Since before the start of the American Revolution, Boston and New York have shared an intense rivalry as cities[3]. While the Sons of Liberty stirred up the flames of revolution in Boston[4], Tories (loyalists) in New York argued that America should stay loyal to the crown[5]. When the Siege of Boston ended, most citizens of Boston celebrated wildly (and still celebrate Evacuation Day to this day). When George Washington faced defeat in New York, many people there welcomed the British troops with open arms[citation needed].
For more than a century afterwards, Boston was arguably the educational, cultural, artistic, and economic power in the United States.[6] Boston's location as the closest American port to Europe and its concentration of elite schools and manufacturing hubs helped maintain this image for several decades. During this time period, New York was often looked down upon as the upstart, over-populated, dirty cousin to aristocratic and clean Boston.[6] New York's economic power soon outpaced Boston's in the 1800s due to its rapid population growth and terminus of the Erie Canal, along with massive growth in the manufacturing, shipping, insurance and financial services businesses. By the start of the 20th century this dynamic had completely shifted as New York had become the focus of American capitalism (especially on Wall Street), and the change was reflected in the new national pastime.
The Red Sox were one of the most successful teams in baseball at the turn of the 20th century and through the following two decades. The team won the inaugural World Series in 1903 and four more between 1912 and 1918. During this period, the Yankees were often called the Highlanders, in reference to playing their games in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Although physically located on a hilltop, the Highlanders routinely finished near the bottom of the standings. The one notable exception came in 1904, when the Highlanders, led by pitcher Jack Chesbro who won a record 41 games, met the Boston Americans on the final game of the season to decide the AL pennant. Chesbro threw a wild pitch and Boston won the pennant, but there was no World Series that year as the Giants refused to play. That would be the last time in a hundred years that the Red Sox would defeat the Yankees in a title-deciding game.
Babe Ruth, prior to his trade to the YankeesIn 1916, the Red Sox were purchased by Harry Frazee on credit for $500,000. Though the team won the World Series in 1918, Frazee was hard-pressed to pay off the loans he accrued by purchasing the team and by producing Broadway shows. After the Red Sox finished sixth in the American League in 1919, Frazee sold several Red Sox players, including pitcher-turned-outfielder Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Frazee received $125,000 and a loan of $300,000 - secured on Fenway Park, the Red Sox' home stadium - for Ruth.
Ruth's arrival in New York simultaneously launched the Yankee dynasty while ravaging the Red Sox. While the Red Sox' five World Series titles were a record at the time, 1918 would be the team's last championship for 86 years. Meanwhile, Ruth's home run hitting prowess anchored the Yankee line-up, which became known as "Murderers' Row" in the mid-1920s. After his trade to the Yankees, Ruth's new team reached the World Series seven times during his career in New York, winning four. This abrupt reversal of fortunes for the Red Sox marked the beginning of the supposed "Curse of the Bambino". But it was not the Ruth deal alone that reversed the fortunes of both clubs.
Robert W. Creamer, in Babe: The Legend Comes to Life (Simon & Schuster, 1974, p.209), reports that, "The loan was made and relations between the two clubs continued to be cordial, with Frazee sending player after player to the Yankees over the next few seasons for more and more cash. The Red Sox soon became a baseball disaster area, finishing dead last nine times in eleven seasons." Among others, Wally Schang, Everett Scott, Carl Mays, Waite Hoyt, Joe Bush and Sam Jones went from the Sox to the Yanks in the next one to three years... along with Ed Barrow, former Red Sox manager who became the Yankees' General Manager and empire-builder for the first quarter-century of the Yankees' dynasty.
From 1920 through 2003, the Yankees won 26 World Series championships and 39 pennants, compared to only four pennants for the Red Sox. To make matters worse, in every year that the Red Sox won the pennant — 1946, 1967, 1975 and 1986 — they lost the World Series four games to three, leaving them with no World Series titles. During this time, the Red Sox finished second in the standings to the Yankees on twelve occasions - in 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1949, 1978, and every year from 1998 to 2003. During the 84 year period, the Yankees finished with a better regular-season record than the Red Sox 66 times, leading one sportswriter to quip that the Yankees' rivalry with the Red Sox was much like the rivalry "between a hammer and a nail".
The 1949 season, about which books have been written, saw a dramatic finish between the teams. The Yankees were painted as the underdogs. A Willard Mullin cartoon showed a broken and battered Yankees player trying to "bar the door" of the "First Place" house. Already sitting inside was a Red Sox player wearing a derby, holding an "eviction notice", and telling the Yankee, "Expecting someone, Bub?"
The Red Sox found themselves up by one game with two games left against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees won both of them to capture the pennant, and then won the World Series, starting a record run of five straight World Series titles for the Yankees.
In 1978, the Red Sox, led by Jim Rice, Carl Yastrzemski, Fred Lynn and catcher Carlton Fisk, seemed as if they were destined for a trip to the Fall Classic for the second time in the 70s. They led the Yankees in the standings by 14 1/2 games by mid-July, less than three months to go in the regular season. The Yankees turned their season around just as the Red Sox seemed to collapse. By September 7, the Yankees had closed the once seemingly insurmountable 14 1/2 game deficit to only 4 games just in time for a four-game series at Fenway Park in Boston. The Yankees won all four games in the series by the scores of 15-3, 13-2, 7-0 and 7-4 for a combined score of 42-9. This series became known as the "Boston Massacre". On September 16, 1978 the Yankees held a 3.5 game lead over the Red Sox but the Sox won 12 of their next 14 games(and their last eight in a row) to overcome that deficit and finish in a first place tie with the Yankees with identical 99-63 records. A one-game playoff was scheduled in Boston to determine who would win the AL East Pennant for 1978.
Boston placed former Yankee Mike Torrez on the mound, while the Yankees countered with the Cy Young Award-winner from that year, Ron Guidry, who took at 24-3 record into the game. The Sox led 2-0 going into the top of the 7th, when Yankee shortstop Bucky Dent hit a two-out, three-run home run over Fenway's Green Monster to take a 3-2 lead. It was just his fifth home run of the season. The Yankees added another run that inning, and in the eighth, Reggie Jackson made the score 5-2 with a solo home run to dead center. The Sox rallied in the bottom of the inning, scoring twice. They rallied again in the ninth, only to come up short when Yastrzemski popped out to third baseman Graig Nettles with runners on second and third, ending the game. The Yankees won 5-4. New York went on to defeat Kansas City in the ALCS and Los Angeles in the World Series for their second straight World Series title.
In 1999, the Yankees and Red Sox faced each other for the first time in the ALCS. The Yankees were the defending World Series Champions and in the midst of a run of three consecutive World Championships, while Boston had not appeared in the ALCS since 1990. Despite intense buildup to this historic, first-ever postseason meeting between the two longtime rivals, the series proved to be somewhat anticlimatic, with New York winning four games to one. The lone bright spot for the Red Sox came in Game 3 at Boston's Fenway Park, in what had been a much anticipated pitching matchup of former Red Sox star Roger Clemens, who was now pitching for the Yankees, and former Boston ace Pedro Martinez. Martinez struck out twelve and did not allow a run through seven innings of work; Clemens was hit hard, giving up five earned runs and only lasting into the third inning of a 13-1 Red Sox victory. However, the Yankees rebounded to win games 4 and 5, clinching the American League pennant and advancing to the Series, where they swept the Atlanta Braves. The loss to Martinez was the Yankees' only postseason loss, as the team went 11-1.
In 2003, the two teams faced off in the ALCS for the second time. The intensity of the series was highlighted by a protracted dispute in Game 3 which devolved into a bench-clearing altercation in which Yankees coach Don Zimmer charged Boston ace Pedro Martinez and was shoved to the grass. Tied at three wins apiece after the first six grueling and fervent games, Boston held a 5-2 lead in the eighth inning of Game 7 at Yankee Stadium in New York, with Martinez on the mound. The Yankees began a one-out rally with three straight hits that cut the deficit to 5-3 and left runners on second and third base. It seemed that Martinez had tired, but Boston manager Grady Little decided to leave him in the game. This decision immediately backfired when the next batter, New York catcher Jorge Posada, blooped a double into center field that scored both runners and tied the game. In the bottom of the eleventh inning, third baseman Aaron Boone, batting .161 in the postseason to that point, hit a series-ending home run into the left field stands, winning the Yankees their 39th American League pennant.
The tone for 2004 was set early when new Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, who confounded the Yankees in the 2001 World Series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, showed up at an ice hockey game in Boston wearing a "Yankee hater" hat.[7] That year, the Red Sox won an eventful season series against the Yankees. A 13-inning comeback win for the Yankees on July 1 was punctuated by a catch by Derek Jeter, who ran and dove into the stands at full speed and came out with facial lacerations, Pokey Reese made an identical catch earlier in the game that is oft overlooked. The Red Sox had their own memorable comeback win on July 24, triggered by a fight between Alex Rodriguez and Jason Varitek and a subsequent bench-clearing brawl. Despite their success in the rivalry series, the Red Sox still finished second to the Yankees in the AL East for the seventh straight season. Both teams would advance to the ALCS, for the second straight year.
The Yankees started out strong, winning the first three games, and putting an exclamation point on their Game 3 victory with a 19-8 win. No team in the history of baseball had ever won a best of seven series after being down three games to none. Entering the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 4 at Fenway, Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera came in to close out a 4-3 victory and a series sweep. But after a leadoff walk, pinch-runner Dave Roberts stole second and came around to score on an RBI single by Bill Mueller. The Red Sox would win the game in the bottom of the 12th inning on a home run by David Ortiz. Game 5 featured another extra-inning Boston comeback, as the Red Sox tied the game in the 8th inning, and won it in the 14th. In Game 6, Curt Schilling, who had undergone ankle surgery during the series, returned to pitch seven innings of one-run ball in what would be dubbed "the bloody sock game." (Stitches from Schilling's surgery opened during the game.) The Red Sox completed their unprecedented comeback with a blowout win in Game 7, and went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in four games for the franchise's first World Series title in 86 years.
With the World Series triumph by the Red Sox, many pronounced the so-called "Curse of the Bambino" to be dead and buried.
During the 2005 season, Yankee outfielder Gary Sheffield was involved in an altercation with a Red Sox fan at Fenway Park. The fan was ejected and was stripped of his season tickets, while Sheffield was not punished, as MLB ruled that the fan instigated the altercation.[8] Both teams finished the year with identical 95-67 records; however, the Yankees won the division due to beating the Red Sox in head-to-head games (10-9). Both were eliminated in separate ALDS series.
In 2006, the Yankees won the AL East for the ninth time in a row, while the Red Sox finished behind the Toronto Blue Jays for third place thanks in large part to a late-season five-game sweep by the Yankees. It was the first time since 1997 that the Red Sox had not finished as the division's runnerup
Key moments
[edit] 1901 - 1920: Red Sox glory days
April 26, 1901: In the American League's inaugural year as a major league, Boston and Baltimore play the first game in the history of both franchises, at Oriole Park in Baltimore, Maryland. The Boston entry has no official nickname yet, but is often called the "Americans" by Boston media to distinguish them from the National League entry in Beantown. The Baltimore club is known as the "Orioles", and they will transfer to New York two seasons later. The New York media will dub the team the "Highlanders", as well as "Americans" (for the same reason as the Boston media), and then "Yankees" (a synonym for "Americans").
May 7, 1903: In the first game between the New York Highlanders in their first year in New York, and the Boston Americans at Huntington Avenue Grounds, a New York runner knocks into Boston pitcher George Winter, prompting a fight and the first notable incident between those two teams. Boston wins the game 6-2. Boston goes on to win the very first World Series, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates.
October 10, 1904: The Boston Americans beat the Highlanders in the first game of a doubleheader on the last day of the season at Hilltop Park to clinch the American League pennant, after Highlanders' pitcher Jack Chesbro, who won a record 41 games that year, throws a wild pitch, allowing the winning run to score from third base. However, the New York Giants, who had already clinched the National League pennant, had already refused to play in the 1904 World Series because they did not want to play the Highlanders. Thus, there was no World Series that year.
April 20, 1912: Boston, now known as the Red Sox (starting 1908), open Fenway Park with a game against the Highlanders (more often called "Yankees" by now). Tris Speaker hits an RBI single in the bottom of the eleventh to give the Red Sox a 7-6 victory. The team would win a team record 105 games and their second World Series title, defeating the New York Giants.
September 9, 1918: The Chicago Cubs score two runs off of Babe Ruth in game 4 of the Series, snapping his then record World Series scoreless inning streak at 29 & 2/3 innings. However, the Red Sox win the game 3-2, and go on to capture their fifth Series title, their third in the past four years, and fourth in the past seven years.
January 3, 1920: Red Sox owner and Broadway producer Harry Frazee sells Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for cash and a loan on Fenway Park, despite Ruth having set the record for home runs with 29 in 1919. This will begin a series of deals with the Yankees that result in a long period of mediocrity for the Red Sox while the Yankees begin their dynasty.
1921 - 1940: The Bambino comes to New York
October 5, 1921: Following Babe Ruth's record setting season - statistically, one of the greatest in major league history for a batter - the Yankees appear in and win their very first World Series game. However, Ruth gets hurt during the Series, and the Yankees eventually drop the last three games, losing the Series five games to three to the New York Giants in the last ever best-of-nine Series.
April 18, 1923: 74,200 watch the Yankees defeat the Red Sox 4-1 in the first game played at Yankee Stadium. Babe Ruth hits the new stadium's first home run, and finishes the year with a .393 batting average, while being walked a then record 170 times. The Yankees meet up with the New York Giants in the World Series for the third straight year, but this time they finally come out on top, winning their first World Championship.
August 19, 1934: What was then the largest crowd in the history of Fenway Park, 46,766, witness Babe Ruth's final game at Fenway in a Yankees uniform. The Red Sox would top the Yanks that day.
September 22, 1935: A new record for the largest crowd in Fenway's history, 47,627, watches the Red Sox lose a doubleheader to the Yankees.
As noted on the official Red Sox page [1], those large crowds cannot be matched today due to stricter laws and league rules imposed in the post-World War II era.
May 30, 1938: Before a Yankee Stadium record crowd of 83,533, Yankees outfielder Jake Powell and Red Sox player-manager Joe Cronin fight on the field and beneath the stands. Both players were fined and suspended for 10 games. The Red Sox finish second to the Yankees, who go on to sweep the Chicago Cubs in the World Series.
October 8, 1939: The Yankees sweep the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series, winning a then record four consecutive World Series. It is the Yankees' eighth title overall. The Red Sox again finished second to the Yankees in the A.L.
1941 - 1960: Teddy Ballgame and The Yankee Clipper
1941: The Yankees win the World Series but the rivalry becomes intensified when Ted Williams, of the Red Sox, bats .406 (the last player to bat over .400 in a season) but loses the AL MVP race to Joe DiMaggio, of the Yankees who has a 56 game hitting streak.
October 6, 1946: The Red Sox play in their first World Series game since 1918, having finished ahead of the Yankees in the American League for the first time since trading Babe Ruth. Since their last pennant in 1918, the Yankees had won 14 pennants and 10 World Series. Boston would eventually lose the Series four games to three to the St. Louis Cardinals.
October 1948: Both teams would be in a tight pennant race with the Cleveland Indians until the final weekend. The Red Sox would eliminate the Yankees in the final series at Fenway Park, and overcame four Joe DiMaggio hits in the final game to tie with Cleveland for the pennant. It forced the first one-game playoff in AL history, which the Indians won 8-3 at Fenway Park. The city of Boston missed out on its first all-Boston World Series as the Indians went on to defeat the Boston Braves in the Series, the last one the Indians have won.
October 2, 1949: The Red Sox, having entered the final series of the season at Yankee Stadium needing only one win over the Yankees to advance to the World Series, lose 5-3 on the last day of the season after falling 5-4 the previous day, giving the Yankees their 16th American League pennant on their way to their 12th World Series title and it starts a run of five consecutive World Series title from 1949-1953.
May 24, 1952: Red Sox outfielder Jimmy Piersall and Yankees second baseman Billy Martin exchange insults before a game in Boston, and end up fighting in the tunnel under the stands. The fight is broken up by Yankees coaches Bill Dickey and Oscar Melillo, and Boston starter Ellis Kinder. Piersall changes out of his bloody shirt and promptly fights with teammate Maury McDermott. The Red Sox win 5-2 with Piersall sitting the game out.
1961 - 1980: Fisk vs. Munson and Bucky Dent
October 1, 1961: On the last day of the season, Roger Maris hits his 61st home run of the year against Red Sox rookie pitcher Tracy Stallard at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees win the game 1-0 and win their 26th American League pennant on their way to their 19th World Series title.
April 14, 1967: Rookie Red Sox pitcher Billy Rohr comes within a single strike of a no-hitter at Yankee Stadium before Elston Howard hit a two-out, two-strike single in the ninth. Rohr would complete the one-hitter, but ultimately finished his career with only three wins, two coming against the Yankees. Later in the year, Carl Yastrzemski becomes the last player to win the batting triple crown leading the Red Sox to the pennant. However, they lose the Series to the St. Louis Cardinals four games to three.
April 6, 1973: Opening the season at Fenway Park, Ron Blomberg of the Yankees becomes the first designated hitter in Major League history. Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant walks Blomberg in his first plate appearance of the game.
August 1, 1973: In a game at Fenway Park, with the score tied 2–2 in the top of the 9th, Yankees catcher Thurman Munson attempts to score from third base on a missed bunt by Gene Michael. He crashes into Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk, and a fight erupts with Munson punching Fisk in the face.
September 1974: In a game at Fenway Park, Yankees first baseman Chris Chambliss is struck in the right arm with a dart thrown from the stands after hitting a triple.
May 20, 1976: Yankee outfielder Lou Piniella crashes into Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk feet first in an attempt to score in the sixth inning of a game at Yankee Stadium. The two players brawled at home plate while the benches cleared. After the fight apparently dies down and order appears to be restored, Sox pitcher Bill Lee and Yankee third baseman Graig Nettles begin exchanging words and punches and the brawl starts again. Lee suffers a separated left shoulder from the fight and ends up missing a significant portion of the 1976 season. Lee would go on to keep his career alive, but not at the level of performance it was prior to the fight.
June 18, 1977: In the middle game of what would prove to be a three-game series sweep by the Red Sox at Fenway, Yankees' manager Billy Martin pulls Reggie Jackson off the field in mid-inning for failing to hustle on a ball hit to the outfield. The extremely angry and highly animated Martin has to be held back by his coaches from getting into a fistfight with Jackson in the dugout, on the nationally-televised Saturday afternoon game.
September 10, 1978: The Yankees complete a four-game sweep at Fenway Park to tie the Red Sox atop the AL East, completing a 14-game comeback over the course of two months. New York outscores Boston 42-9 during the series, which becomes known as the "Boston Massacre."
October 2, 1978: The Red Sox and Yankees play a one-game playoff at Fenway Park for the American League East title. Bucky Dent hits a three-run home run over the Green Monster to give the Yankees the lead for good in the seventh inning. The Yankees go on to win their 32nd American League pennant and 22nd World Series title.
[edit] 1981 - 2000: First playoff meeting
July 4, 1983: Yankee left-hander Dave Righetti throws a no-hitter against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. One of the game's greatest hitters, Wade Boggs, strikes out to end the game.
December 15, 1992: Long-time Red Sox fan favorite Wade Boggs defects to the Yankees after ten seasons with Boston. In 1996, he would win the World Series title that had eluded him in Boston.
September 18, 1993: The Yankees defeat Boston at Yankee Stadium via a last-moment reprieve. Trailing 3-1, Mike Stanley's apparent fly out with 2 outs in the 9th was nullified by a fan running on to the field prior to the pitch being thrown. The umpire had called time and when play resumed, Stanley singled. The Yankees would rally to score 3 runs and win on a Don Mattingly single.
February 18, 1999: The Yankees trade fan favorite David Wells to the Toronto Blue Jays for Roger Clemens, a fan favorite with the Red Sox between 1984 and 1996. Clemens was coming off two consecutive season with the Blue Jays where he had won both the pitching triple crown and the Cy Young Award in both 1997 and 1998. He would go on to win two World Series with the Yankees in 1999 and 2000.
May 18, 1999:Yankees manager Joe Torre returns to Fenway Park for his first game following his battle with prostate cancer. When exchanging lineup cards the Boston crowd gives Torre a long standing ovation to which he tips his cap.
September 10, 1999: Chili Davis' 2nd inning home run is the only hit by the Yankees against Pedro Martinez, who strikes out 17 Yankees - the most strikeouts against a Yankee team ever.
October 13, 1999: The Yankees win game one of the ALCS against the Red Sox on a 10th inning walk-off home run by Bernie Williams off Boston reliever Rod Beck. The game is the first actual postseason meeting between the rivals because the one-game playoff in 1978 technically counted as a regular season game.
October 16, 1999: Game 3 of the 1999 ALCS is a largely anticipated matchup between Red Sox ace (and Cy Young award winner) Pedro Martinez and former Red Sox ace Roger Clemens. Clemens is pulled in the third inning and Red Sox fans serenade him and his family with chants of "Where is Roger?" and then a response chant of "In the shower." The Red Sox went on to win 13-1.
October 18, 1999: The Yankees defeat the Red Sox 6-1 two days later to win the A.L.C.S. four games to one, ending the first post-season series between the two rivals. The win gave the Yankees their 36th American League pennant, and the team would go on to win their 25th World Series title.
June 19, 2000: At Fenway Park, the Yankees beat the Red Sox 22-1, handing Boston its most lopsided home loss ever. The Yankees score 16 runs in the 8th and 9th innings. The Yankees go on to win their 3rd consecutive World Series and 26th overall.
2001 - 2004: Two playoff meetings, Schilling, A-Rod, and the Curse ends
September 2, 2001: Mike Mussina comes within one strike of pitching a perfect game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Carl Everett's 9th inning two-out, two-strike single is the only baserunner allowed by Mussina in a 1-0 Yankee win.
September 2001: Following the events of September 11, Boston fans display signs saying "Boston Loves New York" in a rare moment of peace between the two sides of the rivalry.
December 26, 2002: Red Sox President Larry Lucchino labels the Yankees the "Evil Empire" after Cuban free agent Jose Contreras opts to sign with the Yankees instead of the Red Sox.
October 11, 2003: In the top of the fourth inning of Game 3 of the ALCS at Fenway Park, Red Sox starting pitcher Pedro Martinez hits Yankee batter Karim Garcia, prompting an argument between the two players, which ends with both teams exiting the dugouts. In the bottom half on the inning, a pitch from Roger Clemens to Manny Ramirez is high, and the benches clear with both sides brawling. Yankee bench coach Don Zimmer charges at Martinez who then grabs his head and swings him to the ground. Later, midway through the ninth inning, Garcia and Yankee pitcher Jeff Nelson fight with a Fenway Park groundskeeper in the bullpen.
October 16, 2003: Holding a 5-2 lead in the eighth inning of Game 7 at Yankee Stadium, Red Sox manager Grady Little elects to leave starter Pedro Martinez on the mound. Martinez proceeds to give up four hits and three runs in the inning, allowing the Yankees to tie the game. In the bottom of the eleventh inning, leadoff hitter Aaron Boone hits a solo home run off of Tim Wakefield to left field, ending the game and the series, giving the Yankees their 39th American League pennant.
December 18, 2003: A potential deal that would send reigning AL MVP Alex Rodriguez to Boston and Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez to Texas is rejected by the players union.[citation needed]
February 15, 2004: Alex Rodriguez, after being courted by the Red Sox for nearly three months, is traded from the Texas Rangers to the Yankees.
July 1, 2004: The Yankees defeat the Red Sox 5-4 in a 13-inning contest at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees victory capped a devastating 3-game sweep of the Red Sox which appeared to be a season breaker for Boston. The game's lasting image is of Derek Jeter, who catches a fly ball at top speed with 2 outs and runners on base before crashing three rows into the left-field stands in foul territory and emerging with a gash on his face. John Flaherty, pinch hitting for pitcher Tanyon Sturtze, singles to left in the 13th inning to win it.
July 24, 2004: After a long rain delay to start the game, Alex RodrÃguez and Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek initiate a bench clearing brawl after RodrÃguez is hit by a pitch from Bronson Arroyo. Both players are ejected from the game, as are Red Sox outfielder Gabe Kapler and DH David Ortiz for their participation in the fight with Yankees pitcher Tanyon Sturtze. Later in the game, Red Sox third baseman Bill Mueller hits a walk-off home run off Yankee closer Mariano Rivera.
October 16, 2004: The Yankees defeat the Red Sox 19-8 at Fenway Park in Game 3 of the ALCS, taking a 3-0 lead in the series after the longest nine-inning postseason game in history.
October 17, 2004: The Yankees enter the ninth inning only three outs away from their 40th American League pennant. Closer Mariano Rivera allows a walk to Kevin Millar, and a stolen base from pinch-runner Dave Roberts allows him to score on a single from Bill Mueller to tie the game in the ninth. David Ortiz keeps the Red Sox alive in the series with a two run walk-off home run in the bottom of the twelfth inning to gave the Red Sox a 6-4 win.
October 18, 2004: David Ortiz ends the longest game in ALCS history (breaking a record set the previous night) with a walk-off single in the bottom of the fourteenth inning in Game 5. The Red Sox overcome a two-run deficit in the 8th inning, one coming from a David Ortiz home run off Tom Gordon, the other from a sacrifice fly by Jason Varitek off Rivera, who records his second blown save in as many games.
October 19, 2004: Curt Schilling pitches seven innings for the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium and wins, 4-2, despite having sutures put into his right ankle, which causes blood to visibly soak into Schilling's sock. Yankee fans protest a reversed call - Alex RodrÃguez being called out at first base after slapping the ball out of Boston pitcher Bronson Arroyo's glove - by littering the field as police with riot gear took positions near the foul lines. The Red Sox become the first team in major league history to tie a series after being down 3 games to none.
October 20, 2004: The Red Sox defeat the Yankees 10-3 in Game 7 at Yankee Stadium, becoming the first team in baseball history (and only the third team in major league sports) to win a seven-game series after losing the first three games, and giving the team its 11th American League pennant, marking the first time in 100 years that Boston had defeated New York to claim the AL title.
October 27, 2004: The Red Sox win their first World Series championship in 86 years, completing a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in the Series.
2005 - present: The Rivalry Continues
April 11, 2005: The Red Sox receive their World Series rings at Fenway Park before they play the Yankees. All of the Yankees go to the top step of the dugout to applaud the Red Sox accomplishment in what many thought was an act of class. During the announcement of the lineups Yankee closer Mariano Rivera (who had struggled against the Red Sox) received a loud standing ovation. Rivera laughed and tipped his cap. The Red Sox won the game 8-1.
April 14, 2005: Yankee right fielder Gary Sheffield is hit in the head by a Red Sox fan while trying to pick up a fair ball in right field at Fenway Park. In response, Sheffield pushes the fan. The conflict is quickly stopped by security guards. The fan was ejected from the game and stripped of his season tickets.
December 20, 2005: Red Sox outfielder Johnny Damon, a fan-favorite during his four years in Boston, signs a four-year, $52 million contract with the Yankees, joining Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens as the most high-profile players who left Boston and eventually ended up playing with New York in recent years. A clean shaven Damon would return to Fenway Park the following May to a mix of cheers and boos as he tipped his helmet to the fans. Some fans threw real dollar bills at him in center field.
August 18- 21, 2006: The Boston Massacre 2: The Yankees defeat the Red Sox 2-1 at Fenway Park, completing a five-game sweep of the Red Sox in the first five game series between the teams in 33 years, evoking memories of 1978's "Boston Massacre". The Yankees outscore the Red Sox 49-26 and pushed their division lead to 6.5 games over the second place Red Sox. Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy dubs it the "Son of Massacre".[9][10] The second game of the series, the back end of a day-night doubleheader that the Yankees won 14-11, took four hours and 45 minutes to complete making it the longest 9-inning game in major league baseball history.
November 14, 2006: The Red Sox win the bidding rights to Seibu Lions starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka with a bid of $52 million (Â¥6 billion), outbidding the Yankees, among other teams. Twenty nine days later, Red Sox management and agent Scott Boras agree to terms on a $52 million contract.
April 22, 2007: During the third inning of a game at Fenway Park, Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek hit four consecutive home runs off Yankee pitcher Chase Wright, powering a comeback from a three-run deficit and completing a three game sweep of the Yankees at Fenway Park for the first time since 1990.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/10/22/student_remembered_as_a_bright_budding_journalist/