Fischer David - Red Sox vs. Yankees: hometown experts analyze, debate, and illuminate baseballs ultimate rivalry

DF: For Mike Torrezfor obvious reasons.

BN: To the entire 2004 Red Sox teamfor similarly obvious reasons.

Copyright 2019 by Bill Nowlin and David Fischer

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Qualcom and Brian Peterson

Cover photos: AP Images and Getty Images (Ted Williams)

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Print ISBN: 978-1-68358-304-2

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-68358-305-9

Printed in the United States of America

Being a born-and-bred New Yorker, I know full well the rivalry between the Yankees and Red Soxand their fans. Thankfully, as a Mets fan, Ive been able to watch and observe from a distance.

While many rivalries have their ebbs and flows, this one has stayed strong for over a century. Whether were talking about the Curse of the Bambino, Bucky *^&%* Dent, Aaron *^&%* Boone, Pedro and Zimmer, or the epic 2004 comeback, the bad blood shows no signs of slowing down.

So when the idea came up of having a book where a Yankee and a Red Sox writer would have to sit down and work together well, to say I had a bit of trepidation would be an understatement.

Luckily, I had the privilege of previously working with both Bill Nowlin and David Fischer, and knew their love of the sport trumped all else. While theyre both die-hards in their own right, I hoped that they would be able to have fun with this project and see the bigger picture.

The role taken as this books editor was not only to handle my standard duties while also keeping an eye on statistical insight and accuracy, but to make sure everything stayed civil. Thankfully I did not have to do much policing, as both Bill and David were on their best behavior (for the most part).

At the end of the day, our love of sports is what brings us together. So whether its Red Sox vs. Yankees, Celtics vs. Lakers, Bears vs. Packers, Flyers vs. Penguins, Auburn vs. Alabama, or UNC vs. Duke, being able to have a friendly discussion about our teams (with obviously a bit of chiding here and there) is the reason we love sports so much: they are a part of us.

So whether you support the Bronx Bombers or the BoSox, we hope you can enjoy this book for what it is, and maybe strike up a discussion with friends and family about who you think should win.

J. K.

T he idea for this book came from our editor at Sports Publishing, Jason Katzman. He approached the two of us as authors he knew and felt us out to see what we thought about the idea of a book that would look at what has often been dubbed Baseballs Greatest RivalryRed Sox vs. Yankeesby pitting partisans of each team against each other.

It wouldnt be much of an argument to ask which team won the most world championships. Thats a math question, and the Yankees easily hold a 31 edge there, 27 to 9. But pretend youre two guys who met each other in a bar and started talking about which team had the best player, position by position, and then looking at which actual team was the best for each franchise.

We may each have been a little wary heading into the project. Collaborating with the enemy? Would we ever be able to come to agreement on anything? Medical teams were standing by in each corner. I planned to mention frequently names like Babe, Bucky, and Boone, said Fischer, a Yankees fan, to dredge up painful memories and assert my teams dominance. In response, Red Sox stalwart Nowlin replied, I see youre still mostly living in the last century, back when the Yankees dominated. Its a new day now. As it happened, our mutual love of baseball carried the day. And mutual respect for each other, and each others teams. It turned out to be a very enjoyable experience, with no bruises at all.

Wed never met each other, but early in the 2018 season we met at the Skyhorse offices in Manhattan, and then we dug in, planning to finish the day after the World Series, so the book could be ready by the start of the 2019 season. Naturally, we could have no way of knowing how either team would fare.

We each had our favorite playersDerek Jeter and Ted Williams. But we had to pick one for each position, with the idea of then running simulations for our all-time dream teams against each other. We dug in and did our research. We each found surprising things we hadnt realized about the players we selected, and came up with a better appreciation of some of the opposition, too.

The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is the most storied in all of baseball, and arguably in all of sports. Maybe it began in 1904, when the pennant was decided on the final day of the season. Boston pretty much dominated the first couple of decades of the twentieth century. The rivalry took on an entirely different dimension when Red Sox owner Harry Frazee (a New Yorker at that) sold off baseballs biggest star, Babe Ruth, to the Yankees. It was only one of many sales that moved good players from Boston to New York, and the Yankees never looked back. They started winning and kept on winning. And winning.

The Yankees became the most successful franchise in baseball. By the year 2000, theyd won 26 World Series titles and produced countless Hall of Fame players, including legends such as Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio. Playing in the same league, and then the same division, the teams faced each other often. Geographic proximity helped stoke the rivalry. Allegiance to the teams divided neighbors, friends, and families. Red Sox fans blamed the Yankees for all their problems, and Yankees fans gloated in return.

And the Red Sox did have a lot of problems. One could say that the Red Sox became a star-crossed band of lovable losers. They reached the World Series only four more times that century, losing Game Seven each time in dramatic fashion, to the endless frustration of their fans. They also lost two single-game playoffsin 1948 to the Indians and 1978 to the Yankees. Red Sox fans were bitter, and often surly. But they just expected to lose, one way or another, and this kept on into the early twenty-first century, through 2003when they lost Game Seven of the American League Championship Series to the Yankees.

Things have changed dramatically in the past fifteen years. Today, when the two teams face each other, it is no longer a battle between cocky uber-victors and pessimistic perpetual losers. Any demons were exorcised thanks to Bostons playoff win (over the Yankees, arising from the depths of despair) in 2004 to sweep the final four games of the ALCS and then the World Series. And then win three more World Series in the next fourteen years.