April 20 and 21, 2012: The Boston Red Sox honor the 100th Anniversary of their home field, Fenway Park. They play the team they played when it opened on April 20, 1912, the team that had since become their arch-rivals: The New York Yankees.
They ended up wishing they hadn't.
In that 1912 opener, the Red Sox won, 7-6. So much had changed, and Fenway had changed significantly, too. But it was still standing, the last ballpark, other than Wrigley Field in Chicago, from before the 1962 season.
On Friday afternoon, the 100th Anniversary of its opening, the Sox welcomed back alumni from as much of their history as was still available. Hall of Fame 2nd baseman Bobby Doerr was the last living MLB player from the 1930s. Shortstop and longtime coach Johnny Pesky, known as "Mr. Red Sox," was Doerr's double-play partner on the Sox team that won the 1946 American League Pennant.
Legends like Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, Luis Tiant and an obviously drunk Pedro Martinez and the somewhat less than legendary Kevin Millar saw the Yankees spoil the festivities. Eric Chavez hit 2 home runs, and 1 each was hit by Alex Rodriguez, Russell Martin and Nick Swisher, as the Yankees won the Centennial game, 6-2. Winning pitcher: Ivan Nova. Losing pitcher: Clay Buchholz.
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And then, in front of a nationally-televised audience on Fox on Saturday, as the great Yankee shortstop-turned-broadcaster Phil Rizzuto would have said, "Holy cow! This is unbelievable!"
Starting for the Yankees, Freddy Garcia didn't have bad control: He didn't walk anybody, and threw 30 of his 48 pitches for strikes. He just got pounded, allowing 5 runs on 7 hits, and he didn't even get out of the 2nd inning. Clay Rapada and David Phelps were no better, and the Red Sox led 9-0 after 5 innings.
The Yankees got a run back in the top of the 6th, on the switch-hitting Mark Teixeira's 2nd home run of the season, batting righthanded off Sox starter Felix Doubront. No big deal, it was now 9-1 Sox.
Then came the top of the 7th. Bobby Valentine, the former New York Mets player and manager, in his 1st month of managing the Sox (in what turned out to be his only season managing them), replaced Dubront with former Phillies washout Vicente Padilla -- the kind of pitcher the Phils had to get rid of before they started winning again.
Padilla started off all right, striking out Andruw Jones. From there, the Yankees once again turned Fenway Park into a little green pinball machine. Martin singled. Eduardo Núñez reached on an infield single. Derek Jeter drew a walk to load the bases with only 1 out. Swisher came up, and hit a grand slam over the Green Monster. Red Sox 9, Yankees 5.
Well, so what, a 4-run lead is still pretty big, isn't it? Ah, but this is Fenway Park. As former Houston Astro and St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Joaquín Andújar said, "Baseball can be summed up in one word: Youneverknow." Or, as Yogi Berra taught us, "In baseball, you don't know nothin'."
Robinson Canó restarted things with a double to left. Valentine replaced Padilla with Matt Albers. A-Rod reached on a fielding error. 1st and 3rd. Still only 1 out. Teix came up, now batting lefthanded, and boom! As Yankee radio announcer John Sterling said on WCBS 880, "It is high! It is far! It is gone!" Switch-hitting home runs in the same game. Red Sox 9, Yankees 8.
Valentine pulled Albers for Franklin Morales, who got the last 2 outs of the inning without allowing any more runs, but the damage had been done. A 1-run lead at Fenway is never safe until the last man is out.
Rafael Soriano held the Sox scoreless in the bottom of the 7th. And then came the top of the 8th. If the Yankees had merely scored 1 run in this inning, and then won it in the 9th or in extra innings, this would still have been one of those epic Yanks-Sox games, and yet another humiliation of the Boston team.
Robinson Canó restarted things with a double to left. Valentine replaced Padilla with Matt Albers. A-Rod reached on a fielding error. 1st and 3rd. Still only 1 out. Teix came up, now batting lefthanded, and boom! As Yankee radio announcer John Sterling said on WCBS 880, "It is high! It is far! It is gone!" Switch-hitting home runs in the same game. Red Sox 9, Yankees 8.
Valentine pulled Albers for Franklin Morales, who got the last 2 outs of the inning without allowing any more runs, but the damage had been done. A 1-run lead at Fenway is never safe until the last man is out.
Rafael Soriano held the Sox scoreless in the bottom of the 7th. And then came the top of the 8th. If the Yankees had merely scored 1 run in this inning, and then won it in the 9th or in extra innings, this would still have been one of those epic Yanks-Sox games, and yet another humiliation of the Boston team.
That is not what happened. This happened: Núñez led off with a single to left. Valentine panicked, and replaced Morales with former Yankee Alfredo Aceves, who walked Jeter. Swisher struck again, doubling them home. 10-9 Yankees. The comeback was complete. The rout was still very much in progress.
Aceves was ordered to intentionally walk Canó, to set up a double play (or at least a force play). Then Aceves unintentionally walked A-Rod. Bases loaded. Keep in mind, there's still nobody out.
Teix struck again, nearly hitting his 3rd homer of the game, a shot down the right-field line that bounded into the stands over that low fence, for a ground-rule double. Swish and Canó scored, while the ground rule meant that A-Rod was only permitted to advance to 3rd. Still, it was Yanks 12, Sox 9.
The Sox fans, supposedly the most loyal in all of baseball, started leaving in droves. If early movie comedian Groucho Marx had been there, he'd have said, "You can leave in a drove, or you can leave in a taxi. Or you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff."
Was the Yanks' humiliation of the Sox complete? Not by a long shot. Again, to set up a double play or a force (men on 2nd & 3rd), Aceves was ordered to intentionally walk Curtis Granderson. Of course, this again loaded the bases with nobody out. Yankee manager Joe Girardi sent Raúl Ibañez up to pinch-hit for Jones. Valentine came out, got booed like there was no tomorrow, and brought in Justin Thomas.
At long last, the Sox caught a break -- in this case, literally. Ibañez lined a shot right to 1st baseman Adrián González, who ran to 1st to double off Granderson. The shell-shocked Sox fans -- the ones who hadn't left early -- couldn't even muster sarcastic cheers, or what Johnny Carson would have called "sympathy applause."
No matter: Martin doubled to center, scoring A-Rod and Teix. 14-9. Núñez singled Martin over to 3rd. Valentine replaced Thomas with Junichi Tazawa. Núñez stole 3rd. Jeter singled home Martin.
One run in the 6th, 7 in the 7th, 7 in the 8th. Red Sox 9, Yankees 0 had finished Yankees 15, Red Sox 9. The Red Sox actually got more hits than the Yankees, 17-16. But that's not what counts, is it?
Aceves was ordered to intentionally walk Canó, to set up a double play (or at least a force play). Then Aceves unintentionally walked A-Rod. Bases loaded. Keep in mind, there's still nobody out.
Teix struck again, nearly hitting his 3rd homer of the game, a shot down the right-field line that bounded into the stands over that low fence, for a ground-rule double. Swish and Canó scored, while the ground rule meant that A-Rod was only permitted to advance to 3rd. Still, it was Yanks 12, Sox 9.
The Sox fans, supposedly the most loyal in all of baseball, started leaving in droves. If early movie comedian Groucho Marx had been there, he'd have said, "You can leave in a drove, or you can leave in a taxi. Or you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff."
Was the Yanks' humiliation of the Sox complete? Not by a long shot. Again, to set up a double play or a force (men on 2nd & 3rd), Aceves was ordered to intentionally walk Curtis Granderson. Of course, this again loaded the bases with nobody out. Yankee manager Joe Girardi sent Raúl Ibañez up to pinch-hit for Jones. Valentine came out, got booed like there was no tomorrow, and brought in Justin Thomas.
At long last, the Sox caught a break -- in this case, literally. Ibañez lined a shot right to 1st baseman Adrián González, who ran to 1st to double off Granderson. The shell-shocked Sox fans -- the ones who hadn't left early -- couldn't even muster sarcastic cheers, or what Johnny Carson would have called "sympathy applause."
No matter: Martin doubled to center, scoring A-Rod and Teix. 14-9. Núñez singled Martin over to 3rd. Valentine replaced Thomas with Junichi Tazawa. Núñez stole 3rd. Jeter singled home Martin.
One run in the 6th, 7 in the 7th, 7 in the 8th. Red Sox 9, Yankees 0 had finished Yankees 15, Red Sox 9. The Red Sox actually got more hits than the Yankees, 17-16. But that's not what counts, is it?
The next night, it rained, so ESPN was unable to broadcast the series finale. That game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 7. The Yankees won the opener, 6-1, technically sweeping the April series. The Sox won the nightcap, the regularly-scheduled game, 9-5.
In 2022, Fenway Park is hosting Major League Baseball for a 111th season. Wrigley Field in Chicago is doing so for a 109th, and is the only other stadium that has done so for more than 88.
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April 21, 2012 was a Saturday. These other Major League Baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Mets beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-4 at Citi Field.
* The Washington Nationals beat the Miami Marlins, 3-2 at Nationals Park in Washington. Ian Desmond hit a home run in the 6th inning, and drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th.
* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-1 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-0 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. How many Pirate pitchers does it take to pitch a 5-hit shutout? Apparently, 5: A.J. Burnett (7 innings, only 76 pitches), Juan Cruz (1 out in the 8th), Tony Watson (ditto), Jason Grilli (ditto), and Joel Hanrahan (the 9th).
* A doubleheader was split at Comerica Park in Detroit. The Texas Rangers won the opener, 10-4. The Detroit Tigers won the nightcap, 3-2.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Colorado Rockies, 9-4 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals, 9-5 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 5-1 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-2 at Chase Field in Phoenix.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-1 at Petco Park in San Diego.
* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-3 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-1 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the O.co Coliseum).
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Seattle Mariners, 4-0 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. Philip Humber pitched a perfect game. He was supported by a home run from Paul Konerko.
Football was out of season. There were 8 games played in the NBA:
* The New Jersey Nets beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 106-95 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
* The Washington Wizards beat the Miami Heat, 86-84 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.
* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 93-89 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Indiana Pacers, 109-106 in overtime at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Dallas Mavericks, 93-83 at the United Center in Chicago.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Golden State Warriors, 99-96 at the Toyota Center in Houston.
* The Utah Jazz beat the Orlando Magic, 117-107 in overtime at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City (then named the EnergySolutions Arena).
* The Denver Nuggets beat the Phoenix Suns, 118-107 at the US Airways Center (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.
And there were 5 Stanley Cup Playoff games that day:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Ottawa Senators, 2-0 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Florida Panthers, 3-0 at the Bank Atlantic Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Boston Bruins, 4-3 at the TD Garden in Boston.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the San Jose Sharks, 3-1 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
* And the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 2-1 at the Jobing.com Arena (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. Jonathan Toews scored the winning goal at 2:44 of overtime.
And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal and West London team Chelsea played to a draw, 0-0 at the Emirates Stadium in North London.
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