The 20-year anniversary of the Boston Red Sox’ curse-breaking season

Twenty years ago on Wednesday, October 27, 2004, the Boston Red Sox won a baseball game. To some, that sentence will hold no significance, but to others, invigorating memories will come flooding back; maybe it’s a television screen, a radio broadcast, or an announcer’s voice, but whatever it is, if you know, you know.

“Back to Foulke, Red Sox fans have longed to hear it, the Boston Red Sox are World Champions.”

After an 86-year drought, the 2004 Boston Red Sox won the sixth World Series in franchise history against the St. Louis Cardinals in four games.

The road to the ’04 Sox lifting the Commissioner’s Trophy was a long and fairly brutal one. When the New York Yankees bought Babe Ruth’s contract from the Sox in 1920, the dreaded “Curse of the Bambino” loomed over Boston like an arrogant smile, superstitiously causing four World Series losses, all in Game 7, in 1946, ’67, ’75, and ’86.

Things started to look up in 2003 when the Red Sox finished the regular season in second place in the AL East with a 95-67 record. Boston lost the first two games of the ALDS against the Oakland Athletics before battling back and taking the next three games to advance to the ALCS, where they would face the rival New York Yankees. The back-and-forth, nailbiter of a series went to Game 7 and was tied, 5-5, until the 11th inning. Current Yankees manager and former infielder Aaron Boone took a Tim Wakefield knuckleball deep, walking-off for New York and punching the Yankees’ ticket for the World Series. Once again, the Red Sox had come up short.

In 2004, it was well-known around New England that changes were needed in Boston. The team parted ways with their ’02 and ’03 manager, Grady Little, and hired Terry Francona, who had been the A’s bench coach the year before. About to enter his second year as Red Sox general manager, Theo Epstein made two crucial offseason moves by acquiring Curt Schilling from the Arizona Diamondbacks and Keith Foulke from the Oakland A’s. At this time, the Sox had big bats in David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, while also having Jason Varitek, Bill Mueller, Johnny Damon, Trot Nixon, Kevin Millar, Mark Bellhorn, and Nomar Garciaparra on the roster, among other key players.

Fast forward to July 24, 2004, a game that can now be appreciated as the turning point of the Red Sox’ season. A rainy day in Boston called for postponement, but the Red Sox players, eagerly awaiting their rivalry matchup against the Yankees, demanded to play. The game commenced after a brief rain delay, with tensions already high in the battle for the AL East.

In the top of the third, Boston starter Bronson Arroyo threw a pitch up and in that hit Alex Rodriguez on the elbow. Choice words were exchanged, and Varitek came out from behind the plate and shoved his glove into A-Rod’s face. Benches cleared in front of a loud Fenway Park crowd, and Tek and A-Rod, along with Sox outfielder Gabe Kapler and later Terry Francona, were ejected.

In true Boston fashion, the fight seemed to reinvigorate the ballclub. The Sox had been down 3-0 heading into the bottom of the third, but Kevin Millar singled and Bill Mueller doubled, both later scoring and making it 3-2 Yanks. More hits and runs ensued on both sides of the ball, bringing the game to the bottom of the ninth with the Yankees up 10-8 and Mariano Rivera taking the mound with one out, looking to seal the deal for New York.

Garciaparra doubled, and Millar—already with three hits on the day and three home runs the previous game—logged his fourth hit to score Nomar and put the Sox within a run. For the grand finale, Mueller pulled one into the Red Sox bullpen, winning the game for Boston and setting the tone for the rest of the season with a two-run walk-off dinger.

By the end of the 2004 regular season, the Red Sox had a record of 98-64, repeating their second-place finish in the AL East behind the Yankees. At last, it was time for postseason baseball.

As the AL Wild Card team, Boston swept the Anaheim Angels in three games, featuring an Ortiz walk-off homer over the Green Monster in the 10th inning of Game 3. Riding high, the Sox were set to return to the ALCS to face the rival New York Yankees, with déjà vu as the strongest motivator. The rematch found the Red Sox quickly down three games, facing another heart-breaking finish.

Always the heart of the clubhouse, Millar changed the energy for the ballclub, saying before Game 4, “Don’t let us win tonight, we have Pedro [Martinez] in Game 5, Schilling in Game 6, and anything can happen in Game 7.”

The score was close for the entire game. The Yankees went up in the top of the third on a two-run shot by A-Rod, but the Sox answered in the bottom of the fifth by stringing together hits and scoring three runs. New York came back to score two more in the top of the sixth, and with the score 4-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth, it was looking bleak for Boston.

Rivera—who, at the time, was the all-time leader in saves and ERA in the postseason—came in and allowed a lead-off single to Ramirez. Ortiz dug in next, taking the count to 1-2 before checking his swing and being called out on strikes. Varitek grounded out to first to advance Ramirez to second, but Nixon grounded out as well to send the game into the ninth, still 4-3.

Foulke was set to face the top of the order: Derek Jeter, Rodriguez, and Gary Sheffield. Jeter worked a full count and walked, A-Rod popped out, and Sheffield flied out to bring Hideki Matsui to the plate. In what Joe Buck called a “tremendous job” on the FOX broadcast that night, Foulke struck out Matsui in five pitches.

Bottom of the ninth against Rivera, Millar walked to lead off the inning. Dave Roberts, who Epstein acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers before the trade deadline, came in to pinch run. With Mueller in the box, Rivera threw over to first three times to check on Roberts, who was taking aggressively large leads. Without a count, Roberts stole second to log what is perhaps the most iconic steal in Boston Red Sox history, and Fenway Park erupted in cheers. From there, Mueller singled to score the tying run and send Game 4 into extra innings, tied 4-4.

In the 10th, Boston’s Alan Embree and New York’s Tom Gordon both threw scoreless innings. Embree went on to throw in the 11th—featuring an incredible play at shortstop by Orlando Cabrera—but was replaced by Mike Myers after letting up a few hits. Myers led the bases with a four-pitch walk to Matsui and was then replaced by Curtis Leskanic. Leskanic induced a pop fly out to center, and the Sox had Mueller, Doug Mientkiewicz, and Damon due up in the bottom of the 11th.

With rally caps on all around Fenway, Mueller popped out to left and Mientkiewicz lined out to first. After working a full count, Damon walked and stole second with Cabrera at the plate, who grounded out to send the game into the 12th. To palpable relief, Leskanic came back out and continued his scoreless outing for Boston.

In what would tie the longest game in ALCS history, the game headed into the bottom of the 12th. Paul Quantrill came in to pitch for New York, and Ramirez quickly knocked a single to left to bring up Ortiz. With a 1-2 count, Ortiz did what Ortiz did best and pulled the ball far into the Red Sox bullpen, right over Sheffield’s head. Fenway Park exploded with relief, excitement, tears, and cheers as the Red Sox flocked to meet Big Papi at home plate. They had done it. They had avoided the sweep.

The 2004 Red Sox did not lose a single game after that, taking Games 5, 6, and 7 from the Yankees and booking their trip to the World Series. The historic Boston ballclub went on to face the St. Louis Cardinals, featuring Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Mike Matheny, and Edgar Renteria. The Sox completed the four game sweep, with Renteria—who wore the same number as Babe Ruth, #3—grounding out to make the last out of the season.

On Wednesday, October 27, 2004, the Boston Red Sox achieved the just-about impossible, coming back from an 0-3 deficit and eventually breaking the 86-year long curse with a World Series Championship.