Red Sox-Yankees Rivalry

As we move into the 2008 season, members of the Red Sox Nation will once again sit poised on the edge of their seats as they ponder yet another chapter in what has to be the most storied rivalry in all of major league sports - Sox-Yankees.

It's important to note, however, that until the Sox won their championship in 2004, it wasn't actually much of a rivalry. Baseball writer, Dan Shaugnessy, writing in a book, titled The Rivals - The Boston Red Sox vs. The New York Yankees: An Inside History, published before the Sox won their title, noted that the rivalry could be likened to that "of the eternal contest between hammer and nail."

Shaugnessy goes on to reminisce about what he describes as "one of the better lines" from the film, Casablanca, released in 1942 and written by twins Philip and Julius Epstein. Sixty years later, of course, Philip's grandson, Theo, would take over the Red Sox as the youngest general manager in baseball. In the film, a nervous Peter Lorre sits across a table from Humphrey Bogart and says, "You despise me, don't you?" to which Bogey responds, "If I gave you any thought, I probably would."

"In many ways," notes Shaughnessy, "this exchange demonstrates more than eight decades of the alleged Red Sox-Yankee rivalry."

A lot of things come to mind when one considers the Sox-Yankees phenomenon. Individual 'snapshots' of key moments; Munson and Fisk in the 1973 brawl, Bucky-bleeping-Dent in 1978 and in what I tend to think of as the 'turning point' season, Pedro Martinez tossing ex-Boston manager, 72-year-old Don Zimmer to the ground in 2003. It should be noted, in passing, that while the cries erupting from the Yankee camp sympathized with the 'poor old man' being abused by the young pitcher, by Zimmer's own admission, he had headed to the mound for the express purpose of attacking Martinez. Zimmer might have considered the adage about staying out of the kitchen if you can't stand the heat when he went out there.

Yankee fans were (love that word) always taunting Sox fans with a single phrase; 1918. Now, of course, that taunt has ceased to exist, though Yankee fans are still tossing out the "26 championships" line. To which I add, stressing the first word "AND the worst playoff collapse in the history of major league sports."

As a resident of New York for about 15 years, I was subject to all sorts of abuse when I would insist on wearing my Red Sox cap into a bar where a Sox-Yankee game was being broadcast. "You can't wear that in here," someone said to me once. "I can wear anything I damn well please," was my response.

All of this said, and a part of my psyche still caught up in the 'hate' of my general reaction to anything having to do with the Yankees, I have to say that the current state of the rivalry is one of the joys of my life. There is still nothing better than a Yankees-Red Sox game, especially with a position in the standings on the line. And it is eminently true that while my heart is now and forever lodged in Red Sox Nation, I am capable of admiring the Yankees as a franchise. Hard to argue with an organization that claws its way to the top of its profession 26 times over 80 years. I admire Derek Jeter, find Alex Rodriguez to be somewhat pathetic (trying to slap that ball out of Bronson Arroyo's hand in the 2004 playoffs told me everything I needed to know about him), and continue to believe that the one man I do not want to see at the plate at a critical juncture in any game is Jorge Posada.

It will, as it has always been, interesting in the months ahead. I think that the Yankees treated Torre abominably and though I have a degree of respect for Joe Girardi, who did a great job with the Marlins during his tenure as their manager, I suspect that he won't be getting much of that from some of the veteran prima donnas on the current Yankee roster.

To Yankee fans: I promise not to mention the Sox two championships in the 21st century, or your record-setting playoff collapse in 2004, if you stop telling me about your 26 championships of the last century.

Deal?

Deal.