While a lockout was raging in the National Hockey League in October 2004, major league baseball witnessed what remains, to this day, one of the most improbable comebacks in the history of professional sports.
“It’s what we call being in the right place, at the right time,” recalls Pierre Durocher, a former journalist who was assigned to cover the famous championship series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees for The Montreal Journal.
So 20 years ago, on October 20, 2004, the Red Sox completed a historic comeback by beating the Yankees in New York in a seventh game, not without first erasing a 0-3 deficit.
Such a feat, which was a first, has never been seen again in major baseball. The Red Sox would go on to win the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, securing their first championship in 86 years to end the curse of the Bambino.
“There was everything in that series between the Red Sox and the Yankees: we are talking about one of the greatest rivalries in professional sport and there was the curse of the Bambino which persisted at the time,” he recalls -even Durocher, alluding to the Red Sox’s long drought that occurred after Babe Ruth was sold to the Yankees in 1920.
“An unexpected context”
In October 2004, the veteran journalist thought he would once again follow the doings of Saku Koivu, Richard Zednik, Michael Ryder and Sheldon Souray with the Montreal Canadiens, but he instead discovered Johnny Damon, David Ortiz and their teammates.
“It was an unexpected context for me due to the hockey lockout,” recalled Stand. After the Expos in 1981 and Rick Monday’s home run, I didn’t think I’d ever cover a championship series in baseball again and it was quite one.
The journalist, who is now retired, particularly remembers Game 4 of the series at Fenway Park. The Red Sox then faced elimination and trailed 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning. Boston was just three outs away from going on vacation as reliever Mariano Rivera took the mound.
The Red Sox enjoyed overtime victories in the fourth and fifth games of the championship series against the New York Yankees on October 17 and 18, 2004, at Fenway Park.
Photo Jed Jacobsohn / AFP
There was this stolen goal from backup runner Dave Roberts when everyone had guessed he was going to be in the race. The tie was then tied, and then it was Ortiz’s game-winning homer in 12e some.
“When I was there, I didn’t expect it to become so historic,” admits Durocher. It should be remembered that the Yankees won the third game of the series by a score of 19 to 8. During the ninth inning of game number 4, my text was written and all that remained was to send it… »
Johnny Damon’s grand slam
After the fourth game, it was party time in Boston. Again, the Yankees were far from beaten. History was made with, among other things, the bloodied bottom of Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling during game number 6 and a 10-3 victory for the Red Sox, at Yankee Stadium, during the seventh and final duel. This meeting was notably marked by a grand slam from Damon, in the second inning, the player having finished the game with six RBIs.
“To be honest, I was especially happy for Red Sox manager Terry Francona, a former Expos player, but also for Pedro Martinez, who has always been respectful towards French-speaking journalists in Montreal,” concluded Durocher.
