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Boston Needs to Make Texas Toast

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – In a recent Digital Sports Desk column which had a general theme, “When they go low, we go high,” the finer points of the City of Tampa were underlined and applauded as opposed to the B.S. that the New York Post threw at the City of Boston when the New York Yankees were the guests at America’s Most Beloved Ballpark, Fenway Park. While the Post proclaimed, “Boston Sucks,” Digital Sports Desk took the high road and pointed out that Tampa had a title-town winning streak ongoing with the reigning Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL and the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL. Tampa also claimed direct connections with the likes of hometown heroes such as musicians Ray Charles, Cannonball Adderley, Stephen Stills, David Sanborn and the model and actress Lauren Hutton.

The obvious question as the weekend of October 15-16-17 approaches and the fans of Houston wonder “What Say You?”

Houston is NOT a “HELL HOLE,” as the New York Post’s Wallace Matthews once wrote when the Knicks faced the Rockets in the 1994 NBA Finals. It is the most populous city in the State of Texas and the fourth most populous city in the United States with 2.3 million people and growing.

Certainly, Houston’s most famous claim to fame is the Johnson Space Center and “Mission Control” for the many NASA missions exploring outer space. Houston is called “Space City” and “H-Town.” The Houston Astros, once the “Colt 45s,” won the World Series in 2017 but not without controversy of sign stealing and drum-banging that cost GM Jeff Luhnow and Manager A.J. Hinch their jobs, along with Boston Red Sox Manager Alex Cora (who was then a bench coach for the ‘Stros before taking the reins in Boston for the 2018 World Series title season).

Houston was home to the then “mod” Astrodome, then known as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” The indoor baseball venue was the very first “dome,” built beginning in 1962 and opened in 1965. It hosted rock shows (Elvis, The Stones, Pink Floyd), heavyweight title fights (Ali) and the college basketball game of the century which featured 52,963 fans watching Elvin Hayes (39 points) and the University of Houston defeat the UCLA Bruins of Coach John Wooden and center Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) 71-69 on January 20, 1968.

Houston was the home of United States Presidents George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush. It claims a wide variety of famous singers, songwriters, actresses and models, from Kenny Rogers to Lyle Lovett to Kelly Emberg (model) or Charlies’ Angels star Jaclyn Smith. Boxing great George Foreman hails from Houston, as does the greatest gymnast of all-time, Simone Biles.

Houston has active arts and theatre, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and is widely known as a tech and medical center of the world, especially fighting every dreaded form of cancer.

How could Matthews ever call Houston a hell hole when it is the hometown of Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter and Destiny’s Child and two-time Academy Award winner Renée Zellweger is from nearby Katy, Texas?

The Red Sox will have their hands filled with the Astros this weekend, as the American League Championship Series (ALCS) opens up in Texas. The Astros went 95-67 this season and took the American League West title. This year will be the ‘Stros fifth consecutive appearance in the ALCS. The Astros lost the likes of outfielder George Springer (Toronto) and pitcher Gerrit Cole (NY Yankees) to free agency and are still great.

As MLB’s version of a “Final Four” has arrived, the sports world of Boston is not focused solely on baseball. Out in Foxboro, another Texas team, the vaunted Dallas Cowboys, will pay a visit to play the New England Patriots this Sunday (4:25pm). NFC East leader Dallas arrives with a 4-1 record and as winners of four straight, while the hometown Patriots are 2-3 and will need to compete mightily in order to gain a wild card berth in the NFL Playoffs. Nevertheless, the Cowboys vs Patriots will have “big game” status and higher TV ratings than the other three major sports combined.

Speaking of other major sports, the Boston Bruins will open their 2021-22 NHL season with a home game against another Texas team, the Dallas Stars, on Saturday night. The Bruins’ season begins with high hopes for another trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and maybe even another appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, largely dependent on the backline defense and goaltending sans the great, but injured, free agent Tuukka Rask (hip surgery).

It doesn’t end there, as the 75th Anniversary season of the NBA is soon to begin and the Boston Celtics will open on the road against longtime rival New York Knickerbockers with a Wednesday, October 20 appointment at Madison Square Garden. That game will be up against a possible Game 5 of the ALCS, as the series will move to Fenway Park for Game 3, 4, 5, scheduled October 18-19-20, with seasonal weather forecasts to delight the faithful fans at The Fens.

Lastly, the Boston College Eagles (4-1, 0-1 in ACC) will play a make it or break it ACC matchup in Chestnut Hill this Saturday night when the N.C. State Wolfpack (4-1, 1-0 in ACC) visits The Heights. Although it’s still relatively early in the college football season, the outcome of the game for the Eagles — especially at home — will determine their ability to compete for the upper echelons of the ACC. Believe it or not, this game is likely to determine Bowl eligibility and/or destinations for B.C.

The week of Boston sports festivities begins tonight in Houston when Red Sox ace Chris Sale (5-1) takes to the mound against Framber Valdez (11-6) of the Astros. Sale was shelled his last time out against the Tampa Bay Rays but has worked his mechanics ever since the October 8 debacle when he threw only one inning but let up five earned runs in a game the Red Sox managed to win 14-6. Boston exploded with five home runs in that game, which turned their series around and helped the Sox advance to the ALCS with a 3-1 series upset over Tampa.

The Highs and Lows of MLB Postseason

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Red Sox to Face Tough Tampa Bay Rays in ALDS

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – When it comes to postseason baseball, when they go low – WE GO HIGH!

Before the Boston Red Sox eliminated the New York Yankees in the American League Wild Card game, you might’ve heard about the New York Post rattling their once mighty sabres to taunt all things Boston with a column listing dozens of suggestions why “Boston Sucks.”

The reasons included gems like:

  • Incapable of making a good pizza.
  • Use the word “wicked” to describe everything other than witches.
  • The accent.
  • The people with the accent.
  • Bill de Blasio roots for you.

Besides the fact we’ll put the North End’s Regina Pizzeria up against Patsy’s any day of the week, the focus today is more a call-out of the ill-fated column’s sophomoric content and the old-as-time, typical New York trash-talking before any major league playoff series. One might harken back to 1994 when the Houston Rockets met the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals and the New York Post and the Houston Chronicle got into a trash-talking match which was led by then-NYP columnist Wallace Matthews going so far as to describe America’s fourth most populous city as “a steamy, bug-infested nondescript prairie town.” Matthews’ editors and headline writers took it from there with the memorable “This place is a hellhole” banner.

When the Houston Rockets took Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the Chronicle shot back with: HELLHOLE 1, N.Y. 0.

That brief history lesson brings us to the present day and the upcoming ALDS series pitting the Boston Red Sox against the Tampa Bay Rays which starts tonight in Florida.

The so-called New England elite might begin to compare the two cities by citing the differences between Harvard, MIT, Tufts and Boston College against Tampa’s University of South Florida (which is not even in South Florida), but let’s not go there. As it says, New York went low, so we’ll go HIGH.

How can you rip Tampa in 2021 when the Tampa Bay Bucs are the reigning NFL Super Bowl champions? The Buccaneers maneuvered their way to acquire New England treasure and greatest NFL quarterback of all-time Tom Brady, along with our favorite knucklehead tight end Rob Gronkowski to build a football team than might even repeat as NFL champions.

On the skating rink, you’d think the Northerners would have the advantage, but … No … the Tampa Bay Lightning are the class of the National Hockey League and have three Stanley Cup titles to prove it. Since 2003, they’ve made more trips to the Stanley Cup Playoffs than Patriots’ team owner Robert Kraft has made to the Orchids of Asia spa. The Lightning are the defending Cup champions as the new NHL season begins and there’s nothing on paper to think they won’t be standing in front of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman for another presentation in 2022.

Thank goodness, Tampa-St. Pete doesn’t field a franchise in the NBA or the vaunted Boston Celtics might be in big trouble.

The subject of SPORTS is not the only distinguished merits of the City of Tampa, although you might note Mets fireballer Doc Gooden and LA Dodgers great Steve Garvey are both from Tampa, along with scores of major leaguers and even a few pro wrestling greats (Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, to name two).

Let’s discuss music, starting with the fact both the great Ray Charles and sax-man extraordinaire Cannonball Adderley hail from Tampa.

If you want to get real serious, the charming and amazing actress and model Lauren Hutton spent her formative years in Tampa and graduated from Chamberlain High School before attending UCF and later Tulane University.

Back on the music scene, you can’t overlook that alto saxophone superstar David Sanborn was born in Tampa and Ray Charles’ band played a huge influence on his life as one of the purest sax players in history. Do you like Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young? If you want to *teach your children well, Stephen Stills – the genius songwriter, musician and voice of the ’60s – grew up in Tampa and Gainesville, Florida.

Tampa has enough history and success stories to continue, but we’ll conclude with the fact that the orchestrator of the “Evil Empire,” the late New York Yankees team owner George Steinbrenner was born in Ohio and bounced around until settling down in Tampa in 2006 until his death there at age 80 (2010). ‘Nuff said about that, right?

Remember, we’re going HIGH except for one last “Big Dig.” New York, you can have Bill de Blasio.

The prediction: Sadly, Tampa in four games.

Note: *Teach Your Children was written by Stills’ CSN sidekick Graham Nash.

Wild Card Could’ve Been an Ace

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Red Sox Host Yankees in AL “One & Done”

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – Oh what a difference eight games has made. Fresh in their minds, the Red Sox have the recent series loss of blowing two-of-three to Baltimore from September 28-30, but do you remember those three straight games lost to those same Orioles to start the season? Then there was the other recent would’a, could’a, should’a – the devastating three-game sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees September 24-28. That’s eight games in the loss column right there.

The 2021 Boston Red Sox rarely lost three games in a row during the season, but when they did, they were clinkers, for sure.

Three losses to the rival Yanks (August 17-18) cost them dearly, as did dropping 12-of-15 in a mid-summer swoon from July 28 to August 10th. That midseason debacle included five losses in six games against the 100-win Tampa Bay Rays, the champions of the American League East.

In Major League Baseball, it’s the price you pay for losing important games during the season while still managing to win an impressive 92 games. Both the Sox and the Yanks finished 92-70 and earned the right to play a single-elimination game on Bill James‘ birthday.

The 92 wins bounced the powerful Toronto Blue Jays (91-71) and the September red-hot Seattle Mariners (90-72) from wild card contention. Those two teams will be looking back at the 162-game schedule and lamenting opportunities lost and saves blown. It is not the last we will hear from the young, talented and offensive juggernaut Blue Jays, that is for sure.

It could be worse, as the Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves in this one-and-done Fall Foolishness after winning 106 regular season games, one shy of the 107-55 San Francisco Giants, the surprise team of this year of COVID-19+2. Can you imagine? winning 106 games, second-most in the majors and being subject to the one-game boot, depending on the performances of LA’s Max Scherzer and St. Louis Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright.

While contemplating all the ‘game of inches’ aspects of Baseball, a thought made famous by Hyman Roth in The Godfather, Part II, and said to myself, “This is the business we’ve chosen.” The rules were written in plain English before the start of the season and the results are clear.

Playing in a Major League Baseball wild card game could be replaced by dozens of other mechanisms to determine a true postseason participant. “Spin-the-Bottle” might be appropriate and quite easy to orchestrate if you had 18 players stand in a circle, the starting nine for each team alternating one by one. A sponsor, such as Bud Light, would eat it up, if MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred chugged a beer, put down the long neck and gave it a spin to decide if the Red Sox or Yanks would advance to a “real series.” Winner plays on Thursday night on FS-1, if you can find it on your dial.

Maybe the Bruins and Rangers could settle the wild card, competing in an NHL-style shoot-out on behalf of their brethren. After all, one-on-one breakaways to settle a hockey game is even more ridiculous than spin-the-bottle or a one-game elimination after 162 game season, isn’t it?

How about jump shots from the top of the key? Boston would pick Larry Bird to represent the Red Sox and the Knicks? Well, Charles Oakley, or even better, Ken “The Animal” Bannister, might do well for Go New York, Go New York, Go!

The fact of the matter is that these “One-and-done-tobers” might go the way of the “No Pepper” signs, as MLB is contemplating a 16-team postseason to be enacted as early as 2022. The future first round would be best-of-three series which seems a bit more reasonable, although not great. The problem at hand for MLB, the season can’t begin any earlier in March nor end any later into November, unless Canada Goose becomes the official uniform supplier.

The club owners and the television networks want more programming. The players want more money. The fans will get what MLB serves up, and chances are, they’ll like it. After all, it can all boil down to one pitch, one blown save, one Baltimore chop single, or one Steve Bartman fan-interference fiasco.

Baseball. It’s a game of inches and first pitch is 8:09pm (EDT) tonight.

 

Red Sox vs Texas Rangers Postponed as Henri Approaches

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BOSTON – (Source: Official Red Sox News Release) – The Red Sox-Rangers game scheduled for today, Sunday, August 22, at Fenway Park has been postponed due to the potential impact of Hurricane Henri in New England. The current forecast calls for several bands of moderate to heavy rain throughout the day and sustained winds of 30-40 MPH in the Fenway area with more severe conditions including several inches of rain, flash flooding and hurricane force winds expected to the south and west. State and local officials are asking all residents to use caution throughout the day on Sunday and only travel if absolutely necessary.

Sunday’s game has been rescheduled for Monday, August 23, beginning at 1:10 p.m. Tickets for Sunday’s game will be good for admission to the rescheduled contest. Fenway Park gates will open 90 minutes before first pitch at 11:40 a.m.

There is rain in the forecast for Monday, so check listings and here on Digital Sports Desk.

Sox Announce 2022 MLB Schedule

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BOSTON – (Source: Official team news release) – In conjunction with Major League Baseball, the Red Sox released the dates for their 2022 regular season games. The club begins the season at Fenway Park on Thursday, March 31, when they welcome the Tampa Bay Rays in the first of a three-game series – marking the third year in a row the Red Sox will open at home.

The Red Sox will play the New York Yankees at Fenway Park three times – July 7-10, August 12-14, and September 13-14. The team will play at Yankee Stadium on April 7-10, July 15-17, and September 22-25.

The club will make a rare trip to Wrigley Field in 2022 for a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs July 1-3. The series will be the club’s first visit to Wrigley since 2012.

The Red Sox will travel to three other National League ballparks in 2022: Truist Park for a two-game series against the Atlanta Braves (May 10-11), PNC Park for a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates (August 16-18), and Great American Ball Park for a two-game series against the Cincinnati Reds (September 20-21).

Four National League teams will make trips to Fenway Park next season, including three from the Central division: the Cincinnati Reds (May 31-June 1), the St. Louis Cardinals (June 17-19), the Milwaukee Brewers (July 29-31), and the Atlanta Braves (August 9-10).

The Red Sox will host the Minnesota Twins for a four-game series on Patriots’ Day Weekend (April 15-18). The team will be home on Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, against the Baltimore Orioles, the first home game on Memorial Day since 2019. The club will face the St. Louis Cardinals at home on Sunday, June 19, which is both Father’s Day and Juneteenth. The Red Sox will also play at Fenway Park on Independence Day, Monday, July 4, against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The final home series of the regular season will be against the Baltimore Orioles (September 27-29), and the regular season will conclude with a three-game series on the road at the Rogers Centre in Toronto (September 30-October 2).

Red Sox Extend Matt Barnes

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BOSTON – (Source: Official Team News Release) – The Boston Red Sox today signed right-handed pitcher Matt Barnes to a two-year contract extension that spans the 2022-23 seasons, with a club option for 2024. Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom made the announcement before Sunday’s Red Sox game against Philadelphia.

Barnes, 31, has spent his entire career in the Red Sox organization since Boston selected him in the first round (No. 19 overall) of the 2011 June Draft. In 362 career major league appearances (two starts), the right-hander is 30-23 with 34 saves, a 3.94 ERA (164 ER/374.1 IP), and 500 strikeouts. His 360 relief outings rank fourth in Red Sox history behind only Bob Stanley (552), Mike Timlin (394), and Jonathan Papelbon (393), while his 362 total appearances rank eighth.

Since the start of the 2016 season, Barnes leads American League relief pitchers in appearances (325), strikeouts (453), and wins (27), and ranks second in innings (322.1). He was the only American League pitcher to make at least 60 appearances and throw at least 60.0 innings in each season from 2016-19, tied for the most such seasons in Red Sox history. Since the start of 2018, Barnes has struck out 37.8 percent of batters faced and averaged 14.47 strikeouts per 9.0 innings, the third-highest marks among pitchers who have thrown at least 150.0 innings in that time.

In addition to earning his first career All-Star Game selection this season via the Player Ballot, Barnes was named the American League’s Relief Pitcher of the Month for April. In 37 appearances this year, he has recorded 19 saves with a 2.68 ERA (11 ER/37.0 IP), 0.86 WHIP, .171 opponent batting average, 62 strikeouts, and 10 walks. Barnes is currently posting career bests in ERA, WHIP, opponent batting average, walks per 9.0 innings (2.43), and strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.20). According to FanGraphs, he ranks fourth among relievers in wins above replacement (1.7).

In 11 career Postseason outings, Barnes is 2-0 with a 0.87 ERA (1 ER/10.1 IP) and a .167 opponent batting average (6-for-36). He helped lead the Red Sox to the 2018 World Series title, earning wins in Game 2 of the ALCS against the Houston Astros and in Game 1 of the Fall Classic against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Barnes led Boston with 10 appearances during the Postseason, nine of which were scoreless.

Sox Continue Winning Streak at Oakland

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OAKLAND – Kiké Hernández took a swing at a 3-1 sinker ball and popped it up to lead-off the Boston Red Sox game against the Oakland Athletics Friday night. Miraculously, the ball did not leave the sold-out ballpark, as a crowd of 32,304 fans looked on. Hernández had hit a leadoff home runs in three of Boston’s five prior games (Sunday, Monday, Thursday) and was the only Red Sox player ever with three or more leadoff homers in a five-game span.

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Hernández went on to other heroics in the game as he drove in the go-ahead run with a broken-bat single in the 10th inning and then made a tremendous defensive play to throw out Oakland’s Seth Brown at home plate from center field in the bottom of the 10th inning, resulting in a 3-2 Red Sox victory.

The Boston win came after the usually dependable closer Matt Barnes allowed an Elvis Andrus home run in the bottom of the ninth. Barnes blew his fourth save and the Red Sox had to rely on reliever Adam Ottavino to pitch the extra inning, complete with Brown posted on second base to start off the inning.

The win was credited to Barnes (4-2) and Ottavino earned his sixth save of the season.

The Sox have won their last eight games, the AL’s longest active win streak and the club’s second-longest of the season behind the nine games they won from April 5-14th. Boston is a season-high 21 games over the .500 mark.

Red Sox Come From Behind (Again)

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BOSTON – Simply put, this season the Boston Red Sox are winning games they are not supposed to win.  Monday night against the Kansas City Royals, the Sox trailed 5-1 entering the bottom of the 2nd inning before scoring one run in the 2nd inning, three runs in the 4th, and another run in the 6th inning. Outfielder Hunter Renfroe homered twice, including the game-winning blast to spot the Red Sox their 6-5 come-from-behind victory. It was the club’s 26th such win this season.

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The victory, combined with a weekend sweep of the New York Yankees, allowed Boston a “W” in each of the last four games and lifted the club to a season-high 17 games above .500 (previous: 15 games, 3 times).

Renfroe led the way, going 2-for-4, with two runs scored, the two HRs, three RBI. He  hit a two-run HR in the 4th inning, cutting the Sox’ deficit to 5-4, then hit a go-ahead solo homer in the 6th inning.  It was his 13th career multi-HR game and what made Monday night special was the fact the HRs had projected distances of 439 feet (4th inning) and 434 feet (6th inning). Overall, his 11 HR this season have averaged 419 feet (4,608 total feet).

Kiki Hernandez went 2-for-3 with a run scored on his lead-off homer. He hit a solo HR to lead off the bottom of the 1st for the second consecutive game, his ninth career leadoff homer and his third in 2021.

The Royals lost their 6th straight game and are (1-6) to start the current 10-game road trip.

Boston closer Matt Barnes converted his 17th save of the season (20 save opportunities, 85%), retiring all three batters faced in a scoreless 9th inning.

 

While We’re Young (Ideas) – June 27

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – If there’s one thing the Boston Red Sox organization does better than any other franchise in sports, it’s the pregame ceremony and tribute. With things returning to a post-pandemic normal in the Fens, the Red Sox got back to business with a well-deserved tribute to the career of retired team captain and MVP second baseman Dustin Pedroia.

During recent years, the Red Sox franchise has lived the highs and lows of life in Boston. They’ve hit the high notes when they paid tribute to the likes of David “Big Papi” Ortiz and they’ve grieved with the community, helped victims of the Boston Marathon bombing mourn and strengthen their resolve through the very memorial services right on the baseball field.

It might sound “cliche” but the Red Sox bind the fabric of greater New England like few other sports franchises. The Sox share that honor and responsibility with the NFL Patriots, the NBA Celtics and the NHL’s Bruins in amazing fashion. Yes, like franchises elsewhere, the civic pride surfaces much more when the teams are winning but, in New England, winning became habitual, especially since the year 2000.

Since that turn of the century, Boston sports franchises won 12 tittles. The Patriots claimed an amazing six Super Bowl victories with Tom Bradyleading the way for wins in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016 and 2018. The Red Sox won in 2004, 2007, 2013, 2018 while the Celtics took the NBA title in 2008 and the Bruins won the NHL’s Stanley Cup in 2011 with near misses against the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013 and a heart-breaking loss to the St. Louis Blues in 2019.

For each of the winners, the Boston faithful rallied around one, or maybe two, players to guide the team towards a highly demanding excellence. As noted, Brady led the Patriots who marched to the drum beat of team GM and coach Bill Belichick. The Celtics lifted the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Trophy in ‘08 and competed mightily for a number of others while Paul Pierce led the way in scoring and Kevin Garnett set a new standard in the Cs locker room. For the Bruins, team captain Zdeno Chara set the tone while his defensive partner, Dennis Seidenberg, personified team building and the atmosphere in the Bruins’ dressing room. As with all winning ice hockey teams, they all rallied around their goalkeepers, as in two-time Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas(2009 and 2011) and 2014 Vezina winner Tuukka Rask.

On the baseball diamond, it was Pedroia who led the Red Sox. While Ortiz provided the power, the pitching staff – both starters and relievers – stepped-up in a big way with Jon Lester, Jake Peavy and John Lackey in 2013 and the 11-man crew, led by David Price and Chris Sale got the job done in 2018, it was the leadership of Pedroia that provided team strength and chemistry, especially through adversity.

And, adversity might as well be Pedroia’s middle name from 2016-17-18 (played only three MLB games in ‘18) to 2019 (played only six MLB games) when he suffered severe left knee injuries and underwent multiple surgeries. Pedroia went from a career high 160 games played and an amazing and league-leading 724 plate appearances in 2013 to three games and 13 at bats in the 2018 season.

After fighting through evaluations, rehabilitation, set-backs and even total rest to heal his sore knee, Pedroia finally announced his retirement from the Red Sox and the majors this past February 1st, ending his 14-year MLB career. Unlike Tom Brady and Zdeno Chara, (and recently golf’s Phil Mickelson), Dustin Pedroia put another “W” in Father Time’s win column.

The Red Sox Friday night tribute and the way the sport of baseball can do like no other, reminded us of all that was good when Pedroia was playing at his Rookie of the Year (2007) and MVP levels (1st in 2008, 9th in 2011 and 7th in 2013). The tribute and video messages Brough the tough-minded Pedroia to tears, as did the “in-person” appearances of many of his former teammates.

With his family looking on, the Red Sox made special mention of the many charity activities Pedroia supported throughout his career and even brought the specific family members he helped during the marathon crisis. The ceremony was classy, succinct and poignant and Pedroia’s speech concise, meaningful and memorable.

The Red Sox invited marathon victim Jane Richard (who lost her young brother Martin and her leg from the bomb explosion in 2013) to sign the National Anthem and then had Pedroia toss a ceremonial first pitch to his former teammate and now Red Sox Manager Alex Cora.

It was also announced that the Sox will waive the customary waiting period and will induct Pedroia to the club’s Hall of Fame this year. … Only the surprise appearance of wrestling great Ric Flair – one of Pedroia’s all-time favorite celebrity athletes – could put an exclamation point on the tribute and, indeed, it did.

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HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The likes of Dustin Pedroia, Tom Brady, Zdeno Chara and many of the other Boston greats who captained and led their teams to victory calls for a non-comprehensive listing of some other sports icons who were the rallying point for their title teams. Here are a few that come to mind:

  • Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees
  • Jackie Robison, Brooklyn Dodgers
  • Bill Russell, Boston Celtics
  • Maurice “Rocket” Richard, Montreal Canadiens
  • Willis Reed, New York Knicks
  • Jean Béliveau, Montreal Canadiens
  • Franz Beckenbauer, Bayern Munich/Team Germany
  • Stan Mikita, Chicago Blackhawks
  • Tug McGraw, New York Mets
  • Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh Pirates
  • Jack Lambert, Pittsburgh Steelers
  • Thurman Munson, New York Yankees
  • Mike Eruzione, 1980 Team USA Hockey
  • Bobby Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers
  • John Elway, Denver Broncos
  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Los Angeles Lakers
  • Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche
  • Lawrence Taylor, New York Giants
  • Mia Hamm, Team USA
  • Denis Potvin, New York Islanders
  • Isiah Thomas, Detroit Pistons
  • Mark Messier, New York Rangers
  • Ray Lewis, Baltimore Ravens
  • Steve Yzerman, Detroit Red Wings
  • Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
  • Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
  • Sue Bird, Seattle Storm and Team USA
  • Christian Laettner, Duke University
  • Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts/Denver Broncos
  • Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
  • Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins
  • Simone Biles, Team USA Gymnastics
  • Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints

Without a doubt, there are dozens and dozens of others, especially in world sports (Futbol), college sports and women’s sports. Feel free to add your suggestion(s) in the comments section or on Twitter @WhileYoungIdeas