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My Favorite Game

October 10, 1999 – Fenway Park, Section 1

October 10 is the anniversary of my favorite game of the 500+ I’ve been to at Fenway Park – Game 4 of the 1999 Division Series against the Indians.  It’s my favorite not only because it was the first time I experienced the intensity of a playoff game in Boston, but because of the sheer improbability of my being there in the first place.

I was living in Atlanta in 1999 when the Red Sox made the playoffs.  Living a thousand miles away, I wasn’t able to camp out for tickets, but my brother in New Hampshire managed to get some for Game 4.  I was supposed to work that weekend and had used up all my vacation days, but I was able to trade in my Thanksgiving holidays, even though it was only early October.  I bought a plane ticket to Boston.  I was going to the game!  (Assuming, of course, that the Red Sox didn’t sweep – for surely there was no way they could be swept with Pedro Martinez pitching two of the five games, right?)

But before we knew it, Pedro was injured in Game 1.  The Sox lost.  It was still possible to win the series, but their psychological edge was gone.  Suddenly they went from invincible to very beatable.  Almost predictably, the Sox lost Game 2 by a big margin.  The morning of Game 3, my flight was scheduled to leave for Boston.  If they didn’t win when they played later that afternoon, there wouldn’t even be a Game 4, and I would have wasted the money for the plane ticket as well as the chance to have Thanksgiving off.  The word that kept going through my head as I boarded the plane was “delusional.”  I’d been following the Red Sox long enough to know their chances of winning even one game – let alone three straight – were pretty slim.  Back in that era, the thought of the Red Sox mounting a postseason comeback was unfathomable. But I got on the plane anyway, figuring that even if the worst happened, I’d still have a truly pathetic Red Sox fan story to someday tell the grandkids.

To my surprise, they won Game 3.  I did have a chance to go to Game 4!  And to my sheer delight, the Red Sox won, 23-7!  I wound up with bruises on both my knees from banging them on the seat in front of me every time I jumped up to cheer in that tiny little park.  But it was an incredible experience – the closest I’d ever come at that point in my life to feeling what it’s like to win – and one that I’ll always treasure.

Here’s a link to my Game Summary page to read more about that whole classic series: 1999 Division Series

Posted on October 10, 2019 · Permalink · Share on Facebook
Posted in: Personal, Postseason

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