It’s hard to believe that it has been 40 years since the “The Impossible Dream”.As i said in previous posts I have always been a baseball nut. I caught the fever from my father and grandfather. Some of my earliest memories involve the Red Sox. I remember going to my Gramp Cloukey’s house on summer evenings and he would have his ear to the radio listening to Curt Gowdy, Ken Coleman, and Ned Martin bringing every pitch into his Sheridan home. I would sit there and listen to a couple of innings of the game with him. Until 1967 you listened to the Sox knowing they were going to finish near the bottom of the American League. 1967 was a very special year. From opening day to the end of the year the excitment continued to build. There were so many story lines that year. Dick Williams making his debut as Sox Manager,Jim Lonborg on the mound winning 22 games and leading the team to the World Series., Billy Rohr,who almost no hit the New York Yankees in his Major League debut.He threw 8 and 2/3rd innings of no hit ball against the hated Yanks. The only hit of the game was by Elston Howard who was aquired by the Sox during the stretch run. I listened to the first few innings and had to ask my father the next morning to give me the update on every pitch from the night before.
I still have the lineup in my head Reggie Smith  hitting leadoff, Mike Andrews at 2nd base and hitting second, Yaz hitting third, George Scott hitting cleanup, every home run was a “tater to Scott, my favorite player Tony Conigliaro playing right field and hitting fifth, Rico Petrocelli playing shortstop and hitting 6th, Joe Foy playing third base, Mike Ryan catching and the pitching staff anchored by Lonborg and Lee ” the Stinger’ Stange, Gary Bell, and John Wyatt closing the game. I said that “Conig” was my favorite player and the night he was hit  in the head by a pitch is one my saddest baseball memories. It was August 18th and the Sox were taking on the Angels when Tony “C” was hit by the Jack Hamilton pitch. He was carried off the field on a stretcher. I had a very hard time sleeping that night and rushed over to my grandfather’s the next morning  to get an update on Conigliaro’s condition. The Sox magic continued withoutConig in the lineup and it all came down to the final game of the year. The Red Sox, Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers battled to the final day. The Sox beat the Twins, but the champagne wasn’t popping yet, the Detroit Tigers still had to lose their final game of the year on the West Coast. Red Sox radio stayed on the air and broadcast the Tigers game with the Angels. I sat in my father’s car all evening listening to every pitch. The Tigers lost the game and the Red Sox won the Pennant. They lost a hard fought series to the St Louis Cardinals, but it was still a great year for Sox fans.
I will be watching next weeks ceremony at Fenway to honor the team and will have a huge smile on my face as I remember the “Impossible Dream.”