You know the Boston Red Sox. They're the team that's constantly winning the World Series. The rest of the league is simply Cursed to stand by and watch them bask in glory.
The BoSox have also become a favorite on DVD. MLB has already released the 2004 and 2007 World Series/playoff boxed sets, and now we have another collection of six "essential" Red Sox games.
There are two real vintage treats in the collection.
The Sep 30, 1967 Red Sox-Twins is reportedly the oldest surviving complete telecast of a regular season game, though I have heard that honor bestowed on a few different telecasts over the last several years. In any case, you might be surprised to know that MLB never saw fit to store the tapes of any broadcast (sometimes recording over old tapes to save money) until the 1970s when they started to think about how "important" the game really was.
I was not around in 1967, so it was a pleasure for me to get to see several all-time greats play in this game: Carl Yastrzemski, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva and a Twins' rookie second baseman by the name of Rod Carew (he batted 6th). And of course there's the unforgettable former AL MVP Zoilo Versalles. This was a pivotal game in one of the tightest pennant races of all-time with the Twins, Red Sox, and Tigers all within a game of each other and the White Sox still in the race.
The Red Sox were an amazingly young team that year. Yaz was, by far, the oldest of the regulars at age 27. Several rookies and sophomores played crucial roles on the team: George "Boomer" Scott, Reggie Smith, and Mike Andrews. Just a month before this game, the young star Tony Conigliaro had just been horribly injured in a beaning from which he would never really recover. Somehow, the young ragtag bunch made it all the way to the Series. This was the penultimate game of the season, and features a crucial Yaz home run which helped him sew up the Triple Crown. TRIVIA QUESTION: Yaz actually tied for the home run lead with another player: who was it?
The other gem is Game 6 of the 1975 World Series featuring Carlton Fisk's famous home run, perhaps the most recognized footage in baseball history. It's interesting to watch the broadcast; they showed several different angles of the home run before latching onto the iconic image of Fisk waving the ball fair. (NOTE: The screen cap on the left is NOT taken from the DVD.) As for what happened in Game 7, well heck, Game 6 was great for Sox fans. TRIVIA QUESTION: Who was the pitcher?
The rest of the games are more recent. The Apr 29, 1986 game shows Roger Clemens back when he still had his fastball and his reputation intact; Rocket set a record with 20 strikeouts against the hapless Mariners that day.
The 1999 All Star game at Fenway is also included, though it is incorrectly identified on the DVD case "the final midsummer Classic of the 20th century." The game is most memorable for Ted Williams´ pre-game appearance.
You know the Boston Red Sox. They're the team that's constantly winning the World Series. The rest of the league is simply Cursed to stand by and watch them bask in glory.
The BoSox have also become a favorite on DVD. MLB has already released the 2004 and 2007 World Series/playoff boxed sets, and now we have another collection of six "essential" Red Sox games.
There are two real vintage treats in the collection.
The Sep 30, 1967 Red Sox-Twins is reportedly the oldest surviving complete telecast of a regular season game, though I have heard that honor bestowed on a few different telecasts over the last several years. In any case, you might be surprised to know that MLB never saw fit to store the tapes of any broadcast (sometimes recording over old tapes to save money) until the 1970s when they started to think about how "important" the game really was.
I was not around in 1967, so it was a pleasure for me to get to see several all-time greats play in this game: Carl Yastrzemski, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva and a Twins' rookie second baseman by the name of Rod Carew (he batted 6th). And of course there's the unforgettable former AL MVP Zoilo Versalles. This was a pivotal game in one of the tightest pennant races of all-time with the Twins, Red Sox, and Tigers all within a game of each other and the White Sox still in the race.
The Red Sox were an amazingly young team that year. Yaz was, by far, the oldest of the regulars at age 27. Several rookies and sophomores played crucial roles on the team: George "Boomer" Scott, Reggie Smith, and Mike Andrews. Just a month before this game, the young star Tony Conigliaro had just been horribly injured in a beaning from which he would never really recover. Somehow, the young ragtag bunch made it all the way to the Series. This was the penultimate game of the season, and features a crucial Yaz home run which helped him sew up the Triple Crown. TRIVIA QUESTION: Yaz actually tied for the home run lead with another player: who was it?
The other gem is Game 6 of the 1975 World Series featuring Carlton Fisk's famous home run, perhaps the most recognized footage in baseball history. It's interesting to watch the broadcast; they showed several different angles of the home run before latching onto the iconic image of Fisk waving the ball fair. (NOTE: The screen cap on the left is NOT taken from the DVD.) As for what happened in Game 7, well heck, Game 6 was great for Sox fans. TRIVIA QUESTION: Who was the pitcher?
The rest of the games are more recent. The Apr 29, 1986 game shows Roger Clemens back when he still had his fastball and his reputation intact; Rocket set a record with 20 strikeouts against the hapless Mariners that day.
The 1999 All Star game at Fenway is also included, though it is incorrectly identified on the DVD case "the final midsummer Classic of the 20th century." The game is most memorable for Ted Williams´ pre-game appearance.
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