The Rivals: Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees
Henry, a dear friend, and neighbor, always extends an invitation to join him at a Yankees game once every season. Recognizing I am from Red Sox Nation he always sends me the dates when the two rivals, Boston’s Red Sox and New York’s Yankees are playing.
If you don’t know how the two teams became such fierce rivals, and I often forget, it can be traced back to 1919 when Harry Frazee sold the Red Sox star player Babe Ruth to the New York team. What followed, of course, is that for an 86-year period the Red Sox never won a World Series. The curse was lifted on October 27, 2004. I can only begin to imagine what it might have been like to have been in the stands that day and what followed in the pubs and café’s that evening.
The Yankees and Red Sox game on Saturday afternoon was the third in a four-game series. It was a glorious fall day, and the stadium was filled to its capacity of 50,000 people, with the majority wearing Yankees caps and shirts. Or having the logo apparent in one way or another. No question this is Yankee territory.
Because the Red Sox are behind and the Yankees have had a good season one of the reasons people were there was to, fingers crossed, watch as Aaron Judge, Number 99, hit his 61st home run, which would tie him with Roger Maris who ser the Major League Baseball single-season home run record with 61 home runs in 1961. When Judd was up to bat everyone stood at attention holding their breath and their phones high in the air, wanting to capture this historic moment.
Henry has been going to Yankees games since he was in high school and for many years has been traveling to Florida for spring training. As a commodity trader on Wall Street, with a deep affection for and understanding of numbers, there isn’t a fact about either the players or the game he doesn’t know or can’t recall. After a few of my many questions, he just smiled at me and said: “Elizabeth, you’ll never understand the nuances of the game.”
He’s correct. I have never had a particular interest in sports and attending large stadiums events. But Yankee Stadium is different. There are the traditions. For example, when the crowded begins singing and dancing when the song “YMCA” is is played at the end of the fifth inning.