|
05/06/2008 1:54 PM ET
Red Sox 'memories' captured on DVD
86 years of storied history celebrated on MLB release
By Doug Miller / MLB.com
|
|
The new DVD "Red Sox Memories" is available in the MLB.com shop for $19.99. (Courtesy MLB Productions)
| MLB Headlines |  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
Boston Red Sox fans have almost too much to be happy about, and who could have predicted that five years ago?
After the Sox won their second World Series in the last four seasons with their four-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies in the 2007 Fall Classic, they had given their rabid backers enough unbridled joy to hold them over for the next 86 years and maybe more.
Since 2004, Red Sox Nation has gone from a load of great memories with one glaring omission -- a championship -- to a bona fide bonanza of playoff hardware and good vibes.
This new dynasty and the vintage teams and trying seasons that led up to it is captured in a striking new DVD called "Red Sox Memories: The Greatest Moments in Boston Red Sox History," that can now be purchased for $19.99 right here in the MLB.com shop.
And Red Sox fans, don't worry about the amount of TLC that went into the making of the 100-minute film. The man who spearheaded the project, Major League Baseball producer Brian Barrow, is a diehard, lifetime Sox fan who spent a childhood sticking up for his allegiance in the New York area, of all places.
"I probably like the Red Sox more than a lot of people from Boston," Barrow says with a laugh. "Because I had to take a beating here for 20 years."
The video contains just about everything a Red Sox fan is looking for, from over-the-top, in-depth coverage of the 2007 Series, a comprehensive look back at the improbable comeback in the 2004 American League Championship Series that led to Boston's first world title since 1918, and the best of the rest of the franchise's legendary -- and once, perhaps, cursed -- history.
You'll revisit some of the greatest and most interesting players in Red Sox history, including Cy Young, Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski, plus Pedro Martinez, Bill Lee and David Ortiz.
There's a little bit of everything in this DVD including the team's October heroes through the years, the classic near-misses in 1975, 1986 and 2003 and the water-cooler-discussion-inducing rundown of the best players in Red Sox history at every position.
And the best part of it all?
"Well, it finally has a good ending," Barrow says. "In the past, you had all these great stories from the team throughout the years but no way to finish it up.
"You had the Red Sox coming from behind in the 1986 ALCS against the Angels, one of the greatest comebacks in ALCS history. They're three runs down in the ninth inning, with Dave Henderson's home runs being a great clutch moment, but they lose to the Mets in excruciating fashion and there's no exclamation point."
Consider this DVD one big exclamation point for a team and a town that have been completely transformed by the newfound championship success of the Boston Red Sox.
"It seems like it's easier to look back at the really tough memories now because they won," Barrow says. "I would think that people would be more apt to want to watch this now, because Red Sox history, for the most part, is pretty tragic until 2004.
"But now it's like we can look back and see Carlton Fisk and Dave Henderson and be happy because the pain of them eventually losing in those years has been removed by 2004 and 2007."
Barrow says he's never been a big believer in the whole "Curse of the Bambino" mumbo jumbo that a lot of Sox fans got caught up in during the 86-year World Series drought.
"But it did seem like they were very dramatic losers," he says. "Good, exciting losers. They always made it interesting."
He cited the loss to the Cincinnati Reds in Game 7 of the 1975 World Series and, of course, Aaron Boone's homer off Tim Wakefield that knocked them out of the 2003 ALCS. And what would a Red Sox DVD be without Bill Buckner?
"What can you say about that game?" Barrow says. "Beating the Mets in 1986 with two outs and nobody on base and they lose. They're just always a good team and somehow always used to lose very dramatically."
"Used to," of course, is the key phrase now. The Red Sox are winners two times over and appear loaded for more runs at future titles with a stocked roster and talent all over their farm system. Heck, even their fans seem happy.
"Now that they've won, it's almost undramatic," Barrow says. "They've swept both Series they won and it looks like they'll be good for a long time.
"Winning is less dramatic than losing, I guess. But I'll take it." Doug Miller is a Senior Writer for MLB.com/Entertainment. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
| 
News
print this page
Sphere Related Articles & Blogs