A letter to Mookie Betts: Think of your legacy, and learn from Mo Vaughn

Dear Mookie:
I'm sure you don't remember me. We've met a few times at Jimmy Fund events and the Red Sox Winter Festival. Mostly I've just watched you from afar, building your resume as the best all-around Boston baseball player of the 21st century. It's been a joy to see the skills and enthusiasm you bring to the ballpark each day, and the great work you do away from it.

I am writing because I want you to consider something very strongly during this important time in your life: How do I want to be remembered? If you want people to think of you as a great athlete, congratulations, you've already got that. But if you want them to remember you as one of the all-time greats -- one of the handfuls of guys who are identified as baseball icons forever associated with a time and a place -- then you need to do something else.

Don't just think about the money.

Yes, that's easy for me to say -- it's not my money. And yes, there is a lot of money to make. An obscene amount. You've worked hard to get to the place where you can command it. It is your right, and if others who do not possess your overall skillset are getting X amount, you deserve X+Y. I get it all.

I know there are other factors. The Red Sox want to be under the luxury tax, they have big contracts they are trying to unload like David Price, etc, etc. But if you went to John Henry and said you wanted to do what it took to stay, you could make it happen. He would make it happen, I have to believe it. This is not the time, in the wake of the Alex Cora fiasco, for him to be making unpopular moves that he doesn't have to make.

And here's the thing: even if you don't get THE MOST money you can, you could still get a ton of it and stay in Boston. Then you would have a ton of money AND something you would NOT have elsewhere:

No surprises. 

None of us knows what the future holds. The tragic events in California last Sunday are a horrible reminder of that. We could be on top of the world one minute and then gone the next. But there are some things we can control. In Boston, you know you have a great situation. You are the face of the franchise, the best and most beloved player in the best baseball city on the planet. You have the comfort zone that comes with continuity, and that leads to consistency. Even if you get more money to go elsewhere, there is no guarantee that you will play as well or be as happy there. In Boston, sure, you could slip, but the chances are much greater you would continue at your current level than if you have to deal with a new environment, new teammates, new fans, and everything else.

Mo before the money.

We had an excellent ballplayer in Boston during the 1990s named Mo Vaughn. You've probably met him -- great guy, a real fan favorite, very charitable -- a lot like you. He couldn't hold your glove, but he was a terrific hitter. Vaughn was the face of the franchise and leader of the clubhouse. Big Papi-like in that regard. He OWNED Boston. Then he left all those sure things and went to LA, where it all went downhill. The fans didn't care, he got hurt, he didn't feel the passion, and his numbers suffered. He went from a Hall of Fame trajectory to a guy who couldn't stay on the Cooperstown ballot beyond the first year.

All for some more money.

Mo after the money.

The rumors are the Red Sox have offered you $300 million for 10 years. That's a LOT of money, even by baseball standards. Let's say you can get $350 million or even $400 million in LA or somewhere else for 10 years. Do you KNOW everything else there is going to be as good for you as it has been in Boston? Sure, it COULD be, but do you KNOW it?

You might be saying "Wait a minute, this isn't my fault, it's John Henry's. I told him I wanted to stay here." I don't doubt you did. But he was only willing to go so far based on the level your agent set. There was no wiggle room below it. You could create that wiggle room by coming up with a figure that while maybe not what you COULD get, would still be enough to have a very rich life fiscally and continue what is a very rich professional life. No surprises.

These are troubled times in Boston. The whole Alex Cora thing is awful for everybody involved. This may be a challenging year ahead. But if you stay here, and then continue on for another decade, you can be remembered as the man who bridged the gap -- who stayed the Face of the Franchise and helped the team and MLB overall through its rough patch.

Here's one more thing to think about.

If you stay, you have a chance to be one of the handful of baseball greats who spend their entire career with one team. This is an extremely select list in the free agency era. Think Tony Gwynn, Robin Yount, Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones. There is something very, very special about the way these guys are held in the public consciousness, and I believe one reason they all displayed such consistent excellence over such long periods is that they did not upset the apple cart by switching to another organization half-way through. They knew they had something good where they were, so they stayed put. I am guessing they also make a lot more in endorsement money than if they had a split career.

You could be Boston's Derek Jeter.

Look at Pedroia. He signed a team-friendly deal and has gone through injuries for much of it, but I can guarantee he will be remembered in Boston as one of the all-time great Red Sox. If he went elsewhere, and THEN got hurt, he would be looked at more like a Jacoby Ellsbury. Great player at his peak, but a guy who chased the money.

You only get once chance at this decision. I know you are not just another athlete in it for himself. Your actions on the field and off show that. Heading downtown to hand out food to homeless folks without the cameras whirring -- jerks don't do stuff like that. Yes, maybe John Henry SHOULD offer you more money -- maybe he even WILL in the end, before a trade is done.

But it doesn't look that way. It looks like he's gone as high as he's willing. So it's really up to you.

You've got a great thing, and it can continue for a decade or more -- and carry you with it into history.

See you in April.

Saul Wisnia

CC: John Henry, Chaim Bloom

p.s. In LA the fans come in the third inning and leave in the seventh. Just sayin'

Cheer up and laugh fans with some Red Sox-themed Letterman Top Ten Lists

Ortiz gets the last laugh on Mr. Yankee Fan.

David Letterman made his love for baseball -- and the Yankees -- very clear during his 33 years as a late-night TV host, with legends from Harmon Killebrew to Bill Veeck to Derek Jeter taking a seat by his desk. He liked to have some fun with the Red Sox, however, and with the Sox currently suffering through one of the worst offensive slumps in team history, Boston fans can all use a laugh.

In honor of Letterman's retirement, here are some of the best Red Sox-related Top 10 lists (and mentions on lists) from the past 15 years:

Feb. 19, 2015 (after Pablo Sandoval reports to his first Boston spring training looking a bit hefty around the middle)

Top Ten Things You Don't Want to Hear From Your $95 Million Baseball Player

10.   "Are you going to finish that?"
9.     "I'm a .294 hitter, and that''s just my cholesterol."
8.     "Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks and a hot dog and popcorn and one of those little baseball helmets filled with ice cream."
7.     "Could have sworn the season started in August."
6.     "Can we make it to the seventh-inning brunch."
5.     "I need a few weekends off for Bachelor parties."
4.    "Do the bases have to be so far apart."
3.    "I eat like Babe Ruth, drink like Ruth Bader Ginsburg  

(Letterman joked that this list was "for Boston only; it's being blacked-out everywhere else.)

Oct. 22, 2004 (read by Curt Schilling--this one had to be tough for Dave to swallow)

Top Ten Reasons for the Boston Red Sox Comeback

10.  Unlike the first three games, we didn't leave early to beat the traffic.
9.    We put flu virus in Jeter's Gatorade.
8.    Let's just say Pete Rose made some phone calls for us.
7.    We asked Pokey Reese to be a little less Pokey.
6.    It's not like we haven't won a big game before -- it's just been 86 years.
5.    Honestly, I think we were tired of hearing about the Patriots.
4.    The messages of encouragement Martha [Stewart] sent on prison napkins.
3.    We pretended the baseball was Letterman's head.
2.    What'd you expect -- we have a guy who looks like Jesus!
1.     We got Babe Ruth's ghost a hooker and now everything's cool. 

Summer 2002 (from monologue)

"The Boston Red Sox once again, in order to avoid that costly World Series parade, will have their customary second-half swoon."
(He was right)



July 10, 2002 (a week after Ted Williams' death and the news his son and younger daughter were freezing his body)

Top Ten Little-Known Facts About Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig
3. Refuses to recognize Ted Williams as the top cryogenically-frozen ball player of all time.


May 21, 1999

Top Ten Things You Don't Want To Hear From a Fenway Park Hot Dog Vendor

10.  As my own tribute the Boston Tea Party, I spat in the mustard.
9.   These hot dogs are the real green monsters, right?
8.   If you find a Band-Aid in there -- it's mine.
7.   Try my Buckner Special -- one that was between my legs.
6.   See you in Mass. General, jackass.
5.   Hot dogs are a dollar -- backrubs are fifty cents.
4.   The meat for these things came from an MIT science project.
3.   If you eat this thing, your nickname better be "Old Ironsides."
2.   This hot dog wins the World Series of maggots.
1.   Remember:  1 if by salmonella, 2 if by trichinosis.

Five creative ways Red Sox can honor Derek Jeter Sunday

Jeter and the Monster -- one more time (Daily News)

The stat came across my Facebook feed last night courtesy of my friend Kevin Vahey, a veteran cameraman at Fenway Park and countless other venues -- who, I suppose, picked it up from the pre-game press notes at Fenway or Yankee Stadium:

Most Games at Fenway Park by Yankee Players (regular season and playoffs):

Lou Gehrig: 152

Mickey Mantle: 152

Derek Jeter: 151

Since neither Gehrig or Mantle played any postseason contests in Boston -- the Sox and Yanks never met in the playoffs until 1999 -- it is safe to say that no Yankee player has ever taken part in more important games at Fenway that Derek Jeter. This includes the epic ALCS battles of '99, 2003, and 2004, contests when the the Athens-Sparta rivalry reached its all-time high. And despite the sightings of "A-Rod Sucks" and "Jeter Swallows" t-shirts side-by-side on Yawkey Way during those years, it's hard to imagine a Yankee player ever garnering more respect from Boston fans than that currently enjoyed by  #2 in this weekend's visitor's scorecard.

So while I'm disappointed to hear that Jeter won't be playing shortstop for the season's final otherwise meaningless weekend -- he declared after last night's walk-off hit that he wanted his last game at short to be at Yankee Stadium -- I do hope he gets in the box score on both Friday and Saturday. This would give the Sox an opportunity to present him with a gift far more unique than a Fenway seatback or a tin number from the Green Monster (both of which they gave last fall to retiring Yankee relief ace Mariano Rivera):

1.  A plaque with a chunk of dirt taken from the shortstop area at Fenway Park and an inscription reading: 

Most games played at Fenway Park by Yankee Players (Regular Season and Playoffs):

1. Derek Jeter 

2. Lou Gehrig

3. Mickey Mantle   

Events Maestro Dr. Charles Steinberg and Co. could have the plaque inscribed and ready to give Jeter in what is being billed as a "low-key" ceremony before Sunday's game, provided he played Friday and Saturday to get up to 153 Fenway games. Then again, if he plays Friday or Saturday they could still give it to him, since 152 games would tie him with Lou and The Mick and perhaps induce him to play in the finale.

I'm sure the Yankee captain would appreciate the gesture, and besides, how many cars and golf clubs and cowboy boots with the #2 on them can one guy need? Since Fenway is the last stop on the Jeter Farewell Tour, Red Sox management has a chance to show some real creativity. The over-the-top ribbing of Rivera in his Fenway ceremony last September (when the Sandman's blown save in Game Four of the 2004 ALCS got top billing) was not appreciated by Yankee fans or media types. This would be applauded by all as a class move.

 Here are four more ideas that would please everyone and give Jeter the sendoff he deserves:

2.  Invite back the other eight Yankees in the starting lineup for Jeter's first game at Fenway on July 15, 1996, and have them suit up and take their positions before the game -- leaving a hole for Jeter at shortstop.

Bring back Bernie and Co.

Jeter led off that day for New York, going 2-for-4 with a double and run scored in an 8-6 Yankees loss. The full lineup In order: Jeter (SS), Bernie Williams (CF), Paul O'Neill (RF), Darryl Strawberry (DH), Tino Martinez (1B), Mariano Duncan (2B), Jim Leyritz (C),Gerald Williams (LF), and Andy Fox (3B). If this group were to take their spots on the Fenway diamond, Jeter would likely feel compelled to jog out and fill the gap at short -- if only for a minute.

3.  Before Jeter's first at-bat, play a recording of longtime Yankee Stadium PA announcer Dave Sheppard calling him to the plate. 

Pipe in the Voice of God. (ABC News)

Sheppard was the "Voice of God" at the Stadium for 56 years, lending his famous and dignified  tone to the proceedings from Mickey Mantle's first game there in 1951 through late in the 2007 season. Jeter had the presence of mind to ask Sheppard to record his introduction -- "Now batting for the Yankees, Number Two, Derek Jeter, Number Two..." and it has been re-played for all Jeter home at-bats since Sheppard's retirement (he died in 2010 at age 99). 

"That's the only voice I ever heard growing up," New Jersey native Jeter explained of his request to Sheppard. "That's the only voice I wanted to hear announced when I was at home." Since Jeter's last game should have been at home anyway -- what were the schedule-makers thinking? -- perhaps he wouldn't mind hearing it in his last road contest.

4.  A framed plaque with a ticket stub from the July 15, 1996 game and the Sept. 28, 2013 contest.

Yours on EBay for $14.95

Even if Jeter doesn't play Sunday, it will be his last game in uniform -- and meaningful none the less. By the way, that $9.00 bleacher seat now goes for $40.00.

5.  A gold-plated lifetime pass to Fenway Park, bearing the inscription: "This pass enables Derek Jeter free entrance to Fenway Park for all games, with the provision that he not  play in any of them if a playoff berth is on the line."

Come on back and see us -- but don't play.

This would give the Red Sox a cute way to rib Jeter about his role in so many big Yankee moments at Fenway, and the desire for Boston management to make sure he doesn't add any more to the list.

What can Jeter give to Boston during his send-off weekend? Even one inning at shortstop would be great, but short of that I am guessing Sox fans wouldn't mind a line-drive single to right or even a home run.

Providing, of course, that it came with the home team safely ahead.

Red Sox-Yankees 2014:A kinder, gentler hatred

No cat fights yesterday -- just cuddles.

Growing up in the Fenway bleachers during the 1970s and early '80s, I got used to the smells of pot smoke, warm beer, and Yankees-Red Sox vitriol.

Brawls between Sox fans and visiting loudmouths from the Bronx were as common in the stands as they were on the field back then. Broad-shouldered "blue coat" ushers fresh off the BC football team would break up the fights, and we'd hoot, holler, and occasionally throw our wadded up Sports Bar wrappers at the pinstripped combatants as they were escorted from the premises.

Things were slightly less physical but no less intense during the 1999-2004 era, when the Sox and Yankees battled it out three times in the ALCS. The anger and passion was higher than ever, and while there were fewer fistfights -- higher ticket prices and tighter security played a role in this, no doubt  -- there was plenty of taunting and harsh words when the guys in their Jeter and A-Rod jerseys came to town.

The players felt it too in 1999-2004.

Now, with both teams in a rebuilding mode and the last playoff series between them a decade in the rear-view mirror, the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry has reached a new stage: a kinder, gentler hatred.

This atmosphere was in full display during yesterday's 6-4 New York win at Boston. Due to the trade deadline white-flag shakedown that sent Jon Lester, John Lackey, Jonny Gomes, and numerous other veterans out of town and brought the likes of Yoenis Cespedes, Allen Craig, and Joe Kelly in, coupled with the Derek Jeter farewell tour, made it feel like nearly half the fans at Fenway were in Yankees regalia. Still, the only taunting or fighting I heard was of the G-rated variety (which was nice, since I had 9-year-old Rachel with me).

Equal opportunity art by Justyn Farano.

When Jeter sprinted onto the field during warmups, the crowd let out a roar, and his first at-bat was greeted with a standing ovation and a multitude of cell phone photo-snapping (your truly included). Rachel asked why everyone was cheering a Yankee, and I explained that Red Sox fans recognize class and excellence when they see it -- no matter the uniform. Still, this kind of reaction would have been unheard of in the old days.

There was booing for old friend Jacoby Ellsbury when he stepped in after Jeter, which dismayed Rachel (he was her favorite when with the Sox), but this seemed more good-natured than mean. Fans were going through the motions; it was if they felt booing him was the right thing to do, but their hearts and lungs were not really in it.  

Jeter -- class caught on camera

This went on all day. Sox and Yanks supporters laughed high-fived, and traded pictures throughout the game, and in many cases came to the ballpark together as spouses, friends, or siblings with divided loyalties. We were surrounded by examples of this emerging phenomenon, which may be growing in part because the scalding-hot hatred between the clubs is lessening. You didn't dare date a Yankees fan in the 1980s for fear of family scorn; now it's like having a vegan girlfriend. Your brother may raise his eyebrows, but nobody really cares.

Does this chumminess mark the end of the true rivalry? I don't think so. If the Red Sox and Yankees both contend again in 2015, I am pretty sure the old passions will reemerge. If free agent Lester signs with New York, that could play a big role as well. The fisticuffs may be gone for good -- three recent World Series championships for Boston have lessened the need for Sox fans to draw blood in defending their club -- but there is nothing wrong with having an arch-rival.

Just think of these days as less like Darth Vader versus The Rebel Alliance, and more like Cheers versus Gary's Olde Time Tavern. Play hard, and then share a beer after the game.  

My brother would have killed me.

How I learned to love Don Zimmer (even in pinstripes)

Zim, how his players knew him. (Getty Images)

As children our thoughts and actions are largely influenced by the adults around us. For kids who grew up in New England during the late 1970s, Don Zimmer never really had a chance.

Everywhere we turned, the manager of the Red Sox was getting bashed as an incompetent boob. If we went to Fenway Park, we heard Zimmer booed from the moment he stuck his head out of the dugout. In April of '79 he even got booed at Fenway on Opening Day, an honor usually reserved for politicians -- not guys who led their team to 99 wins the year before. 

When we listened to The Sunday Night Sports Huddle on WHDH radio, a rite of passage into mature fandom, we heard Zimmer maligned each week by Eddie Andelman and his co-hosts for failing to make the playoffs with the likes of Fisk, Lynn, Rice, Yaz, and Dewey in his lineup. Callers who mentioned the manager's real name were immediately cut off; "Chiang Kai-shek" was how you had to identify the Boston skipper on The Huddle, and even if we didn't know who that was, we laughed right along with Eddie, Mark, and Jim.

Full Popeye mode. (Boston Red Sox)

Zimmer looked like a cross between two cartoon characters. His long, muscle-bulging forearms, pudgy, tobacco-filled cheeks, and squinty eyes made him a ringer for Popeye the Sailor Man, while his short, stout torso and legs were more a match for Popeye's hamburger-eating pal, Wimpy. Throw in the regrettable softball-style, V-necked tight nylon uniforms the Sox wore during this era, and it wasn't a pretty picture. 

This guy was a sports cartoonist's dream, and since the Boston Globe had one of the best in Larry Johnson we were treated to a steady diet of hilarious images. One of these adorned the office door of my summer camp's  head baseball coach for years, a yellowing reminder of just how silly Zimmer appeared to the world.

For us easily impressionable preteens, the member of the Sox to emulate was lefty pitcher Bill Lee, California cool with his long hair, sharp wit, and funny nickname of "The Spaceman." Zimmer was known around the game, logically, as Popeye, but Lee gave him the moniker most often used by kids and hecklers to describe the manager: "Gerbil." 

The anti-Zimmer brigade was often loudest at home, where my stepfather hurled a barrage of insults at the Zenith that he fully expected the skipper to hear. These reached a fever pitch in the summer of '78, when the Red Sox blew a 14-game lead in the AL East and the Yankees roared back to win a one-game playoff at Fenway behind Goose Gossage, Reggie 
Jackson, and Bucky "Bleeping" Dent. Today a 99-63 record almost surely gets a team into the playoffs as a Wild Card; back then all it got you was second place and a plane ticket home.

Zimmer in '78 -- when it all slipped away. (Topps)

Late in the 1980 season, with the injury-plagued Red Sox limping toward a fourth-place finish, Zimmer was fired. Grandfatherly Ralph Houk took his place, and while the Sox still didn't win anything, the manager-bashing and booing largely stopped. The human punching bag had left town. 

Then something happened. As I passed through into high school and college, and learned more about Zimmer's background and reputation around the game, my feelings started to change.  

The roly-poly guy who waddled like a Weeble on his trips to the mound had once been a nimble shortstop who stole 60 bases (including 10 thefts of home) his second year in pro ball. Zimmer was one of the best power hitters in the minors and on the fast track to make the venerable Brooklyn Dodgers before he was beaned in a 1953 game and suffered a fractured skull.

For two weeks Zimmer lay in a coma, and doctors had to drill holes in the sides of his head to relieve pressure on his brain. Against all odds he not only returned to baseball, he made the major leagues with the Dodgers a year later. (True to his '70s image, the only fact we knew about this scary incident as kids was that "blockhead" Zimmer had a steel plate in his head.)

He never achieved stardom with the Reese-Robinson-Snider-Campanella Dodgers, but was a valuable role player who had 15 home runs in 88 games at second, short, and third in 1955 to help Brooklyn to its only World Series title. He survived another serious beaning that cost him much of the '56 season, and won a second World Series with the Dodgers in '59 after their move to Los Angeles.

Zim, young and a Dodger. (CNN/SI)

Statistics don't always tell the whole story about a player, and they certainly did not with Zimmer. He hit just .235 with 91 homers over 12 major-league seasons, and upon being traded from the Dodgers suffered in purgatory with dismal clubs like the 1962 Mets and 1963-65 Senators. He lasted as long as he did because he was tough, played hard, and was very well-liked by his teammates. Versatility was another plus; he suited up at every position but first base and center field in the majors, and even caught 35 games with Washington.

After his playing days, Zimmer never left the game. He coached in Montreal, managed the talent-poor Padres in their early years (a job from which he resigned and was not fired, as he'd prove with a letter he carried in his wallet), and came to Boston as a coach under Darrell Johnson. Look closely at the reverie after Carlton Fisk's famous 1975 World Series home run, and you'll see Zim (coaching third) is the first person to congratulate Pudge as he heads to home plate.  

Speaking of home plate, Zimmer was married there -- honest. He wed his beloved Jean (nicknamed "Soot") at the dish before a minor league game in '51, and was still with her when he died. 

Wedding bells -- and bats 

(Elmira Star-Gazette)

Zimmer's post-Boston journey included a decent managerial stint with the Rangers and a fantastic job at the helm of the 1989 Cubs, capturing an NL East division title and Manager of the Year honors. Amazingly, he even came back to the scene of the crime -- coaching with the awful early 1990s Red Sox under his former Boston third baseman, Butch Hobson. That took guts, and perhaps knowing it, fans gave Zimmer a break from the booing (turning instead on Hobson).

Ironically, the revival of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry occurred with Zimmer in the opposing dugout as bench coach and consigliere to manager Joe Torre on the four-time World Series champion Yanks of 1996-2003. As Bostonians we hated the Yankees, but it was now impossible to hate Zimmer. Leaning over to whisper to Torre, or breaking into a grin and whacking Derek Jeter on the back after a good play, he looked more like a grandfatherly fan than a guy drawing a paycheck from Steinbrenner.

Zim and Torre (Torrie Keith, Daily News)

Then there was the moment when Zimmer, angered at Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez for throwing at Karim Garcia's head during the 2003 ALCS, charged across the Fenway diamond to go after the pitcher. A shocked Martinez pushed the 72-year-old coach to the ground, an act which while not malicious in intent left a bad impression on all who saw it. When Zim apologized during a press conference the next day, tearing up in the process, he was the furthest thing from a gerbil. He was more like a teddy bear.

Perhaps appropriately, Zimmer left the Yankees after that season, which meant he wasn't on The Dark Side when the Sox finally broke through in October 2004. He returned to his Florida home and took on various advisory roles with the Rays, changing his uniform number each spring to reflect his years in the pro game. This season it was 66.

The last of many uniforms.

Three titles in ten years mellowed Boston fans, and Zim claimed he always enjoyed coming back to Boston. We learned he had been listening to the talk shows all those years ago, and it had eaten him up, but that he felt fans had the right to boo him if they wanted. He even rented a house from Bucky Dent one year -- and loved to tell the story of how photos depicting Dent's '78 home run at Fenway hung in every room.

Hearing of his death, I felt like I had lost an old friend -- even though I never got closer to Zimmer than across a crowded room. The tributes came from every corner of the hardball universe. 

"I never met anyone was more pure baseball than Don Zimmer," Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan wrote in a tribute. 

"He was, without a doubt, one of the most beloved players on the team," said Vin Scully, Dodgers broadcaster from Zim's days with the club until today. That says a lot, when you think about the guys on that Brooklyn/Los Angeles team.

Sure, he should have rested Fisk more in '78 and taken out Hobson when he had bone chips floating in his elbow. He should have pitched Lee against the Yanks in September (or in the playoff game), but while this may have driven the fans and talk show hosts nuts, his players on the Sox loved him. 

Sorry for the boos, Zim. We were just kids. We didn't know better.

Rest in Peace, Don. (Topps)

Can Jacoby, Tar-Gate jump-start Red Sox-Yankees rivalry?

A new villain is born.

Watching Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda get ejected from Wednesday night's game for turning his neck into a one-stop lube shop, and fans continue their series-long booing of turncoat Jacoby Ellsbury -- a tactic that didn't slow the red-hot hitter one bit -- almost made it feel like the good old days at Fenway Park.

Old, as in 2003-2006.

Back then, the rivalry between the Sox and Yanks was at its Athens-Sparta heights. In addition to some epic regular season and ALCS battles, there were specific incidents and individuals that further electrified the match-ups and heightened the hatred for Boston fans. Among them:

The turning point.

The A-Rod-Varitek fight on July 24, 2004, spurred on when Alex Rodriguez didn't take kindly to Bronson Arroyo pitching too close to his pretty face, and got a face-full of Jason Varitek's mitt for mouthing off. After Tek's smack-down the Sox went 46-20 (.697) the rest of the regular season to make the playoffs. 

The A-Rod-Arroyo interference incident in Game 6 of the '04 ALCS, when Rodriguez visibly smacked a ball out of the pitcher's hand while running down the first-base line -- costing his team a late-game rally and launching a thousand photo-shopped pictures in which a purse was hung on his arm. We all know how that series turned out.

Ah yes, the good old days.

Johnny Damon's defection to New York after 2005, in which Jesus became Judas and eventually helped the Yanks to another title. On the positive side for Boston, this did provide a home for young Ellsbury in center field.

The ninth-inning showdowns between the Sox and legendary Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, which on a few memorable occasions went Boston's way.

And, of course, other familiar foes like Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Hideki Matsui, Mike Mussina, and Jason Giambi. Some were easier to boo than others, but you never needed a scorecard to know most of the New York roster. Class or no class, they were a known enemy.

Now, with A-Rod on the suspended list, only Jeter remains in pinstripes from those glory days. The lineup New York used to wipe out the Red Sox 14-5 last night included the likes of Yangervis Solarte, Carlos Beltran, and Brian McCann, all newcomers to the rivalry. Jeter and Ellsbury, of course, were atop the order combining for 5 hits and 5 RBI.

And then there was one.

Pineda picked up a 10-game suspension for his Wednesday-night antics, but he'll surely be back in the rotation when the Sox and Yanks next meet in late June. 

Will the energy that ran through Fenway last night when he got tossed carry over into that game? 

Will New York follow suit and have Boston pitchers inspected for pine tar? 

Will the Sox use the embarrassment of last night's 5-error, 4-hit, Mike Carp-pitching fiasco to spur them on to a hot streak, as they did after the Varitek-A-Rod fight in 2004?

If Sox fans want any chance of seeing their team back in the postseason, they had better hope the last comes true. It's still early enough to turn this season around, but Boston does not have the superstars necessary to dig themselves out of too big a hole.

A-Rod back at Fenway Park: Once more with loathing

The Material Boy is back.

Dust off those Madonna masks and get out your biggest syringes, Boston fans, A-Rod is coming to town -- maybe for the last time in pinstripes.

Bucky Bleeping Dent and Aaron Bleeping Boone pierced the hearts of Red Sox Nation with one swing of their bats, but there is no player more universally reviled at Fenway Park than Alex Emmanuel Rodriguez. It isn't just that A-Rod is a steroid guy, or that he lied about it numerous times, or even that he is the lone accused doper trying to fight the MLB over his suspension. It's his total body of smug, selfish play as a Yankee that has kept everyone from bleacherites to box seat gentry on Yawkey Way booing for the past decade.

Nobody jeered the handsome, 18-year-old Mariner who made his big-league debut at Fenway Park against the Vaughn-Valentin-Greenwell Red Sox in July 1994. Reports are that the crowd politely applauded Seattle's number-nine batter when he singled off Boston's Sergio Valdez for his first MLB hit. 

A-Rod and Junior

By his 21st birthday, which he celebrated with a home run while batting in front of Ken Griffey, Jr., Rodriguez was a superstar. Through his years in Seattle and in Texas with the Rangers, he was a feared and respected Boston opponent -- but not a villain.

The hate started in the winter of 2003-04. New York had just done in the Sox during an epic ALCS, and rumors leaked that Boston was going to make a three-way trade with the Angels and Rangers that would send outfielder/slugger Manny Ramriez to Texas and bring reigning MVP Rodriguez here. Since A-Rod was a Gold Glove winner at shortstop, local icon Nomar Garciaparra's position, Nomar would then be traded to the White Sox for All-Star Magglio Ordonez -- who would slip into Manny's old spot in left field. 

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was steamed that Boston was poised to beat out his team for the game's best player, but he didn't have long to worry. Red Sox boss John Henry wanted to lighten some of Rodriguez's  $252 million contract in $28 million of deferred payments, and although A-Rod's agent Scott Boras initially went along with the plan, he was talked out of it by MLB Player's Association Deputy Director Gen Orza -- and Henry backed out of a less-desirable deferred-payment offer. 

In swooped King George with a trade offer of his own -- Alfonso Soriano and a throw-in for Rodriguez and cash -- and just like that A-Rod was a Yankee.

Smug as a bug in a rug.

Making the move even more excruciating for Boston fans was this: because New York already had an All-Star shortstop in Derek Jeter, and because ALCS hero Boone had blown out his knee playing pick-up basketball in the offseason, Rodriguez simply moved over to third where he would be a constant reminder of the previous year's torment.

Rodriguez was instantly Public Enemy No. 1 at Fenway, and it only got worse when the Sox and Yanks tangled there on July 24. Boston starter Bronson Arroyo hit A-Rod on the elbow with a sinker, and when A-Rod started toward the mound with menacing eyes, he was intercepted by catcher Jason Varitek. The two jawed it out, after which Tek shoved his glove in Rodriguez's face in a moment that would forever signify the start of Boston's late-season push to a World Series title.

Take that, A-Fraud!

Could it get still worse? Sure. 

In Game Six of the Boston-New York ALCS rematch that October, at Yankee Stadium, Arroyo and A-Rod were key figures in another big moment. With Boston leading, 4-2, in the 8th and Jeter on first, Rodriguez hit a dinky grounder to the left of the mound; Arroyo gloved it, went to tag A-Rod running down the line, and suddenly the ball was lose and rolling into right field as Jeter sprinted home.

For a moment, it looked like the beginning of another Boston postseason collapse, but Red Sox Manager Terry Francona came out to protest and slow-motion replays showed what most initially missed -- A-Rod illegally slapping the ball out of Arroyo's glove. Rodriguez (holding his hands up in a "who me?" gesture as he stood defiantly at second base) was declared out on interference, Jeter was put back at first. The Sox went on to win the game and of course the series.

Actually, I find this photo an insult to women.

By the next morning a picture showing the exact moment of the slap, with a purse photo-shopped into A-Rod's hand, was making its way across New England, Rodriguez's fate as Boston's biggest villain was sealed. 

When rumors swirled that the married slugger was dating Madonna in summer 2008, Red Sox fans came to Fenway with Madonna masks; when he admitted in 2009 to doing steroids while with the Rangers due to self-imposed pressure to live up to a $252 million contract, they waved posters declaring him a cheater and a baby.

Now A-Rod is back again, for the first time since Commissioner Bud Selig announced he would be suspended for the remainder of this season and all of 2014 for further violations of the steroid policy. He's playing while appealing the commissioner's decision, but many speculate he will soon retire rather than accept his fate.

Yanks fans may soon get their wish.

I have always taught my kids not to boo any player on the Red Sox or other teams. I've covered enough high school, college, and minor league games to know that every guy out on that field is one of the best in the world, and deserves your respect. This especially goes for class acts like Jeter and Mariano Rivera.

There is, however, one exception to my rule. We won't be at any of the games this weekend, but my kids can boo as loud as they want at the radio or TV when A-Fraud steps to the plate.

Will broken ankle cost Red Sox nemesis Derek Jeter a shot at catching Pete Rose?

Ever the gamer, Jeter still gets the ball out of his glove.

As soon as the first replays showed Derek Jeter's ankle turning grotesquely as he dove to stop a ground ball from Tigers batter Jhonny Peralta in the 12th inning of last night's ALCS opener, fans of a certain age immediately thought of a similar injury to Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann caught live on Monday Night Football. 

Theismann's injury -- a broken leg -- ended his career. Jeter is out for the remainder of the postseason, but the impact the injury may have on the rest of his time with the Yankees is uncertain. As a Red Sox fan who has never booed and always respected the New York shortstop, I would hate to see him go out this way.

If this setback were to slow or end Jeter's career, it could stop him from making a run at one of baseball's most legendary records.

With a MLB-best 216 hits this season, Jeter has 3,304 hits in his career. This is tops among current players and good for 11th place on the all-time list, 952 behind record-holder Pete Rose. Jeter is 38 years old, and while it may at first seem unlikely that someone his age could make up that gap, it was not implausible in this case -- at least heading into tonight.

Jeter has remained in excellent condition as he has aged. Although a calf strain last season caused him to miss 31 games, he bounced back to play in 159 of New York's 162 contests this year. In 16 full non-strike seasons, he has never been below 148 games played in any other year.

Were he to continue playing in 140-150 games each season for the next five years, while maintaining close to his average of 190-200 hits, he could get the hits needed to catch Rose while still well short of his 44th birthday. Again, while this may seem a stretch, consider that Rose himself played until he was 45 and a half.

Could a healthy Jeter leave Rose in the dust?

Jeter is so productive a hitter, and such an iconic figure to Yankees fans, teammates, and even those of us who watch him at Fenway Park, that it is plausible to imagine the club would move him to a less demanding position such as first base or even designated hitter in the future to reduce the wear and tear on his body.

Now, however, all those possibilities are up in the air until the extent of Jeter's injury is known. Even were he to return to the Yankees lineup next season, the damage may limit his speed on the bases and agility in the field. 

And if this is the case, it might put another less-heralded but no less important record out of Jeter's reach. He currently has 1,868 runs scored for his career, 427 behind top man Rickey Henderson all-time.

This mark appeared more possible for a healthy Jeter than the hits record, since he could reach it in a little more than four years were he to keep crossing the plate nearly 100 times a season in the potent New York lineup. Now it too is up in the air.

The Yankees will have to go the rest of the way this postseason without their captain and leader. What happens after that is still uncertain, but even Red Sox fans would hate to see one of baseball's most beloved figures unable to perform at a high level. 

We may love to hate ARod, but Jeter is up there with Mariano Rivera as a Yankee who will always get the respect he deserves from this Fenway fan -- and would be sorely missed.