The Boston Redsox

If ESPN were to do a survey of the five most memorable baseball games ever, I would bet my house that one of those spots would have a game in which the Boston Redsox played. In fact it would probably be either the 1975 game 6 World Series game in which Carlton Fisk hit his now famous "walk-off" shot. Or maybe it would be anyone of the games in which the Sox staged, probably the most memorable comeback in the history of Pro sports.

With 26 World Series banners under their belts, the vaunted (and in most of New England, at least ) hated Yankees are surely the most famous team in all of pro sports. Even I must concede that, as much as it pains me to do so. But to dismiss the Boston Redsox mystique amoung sports fans is to not be in tune with the history of baseball. And anyone who is a fan of baseball must, by definition of the word fan, be a fan of baseball history. In my mind, the two go hand in hand. Now, having said all that, what teams come to mind when the term Major League baseball is spoken? Of course if you are a baseball fan then your favorite team would come first, but you must, in being an objective person, leave that out of the equation for the purposes of this exercise. Because if your favorite team were, say, the Montreal Expos (Washington Nationals), how could you, in all honesty, say that team's name with regard to baseball lore? Of course, you wouldn't mention it. You would honestly think of teams like the Brooklyn Dodgers, or the Yankees, and the Redsox, perhaps the Cubs or even the Cardinals or the Giants. But out of all the Major league teams, only a handful would be storied enough to come to mind.

I'll be the first to admit, most of the Redsox history has been a side note to the Yankees greatness. The Sox have, time after time, played second fiddle to the great Yankee teams of the 30's, 50's, and 90's. In between those decades however, have been played at least two of the most memorable World Series match-ups ever, in 1975 and 1986. Yes, the Sox lost both of them, and in grand fashion. Not to mention the one game playoff in 1978 against none other then the hated Yankees. There are other moments between these two teams that I will get to later on but for now I am bringing to light the memorability of past Redsox teams on a National or even international level. Yes, I said international, this is the 21st century here people, folks from The Dominican Republic have been following Major league baseball for years, and this just in; they might even be able to play a little ball down there too. Oh, and with the arrival of players like the New York's Hideki Matsui, Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki, and Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka, Japan has solidified itself as a Major League wanna-be, and that is not meant as a derogatory label against them either as they play the game with every bit as much knowledge and probably more passion than our own boys do.

Okay, so there is the world view of baseball, and the Redsox have put themselves right in the international spotlight with the courting and signing of Matsuzaka. Of course winning the world series last year helped take the sting out of the hefty price tag ($103,000,000.00...and some change). It cost the Sox 51 million just to talk to Matsuzaka.

Well, I'll try to keep this lens updated, but you know how things go when you have more than ten lenses and you want to keep at least most of them hopping...you end up with most of them stale because you can't be everywhere at once, and end up with that dear in the head lights look.

So check back once in a while, and don't forget to rate this lens...THAT is a big thing here you know.