OT Red Sox or Yankees fan?

[CL82]

Red Sox since I was a kid in the late 50's. Favorite memory has to be seeing Ted Williams hit a HR in 1960, his last year. I heard the crack of the bat, and we just knew it was gone. Like Beemer, I also adored Carl Yaz. I batted left and threw right and also copied his stance. Or maybe he copied me, let me see if I still have a pic of me in 1959 batting in Little League. In '59 I was at the ripe ol age of 10.

That picture is outstanding.

 

[superjohn]

Yankees. Favorite moment in October of 1998 I'm getting drunk with my friends hours before midnight madness at UConn and my Red Sox buddy (RIP) from my hometown we're partying with tells me and my Yankees friends he has 4 tickets for us for tomorrow night for game 1 of the World Series. He tells us his mom is friends with Daryl Strawberry's wife and all we have to do is drive to a gas station in Yonkers to pick them up from Mrs. Strawberry, what???

Next day we have our directions and our name to drop and we're on our trek to Yonkers on very little sleep wondering what the heck is going on. We get to our stop and we now have tickets in hand. As we're back on the highway something happens to my buddy's wagon and the car is making awful noises but we somehow make it to the stadium. We get to our seats and we're sitting right next to Shane Spencer's family and all the other player wives and family are around us...

Yankees playing a fairly sluggish game until the 7th where they're down 5-2 with one out. They get a couple of runners on and then Knoblauch hits a 3 run homer to tie it and the stadium goes bananas. It's now bases loaded with 2 outs in the 7th with Tino at the plate and he hits a grand slam and the stadium erupts. I'm celebrating with my best friends and the players wives, the building is shaking and it's all out mayhem. Still the loudest I've ever heard it at a sporting event.

Many months later UConn beats Duke for their first championship and I'm running around Storrs like a maniac. Nothing will ever touch that year as a sports fan. That Yankees team and that UConn team are historically great. They made that year a blur for me but the memories will last a lifetime.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Red Sox fan. Was nominally a Royals fan when my family moved to CT when I was not quite 5. The kids I met were all Red Sox fans and so my path was clear. Honestly don't recall any Yankee fans in Manchester. There must have been some.

Great memories of Rice, Lynn and Evans and those 70s teams. The 1978 Red Sox are still the best Red Sox team I've seen. In 1986 I was at UConn and learned that Mets fans exist (I think most were just Yankee fans). Had never encountered a Mets fan and for the life of me can't understand why anybody would choose them. Then the demons were exercised in 2004.

The 2022 Sox have been maddeningly bizarre. Worst team in the AL at one point. Now in the playoff hunt again and playing well. Sort of like the Celtics. Sadly, the Yankees look awfully good.

I can assure you that no real Yankee fan would ever masquerade as a Met fan.

I can also assure you that (at least among those of us down here, within the general age group that I am) there was nowhere near the animosity towards the Red Sox from Yankee fans that there was (likely still is) towards the Yankees from Red Sox fans.

 

[Waquoit]

Most of my memories pre-2004 are brutal. I was just at Red Rock Tavern last night. Last time I was there it was called Kenney's and it was the last inning of the 19846 WS Game 6. I clearly remember 2 old ladies hugging, saying they were finally going to see the Sox win it all. I wanted to pull them apart saying we still have one more strike to go. I doubt either were still around 18 years later.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Most of my memories pre-2004 are brutal. I was just at Red Rock Tavern last night. Last time I was there it was called Kenney's and it was the last inning of the 1984 WS Game 6. I clearly remember 2 old ladies hugging, saying they were finally going to see the Sox win it all. I wanted to pull them apart saying we still have one more strike to go. I doubt either were still around 18 years later.

I think you meant 86 but other than that I get the story.

I have one about a good friend from school (we were only out of college four years then). A group met that evening in Hartford (I missed it as I was at a wedding) and the one of the crew who was a Sox fan started celebrating after the first Mets out in the bottom of the second. He went silent shortly before the Sox blew the game and the rest of the group had to spend the rest of the night keeping him from doing something very stupid (and dangerous).

Normally in a series with a matchup like that (Yankees not involved) I would prefer seeing the AL team win but wouldn't be all that upset if they didn't. That year, after hearing from Met fans coming out of the woodwork in all directions, boasting about how great that team was I was as angry that the Sox lost as I would have been if it were the Yankees.

A few additional comments:

I was quite pleased with the lack of additional titles for that Mets team as it validated my stance that they were not a dominant team.

I still believe that the only reason they appeared dominant in the regular season was because the entire NL east rolled over and died by Memorial day that year.

If the Astros had any real offense they would have won the NL pennant.

Schiraldi and Stanley warrant far more blame than Buckner for the bottom of the tenth.