MLB releases six-disc set of highlights from Sox history
As Fenway Park's centennial celebration in 2012 inches closer, Red Sox fans now
have the opportunity to look back on six games that represent just a few of the
many amazing experiences that have taken place in America's most beloved
ballpark.
From 1967's "Impossible Dream" season through 2007's World Series
championship, "The Boston Red Sox: Essential Games of Fenway Park" is a six-DVD
set of memories that the most ardent fans of the Old Towne Team will rush to add
to their collections.
For the first time, Major League Baseball has opened its archives to present
the games chosen by the fans as their favorite Fenway moments. No celebrity
intros, no fancy graphics -- just plain Red Sox baseball as it was originally
broadcast.
Disc 1 leads off with the Sox hosting the Minnesota Twins as Carl Yastrzemski
blasted his 44th home run of the 1967 season.
Disc 2 is another classic, Game 6 of the 1975 World Series against the
Cincinnati Reds. This game is best remembered for Carlton Fisk's famous
12th-inning walk-off homer that forced a seventh game. Younger fans may have
only seen Pudge's blast in the film "Good Will Hunting." Now they can see the
entire game from the first pitch to Fisk's "guided" home run that sent the
championship-starved Fenway Faithful into a frenzy.
While the Celtics were battling the Hawks in the 1986 playoffs, a paltry
crowd of 13,414 showed up on a chilly April evening to watch a young Roger
Clemens take on the Seattle Mariners. Disc 3 of the collection presents the
record-setting 20-strikeout game that vaulted Roger Clemens to elite pitcher
status. Many feel that game was the launching pad for the team's triumphant
return to the postseason.
Disc 4 is an absolute treasure: 1999's All-Star Game. After nearly a decade,
fans still marvel at the dominating two-inning performance of MVP Pedro
Martinez, who struck out Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire
and Jeff Bagwell. It marked the first time a pitcher struck out the side in the
first inning of an All-Star Game.
After viewing two of the greatest moments in the careers of Clemens and
Martinez, Disc 5 has the two legends facing off in Game 3 of the 1999 ALCS. With
Clemens now in pinstripes, Fenway cheered its new hero on to victory, as Pedro
struck out a dozen Yankees over seven innings and Boston crushed New York, 13-1.
The final disc in the collection is the real surprise. It features the 2007
game against New York when Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell and Jason
Varitek hit consecutive home runs off Yankees prospect Chase Wright. Fans easily
recall the four big blasts, but not everyone remembers that it took a three-run
rally later in the game for the Sox to win.
But that historic game isn't even the best part of Disc 6. Included on this
DVD is an amazing collection of unforgettable Red Sox moments. Watch a short
film on the origins of Fenway Park, followed by another on Ted Williams, the
greatest hitter who ever lived. Even Yaz called him "Mr. Williams" out of
respect.
The most special event at Fenway may well have been the touching tribute to
Teddy Ballgame at the 1999 All-Star Game. That scene of the aging No. 9 making
his way around the park in a golf cart as awestruck players of the assembled
"All-Century Team" surrounded him is one of the most emotional times at Fenway,
and a fine farewell to "The Splendid Splinter," who passed away three years
later.
Also included on this DVD is Dave Roberts' sensational steal in Game 4 of the
2004 ALCS. It was the spark that led to the greatest comeback in postseason
history, as the Red Sox went from three games down to shocking the New York
Yankees with four consecutive wins, which carried them into the Fall Classic and
their first World Series victory in 86 years.
Also included: Big Papi's three postseason walk-off hits in 2004, Yaz's 400th
homer and 3,000th hit, the final innings of the no-hitters thrown by Derek Lowe
and Clay Buchholz and many other crowd-pleasing clips from the MLB archives.
Packaged in an attractive SteelBook case, this remarkable compilation from Major
League Baseball Productions and A&E Home Video makes the perfect gift for
Red Sox fans of all ages.
Steve Tannuzzo is a contributor to MLB.com. This story
was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.