The Red Sox

When I was a young boy, I once said to your grand-mother : "I never asked to be born". Perhaps this is something that every kid says. Well, I was here nonetheless. On earth indeed, but somehow feeling at the wrong place. Why "here". Why France. When I was old enough to understand it, I learned that I was born in Switzerland. So I started to direct my interest to that country. Then your grand-father brought back toys from the United States and my interest shifted to that country. Early, I set my eyes on that country : someday I would live the place that fascinated me. Everything "USA" appealed to me. Naturally, when a French TV channel started to broadcast American Football, my interest got picked.

I studied that game. My passion was enhanced by whatever your grand-father would bring back from the US. Most notably a football, a real one - leather et all. And a book about the history of the game that became my beside-book.

The first time I went to the US was in 1988, when I was 17 years old. I spent a month at Cushing Academy, in Massachusetts. First taste of America. I had two good buddies there, Jean (or John, he was half French and half American - oddly I met him again in Washington DC 10 years later, as I was working for the delegation of the European Union and he was just a visitor of our library) and Michael (with whom I would remain in touch until our friendship soured once I found out he was a Trumpist !).

After class, we would play our own game of baseball. Just the 3 of us. 3 introvert nerds, too shy to mingle with other people and to flirt with girls.

Besides some courses that were quite interesting. I will always remember my "American Civilization" class during which we watched "Ferris Bueller's day off" and, more interestingly, the class during which my teacher explained to us that until the 60's, Black Americans did not have the same rights as White Americans. That was just a hint of what America was but the epiphany would come decades later. I was too young to fully understand, as shocking as that fact was.

This is also the Summer when I got to Foxboro, home of the New England Patriots, the local American Football team. I was glad to explain to John the rules of that game that I had got to learn by myself. Indeed, John did not know American Football but he knew Baseball. When we went to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, in turn he was glad to explain to me the rules of that game that was a completely unchartered territory to me - besides our own game with Mike after class.

I fell in love with Fenway Park, Baseball and the Red Sox.

38 years later, my passion has not diminished a tiny bit. On the contrary, I would become a student of the game, a die-hard fan and quite knowledgeable, I must say. I even became, quite unmodestly, an expert at "Fantasy Baseball", but this is yet another topic for another day (what a pleasure to beat Americans at their own game !).

Red Sox fans are among the best in the country. To the best of my knowledge, only the St Louis Cardinals fans are known to be better fans. Anyway, Boston lives, breathes Baseball.

I went to Boston again the following year, that time at Bentley College (which, ironically, was the place where the French Football national team was based during the 2026 World Cup). And again the following year (at a homestay family, acquaintances of your grand-father). And then again, that time at Mike's. And yet again of course when I was living in Washington DC. I must have been to Boston 7 or 8 times and obviously it was mainly to watch Baseball and a pilgrimage to go to Fenway Park.

Once upon a time, the internet did not exist and the smartphones were ... well ... not so smart. My first years in Washington, DC, I got a sort of small electronic box that updated me with scores. I would always carry it, which annoyed Cornelia quite a bit.

Nowadays I still follow the Red Sox game on a daily basis.

In France, being without internet, I had to go to Paris to buy the newspaper "USA Today" - imagine going to Tokyo to buy a newspaper - and get the results of 2 or 3 days prior. I had also subscribed to a service called "Pontel" which sent a tape (VHS) of the game of the week that was player 2 oe 3 weeks prior. I lived and breathed Red Sox. I knew all the players' name (if not their dates of birth - granted, a totally useless piece of information).

Being a Red Sox fan is a unique experience. The "Red Stockings" as they used to be called, had been a successful team. The best player ever - that is, before the Ohtani era -, Babe Ruth was playing for Boston. Unfortunately, in 1919 the franchise's owner needed money for personal matters (specifically for his new girlfriend). He sold the stud to the New York Yankees. The Bambino Curse had started and it would last for decades.

The Red Sox, champions in 1903, 1912, 1915, 1916 and 1918, did not win for 86 years. They came close in 1986 (just before I got to know them) and the infamous Bill Buckner's error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series versus the New York Mets. Boston was one out away from winning its first World Series since 1918. In the bottom of the 10th inning, Mets' Mookie Wilson hit a slow ground ball toward first base. Buckner, Boston’s first baseman, bent down to field it, but the ball rolled through his legs and into right field. The Mets went on to win 6–5 victory and then won Game 7.

In 2004, as I had decided to leave Washington, DC, I went to Japan to see Cornelia who had moved there. I loved the experience (yet another vast topic for another day !) and decided that, prior to returning to France, I would spend some time in Japan. I return to the USA to back my stuff, ship them to France and sell my car (I had already sold my house). I had decided to meet a Japanese lady and, you guessed it, this is when I met your mother (yet another topic etc ...).

The Sox reached the World Series after a legendary series versus their arch rivals, the Yankees who led the Series 3-0. One of the greatest comebacks in the history of sports.

• Game 4: Boston won 6–4 in 12 innings after Dave Roberts’ famous stolen base helped start the tying rally.

• Game 5: Boston won 5–4 in 14 innings.

• Game 6: Curt Schilling pitched the famous “bloody sock” game, and Boston won 4–2.

• Game 7: Boston crushed New York 10–3 at Yankee Stadium.

The Red Sox became the first MLB team ever to come back from a 3–0 deficit in a best-of-seven series.

The Sox beat the Cardinals then 4 games to nil. The games were not televised in Japan so I followed them on the internet ! And we celebrated with your mother when she joined me after work. Too bad I was not in the US but the victory in Tokyo still was sweet. And we were getting along, your mother and I :-).

Boston later won championships in 2007, 2013, and 2018 :

2007 : we were in Le Chesnay. Léo, you were conceived less than a month later. Boston won versus the Rockies.

2013 : we lived in Chiba then. Boston beat the Cardinals again.

2018 : we were in Chiba. Boston beat the LA Dodgers.

There would be plenty of stories to tell about the Red Sox but I will stop here, after a few words about Fenway Park, the oldest stadium in activity in MLB. It was built in 1912 (it opened 5 days after the Titanic tragedy).

A magical place. I am not sure there is a place on earth that rejoices me as much as it does.

A Summer night at Fenway Park. The sound of the bat hitting a baseball. The sunset. The white uniform with the red "Red Sox". The green of the grass and the ocre of the infield sand.

Paradise on earth to me.

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