Fenway Park (52 page)
Authors: John Powers
As a closer, Lowe held off the A’s to save Martinez’s win in the finale on the Coast, and then he and his mates headed for the Bronx, and grabbed the ALCS opener from the Yankees with three homers and Wakefield’s devilish knuckler. That was the beginning of what would be the most spirited, memorable and, ultimately, painful October meeting between the two rivals.
The first game in the Fens produced a bench-clearing brawl that included Don Zimmer, the former Sox skipper turned pinstriped Buddha. Zimmer charged Martinez, who’d thrown at Karim Garcia’s head, and the 72-year-old was tossed to the ground in the scuffle. “When this series began everyone knew it was going to be quite a battle, very emotional, with a lot of intensity,” said Little after the visitors had prevailed, 4-3. “But I think we’ve upgraded it from a battle to a war.”
Though Wakefield evened things in Game 4, the Yankees countered with a 4-2 victory that sent them home with two chances to win the pennant. “The clock is ticking on us right now,” acknowledged Little. “This isn’t something we’ve never been through before. We were through this about a week ago.”
Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez threw Yankee bench coach Don Zimmer to the ground after Zimmer accosted him during a brawl in the fourth inning of Game 3 of the AL Championship Series on October 11, 2003 in Fenway Park.
Despite his controversial antics, Manny Ramirez never lacked a following in Boston, on or off the field.
Jason Varitek grappled with the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez after Rodriguez was hit by a pitch from Bronson Arroyo on July 24, 2004 at Fenway Park. They were among four players ejected after a bench-clearing brawl. The Red Sox rallied from a 9-4 deficit to win the game, 11-10.
ROCKIN’ THE PARK
This time, when Fenway Park echoed with the chords of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” it was different.
The organist was Danny Federici of the E Street Band, and Bruce Springsteen was taking the field for the first rock concert in the park’s 91 years.
It was September 6, 2003, and it had been 30 years since Stevie Wonder, War, and Ray Charles had played at Fenway as part of the Newport Jazz Festival. But this was different.
“What this park needs is a rock ‘n’ roll baptism, a rock ‘n’ roll bar mitzvah . . . a rock ‘n’ roll exorcism,” Springsteen told the capacity crowd of more than 35,000 as he and his bandmates played a typical “Boss” show that encompassed 28 songs and three hours, ending appropriately with a cover of the ubiquitous Beantown anthem, “Dirty Water,” helped along by Peter Wolf, former lead singer of the Boston-based J. Geils Band.
Bruce was starting the final month of a 14-month world tour in support of his The Rising album, a paean to America in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. His Boston audience was receptive to all of it, except his teasing about the Yankees rivalry. When he brought up the “evil citizens” to the South, the crowd booed lustily.
Still, Springsteen obviously got it. Toward the end of the show, he said, “There’s not many places where you can walk into an empty place and feel the soul of the city, but this is one.”
Since Springsteen headlined Fenway’s coming-out party as a rock music venue, it has hosted at least one major rock or pop act per year, and it often plays host to the Dropkick Murphys, the backbeat of Red Sox Nation.
21
ST
CENTURY PLAYERS
| 2003: | Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band |
| 2004: | Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band |
| 2005: | The Rolling Stones |
| 2006: | Dave Matthews Band with Sheryl Crow |
| 2007: | The Police |
| 2008: | Neil Diamond |
| 2009: | Dave Matthews Band with Willie Nelson |
| 2009: | Phish |
| 2009: | Paul McCartney |
| 2010: | Aerosmith and the J. Geils Band |
| 2011: | New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys |
Standing atop the Red Sox dugout, the Dropkick Murphys played “Dirty Water” in October 2004.
“Other places have spectators;
Fenway has 35,000 participants.”
—Bill Veeck, longtime owner and baseball executive
Teammates swarmed David Ortiz after his 10
th
-inning home run clinched a three-game sweep of the AL Division Series against the Anaheim Angels on October 8, 2004.
