It’s April again which means that my favorite sport walks among us, the Red Sox are playing ball again, Fenway is in bloom and – well, you get the picture – baseball is back. This year is especially memorable for the simple reason that it follows one of the most magical seasons I’ve ever experienced. More than 2007, which couldn’t help but be dwarfed by the titanic events of 2004, (when the Red Sox made history and roared back from an 0-3 deficit to defeat the Yankees and blitz the Cardinals to win their first World Series since before the Kaiser abdicated), last year’s events, following on from the Marathon bombings had an aura all their own. The key words there are “all their own” – the accomplishments are not accompanied by ridiculous references to the “C” word, including “well – this is proof that the (“C” word) is truly gone”.
But even with last year's "improbable dream" victory there are still denizens of the old regime that raise their ugly heads any time they get a chance. This year I’ve heard the tired brigades make themselves known in two ways. One – when the Red Sox play the Yankees assorted yahoos will complain about how the fans of each team consider these to “be the only games that matter”. Here’s Jim Caple’s self-serving “sarcastic” article: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10760695/mlb-sarcastic-salute-red-sox-yankees . Caple’s no fool but he can play one fairly well from time to time – and this is obviously such a time. I’m a Sox fan, I know loads of other Sox fans, I know a few misguided souls who root for the Yankees – and amongst none of them can I find a person who feels this way. I care more about the rivalry my favorite team is involved in, obviously – but the Dodgers- Giants, Cubs- Cards, Phillies-Mets and many others – they’re all just as important and just as good. It’s the media who has created the ungodly hype about Sox-Yanks, not the fans. In truth during much of the last few years the Sox and O’s have had a better rivalry and Baltimore is a nicer place to travel to than the extraterrestrial vehicle that now doubles as a ballpark in the Bronx.
But even more annoying to me is “the Red Sox are at risk of returning to their historically losing ways” banter that starts up whenever the Sox hit a slightly purple patch. Please morons – the Red Sox do not have a history of losing ways – at least not in the memory of anyone under 50. That’s the whole freakin’ point. Winning and losing is relative - and if you measure only against championships won - well then - nobody's a "winner". But that's not the only, or even the best, way to measure winning and losing. The Red Sox, even before they started collecting trophies at the end of October, had not been losers for a long time. It is for that reason that the fan base became tortured – not because we were losing – but because we were winning – we were good, often really good, but just couldn’t win the final game played at the end of the year. The quandry was how this team could be so competitive, provide so many incredible moments, field such a dazzling array of stars, come so unbelievably, tantalizingly, excruciatingly, close - and not win even one championship. Now, because baseball is what it is – here come the stats to make you understand this on a “scientific” level.
From 1967 until last year there were 46 years of baseball played. I pick 1967 as a starting point because that is when the modern Sox era began, the” Impossible Dream” year when I was 4 years old and can first remember the remote stirrings of my long lasting mania as I stumbled around trying to pronounce “Conigliaro”, Petrocelli” and “Yastrzemski” (and settling on Tony, Rico and Yaz). During that period of time the Red Sox have had only 6 losing seasons. That equates to having played .500 or better 85% of the time. Nobody has had more. The Yankees during that time have had winning seasons 82% of the time (yes, they’ve won more total games, big freaking deal). Winning seasons matter because it means that at some point during a winning year, well after opening day, there remains a chance that your team will win it all. From 1967 to 2003, for all but 5 years (and even, sad to say, during one of the losing years since there was a split season), the Red Sox gave me hope during the summer.
That is what was difficult – not that we were losing – we weren’t. It was that we won, and won consistently, that drove you nuts. Here are some other numbers to digest; Dodgers (76), Cardinals (70), Athletics (61), Orioles, Giants, Tigers (57), Braves (54), Angels, Mets (48), Twins (47), Pirates, Royals (44), the freakin’ Marlins (24). Those are the percentage of winning seasons that each of those teams had over the same span of years. That includes some of the most dominant teams of various eras, the Weaver O’s, the LaRussa and the Herzog Cards, the Braves teams that won the NL East for over a decade straight. They all had less winning seasons than the Red Sox. Here are some other numbers associated with those teams: Yankees (7), A’s (3), Pirates, Mets, Tigers, Orioles, Twins, Dodgers, freakin’ Marlins (2), Royals, Giants, Braves, Angels (1). That’s the number of World Series won by these teams (other teams, like the Blue Jays, Diamondbacks and Reds, won as well, but you get the point and none of them had a better percentage of winning seasons than the Red Sox). I really didn’t mind any of those teams winning – even the Yankees. I figured, after they beat us the Yankees could win and, well – whatever. They’re supposed to win. OK – the Angels and Marlins winning before the Red Sox did – that mattered a bit. How the hell could the Marlins have two winning seasons in their entire history and win the World Series both times while the Red Sox, having winning year after winning year, didn’t have even one Series trophy to show for it? But – someone has to win and once it wasn’t us – like I said – whatever.
The numbers that did aggravate were these: Astros (58), White Sox (50), Rangers, Expos/Nats (43), Cubs, Indians (37), Padres, Brewers (34). These are the winning season percentages of some of the teams that, along with the Red Sox, hadn’t won World Series up to 2004 (and, other than the White Sox, haven’t won since). When commentators (sometimes supposed “experts”) call the Red Sox “historic losers” this is the crowd they are associating them with. No – no – no numbskulls. The Sox were the winningest team by certain measures – these (with the, at least to me, unexpected exception of the Astros, who turn out to be a tortured franchise) are the dregs of baseball. Losing season following losing season, never giving more than a fleeting hope to their fandom, cashing their TV rights checks and retreating back to their holes, these teams embarrassed their fans rather than lifting them to the stratosphere only to have the fuel run out just as they were about to go into orbit. These teams didn’t win 85% of the time, they didn’t succumb to Lonnie on two days rest, to a season cut short by strikes, to a Game 6 high followed by a Joe Morgan bloop, to Dent, to Mookie, to Boone. These teams were comedies, the Red Sox a tragedy. Yeah we’ve won three in ten years now and can be a bit overbearing – piss off, we’ve earned it.
And I am aware that everyone is entitled to their opinion. But to hearken back to the Red Sox “losing” past when they get off to a slow start is not an "opinion" - it's ridiculous. It is ignorance hiding as an opinion. What losing past? At least know what you’re talking about when you bring these things up. Those not aware of history are doomed to repeat it. They are also doomed to get a beer dumped on their head if they spout that nonsense while I’m standing next to them. The reason the litany of near misses hurt so much wasn’t because the Red Sox were bad most of the time – it was because they were good so much – just not quite good enough. And here I’ll use the “C” word only to put it in context – the Red Sox and their fans were never cursed, they were blessed, just not blessed with a championship. We knew, despite triple crowns, impossible dreams, homers off foul poles, Dave Henderson, Morgan magic and cowboys upping – championships don’t always follow even the seemingly most perfectly scripted seasons. That’s why last year was so special and that’s why stumbles are small stuff, and true fans don’t sweat the small stuff.
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