderer's Crow

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I went to Games 4 & 5 and game 4 was pretty cold and I hate being cold so I was pretty bundled up. Gloves, hat, whatever. I wore the same get up to Game 5, and I’m usually not superstitious but I didn’t dare take anything off even though it turned out to be much milder weather. I was a sweaty mess.

EDIT: Perhaps the Yankee fans on this site are outliers when they downplay 2004 or act as if they knew they were likely beat before Game 7. For all the a****** Yankee fans who shouted “1918” at Fenway Park and drunkenly taunted the Red Sox fans and boasted about titles they won in the 1920’s, and Yankee announcers with their condescension, and even snide comments by guys like Yogi Berra, well, I can guarantee this series was a turning point. They either had to shut the f up about what, until then, seemed to have been their favorite topic ever or get a killer comeback thrown in their faces. The change in demeanor of Yankee fans at Fenway was almost immediately refreshing.
To Red Sox Fans 2004 matters. To me, 2004 just happened and is whatever. It was one of the many things of that era that ended in a short timeframe. It also was almost 20 years ago so call it hindsight or call it whatever you want, but there aren't any wounds left to heal for that one. All the players on that team who matter except Mussina got their chance at a championship. The 1918 taunts would have stopped whether you won in 2004 or 2007. Yankees fans are dumb but they would have switched from 1918 to just throwing baseballs at the players heads or something.

Haha you can do whatever you like with it!

I think it’s a fair treatment of the game even from a Yankee point of view but I obviously understand why a Yankee fan would be, uh, less interested in revisiting that game.
I'm kidding of course. I'll happily read it. Congrats on the book! If you need anyone to do the audiobook voiceover, I recommend Michael Kay.
 

Archer1979

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Good questions... Low point wasn't so much the game, but Fox with the crowd shots that showed the look of hopelessness prior to the 8th inning. Fox didn't see the comeback happening so the narrative was that the Sox ere going down again and bringing the Fenway Faithful with them. Just plain gloomy.

The highlight on the field prior to Ortiz's game winning single was Ortiz's monster shot off the Volvo sign and watching the ball rippling through the sign.

One of the things I had forgotten about was during the crowd's reaction shots at the end of the game, there was a shot of some guy holding up a sign that said "Just When I Thought I Was Out, They Pulled me Back In!". Haven't seen that sign since, but it was so spot on for the moment.
 

Jim Ed Rice in HOF

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Jul 21, 2005
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As others have pointed out, those four days were the longest year of my life. I was at games 3, 4 and 5 (well, most of game 3; I left in a foul mood when it was out of hand) and the exhaustion I felt that week was something I could never describe nor honestly live through now that I'm in my 50's. I'd gotten home from game 4 around 3:30, got up and went to work and then cut out early to make it to the early start time of game 5. Many of my section 36 neighbors were at all three games as well and we were talking before game 5 started how exhausted we were and how we were happy the game was starting early so that we could get some much needed sleep by getting to bed at a reasonable hour. HA! Someone mentioned it upthread but the NLCS game started at around 8 and finished before the Sox game.

I said to my wife during games 6 and 7 that I was much more nervous watching at home and I'm not really sure that was the case or it was just the fact that I was sharing my angst/terror/whatever with a bunch of folks in the bleachers. My friend who has a pair of tickets next to mine was sitting down, head in hands, every time the Yankees came to bat from around the 9th inning on. He figured the crowd reaction would tell him whether good or bad things were happening. He'd occasionally ask what was happening when there was a groan from the crowd and I thought he was going to stroke out as I described the Wakefield/Tek passed ball extravaganza. At one point around the 10th or 11th inning I made a trip to the bathroom and all pretense of a no smoking park was out the window -there were plumes of smoke coming from basically every stall as people were trying to calm their nerves and feed their nicotine habit.

After Damon came around to score and after the celebration in the stands I was walking out and said to one of the ushers that I'd seen a bunch of times during the season "I'll see you Saturday". To say there was a change in my outlook from when I filed out of the park midway through the 7th inning of game 3 to leaving after game 5 would be an understatement. Yes, I'd lived through many Sox failures but the way the Sox were able to come back in those two games made me think that maybe they would actually do it.
 

tims4wins

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I've mentioned this in a different thread, but I had forgotten that Pedro struck out Jeter on 3 pitches to start the game. The crowd was absolutely electric - full crowd was standing on the 3rd pitch of the game. Totally different atmosphere than game 4, although that shifted in the middle innings when the MFY took the lead and hope looked lost again.

Here's the at bat (8:24 mark, linked in the video). Enjoy this ~45 seconds.

View: https://youtu.be/4Ttjci5KPQo?t=504
 

Return of the Dewey

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One of my favorite two shots from the end of Game 5 was first when Trot Nix bear hugs Papi while screaming in his face and second when Pokey Reese doing the same thing. Two great Hype Men.

After 2003, my wife refused to watch the 2004 ALCS with me because I just made her more nervous with all my ranting and raving during games. So, I was in my living room by myself for Game 5, while my wife hunkered down with my then 2 yo, 3 yo and 1 month old sons, and did my ranting and raving through SoSH Game Thread.
 
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kartvelo

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I've mentioned this in a different thread, but I had forgotten that Pedro struck out Jeter on 3 pitches to start the game. The crowd was absolutely electric - full crowd was standing on the 3rd pitch of the game. Totally different atmosphere than game 4, although that shifted in the middle innings when the MFY took the lead and hope looked lost again.

Here's the at bat (8:24 mark, linked in the video). Enjoy this ~45 seconds.

View: https://youtu.be/4Ttjci5KPQo?t=504
4:46:15-ish is Papi's AB.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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I’m glad I wrote about the 2004 team and not the 2021 team. I have been thinking of what a title would be for a book about the 2021 Red Sox. The options aren’t pretty.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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For those of you that ordered a book on Amazon, the launch date is tomorrow so you should be getting your copy in the next day or two. Please write a review and post it on Amazon if you all wouldn’t mind. That would be hugely helpful.

I was also on WEEI in Providence (103.7) this past Saturday morning if anyone wants to hear me talk about the book and the game.

https://www.audacy.com/podcasts/weei-providence-20510/cordischi-coit-author-john-vampatella-calls-in-to-discuss-his-book-on-the-2004-red-sox-8-21-2021-669458828