All the July 4th games were doubleheaders back then. It wasn’t until the 60s that teams stopped regularly scheduling twin-bills on the holiday. In the team’s 108-year history, the Sox have played 54 double-dips, the last one in 1973, and 44 single games, compiling a record of 89-63 on Independence Day. In ten different years, either due to Sunday laws, rain-outs, or work stoppages, the team didn’t play on 7/4.

Here are some more stats:

In doubleheaders: 17 sweeps, 28 splits, 9 times swept, for a 62-46 record.
Single games: 26 wins, 18 losses.
Overall at home: 50-25
Overall away: 39-38
Longest winning streak: 8 (1901-04, 1936-39)
Longest losing streak: 4 (1928-29)
Most runs scored, game: 19 (1948)
Most runs allowed, game: 12 (1939, 1940)

Team by team all-time:

[Team (# of games): record (first/last time faced)]

Phi/KC/Oak Athletics (53): 32-21 (1905/1987)
Baltimore O’s/NY Yankees (27): 17-10 (1901/2008)
Wash Senators/Minnesota Twins (25): 16-9 (1904/2000)
STL Browns/Baltimore O’s (10): 4-6 (1903/1996)
New Wash Senators/Texas Rangers (6): 2-4 (1961/2005)
Cle (5): 2-3 (1963/2001)
Det (5): 2-3 (1944/1991)
Chi (4): 2-2 (1992/1999)
LA/Cal/Ana Angels(4): 2-2 (1964/1994)
KC (3): 3-0 (1979/1995)
Mil (3): 2-1 (1976/1989)
Sea (2): 2-0 (1986/1993)
TB (2): 1-1 (2006/2007)
Tor (2): 2-0 (1977/2002)
Atl (1): 0-1 (2004)

From 1904 to 1933, Boston only played Philadelphia or Washington on July 4th, all doubleheaders. 51 of the team’s first 90 Independence Day games were against the Athletics. While the A’s never played the Sox as the Kansas City Athletics, they met in the team’s final year in Philly (1954) and their first year in Oakland (1968). Since then, the once-common match-up has only happened twice, with single games in 1984 and 1987. As for the Senators, they’ve only played the Red Sox five times since becoming the Minnesota Twins nearly five decades ago.

The first two years of their existence (1901-02) saw the Red Sox playing Baltimore, who’d become the New York Yankees in 1903. The Yanks wouldn’t play Boston again until 1934. But the teams have played enough times since to make the Yanks the Red Sox’ second-most common opponent. Boston has dominated the Yanks, A’s, and Twins franchises, by far their three most-played July 4th opponents.

Others among the original eight American League teams didn’t play the Sox for a long time. The first match-up with Detroit wasn’t until 1944. With Cleveland, 1963. And, amazingly, the Red Sox and White Sox didn’t play on July 4th until 1992, and have not met since 1999. Only once in 108 years have the White Sox come to Boston on Independence Day. The same can be said of the Indians, who have only come to Fenway once, in 1970. The Tigers have only played the Sox in 1944, 1945, and 1991.

July 4th record by decade:

1900s: 12-4
1910s: 13-5
1920s: 4-12
1930s: 13-5
1940s: 6-9
1950s: 10-6
1960s: 7-8
1970s: 8-2
1980s: 4-5
1990s: 6-4
2000-2008: 6-3

Red Sox July 4th home run leaders:

Ted Williams: 6
Carl Yastrzemski: 5
Dwight Evans: 5
Bobby Doerr: 4
Jim Tabor: 4 (All in 1939! And two were grand slams.)
David Ortiz: 3
Lou Clinton: 3 (Out of only 49 homers for the Sox lifetime.)
George Scott: 3

Besides Ortiz, the only active Red Sox who have homered for the team on July 4th are Jason Varitek and Mike Lowell, who have two each. (Note: We only have complete box scores from 1954 on, but I did check Baseball Reference’s home run logs for most Boston hitters from before then.)

A few notable July 4th wins:

1984: Jim Rice hits a walk-off grand slam in the tenth to beat Oakland, 13-9.

1939: The Red Sox score 35 runs in a doubleheader sweep of Philadelphia.

1979: Dwight Evans notches his 100th career homer, a walk-off blast that beats the Royals 6-4.

1948: The Sox score 14 runs in the second inning in a 19-5 rout of Philadelphia.

1911: Harry Hooper scores the winning run in the bottom of the ninth on a fly out. The perfect throw to the plate is dropped by Senators catcher John Henry.

1970: Both Conigliaro brothers go deep in a 5-1 win over the Indians.

1902: Cy Young pitches a 12-inning complete game, and the Americans score two in the bottom of the 12th to beat Baltimore (the future Yankees), 5-4.

1977: Boston hits eight home runs, seven of them solo shots, in a 9-6 win over Toronto.

The Sox take on Seattle at Fenway this Saturday, July 4th, 2009. It will be just the fourth Independence Day game in Boston in the last 15 years.

Okay, one thing you have to know to be a good baseball detectives is your dugouts. Some people might see this picture and say, “Oh, just some some random park, it could be anywhere.” What a sad, unfulfilling life they must lead. We know better. The wood paneling, the thick, blue roof, the angle of the shot–this can only be Shea Stadium circa the 80s. With that info, considering this is a 1986 card, we go to Jeff Stone’s 1985 game log and check out his day games at Shea. There are two. In one, he had one at bat, and grounded to second. In the picture, he seems to be looking right down the first base line. I’m gonna say no on the 4-3. In his other game, Jeff went one for four, and would ya look at that–one of his outs was a ground out to first, unassisted. Fourth inning, two outs, two on, Sunday, May 12th, 1985. There’s your photo. And again, it’s a Sunday, which matches my theory that Sundays and weekends in general were big days for Topps photographers.

Stone played a few games in ‘84 at Shea, too (if you’re thinking Topps maybe went two years back, which they were known to do sometimes), but no other at bats fit. If this was a hit as opposed to a ground out to first, it would probably be a double since it was down the line, but Jeff never doubled in a day game at Shea in ‘84 or ‘85. I’ll grant you that this could be an infield single that he beat out with his speed, but it’s hard to beat out a grounder to the first baseman no matter how fast you are. I can also confirm that some other Phillies’ ‘86 Topps cards were from Shea in ‘85–then again, many of their ‘85 cards were ‘84 Shea photos, and so on. So I’ll say I’m 90% on this one. Maybe one day Topps will release a gigantic log showing definitive proof of when and were every single shot used on cards is from. But I’m sure they’ve got better things to do…

The bicentennial patch was worn on the left sleeve in ‘75 and ‘76, and I don’t see it, though it could be hidden in this shot. But I really got the feeling this pic was from ‘77 or ‘78. Then I thought to click the link to the story, and it had an un-cropped version of the picture which provided a key clue:

Do you see it? That’s right, Rice has red cleats on. The team only wore these in ‘77 and ‘78. So now we’re down to two years. And the catcher, with “AR” and a “6″ visible, has to be Butch Wynegar.

So I started looking for Twins/Sox night Fenway games from ‘77 and ‘78, in which Rice and Wynegar played. I couldn’t really nail it down definitively, but then I went back to the article again and saw a photo gallery. The picture appears yet again, this time with a caption:

Okay, if you believe this, it has to be one of the ‘78 games. There were two night games in May, but each only saw the park half full, so we can eliminate these. All that’s left is a four-game series in July. Game one was a day game. Games two and three were a Sunday doubleheader, with the second game ending at 7:26–so it wasn’t even dark when the game ended. Game four, July 17th, was a Monday night game, starting at 9:43 PM, which led me to believe it was an ABC Monday Night Baseball game. A news search showed it was, and was to start at 8:00, and another showed that it was a “rain-plagued” game (retrosheet.org does not show a delay, but I have noticed they don’t catch all of them), which explains the even later starting time. So all of Rice’s at bats took place in the dark, in front of this sell-out crowd.

It looks like he’s hitting a ball to the left side. He did this twice in the game, grounding to third in the sixth, and singling to left in the eighth. I like to think the hit is what we’re seeing, thinking that a picture is more likely to be published if it’s an important play in the game. I mean, why would the photographer have even given this shot to the paper if it was the groundout? “Here’s a pic from that exciting extra-inning win–it’s Rice grounding out!” Then again, I really have no idea if this was even a picture for a newspaper–it could just be a random picture. And that would be a lot of people sticking around if it was the eighth inning, considering this game ended at 1:00 in the morning and had a long delay. Then again, there’s not much difference between being there in the sixth and being there in the eighth. And what about the fact that this could be a foul ball down the left field line in the first inning? We may never know which at bat it was, but I’m almost positive we’ve got the game–July 17th, 1978. Thanks for playin’.

(Retrosheet, Baseball Reference, and Baseball Almanac were crucial to this piece, as usual.)

Okay, if you know the year, you know you can get it fairly quickly, as the Red Sox lineup is right there on the board behind El Tiante. But what’s the year? Look closely at the cap. The Red Sox only wore those blue hats with the red front panels during the 1974 season, as an alternate cap. Check out Luis’ starts, and you’ll see that only the lineup on July 14th, 1974 matches the board in this shot. As for the inning, I can only say it was the seventh or earlier, since Dwight Evans pinch-hit in the bottom of the seventh, and that was the first lineup change of the day. Tiant threw a complete game shutout that day.

But this picture also helps to begin solving another mystery. I’ve wondered about those hats, and when exactly during the ‘74 season the team wore them. This info does not seem to be available online, and news searches show no mention of them at all. But this pic shows that they were worn on a Sunday. Maybe it was a Sunday afternoon thing? Pictures of players in this hat are rare, but I did notice that on the cover of the ‘75 yearbook, there are several small shots of guys wearing them. In Bill Lee’s picture, it looks like a Royal is visible in the background, and Bill did pitch against KC at home on Sunday, July 7th, 1974. So that’s all I’ve got on that so far–they were worn on two home summer Sundays, so they very well could have been a Sunday hat. If anyone knows for sure, let me know. I was (negative) one that year, but I know some of you out there can remember seeing these back in the day.

Photo credit: The amazing Steve’s Baseball Photography Pages.

Here we have Wade Boggs and Spike Owen. They’re clearly in Yankee Stadium: The blue, divided, padded outfield fence. The wall in front of the bleachers just to the left of center field, where the black part of it starts (below the black seats). If you’ve spent as much time watching and rooting against the Yanks as I have, you recognize it immediately.

When was this shot taken? It’s an ‘88 card (the “leaders” is referring to the ‘87 stats) so the photo is from ‘87 at the latest. And Spike Owen joined the Red Sox in August of ‘86, so there’s our year-and-two-months window. A few things tell me it must be 1986. First of all, in 1987, Boggs had a beard and Owen had a mustache. This is proven by shots of them wearing the Fenway Park 75th anniversary sleeve patch, which was only worn by the team in ‘87. I’ve also noticed that Owen wore Nike spikes in ‘87, and here he’s rockin’ the Adidas. Finally, notice how the “BOSTON” on Owen’s uniform is divided after the first “O.” Having done extensive research on the 1980s Red Sox road uniforms, I know that he was wearing this style in ‘86, and switched to the “BOS / TON” style for 1987, along with much of the rest of the team. If you look at his ‘88 regular Topps card, you see Owen with mustache, Nike cleats, and BOS- uniform (with the sleeve patch visible, verifying it’s an ‘87 photo), none of which appear in the picture we’re trying to figure out. So our picture is from 1986.

The Red Sox only had one series in the Bronx in 1986 after the date when Spike Owen joined the team. That would be September 12th through the 14th. Spike played in two of those games, Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Even the first inning of a night game in September would be under the lights, making Saturday, September 13th our game. Weather check: Central Park not available, but the Old Farmers’ Almanac shows a high of 73 at White Plains, 82.9 at LaGuardia, and 84 at JFK. The short sleeves fit. As for the inning–your guess is as good as mine, but I’d say it’s early in the game, considering the relatively short shadows, the clean uniforms, and the fact that this game started at 3:20. And in a game where the Sox went down early and got blown out, chances are the only time these guys would be smiling would be before the Yanks hit in the bottom of the first. (The smiles of a team who won the night before, taking a 10 game division lead with 21 to play.) They’ve probably just reached the field and are getting ready for their infield grounders from the first baseman, and Bill Buckner, who grounded out to end the top of the first, is still getting his glove or waiting for it to be brought to him–maybe that’s why they’re looking into their dugout. So my official answer is mid-first inning, Yankee Stadium, Saturday, September 13th, 1986.

Okay, we’ve got Rick Burleson tagging a Royals runner at second base. The runner’s number ends with a zero, and close inspection of his helmet shows that it’s 20. That would be Frank White–you can see parts of the word “White” above his number, too. The game is at Fenway Park. (No, it wasn’t played at the Old State House–though now I’m trying to figure out when that picture was taken, but I can’t find anything on the Web about a restoration to the clock in the 1970s.) You could argue it’s a spring training shot, but my instincts tell me Fenway, taken from the photographers’ well on the outfield side of the home dugout. You can even see the green of the Monster behind the Rooster’s hair where they cropped around it.

The game would be from 1979 or prior. A first edition scorebook would be ready for opening day, so it’s photos would have to be from the previous year at the latest. I’d say 1979 was the year of this photo, though, as it makes the most sense that they’d be using a shot from the most recent season. (Photos on Topps baseball cards are usually from the previous season, but beware when sleuthing–they often go back two or more years.)

Now I look at the Red Sox game log from ‘79: Two home series against the Royals, April and July. Even though the background is cut out, this looks like a day game–also, most photos used are in daylight to get the best possible shot.

So I looked at each of those day games for a play when Frank White either stole second or was caught stealing second. (Burleson’s making a tag, so it’s not a force play, and would almost have to be a base-stealing situation. It might not be, but Rick is in a classic “just took the throw from the catcher” position.) White stole second in the Sunday April game and was caught stealing in the July getaway day game. Since the tag is very high, I’d say he was safe, making it Sunday April 22nd. (This also makes more sense as weekend photography is more common than shots taken on a random weekday afternoon game.) It’s the first inning (I’ve also noticed that first inning shots are common, too, giving even more credence to this conclusion), and White, after leading off the game by drawing a walk against Mike Torrez, had nabbed second. Kansas City would leave the bases loaded, and Torrez would go on to pitch a complete game, four-hit shutout. Burleson would homer in the bottom of the first, giving the Red Sox the only run they’d need in a 6-0 victory.

Short sleeves in April, you say? Game time temp: 72 degrees. (When it’s not given in the boxscore, go to the Old Farmers’ Almanac site–they’ve got a great “weather history” feature.)

So that’s my best guess. I’m 99 percent on this one. I did check the night games and the year before just in case, and 4/22/79 seems to be it.

I have divided them into three categories. Regular pitchers who played the field, regular fielders who pitched, and those who did a little (or a lot) of both.

Regular pitchers who played the field (with number of games appeared in at the non-pitching position(s)):

Javier Lopez 2009 (1 game, outfield)
Tom Burgmeier 1980 (1 game, outfield)
Mike Ryba 1942 (3 games, catcher)
Jim Bagby 1940 (1 game, outfield)

Red Ruffing 1929 (2 games, outfield)
Danny MacFayden 1928 (1 game, outfield)
Lefty O’Doul 1923 (1 game, outfield)
Joe Bush 1921 (4 games, outfield)

Joe Bush 1920 (2 games, outfield)
Ray Caldwell 1919 (2 games, outfield)
Walt Kinney 1918 (1 game, outfield)
Rube Foster 1916 (1 game, outfield)

Sam Jones 1916 (1 game, outfield)
Charley Hall 1910 (3 games, oufield)
Ralph Glaze 1906 (1 game, third base)
Jesse Tannehill 1904 (2 games, outfield)

Bill Dinneen 1902 (2 games, outfield)
Tom Hughes 1902 (3 games, outfield)
Nig Cuppy 1901 (4 games, outfield)
Fred Mitchell 1901 (3 games, second base-2, shortstop-1)

Notes on this list: Mike Ryba caught in both ends of a doubleheader in 1942…Lefty O’Doul had appeared in 34 games as a pitcher and just 3 in the outfield through 1921. After that season, he left the Red Sox and strictly played outfield for the remaining seven seasons of his career. So he really could be placed on any of the three lists…Walt Kinney only pitched in 5 games in 1918, but he makes this list (instead of the “little of both” list) because 63 of his 65 career defensive appearances were at pitcher…Tom Hughes played in one game at each of the three outfield positions!…I also consider Fred Mitchell to be primarily a pitcher, though his splits are skewed by his final season, in which he strictly played catcher (62 games), the first time in his career he’d done so.

Regular fielders who pitched (each appeared in one game as pitcher except where noted):

Jonathan Van Every 2009
David McCarty 2004 (3 games)
Mike Benjamin 1997
Andy Tomberlin 1994

Steve Lyons 1991
Danny Heep 1990
George Schmees 1952 (2 games)
Eddie Lake 1944 (6 games)

Ted Williams 1940
Jimmie Foxx 1939
Doc Cramer 1938
Bobby Reeves 1931

Jack Rothrock 1928
Doug Taitt 1928
Tris Speaker 1914
Harry Hooper 1913
Duffy Lewis 1913

Notes on this list: I personally attended one of McCarty’s pitching performances against the Dodgers at Fenway in 2004…George Schmees (the last fielder to pitch for the Sox until Danny Heep ended a 38-year drought in 1990) had been a star outfielder for the Hollywood Stars who didn’t make the grade with the Browns. The Red Sox picked him up in June of his only major league season, and after a few appearances in the outfield, gave him a start at pitcher, in which he was shelled by the team who’d released him. He closed out the season in Boston–even appearing on the mound one more time–and the George Schmees experiment was over…Eddie Lake appeared in 835 career games, pitching six different times, all in the 1944 season. While most of the guys on this list threw one inning, Lake closed out five games, and saw 19 innings of relief work in 1944…In Bobby Reeves’ one career pitching performance, he hurled 7.1 innings in relief, giving up just three earned runs…Jimmie Foxx only pitched one inning for the Sox, but did throw over 20 innings in his final major league season, 1945, with the Phillies.

A little (or a lot) of both:

Joe Lucey 1925 (pitched in 7 games, played 3 at shortstop)
Ernie Neitzke 1921 (appeared in 11 career games, 2 of them as pitcher)
Hack Eibel 1920 (3 games at pitcher, 5 in the outfield, 1 at first base)
Babe Ruth 1919 (111 games in the outfield, 17 at pitcher, 5 at first base; Ruth’s last season of regular pitching–he’d pitch in five games in the remaining 16 years of his career)

Babe Ruth 1918 (59 games in the outfield, 20 at pitcher, 13 at first base; Ruth’s first season playing anywhere but pitcher)
Chris Mahoney 1910 (5 appearances, 2 games at pitcher, 1 game in the outfield)
Harry Wolter 1909 (17 games at first base, 11 at pitcher, and 9 in the outfield; never pitched again in his five seasons after leaving Boston)
Ben Beville 1901 (3 career games, 2 at pitcher, 1 at first base)

Bonus section: Near misses:

Sox pitcher Smoky Joe Wood became an outfielder after going to the Indians, due to an injury. He essentially had two careers, one as a pitcher, and one as an outfielder. But in Boston, he only pitched.

Pep Deininger’s first two major league games were with Boston in 1902 as a pitcher. Those would be the only two games he’d appear in until 1908-1909, when he got back to the bigs with the Phillies and played the field in 46 games–all as an outfielder.

Retrosheet, Baseball-Reference, and Baseball Almanac were vital to this piece. I’ve tried to make this a comprehensive list. Feel free to comment with any corrections/additions/debates.

*Likewise, the list also covers players who did both for the Red Sox at any point, not just in the same season, because the two lists would be identical. In other words, every single player who played in the field and pitched for the Red Sox did both within the same season at some point. No Boston player ever exclusively pitched in one season and exclusively played non-pitching positions in a different season.

The Red Sox have had position players pitch recently. But how often has a regular Boston pitcher played the field? The Boston media reported that the last time this happened was on August 3rd, 1980. Red Sox manager Don Zimmer replaced lefty Tom Burgmeier with Skip Lockwood with two outs in the ninth, his team up by a run. But Burgmeier was sent to left field, replacing Jim Rice, who came out of the game. Why not just remove Burgmeier, and keep Rice in the game? The question was asked on The Joy of Sox blog, and I set out to find the answer.

A few Web sites mentioned the 1980 game, and Retrosheet’s play-by-play of it noted the switch, but nobody seemed to be giving a reason why it happened. I did a news search, and the Hartford Courant from a few days after the incident had the answer. Zimmer wanted to keep Burgmeier available to come back to the mound later in the inning:

“If Lockwood doesn’t get Roberts, then Burgmeier comes back to pitch to (Mickey) Rivers,” Zimmer said.

Burgmeier himself pointed out that not only had he been involved in the same move while playing in the minors a couple of times, but that “five or six times this season, the same thing would have happened, but I got the guy out. I feel comfortable in the outfield and it gives us the option of my coming back to pitch to a left-handed batter.”

Another Joy of Sox commenter named Benjamin turned up Peter Gammons’ Boston Globe piece from the day after the game:

“I’d done this in the minors a couple of times,” said Zimmer. “I’ve come close to doing it on a number of occasions here, using either Burgmeier or Drago in the outfield, but we’ve always gotten the batter out.” Burgmeier had played center field in five games for the Angels in 1968, although in none of those appearances did he go to the field from the mound. Burgy’s entrance to the field terminated the DH, for those of you scoring along at home, and when he looked in at Lockwood’s first pitch to Dave Roberts, he watched it scream down the left-field line.

Foul. Easily. “I just gave it a courtesy trot towards the line,” said Burgmeier. Roberts popped up the fourth pitch to Carlton Fisk, and the madness was over.

Had Roberts reached base, Zimmer would have brought Burgmeier back to the mound to face Mickey Rivers and used Garry Hancock in left. Burgmeier would have then batted fifth – Rice’s old spot in the order – and Hancock would have been placed in the eighth spot.

Why Zim picked Rice as the outfielder getting replaced is anyone’s guess. Rightfielder Dwight Evans’ spot in the order had passed more recently than Rice’s.

Who was the last Red Sox pitcher to play the field before Burgmeier? You have to go back another four decades. From Retrosheet’s play-by-play of the 1980 game:

“Burgmeier becomes the first Red Sox pitcher to play another position since Mike Ryba caught three games in 1942.”

Friday night, the Bombers roared into the Commonwealth on a high of their own, and had fortune winking at them for the first few rounds of the match. The notorious head-hunter Chamberlain tricked four Red Sox into being doubled up in five frames. Frustration rained on Beantown to the point of foundation saturation. But the intelligent New Englander knows that Great Mo becomes Joe Schmoe when he sees red in his pinstriped scope. And with the home club down to their final bullet, left-fielder Bay brought them back with a long clout, causing a frenzy in the chairs. Extra time was needed, but the Fates were just toying with the Big Applers, extending their agony almost to mid-night. Youkilis sent one out to sea to clinch it–watch your heads in the northern suburbs, as a touchdown has yet to be reported.

Saturday’s game took center stage nation-wide, and the Franconians quickly found themselves behind the eight-ball, allowing three separate two-run innings. A letdown after the previous night’s heroics seemed likely. But new N.Y. fat-wallet Burnett left one in Captain Varitek’s wheel house, and a four-run alarm was sounded around the capital city. Grand slams were once the dangling apple for the catcher, but now he smacks them like it’s old hat. Soon the young Native American Ellsbury knotted the contest with his own call of “timber,” and the two forces were locked in another war. Some tit for tat followed, but the Bostons’ line-up was just too powerful for the half-dozen or so substitute hurlers the New Yorks paraded to the hillock. Another comeback victory was secured, with a final count of 16 to 11 in favor of the homers.

Had Sunday’s game been a matinee affair, the sweat and stench of grown men in a tussle would have permeated Fenway’s lawn. But a cooling breeze brought the calendar back to April for this 8-o’clock affair. Less runs were made this time, but one in particular dazzled. Ellsbury saw an open door and blazed through, sprinting for home as aged citizen Pettitte started to wind. The crowd buzzed, but not so much as to tip off the opponent to the sneaky thievery unfolding before their eyes. The buzzing turned to a great roar as Jacoby dove across the plate with a stolen run. Boston newcomers Jones and Bowden held down the Yankee clubbers and soon a clean sweep seemed inevitable. The traitor Damon was summoned for one last gasp, but his fly fell short, sending the fanatics into a state of euphoria. To beat the rivals is what they live for, but to knock them off their horse and leave them dazed and weak is divine.

The Bostons will see if magic is in the cool Cleveland air this evening, as they embark on a nine-day journey and look for the chicken necks–eleven in a row.

Ace-boy Beckett cut the ribbon on the festivities by trying to hide an Easter Egg in Abreu’s ear. Time had been called and the former Yank took offense to the unexpected fly-by. Soon all the men who brought mitts to the park swarmed around the mound, but not a blow was thrown. Four Californians were sent to the corner, and the contest was completed without incident, though memories were made.

After order was restored, Misters Youkilis and Drew hopped successive trains to Dongtown, arriving right on schedule as far as the Boston rooters were concerned. A two to nil lead is often sufficient when the cranky Texan is on the bull. But the Angels of Anaheim worked miracles, bingling home one after another, to claim a lead of their own.

The Bostons closed the fault to a mere run with a rebuttal in the sixth, but Frustration was scrawled on this game’s name-tag. In ten tries, but one Sock lashed a safe hit with a mate on second base or further. The tor of the darkness came in the eighth frame, when all stations were occupied, but nary a soldier came home. A rotten cherry was plunked upon this holey Sunday when Okajima served dessert to Vlad the Impaler. The visitors gave it one last try in the ultimate round, but fell an inch short. The totals: Los Angeles five runs, ten base hits, New England four runs, nine base hits.

Tomorrow the men in newly-styled gray take to the Frisco Bay to play with the Athletics, looking to resurrect the winning ways of aught-eight.

An average fan in the stands might be able to look down on second-sackin’ sprout Pedroia, but even the stilt-walker on Yawkey Way looks up to him when he sets to ball-playing. On the second toss toward him from Mr. Big Game of St. Pete, ‘Dusty’ lit up the sky and the faces that gazed up at it with a laser beam into the stools atop The Wall. Had it been an average day, some might not yet have settled into their seats, at the park or on their sofas, when the long fly flew, finding a surprise on the scoreboard and requiring a re-telling of its tale. But on the Opening Day, every fan is at attention well in advance of play, afraid to miss the Boston Pops concert, or Mass. Sen. Kennedy, grandson of Honey Fitz himself, and Hall of Fame legend Jim Ed Rice taking care of first pitch duties.

Perhaps the Green Monster’s winter growth needed a trim, for Ol’ Salt ‘n’ Pepper Lowell shaved its face with one of his famous doubles. This trick along with a Canuck’s bingle brought in runs for the homeboys. Healthy Hack Pedroia led the team H.R. chase by a full roundabout until the Captain of the Crew pulled one with his spanking lefty swing around Pesky’s Pole, as its namesake, wearing his own retired number 6, watched it go for a four-bagger. The massive dong-bell made the score 5 to 1 in favor of the Red Army in round six.

But no man in a Red Sox uniform was more integral to the triumph than the Shootin’ Texan, Josh Beckett. From the first frame, the other side knew who was boss of the diamond. The Raymonds’ friend-requests were repeatedly declined by the stubborn ace, as he’d often set down his foes in mere minutes. A short stumbling block was fast removed from memory, and when Mr. Beckett was washroom-bound, his line showed large numbers in the inning and whiff columns, but puny ones elsewhere. Relief-men Okajima and Masterson combined to make the lead shorter, a plot carried out against their will by the Tampans, but the Back-Ender, Papelbon, dropped the opponents’ optimism off deep in the wood and drove clear off. The final tallies: five runs and nine base hits for the Bostons, three runs and as many safe hits for the Floridas.

Alabama: This is a tough one. Butch Hobson is the most well-known, was a regular for a few seasons, and had big power numbers. But I’m going with Lou Feeney, outfielder from the 1940s. In almost as many at bats as Hobson, Feeney outdid Butch in average and OBP by leaps and bounds–and never made 43 errors in one season. Feeney’s teammate Jim Tabor also was considered–kind of a mix of the other two.

Alaska: Curt Schilling.

Arizona: Doug Mirabelli doesn’t win too many awards, but he gets this one, over Billy Hatcher and Shea Hillenbrand. The relative longevity, the special job, and the two rings helped Doug out.

Arkansas: Ellis Kinder was more of a solid pitcher than Gene Stephens was a hitter.

California: Ted Williams was born here. Case closed. Too bad for Dwight Evans, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, Nomar, Spaceman, etc….

Colorado: Is Dud Lee’s .238 average in 180 games better than Mike Trujillo’s over-5 ERA in 90 innings? I say it is. Mid-1920s shortstop Ernest Holford “Dud” Lee wins.

Connecticut (my home state): Son of my dad’s ex-colleague, Mo Vaughn, beats out two heroes from his childhood, Jimmy Piersall and Walt Dropo.

Delaware: George Pepper Prentiss was the only Red Sox player born in Delaware, pitching briefly in the team’s first two seasons–though in 1901 he went by George Pepper Wilson.

Florida: I got all the way to the Ws before I saw Tim Wakefield’s name. Too bad I didn’t think of him earlier.

Georgia: Willard Nixon was an average pitcher, but started for the Sox for much of the 1950s. Give JD Drew a couple more solid seasons, and he’ll take over, but for now, I’m going with Willard.

Hawaii: Benny Agbayani–the only guy born in Hawaii to ever play for Boston (13 games in 2002).

Idaho: Little-used pitcher from ‘69-’73 Mike Garman wins the Idaho pageant uncontested.

Illinois: Sorry to Daubach, Sabes, Red Ruffing, Jake Stahl, and Lee Stange. I’m going with Fred Lynn.

Indiana: One of the team’s earliest superstars, Chick Stahl, beats out his teammate Lou Criger.

Iowa: I’m goin’ with Morgan Magic Maker Mike Boddicker here.

Kansas: In a battle of “dudes I don’t wanna talk about,” Johnny Damon beats Mike Torrez.

Kentucky: Jesse Tannehill pitched four great seasons a hundred years ago, and Carl Mays was dominant was four more a decade later, but I’ve gotta give this to Mike Greenwell, who spent his entire 12-year career in Boston, finishing with a .303 average.

Louisiana: Mel Parnell pitched his entire career in Boston, from ‘47 to ‘56, and was a solid starter with an ERA well below league average. Jon Papelbon only loses out because he’s only logged three full seasons–but he’ll soon be the man for Louisiana. If Lee Smith and Reggie Smith could combine to make one super-Smith who could pitch and hit, he’d be right there with Parnell. Maybe.

Maine: Bill Carrigan was an average hitter over his ten-year career in Boston, and led the team to three world championships, while acting as player/manager for two of those. But Bob Stanley went three years longer, and his ERA was way below league average. After much flip-flopping, I’m going with the pitcher who could rake, Bigfoot/Steamer.

Maryland: Babe Ruth did enough on the mound and at the plate in his five full seasons with the Sox so that we don’t need to look at the other contestants–sorry Jimmie Foxx and Lefty Grove.

Massachusetts: We can talk about this one. Bill Monboquette? Stuffy McInnis? Tony C.? Even my cult hero Rich Gedman is an option here. I think I’ll go with Jerry Remy, though.

Michigan: Jason Varitek is the one hitter out of the final five contestants–and much like how Willis Jackson got the entire guy vote while the girls were split four ways on that one Diff’rent Strokes episode, the captain takes the nod over Ed Cicotte, Derek Lowe, Rick Wise, and Dick Radatz.

Minnesota: I’m going Tom Burgmeier. Now there’s a sentence I’ve never written before.

Mississippi: Ellis Burks gets it over Oil Can Boyd and Boo Ferriss.

Missouri: The one and only Smoky Joe Wood.

Montana: Herb Plews had 12 at bats for Boston in 1959. No other guy from Montana had any. Or threw any pitches. Ever.

Nebraska: Wade Boggs.

Nevada: The other guy only played in six games, so 1930s pitcher Gordon Rhodes is your best bet.

New Hampshire: Rob Woodward and Phil Plantier were up for it, but Kevin Romine wins, pretty much because he played the longest of the three.

New Jersey: Doc Cramer, who hit above .300 for us over five seasons in the late 1930s.

New Mexico: Vern Stephens, easily.

New York: Carl Yastrzemski. Another one where you don’t even need to see the rest of the list. Bill Dinneen would make a good silver medalist, though.

North Carolina: Both Rick and Wes Ferrell vied for the crown, but Trot Nixon gets it.

North Dakota: No person born in NoDak ever played for the Red Sox, the only such state.

Ohio: Good thing Cy Young was born here or I would’ve had to come up with an excuse not to give it to Roger.

Oklahoma: Steve Crawford edges Lou Clinton.

Oregon: Mr. Red Sox is Mr. Oregon, though Johnny Pesky’s got some up and coming competition in Ellsbury and Lowrie.

Pennsylvania: Buck Freeman of the first world champs beats out Herb Pennock and Sparky Lyle.

Rhode Island: Ken Ryan and Chet Nichols each pitched for a few seasons in Boston, but I think Ryan was a tad better.

South Carolina: Hall of Famer Jim Rice.

South Dakota: Keith Foulke.

Tennessee: Gonna go out on a limb here and say Bob Montgomery.

Texas: Tris Speaker.

Utah: Bruce Hurst didn’t have to try very hard in this race.

Vermont: Much like I’m “from” one town but born in another since mine didn’t have a hospital, Carlton Fisk is “from” New Hampshire. But he was born in Vermont. Had he just been born in New Hampshire, he’d have won that state easily, while Larry Gardner would’ve taken Vermont no question. Instead, it gets messy, and Fisk edges out three-time world champ Gardner for the Vermont title, leaving Gardner out in the cold.

Virginia: 1920s pitcher Ted Wingfield beats John Wasdin in a sloppy race.

Washington: One day, Jon Lester. For now, 50s catcher Sammy White beats 40s pitcher Earl Johnson.

West Virginia: Three-way race between Dick Hoblitzel, Del Gainer, and Chuck Stobbs. I’ll take Hoblitzel.

Wisconsin: Fabian Gaffke. I guess.

Wyoming: Only two options. It’s Dick Ellsworth over Mike Lansing.

Washington, DC: 1930s pitcher Johnny Welch.

Of course, the Red Sox have had many great players born outside of the United States. But that’s another list for another time.

In their 108 seasons, the Red Sox have 39 wins, 50 losses, and two ties on my special day. In 27 of those years, there was no game–but in ten more, a doubleheader was played, the last one in 1937. After a 17-6 win in 1991 (the most runs they’ve ever scored on September 8th, and that includes total runs in doubleheaders), their record stood at 37-37-2. An even record after 76 games, having won 13 of their last 21. Incredibly, they wouldn’t win again on 9/8 until 2004, going 0-10. This horrible recent stretch has hurt their overall mark severely, while rivaling their 5-17-1 run (1-9 vs. NY) from 1924 to 1944. The 2004 win was also their first on the road since 1981. Their first home win in 17 years came this past season.

The Red Sox have played the Yankees more than twice as many times as any other team on my birthday, going 7-19 in 26 games, faring slightly better at home (4-8) than on the road (3-11). I’d guess the amount of games against New York is partially due to the two teams being purposely scheduled to play each other in Labor Day series so often.

The Athletics have also outplayed the Sox at home and away, going 8-4 overall. Most of those games were played while the A’s were in Philadelphia. The Red Sox have had the most success against Cleveland on 9/8, taking seven of 11. The Orioles (previously the St. Louis Browns) are 3-5-1 against Boston all-time, and the Tigers are 4-5. The Minnesota Twins have never played my team on my birthday, but their predecessors, the Washington Senators, went 2-4-1. After the 1901 loss to Chicago, the Red Sox are still winless in the Windy City, and are 2-4 against the ChiSox all-time. Boston has yet to beat the Angels in three birthday tries. No other team has played the Sox more than twice on September 8th. Every current AL franchise has played them at least once (the last two to join the club were the Royals in 2006 and Tampa in 2008), while the only NL team to have played them is the Brewers–though the game happened while Milwaukee was an AL club.

There have been a few memorable Red Sox games on my birthday. In 1919, Babe Ruth set the new record for home runs in a season, hitting his 26th in game one of a doubleheader sweep of the Yanks at the Polo Grounds, as Yankee fans cheered on the Red Sox slugger. “It is expected that before the season ends Ruth will hang up a record which will not be disturbed for generations,” said The New York Times. “He is the batting sensation of all time.” Ruth would nearly double his total the next year–while wearing Yankee pinstripes.

In 1927, the Sox trailed Cleveland 7-3 going to the bottom of the seventh, before rallying for a 10-8 win.

In 1929, Johnnie Heving knocked in the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth in the first half of a doubleheader against St. Louis at Fenway. Game two that day was called after ten scoreless innings due to the Sunday Law. The Sox finished the day just 43 games out of first place.

In 1944, the Red Sox and Yankees battled for first place on my negative thirty-first birthday. New York took a two-run lead into the bottom of the 12th. Boston had cut it to one and had the bases loaded with no outs, but failed to tie it up, giving the Yanks a 7-6 win and sole possession of the top spot in the American League.

In 1970, Sox pitcher Ken Brett got a 4-3 win thanks to his own eighth inning home run against Cleveland’s Steve Hargan, who was celebrating his birthday. This was the second September 8th in a row in which the Sox scored the winning run in the eighth inning in Cleveland.

1978’s game was part of the Boston Massacre, the Yanks winning 13-2.

In 1986, the Red Sox took another step toward the division title, scoring six runs in the top of the eleventh off of fellow birthday boy Don Aase to beat Baltimore, 9-3.

The next year, the Sox and Yanks played a game delayed twice by rain in which Lou Piniella threw helmets onto the field and was later ejected. The Sox staved off a late Yankee rally to win 8-6…at 1:46 AM.

Two seasons saw no regular season games being played around the time of my birthday. In 1918, the season was shortened by the first World War, so my big day came between games three and four of the World Series, in which the Sox beat the Cubs. And in 1994, the strike ended the season in early August.

Cy Young, Luis Tiant, Bill Lee, and Pedro Martinez have all won for the Red Sox on my birthday.

I’ve seen the Red Sox in person on my birthday five times–thrice at Fenway and twice at Yankee Stadium. In 2000 I saw the sad end to Bryce Florie’s career, as he was hit by a liner in the face. Fortunately I was way out in the right field grandstand, but even from there I knew it was serious.

In 2001, I watched a pitiful performance by a stumbling Sox team in The Bronx. I remember going to the top of the upper deck behind home plate and realizing for the first time that you could see the Manhattan skyline from there, through the slits in the concrete. Three days later, 9/11/01, that skyline was altered drastically. In the game I attended, the Yanks tallied 9 runs, 11 hits, and 1 error.

I checked out some individual 9/8 performances, too. David Ortiz is currently hitting .458 in 24 September 8th at bats, with four doubles, a triple, and a homer. Carl Yastrzemski was noticeably bad on my birthday, collecting just 16 hits in 74 at bats over 19 games, making three errors in one of those. Four of his hits were homers, though. Dwight Evans always gave me a nice gift, hitting .357 in 42 at bats, with four doubles and two homers. Not all the boxscores from the Ted Williams era are available, but I know The Kid homered on my birthday in 1956 and 1960. Carlton Fisk had been 0 for 10 on September 8th until the one I was actually born on, 1975, when he hit the first Red Sox home run of my lifetime. From that September 8th until his last one in a Red Sox uniform in 1980, Pudge went 11 for 23, with two doubles and three homers.

But Jim Rice holds what has to be a “Jere’s birthday” record. Jim hit safely in every game he ever played on September 8th–eleven of them. In fact, he got exactly one hit in each of them except for 1980, when he got two.

My favorite birthday game was last year, 2008. I’d been watching the schedule, trying to make sure I’d be at Fenway when the team broke baseball’s all-time consecutive sell-out record. Almost a year in advance, I figured out that if just one game was rained out and re-scheduled for later, the big day would fall on my birthday. I had tickets to both games just in case. Indeed there was a postponed game, making September 8th the day the streak would be broken. It was a heck of a day, as players greeted fans at the gates–so, of course, I went around to all the gates once I got inside. I got to chat with Dewey Evans, and Joe Castiglione handed me a commemorative ticket-card. I also got to see Ken Burns working on the new chapter of his Baseball film in the stands. And the team broke their seventeen-year-old September 8th home losing streak. Jon Lester got the win, making him the only pitcher currently on the team to have won a game for Boston on September 8th. My team’s record now stands at 11-19 in games on my birthday in my lifetime. How’s yours doing?

The world’s greatest Web site (retrosheet.org) was integral in the creation of this piece.

The National League campers put former Hubster-preemie Sanchez on the mound to get it going, and he who once tossed a hitless nine tried to make it a carbon copy in this exhibition. He took an unfettered record to the fifth frame, when Boston’s king of spring, infielder Green, threw a wrench. The pre-season sons of Fort Myers then loaded the bases, and scored their first tally when short-stop Ramirez eschewed an inning-ending force at his feet to fire first-ward, pulling his man off the bag. In the next session, Carter, who started the game amongst a plethora of his fellow B-listers, chased Wilkerson to third by golfing a two-sacker to deep right. Backstop Kottaras made a run-scoring out, and Green tacked on another with a line-single for a 3-1 Red Sox advantage.

Young Mr. Bowden manned the gun for the Bostons, and sailed smoothly for three, with just one blemish. McBeth, Tazawa, and Hansack also toiled, as did Cabrera, whose shoddy work caused the scales to even out in the seventh. But Kalish, who’d earlier made a brilliant sliding snag in left field, launched into a soliloquy in the eighth. He took a free pass on balls, snatched second on a wild one, burgled third, and completed the circuit when the throw from Rabelo got away. On-field baserunning advisor Hale had to clue Kalish in to the ball’s errant placement before the kid scurried home, though an outburst from the analysis booth may have done the trick. The former Sock, “Rem Dog,” played coach from on high, fearing overtime work on an already-exhausting afternoon.

But nature provided the blow that was the be-all and the end-all. With two Marlin on the line in the eighth inning, the field began to mimic the Everglades, and Judge Hoye decided the heavy downpour was worth swimming in no more. Many of the drenched “fans” in the sell-out crowd didn’t last the earlier delay, and those who did were now under cover, if not en route back home. The New England Nine went back to the state’s west coast with a thin four to three victory in an incomplete game.

American (East) exhibition results: Greater New Yorks 4, Detroits 3; Houston Aeronauts 9, Canadiennes 7, Tampa v. Balto, ppd.

The Sox were red, but the hats were the color of the grass underneath. Specialized blouses with green lettering and numerals were sewn up for the celebration of old Eire, many of whose past citizens have settled in the summer home of the Red Sox. The Heartlanders, who pitch their March camp across this same town, did not follow suit, donning their traditional blues. Perhaps a Nordic day is more suited to their followers’ tastes.

The Receiver-in-Chief, Varitek, started the rock brigade with a high one down the line. He himself seemed puzzled upon contact, perhaps thinking it a long foul. But it was indeed a goner, and the Bostons had blown the bagpipes first. A never-ending second frame for Mr. Beckett left him with quite the undesirable figure-tally, but those who were not in the house to bear witness should note: A three-wheeled boxcar runs the same track as a speeding locomotive. Tapper followed squibber followed bloop, and soon the Twins had tallied three, without a true slap of the sphere.

Beckett hopped on the horse with nary a peer-back from that point on, his mates undoing the damage with their sticks. Minny’s Baker served up a pastry, which The Big Papi promptly swallowed whole, scoring himself and another on one swing. Then substitute Guerrier had his stone turned to four-baguette by young Ellsbury, who has often shown muscle as well as motor.

But the Irish creme de la creme came from out-field roamer Bay, who hit a deep one to unchartered territory. Beckett claims he has only seen this feat a lone time in his travels–a thrown ball leaping off lumber and traversing the “batter’s eye” in center-field, one which stands no less than eighty hands high at this ball-yard.

The Bostons had enough on the scoreboard so that any attempt of waking by the Twin lashers became nothing but fantasy. Hurlers Papelbon, Saito, Okajima, and Tazawa held off the cross-town rivals for the remaining five frames on this overcast afternoon, and when the children lay down to rest this eve, they shall mark the verdict as “Bostons 9, Twin Cities 5″ in their leisure ledgers.

All but the visiting campers were in the Irish spirit on this day, as the would-be Green Sox fielded a team with Bailey, Carter, Green, and even Rock O’Baldelli. Yap-masters Orsillo and the “Rem-Dawg” even poked fun at an unfortunately small fellow dressed in leprechaun garb, who joined them in their box. With a rest day to-morrow, the boys can celebrate with whiskey and corned beef to-night, but then it’s back to the grind, as they meet the Redlegs in Sarasota on Thursday. The Boston club now leads in the race for the Mayor’s Cup, two games to one.