My Derek Jeter story

If you're sick of all the Derek Jeter stuff, don't worry, it will all be over soon. I'll agree that maybe it is a little 2 much, and some people are laying the praise on 2 thickly, and maybe Jeter waited 2 long 2 retire. But before the circus is over, the Yankees will come to Fenway, and Derek Jeter will make his last trip to Boston wearing the uniform of the enemy.

He'll probably be cheered. But how cool would it be if he got booed? I think booing him would be the greatest tribute Sox fans could give to him. Not a boo with any malice behind it, more of a funny boo. Like how Fenway fans applauded Mariano Rivera in 2005 when the Sox were getting their World Series rings.

One last boo from Boston for their respected nemesis.

I have a Derek Jeter story to share. It was the early 2000s, I don't remember the exact year. It was during that painful stretch when the Yankees were relentlessly superior to the Sox every season. They were rolling to the World Series every year, our team was feebly reaching for the Wild Card, and annually falling short.

I was in high school. I went to Fenway for the first Yankees series of the year. That was a tradition of mine. Back then it wasn't absurdly expensive, because back then Fenway still had the feel of a 90-year old dump built on top of a swamp. Fenway was not the cool place to go, it was a cold place to go. It wasn't family friendly, it wasn't fan friendly. The building itself and all the staff seemed to not want people to come to the game. Everyone was angry, miserable, drunk, rowdy. Comparing Fenway in 2000 to Fenway in 2014 is like comparing the Wild West of the 1800s to a strip mall in modern Glendale, Arizona. Same place, different people, more amenities in the present, more "character" in the past.

The Yankees were taking batting practice. I was standing behind the first base dugout. Derek Jeter took his swings. After a barrage of low opposite field line drives, he trotted down to first. He stood on the bag, and practiced his standing leads and running leads, going through a baserunner's routine of leads and retreats to the bag.

Maybe I had a few drinks working through my system, maybe I didn't. Maybe it was those possible drinks, or maybe it was seeing his overly confident trot to first base, or a combination of both. Something stirred in me. I felt a buzz of hatred, of jealousy, of a whole jumble of emotions all at once.

And I started to yell. I can't remember what exactly I said. But it was loud, and sarcastic. Then I went into the "Nomah's Bettah!" chant.

Keep in mind, this was back when Nomar was still on the Red Sox, and back when there was still a legitimate argument about who was the best short-stop in baseball. In Boston, there was no argument.

At the top of my lungs I screamed "NOMAH'S BETTAH!" clap, clap, clap clap clap. Others around started to clap along with me.

Jeter stopped his routine on first base, and looked at me.

"NOMAH'S BETTAH!" clap, clap, clap clap clap. And Jeter clapped along with me.

I had no idea what to do then. I was baffled. Looking back it was an ingenious response to a heckler.

I yelled out a promise to him, that because he clapped along with me, I wouldn't boo him that night. And I didn't. And if memory serves he got an RBI or two in the game. And I couldn't boo him. The next night I booed him as hard as I could.

And that's my Derek Jeter story.

Photo Credit: Charles Krupa/AP Photo

So the Red Sox Will Be Below .500

For the first time since 1997, the Red Sox will finish below .500. 1997 doesn't seem like very long ago, but remember that was the year Pedro Martinez won the Cy Young, for the Expos. The Orioles won the AL East. Nomar Garciaparra won Rookie of the Year. Derek Jeter had 385 career hits. Tom Gordon was a starting pitcher. The Marlins won the World Series.

That's how long it's been since the Red Sox lost more games than they won.

Back then, Dan Duqeutte made a trade for an Ace (Pedro), and the Sox became contenders in 1998 and 1999. The Sox could use another transaction like that.

Daisuke Matsuzaka laid another egg last night. The good news was he only walked 1. The bad news was he allowed 9 hits in 3 innings. Alfredo Aceves looked just as bad, Daniel Bard looked even worse.

I sincerely hope the Sox don't keep Matsuzaka. He's slow, and he isn't very good. If the rest of the rotation had more certainty, I wouldn't mind him as a #5 starter. But with the top of the rotation in flux, Daisuke is too much of an unknown variable.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

Tim Wakefield Day at Fenway

Yesterday was Tim Wakefield Day at Fenway Park. And like all ceremonies at Fenway these days, I get mixed feelings. Sentimentality swells in me. Then I remember that I'm witnessing a show, made to pull on my heartstrings and convince me to spend money on a product that I don't really enjoy watching anymore.

One nice moment was when Doug Mirabelli was introduced. He was chauffeured into Fenway Park in a Boston Police cruiser, an allusion back to 2006, when Mirabelli was escorted by Massachusetts State Police from Logan Airport to Fenway Park in order to reach Fenway in time to catch for Wakefield in a game against the Yankees.

I wonder if the State Police are a little upset that the BPD got recognized in this ceremony. Then again, a Statie parking in centerfield at Fenway Park would probably lead to all sorts of jurisdictional tugs-of-war. "I'm in charge of this ceremony!" "Not anymore you're not." Et cetera.

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Anyway, throughout the game, pre-recorded messages of former Sox players were displayed on the jumbotron between innings. Pedro, Nomar, and others talked about how important Tim Wakefield was as a player and a teammate.

It was a nice touch. It wasn't just a token pre-game ceremony, it continued on throughout the game.

I liked Wakefield. I miss Wakefield. Not so much for his pitching, more for his character. He did whatever the Sox needed him to do. He started, he closed, he was a setup-guy. Right now the Sox lack character guys like Wakefield. There are a number of Anti-Wakefields currently pitching for the Sox. One is from Texas and is named Josh.

It was nice to see Wakefield honored yesterday, even if it was an orchestration of the Red Sox propaganda machine.

Fenway's 100th Birthday Party

Fenway Park turned 100 on Friday. You might have heard about it. It's crazy to think about a facility being used and abused each year by fans and players, and it's still standing. Fires have burnt down grandstands, floods have seeped in from the marshy Fens, and I once threw up in Section 14.

When Fenway Park opened, World War I was 4 years from starting. There was no TV, no radio broadcast of the game. People got their news from telegraph. The Civil War had only been over for 47 years.

Fenway was 28 years old when the US joined World War II. It was 57 when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. It was 72 when I was born. And it will probably outlive me,

The ceremony on Friday was tasteful, emotional, well planned, and even moving at times. It brought back memories of childhood, and made me remember why I blindly loved Pedro Martinez and Mo Vaughn. It made me remember that the team we have here in Boston is an integral, inseparable part of life in this town. It made me remember how unreasonably sad I was in 2003 and how unreasonably happy I was in 2004.

It was nice. The players came out, from different generations, from different classes of stardom in this town. Some players I'd never heard of. Some players I saw when I was a kid. Some players I've read about. Wilton Veras, Bill Monbouquette, Nomar, Millar, Lowell, Yaz, Doerr, Pesky, Petrocelli, even Jose Canseco. The obscure, the famous, the infamous.

Even the flyover gave me goosebumps. An F-16 flying wing-to-wing with a P-51. That's just cool. Although the P-51 flew in Europe and the Pacific when Fenway was already 30 years old. A formation of planes ranging from a WW I biplane might have been more appropriate. Or maybe a Marine Corps F4U Corsair and an F9F Panther (the planes Ted Williams flew in World War II and Korea, respectively). But only a history nerd like myself would make such specific suggestions.

I felt like a kid as I watched the proceedings. Then I realized that this was precisely how Larry Lucchino and John Henry wanted me to feel. This was how they got Sox fans to shell out hundreds of dollars to watch mediocre players blow 8 run leads and then be happy about it. They make us feel like we're in Disney World, then they pick our pockets. And we smile as they do it.

Lucchino and Henry didn't care about the Sox until they realized it was an asset they could build up, squeeze, then sell. They see Fenway Park as a tourist attraction, not a ballpark. I used to go to games to see the Sox play. People today go just to go, because it's cool. It's the trendiest bar in town with an obscene cover charge, overpriced beer, and lousy entertainment.

So while it was cool to see Pedro, Nomar, Millar, Lowell, Wakefield, and everyone else. Knowing that it was all part of the Lucchino-Henry money making master plan gave me a bad after taste. Fenway's 100th Anniversary wasn't a celebration of Boston, or the Sox, or Fenway. It was a marketing tool. It was exploitation of the team's most valuable resource. It was about image and money, and "growing the brand," as a business person would say.

And I wouldn't care if "growing the brand" included signing a frontline starting pitcher. But it doesn't.