It Was 20 Years Ago Today ... Everything Changed Between the Red Sox and Yankees

Jim Rogash. Getty Images.

A few years ago a group of internet friends I'd picked up along the way but never met in person came to Boston from their home in Buffalo and asked me to grab dinner with them at a sports bar. And as we were hanging out and I was trying to acclimate them to Masshole Culture, I told them that in order to get a liquor license in Massachusetts, you're legally required to have three framed photos up on your wall. One is Bobby Orr's goal to win the 1970 Cup. The other is Larry Bird and Dr. J with their hands around each other's throats. And the third is this one. A while later I got up to hit the men's room and pointed out to them all three pictures, proudly displayed within a few feet of each other. We're nothing if not predictable. 

The Orr and Bird photos are iconic because they capture moments when future Hall of Famers established their presence in the leagues they would come to dominate. This one, because it turned out to be a pivotal moment in the history of two franchises that had been locked in a blood feud like Carthage and Rome for generations. But it was mostly the Red Sox going 0-fer in the Punic Wars. That is, up until this moment. When Boston became Rome and Jason Varitek was Cato the Censor declaring "Carthage must be destroyed (Carthago delenda est)" as he fed Alex Rodriguez a mouthful of mitt. 

And it became an instant classic. A "Where were you when you first saw this?" moment for the ages. In the last few blissful years before everyone put an iPhone in their pocket, this photo went viral as fast as viralness could be done. Because it captured the one point that made the then-best rivalry in all of sports so special. Made it undeniable, in fact:

These teams fucking hated each other. They despised one another with the white heat of a million black leather car seats. It was glorious. Even in the middle of a four-season run of three Patriots Super Bowl championships, the intensity of this rivalry was at the center of our solar system.

True story: Over the weekend I was in a golf tournament. At the 19th hole, I started talking to a good friend and two guys I'd never met. And in less than five minutes the conversation turned to how great it was watching these two teams from the mid-90s to the mid-2000s. With this fight as the second best moment, behind only the comeback in the ALCS that followed. 

Which is why this is so blogworthy. If I lived in the past, doing "20 years ago" nostalgia posts all the time, it would never stop. Such is the run this region has been on since 2001. For this, I make an exception. And appreciate the social media accounts that dedicate themselves to this kind of content. 

From how the brawl started. Bronson Arroyo drilling Rodriguez. ARod screaming at him, "Throw that shit over the plate!" Varitek responding with, "We don't throw at .260 hitters." A sick burn which caused Rodriguez to come back at him with "Fuck YOU"s you don't have to be a lip reader to detect. And from there, it's GAME ON:

The of course, how that game ended:

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Now, I hate to ever let the facts get in the way of a great story, but the truth is the Sox didn't actually go on a tear from this point forward. The way they would if, say, this was a hilarious movie about a minor league hockey team that started scaring teams into submission once they started gooning it up. They beat New York the next day and won the game after that. But proceeded to lost 5 of the next 8 games. And in the middle of that stretch traded Nomar Garciaparra and revamped their infield defense. If Varitek feeding ARod the Catcher's Mitt of Justice was some abstract, magical thing that galvanized the locker room and turned this team into the winner it hadn't been before, it certainly took a while. Three weeks to be exact. 

In mid-August they went on an absolute heater, winning 16-of-17 and 20-of-22. The team that went into that Saturday game on Fox 52-44, went an American League best 46-20 the rest of the way. They were 9.5 back in the AL East and out of the Wild Card when the game began. By September 9th, they had the second best record in the league, were 2.5 back in the division, and leading the Wild Card race by 5 games.

So while the lingering impact of this brawl might have taken a while to kick in and change the dynamic, you can't convince anyone in New England there wasn't a direct line of cause-to-effect. Varitek certainly thinks so, telling the NY Times "We're not going to be pushed around any more.":

Good, good, good times. Perhaps the best of times. The kind that if you witnessed them, no explanation is necessary. If you didn't, none will suffice. While we all hate to live in the past - especially in a region where [checks calendar] we haven't had a championship to celebrate in over a month - but some moments are timeless. And deserve to be taken out of the box of keepsakes in the attic and appreciated like old family videos. This is game-changer is most definitely one. Thanks for accompanying me on this personal journey.