51 Questions for the Diehard Fan: Boston Red Sox

By Ryder Edwards

Test your knowledge with these hardball questions about your favorite team—all the sluggers, hurlers, and greatest moments in Boston Red Sox history ... 51 questions to challenge the diehard Red Sox fan.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tucker Elliot
• Release date: Nov 2, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301457359

Ryder Edwards

Ryder Edwards is a diehard sports fan from the great city of Chicago: NASCAR, MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA, PGA ... he loves it all, and is passionate about the history and trivia from every major sport. Most recently he was at Medinah Country Club rooting feverishly for the US Ryder Cup team, but in the summers you can usually find him on Waveland Avenue supporting his hometown Cubs.

Book preview

1 INTRODUCTION

On April 26, 1901, the newly formed Boston Americans began play in baseball’s American League. The first home game in franchise history was on May 8, 1901, at the Huntington Avenue Grounds where it was 635 feet from home plate to straight away center field.

The Huntington Avenue Grounds was also the site of the first World Series in baseball’s modern era, won by the Boston Americans over the Pittsburgh Pirates in eight games, as that first series was a best-of-nine affair.

Boston officially became the Red Sox in 1908. Four years later the team christened a new ballpark in fine fashion. On April 20, 1912, the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 7-6 in the first game ever played at Fenway Park—and then the club set a franchise record for wins, claimed another Pennant, and won a second World Series title.

It was a good year, but there were even better years to come—and of course, some heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, agonizingly painful years as well.

And that is why the history of the Boston Red Sox is so compelling.

In Red Sox history, baseball fans get the absolute best moments the game has to offer: Cy Young’s perfect game, Ted Williams’ historic 1941 season, the Triple Crown seasons for Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski, Roger Clemens twice striking out 20 batters, the batting titles for Wade Boggs, Dave Henderson saving the Red Sox against Donnie Moore and the Angels, Carlton Fisk waving his ball fair, Bernie Carbo hitting a pair of pinch-hit homers in the World Series, Fred Lynn winning Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player honors in the same season, and all the meaningful games against the New York Yankees, just for starters.

Of course, in Red Sox history, Boston fans are fully aware how painful and tragic some of the most compelling moments are: Joe Morgan in 1975, the 1978 collapse, and then Bucky Dent in the 1978 playoff, Bill Buckner in 1986, and of course, Aaron Boone in 2003.

Today’s fans, however, celebrate