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John Russillo's avatar

I felt bad for Zimmer because I remembered him as a beloved manager of the Red Sox during one of my favorite periods, the late 70s. But as Jerry Remy used to say when Red Sox go to the Yankees, "Give 'em a standing O, then treat 'em like a Yankee."

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Rick McNair's avatar

The rivalry goes far beyond just baseball , and you can trace it back to the seventeenth century. Boston ,New York city and Philadelphia have been rivals in economics, education, and politics since that time and baseball is a reflection of that.

My highlight of Red Sox baseball was before 2004 in 1959. The Red Sox swept the Yankees in a five game series to give the other Sox a boost to the pennant.

That broke a string of Yankee WS visits but it was just a pause as they ripped off five more. To the Yankee players of the 50s and 60s Boston was just another stop on the schedule as the rivalry of the late 1940s was history.

Growing up I was a closet admirer of Yankee players. To this day the greatest player I ever saw was Mickey Mantle. Aaron Judge is now on my list.

The Yankees have come back to earth especially with a baseball draft. Still I have regional delight in their failures and in NYC having issues.

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John Russillo's avatar

It’s interesting. Mantle and Maris won in ‘61 and ‘62 and then there was a big drought until Steinbrenner bought the team and hired Billy Martin. In ‘77 and ‘78 the Sox had really good teams under Don Zimmer but the Yankees steamrolled them for two titles. Then another drought until ‘96. Definitely not the dominance of the 20s thru the 50s.

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Doug Aitchison's avatar

The 90s dynasty was the first I got to see. Those teams were stacked!

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Doug Aitchison's avatar

Wow that’s great! Thanks for sharing! I think it would have been hard for anyone at that time not to admire Mantle!

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Bob Hennessey's avatar

Good one Doug, I know I know ! Anyways tonight’s game thus far it’s 4~3 going into the ninth. You have Babe Ruth and Ted Williams…who’s winning the game for you. Seriously why are they stranding so many men on base …a lot with no outs. How about a bunt! Frustrating to leave that many.

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