Giving the Gift of Reading, Part 3: Go Sox!

by Gene Taft, Author Recruitment Committee

Back in 2004, I gave away an entire box of a book called “WHY NOT US?: The 86-year Journey of the Boston Red Sox Fans From Unparalleled Suffering To The Promised Land Of the 2004 World Series” by Leigh Montville.

At that point in my life I was a displaced Bostonian living in the big city, New York, and putting up with another relentless year of abuse from fans of the Evil Empire, the NY Yankees. But that fall a miracle occurred. The Red Sox not only won a World Series for the first time in 86 years, but in doing so they defeated the hated Yankees in an American League Championship Series that will go down in history as one of the greatest comebacks in the history of Major League baseball, which of course also means the Yankees are immortalized as having one of the worst loses in MLB history.

People in Boston had lived entire lives and died without ever seeing a World Series Champion on Fenway, but that all changed with the bloody sock miracle of 2004. People were insane, in a frenzy and overjoyed way, many “speaking to” long deceased loved ones or visiting them at the grave to talk about the miracle Sox. It’s cliche, but short of meeting my wife and the birth of my daughter, the 2004 World Series is one of the greatest moments of my life. Leigh Montville described the moment of winning the Series as if he were floating like an angel high above Fenway Park and all over Boston. That Christmas, I was happy to share the miracle as it was captured in this amazing book.

Since 2004, I moved from NYC, got married, bought a house, had a kid and oh yeah, the Red Sox have now won two more World Series this decade. Go figure!