Did You Know? – Highest Season Win Totals in Red Sox Franchise History

Majestic Boston Red Sox 2013 AL East Division Champions Clubhouse Locker Room T-Shirt - Gray
Majestic Boston Red Sox 2013 AL East Division Champions Clubhouse Locker Room T-Shirt – Gray

With Boston’s 15-5 win Wednesday night in Colorado, the Red Sox now stand at 96-63 with three games to play this season.  The 96 wins matches the same number of games won by the 2007 world championship team. This is made even more remarkable given that the team won just 69 games last season, its worst season since 1965, when Boston limped to a record of 62-100.

Continue reading “Did You Know? – Highest Season Win Totals in Red Sox Franchise History”

Today In History – Duffy Lewis Is Born

18 April 1888 – On this day 125 years ago, former Boston Red Sox outfielder Duffy Lewis is born in San Francisco, CA.  Lewis was the starting left fielder for three world championships with Boston (1912, 1915, and 1916) and played as part of the team’s “Million Dollar Outfield” for six seasons with Tris Speaker in center field and Harry Hooper in right field beginning in 1910.

Continue reading “Today In History – Duffy Lewis Is Born”

Opening Day at Fenway Park – There Is No Equal

There is no doubt in my mind that spring is my favorite season.  The sun stays up later, the grass begins to grow, my grill gets more use… above all, though, is the fact that it means baseball and, more importantly, the Boston Red Sox have returned.

Sure, they’ve been playing baseball since late February this year, but that’s spring training, which is like the appetizer before the main course; it’s only meant to whet your palate.  We want the main course, regular season baseball, and more importantly, we want regular season baseball in New England.  That first week on the road?  Simply the aroma of what’s to come.

Continue reading “Opening Day at Fenway Park – There Is No Equal”

Did You Know? – The Red Sox and Total Bases

Total bases (TB) refers to the number of bases a player has gained with hits and is a very easy statistic to calculate; it follows a simple formula: 1B + 2*2B + 3*3B + 4*HR.

Following Will Middlebrooks‘ offensive barrage in today’s 13-0 win over the Blue Jays, in which the young Red Sox third baseman hit three home runs and a double, there are now six players in Boston team history since 1916 with at least 14 TB in one game.

Continue reading “Did You Know? – The Red Sox and Total Bases”

2013 Red Sox Opening Day Roster Set

With the disastrous 2012 campaign still fresh in the minds of fans and prognosticators, the Boston Red Sox will open the 2013 season against the 2012 American League East champion New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.  The Sox, who have missed the playoffs for the past three seasons, are predicted by many to finish no better than the middle of the pack in the AL East; only a few give the team an outside shot at a wild card spot.

Continue reading “2013 Red Sox Opening Day Roster Set”

Today In History – Pedro Martinez Debuts With The Red Sox

01 April 1998 – On this day fifteen years ago, pitcher Pedro Martinez makes his debut with Boston and strikes out 11 Oakland batters while allowing just three hits in seven shutout innings; the Red Sox go on to win 2-0 over the Athletics at Networks Associates Coliseum.

Continue reading “Today In History – Pedro Martinez Debuts With The Red Sox”

Top Red Sox Grapefruit League Performers – Mid-Season Analysis

With a scheduled off-day today, the Red Sox are just past the halfway point of spring training with a 9-9 record; 17 games remain before Opening Day at Yankees Stadium on 01 April. While Grapefruit League statistics don’t necessarily translate into regular season success, there is always interest in how well players have performed under the Florida sunshine. So, given that batting averages and earned run averages are often skewed at this point, how do you take what is a relatively small sample size and highlight the top performers this spring to date?

Continue reading “Top Red Sox Grapefruit League Performers – Mid-Season Analysis”

Did You Know? – The Red Sox and Losing Seasons

The 2012 Boston Red Sox season is likely one that the organization and fans alike will want to soon forget.  In celebrating the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park, the team finished 69-93, which broke a stretch of 14 straight winning seasons.  Before that, the last Red Sox team to suffer through a losing season was in 1997, when first-year manager Jimy Williams and rookie Nomar Garciaparra ended the season with a disappointing 78-84 record.  The team also finished in last place for the first time since 1992, when another first-year manager, Butch Hobson, and pitcher Roger Clemens finished in seventh place in the American League East.

Continue reading “Did You Know? – The Red Sox and Losing Seasons”

Today In History – Tom Yawkey Purchases The Red Sox

25 February 1933 – On this day eighty years ago, in the midst of the Great Depression, Bob Quinn sells the Red Sox franchise for $1.5 million to Thomas Austin Yawkey, who had celebrated his 30th birthday four days earlier. Yawkey served as the sole owner of the team for the next 44 years and became a Boston institution as well as a pillar of Major League Baseball, though the legacy of his ownership was not without controversy.

Continue reading “Today In History – Tom Yawkey Purchases The Red Sox”

Johnny Pesky, Former Red Sox Infielder, Passes Away at Age 92

Former Boston Red Sox infielder Johnny Pesky, who was a loyal part of the Boston organization for more than 60 seasons, passed away today at the age of 92.  Pesky played eight seasons between 1942 and 1951, missing time between 1943 and 1945 serving in World War II, and also managed the club twice, first for two years between 1963 and 1964, and then briefly at the end of the 1980 season.

Continue reading “Johnny Pesky, Former Red Sox Infielder, Passes Away at Age 92”