At 10:00, people with cell phones started receiving word from those at home watching on TV, that the players were just starting to get on the Duck Boats. It was after 11:00 when they finally reached Copley Square. Crowds now filled the sidewalks on both sides. People climbed trees and leaned out windows of the buildings above, and everyone just went crazy when the Duck Boats finally arrived. I just wish they had spread the players out better and driven more slowly. There were a total of 17 Duck Boats, but only 9 of them held players. (The rest were staff, the owners and limited partners, kids sponsored by the Red Sox Foundation, and Wally the Green Monster.) The entire starting rotation was on one boat, so it was hard to give each player his due. There were signs on each boat saying who was on board, but it seemed that by the time we picked out our favorite players, they were gone.
I did have a good vantage point, though. I saw Pedro wearing his Dominican do-rag (with a "Hey New York, who's your Daddy now?" T-shirt draped over the railing in front of him). Lowe was wearing beads and waving, and Millar and Manny held a sign that said "Jeter is playing golf today. This is better!" Tek and Mirabelli sat on the front of their boat. Kapler pointed at the girls next to me with the "We love Gabe Kapler" sign. Foulke and Embree waved, while Arroyo videotaped the crowd. One boat held former Sox players Johnny Pesky, Ted Lepcio, Rick Miller, Frank Malzone, Luis Tiant, Sam Horn, Butch Hobson, Bill Monbouquette, Jim Corsi, Oil Can Boyd, Rich Gedman, and former manager Joe Morgan. The Duck Boats shot confetti into the air as they passed.
As quickly as they came, they were gone. I thought about heading down to the water to see them again, but I knew I wouldn't be able to get as good a view as I just had. Instead, I headed home to thaw out, dry off, and start catching up on a month's worth of missed sleep. An estimated 3.2 million people were able to salute the World Champion Red Sox that day, and we all went home happy.
