I guess we’re going to stick with the baseball this week. I forgot this year is the 20th anniversary of the Doug Mirabelli game. For those unfamiliar with the story, the Red Sox long employed knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, one of my all-time favourite pitchers. The knuckleball, however, is very difficult to catch because its lack of spin means after the pitcher releases it, the ball can pretty much go anywhere. I miss the chaos of a good knuckler.
Anyway, the Sox had traded away Mirabelli, Wakefield’s personal catcher—he was great at catching the knuckleball—but the new guy could not catch it. So with an important early season matchup against the Yankees coming up, the Sox traded to get Mirabelli back—but he was all the way out in San Diego.
Long story short, his flight was rerouted and he received a police escort—along with an outfit change in the backseat of the SUV—to get him to Fenway Park on time for first pitch. Things that authorities have said would not happen in today’s day and age.
But, this was also the return of Johnny Damon to Boston, after he had signed with their arch rivals, the New York Yankees.
A present-day beat reporter showed the sports section front page of the Boston Globe from the morning after—the Sox won—and at the bottom of the page was this neat little small multiples graphic of Damon’s futility at bat that day.
One of the things I have always loved about baseball is how dense the sport is with data. Not that as a kid I thought of it in those terms, but I can remember reading the box scores at breakfast in the morning, and how box scores could tell you all about the game, except, perhaps, sequencing. And that, probably, is why I love scoring games I attend in person. I have a full record I can revisit later as a souvenir of how that afternoon or night progressed.
If only the 2026 Red Sox were at all like the 2006 Red Sox.
Man, I miss Manny and Papi from those lineups.
Also two guys named Cora and Varitek. Wonder if they ever became of anything in Boston?
Happy Friday, all.
Credit for the piece goes to the Boston Globe graphics department.