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Overview

The rivalry between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox involves not just the teams, but the cities, owners, ballparks, fans, and the media. Its roots reach back to before even Babe Ruth and Harry Frazee, yet it is as contemporary as the next Red Sox–Yankees game. This book tells the story of the rivalry from the first game these epic teams played against each other in 1901 through the 2013 season in what former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani called “the best rivalry in any sport.”

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781589799189
Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing
Publication date: 04/07/2014
Edition description: Third Edition
Pages: 316
Sales rank: 668,304
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Harvey Frommer is the celebrated author of more than forty-two sports books including the classics Shoeless Joe Jacksonand Ragtime Baseball and New York City Baseball. Honored by the New York State legislature, cited in the Congressional Record as a sports historian and journalist, the prolific Frommer is also the author of The New York Yankee Encyclopedia and A Yankee Century.
Together with his wife, Myrna Katz Frommer, he authored the critically acclaimed oral histories It Happened in the Catskills, It Happened in Brooklyn, It Happened on Broadway, Growing Up Jewish in America, and It Happened in Manhattan. Frommer is a professor in the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program at Dartmouth College and a longtime follower of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry.

Frederic J. Frommer is the author of You Gotta Have Heart: A History of Washington Baseball from 1859 to the 2012 National League East Champions and The Washington Baseball Fan’s Little Book of Wisdom and coauthor of Growing Up Baseball. He covers the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., for The Associated Press, and his work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and USA Today, among others.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1
march of rivalry time

1895
February 6-Babe Ruth is born at 216 Emory Street, Baltimore, Maryland.

1901
April 26-Boston's American League team, which will later be known as the Red Sox, makes its debut against Baltimore, a team that will later relocate to New York and become the Yankees. The Boston team loses that day, 10-6.

1903
April 22-The New York Highlanders play their first game and lose, 3-1, in Washington.
May 7-The first game between the two franchises is played. The Pilgrims nip the Highlanders, 6-2, at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston.
December 20-In what would become a pattern for one-sided trades between the two franchises, the Highlanders trade southpaw pitcher Jesse Tannehill to Boston for right-handed hurler Tom Hughes.

1904
October 7-New York's Jack Chesbro picks up his 41st victory of the season, a 3-2 victory over Boston. The Highlanders take a half game lead over the Pilgrims.
October 10-In the final day of the season, the Pilgrims clinch the American League flag with a 3-2 victory over the Highlanders in the first game of a doubleheader. New York ace Jack Chesbro throws a wild pitch with a runner on third in the top of the ninth and allows the winning run to score.

1906
September 4-New York moves into first place by beating Boston 7-0 and 1-0, the team's fifth consecutive doubleheader sweep, a major-league record. But the team finishes the season in second place, while the Sox finish eighth.

1907
May 31-The Highlanders' pugnacious five-foot-five shortstop, Kid Elberfeld, steals home twice against Boston.
October 13-In a three-way deal, the Yankees ship second baseman Frank LaPorte to Boston and acquire Chicago White Sox first baseman Jake Stahl.

1908
June 30-At Hilltop Park, Boston's Cy Young hurls his third career no-hitter, an 8-0 gem against New York. Young gives up a leadoff walk to Harry Niles who is caught stealing. Then Young retires the next 26 batters. The 41-year-old Young is the oldest pitcher to record a no-hitter until Nolan Ryan hurls a no-hitter in 1990.

1909
September 11-The Highlanders sell Jack Chesbro, the team's first star hurler, to the Red Sox.

1910
April 14-On Opening Day, the Yankees and Red Sox battle for 14 innings at Hilltop Park in front of 25,000 fans before the game is called with the score 4-4.
May 26-The Red Sox purchase the contract of New York catcher Red Kleinow.

1911
May 6-The Yankees record their first triple play, in a 6-3 victory over Boston at Hilltop Park. With Russ Ford on the mound, Bill Carrigan lines into a game-ending, ninth-inning triple killing.

1912
April 9-A spring snowstorm is the setting for the first game at Fenway Park. The Red Sox prevail in the exhibition game against Harvard University.
April 11-Opening Day at Hilltop Park sees the Yankees wearing pinstripes for the first time. The Red Sox win the game 5-3 as Joe Wood tosses a seven-hitter.
April 20-Just a few days after the sinking of the Titanic, the Yankees and Red Sox match up in the first major league game at Fenway Park. Boston Mayor John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, the grandfather-to-be of John F. Kennedy, throws out the first ball. Boston ekes out a 7-6 win in 11 innings before 27,000.

1914
May 13-The Yankees purchase the contract of catcher Les Nunamaker from Boston for $5,000.
May 27-Right-handed rookie hurler Guy Cooper is sold by the Yankees to the Red Sox.

1915
May 6-Babe Ruth, pitching for the Boston Red Sox, hits his first major league home run off Yankee pitcher Jack Warhop at the Polo Grounds. Ruth picks up two more hits but loses the game, 4-3, in 13 innings.
May 8-Sixteen Yankees bat in the fourth inning as New York scores 10 runs, en route to a 10-3 romp over Boston.
June 2-The Red Sox conclude a 29-day road trip defeating the Yankees behind Babe Ruth's pitching, 7-1, at the Polo Grounds. After ripping his second major league homer, Ruth is walked intentionally the next two times he comes to bat. An infuriated and frustrated Ruth kicks at the bench and breaks a toe.1916
May 5-At Fenway Park, Babe Ruth is relieved by Carl Mays in the ninth inning with the Sox leading, 4-2. New York ties the game on third baseman Larry Gardner's two-out error and ekes out an 8-4 win in 13 innings.
June 20-Tilly Walker hits Boston's only homer at Fenway Park the entire season of 1916. Red Sox shortstop Everett Scott, a defensive replacement, plays in the first of 1,307 straight games. Scott's streak comes to an end in 1925 when he is a member of the Yankees.
June 21-Boston pitcher George "Rube" Foster hurls a 2-0 no-hitter against the Yankees, the first no-hitter pitched at Fenway. Foster is rewarded with a $100 bonus; his teammates are each presented with gold-handled pocketknives with the no-hitter date engraved.
June 22-Boston's Babe Ruth allows but three singles and paces his team's 1-0 win over New York.
September 29-Pitcher Babe Ruth's season ends as he beats the Yankees, 3-0. It is the Babe's 23rd win, his ninth shutout, lowering his ERA to 1.75.
November 1-Harry H. Frazee, New York theater owner and producer, and Hugh Ward purchase the Red Sox from Joseph Lannin for $675,000 (one report puts the figure at $750,000). Sox manager Bill Carrigan says he will step aside as Boston manager to pursue other interests.

1917
April 24-George Mogridge is the first Yankee in history to hurl a no-hitter as he defeats Boston, 2-1, at Fenway.

1918
December 21-Boston ships pitchers Ernie Shore and Dutch Leonard and outfielder Duffy Lewis to the Yankees for four second-line players and cash.

1919
June 13-The Yankees sell outfielder Bill Lamar to the Red Sox.
June 28-Carl Mays of the Red Sox pitches two complete games against the Yankees. He wins the first game, 2-0, and loses 4-1 in the second game.
July 29-Boston pitching star Carl Mays is traded to the Yankees for pitchers Allan Russell and Bob McGraw and $40,000.
September 24-Boston's Babe Ruth breaks the single-season record with his 28th home run in a game against the New York Yankees. The ball clears the right-field roof of the Polo Grounds. Ruth will finish the season with a .322 batting average, 29 home runs and 114 RBIs.
September 27-Babe Ruth plays his final game for the Red Sox. On this day future Red Sox star shortstop and manager Johnny Pesky is born in Portland, Oregon.

1920
January 5-The Red Sox sell Babe Ruth, 24, to the New York Yankees for $125,000. Red Sox owner Harry Frazee is also given a $350,000 mortgage on Fenway Park by Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert. In four years as a pitcher, Ruth was 78-40. In 1919, he batted .322 with 29 home runs playing left field for the Red Sox. In 1919, he batted .319 with 22 home runs playing left field for Boston, and won nine games as a pitcher with a 2.97 ERA.
May 1-Babe Ruth hits his first home run as a Yankee. It clears the roof of the Polo Grounds and torques a 6-0 Yankee victory over the Red Sox.
October 29-Ed Barrow, former Red Sox manager, is appointed general manager of the Yankees.
December 15-Boston trades pitchers Waite Hoyt and Harry Harper, infielder Mike McNally and catcher Wally Schang to the Yankees. The Sox receive outfielder Sam Vick, third baseman Derrill Pratt, pitcher Herb Thormahlen, catcher Muddy Ruel and cash.

1921
September 5-New York's outfield makes a record five assists, four of them by outfielder Bob Meusel who will lead the American League in assists in 1921 and 1922.
October 2-Babe Ruth records his 59th home run as the Yankees beat the Red Sox, 7-6, in the 1921 season finale. Boston first baseman Stuffy McInnis plays in his 119th straight errorless game, while Red Sox shortstop Everett Scott plays in a Yankee team record 832nd consecutive game.
December 20-Boston trades pitchers Joe Bush and Sam Jones and shortstop Everett Scott to the Yankees for three pitchers, shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh and cash.

1922
July 24-The Red Sox trade third baseman Jumping Joe Dugan and outfielder Elmer Smith to the Yankees for outfielders Chick Fewster and Elmer Miller and shortstop John Miller. At the time, New York and St. Louis are in a close race for the pennant. St. Louis fans complain that the trade is too one-sided in favor of the Yankees. Baseball commissioner Landis rules that from now on, no trades except those that clear waivers can take place after June 15.
September 4-The Red Sox sweep a doubleheader from the Yankees, 4-3 and 6-5, dropping New York out of first place. Babe Ruth hits his last regular-season home run in the Polo Grounds.
September 30-The Yankees clinch their second American League pennant with a 3-1 win over the Red Sox at Fenway.

1923
January 3-The Yankees obtain minor league pitcher George Pipgras and minor league outfielder Harvey Hendrick from the Red Sox for backup catcher Al Devormer and cash.
January 30-The Yankees acquire pitcher Herb Pennock from Boston for pitcher George Murray, infielder Norm McMillan and outfielder Camp Skinner. The Red Sox also receive cash.
April 18-Yankee Stadium opens before a reported crowd of 74,200. In a ceremony before the game, Harry Frazee walks side-by-side with Yankees owner Jake Ruppert.
August 1-Harry Frazee sells the Red Sox to a syndicate headed by St. Louis Browns business manager J.A. Robert Quinn.
September 27-Lou Gehrig hits the first of his 493 home runs. It comes off Bill Piercy at Fenway Park in an 8-3 New York win.
September 28-En route to a 24-4 victory, the Yankees pound out 30 hits against Boston, an American League record.

1924
December 10-The Yankees trade infielder Mike McNally to the Red Sox for infielder Howard Shanks.
December 15-Boston sells the contract of catcher Steve O'Neill to the Yankees for $4,000, the waiver price.

1925
September 8-Red Sox pitcher Buster Ross gives up Babe Ruth's 300th career home run.

1926
May 26-New York runs its winning streak to 16, nipping Boston at Fenway, 9-8. The victory gives the Yanks a four-game sweep of the series, putting then ahead in the American League standings by eight and a half games.

1927
May 29-The Yankees rip the Red Sox, 15-7, in a game played at the Stadium. Scoring seven runs in the eighth inning, the Yankees coast to victory. Babe Ruth records his 13th homer.
June 23-At Boston, Lou Gehrig leads the Yankees to an 11-4 victory. He slams three home runs, a first at Fenway Park. Gehrig hits a two-run homer in the second inning, and solo shots in the sixth and eighth innings.
June 30-At Yankee Stadium before a crowd of just 3,000, the Yanks beat the BoSox,13-6. New York wins its fifth straight; Boston loses its 12th straight.
September 5-The BoSox outlast the Yankees, 12-11, in an 18-inning marathon at Fenway Park.
September 6-7-Ruth hits five homers in two days against the Red Sox. He wound up hitting 11 of his 60 homers against his old team in 1927.

1928
April 19-The Yankees are out of first for the first time since May 1926 as a result of their losing the morning Patriots Day game in Boston, 5-2. But the Yanks come back to win the second game, 7-6.

1929
April 23-The Yankees come to Fenway and are the first team to wear numbers on their road uniforms.
May 19-At New York, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig hit back-to-back homers off Boston's Jack Russell in the third inning. Two innings later a cloudburst sends a standing-room-only crowd scurrying for the exits. A stampede in the right field bleachers leaves two dead, 62 injured. The game ends with two outs in the fifth inning and the Yankees winning, 3-0. Jake Ruppert announces that never again will the Yankees sell more tickets than seats.

1930
January 29-Former American League home run king Ken Williams, a lifetime .319 hitter, is claimed on waivers by the Yankees from the Red Sox. But Williams will be released before the season gets underway.
May 6-Pitcher Red Ruffing becomes a Yankee when the Red Sox trade him for outfielder Cedric Durst. Boston also receives $50,000.
September 28-Babe Ruth returns to Fenway in a Yankee uniform and hurls a 9-3 complete game win over the Sox.

1931
April 22-Colliding at Fenway Park with Boston catcher Charlie Berry, an ex-professional football player, Ruth is carried off the field and rushed to a hospital. He had attempted to score from third base on a sacrifice fly.
May 4-Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, back in the lineup at the Stadium, switch positions to take the pressure off the Babe's lame leg. Babe Ruth plays first base. It is Gehrig's last game as an outfielder. Ruth and Gehrig combine for five hits, but lose to Boston, 7-3.

1932
May 30-A plaque in memory of former Yankee manager Miller Huggins is dedicated at Yankee Stadium. The Yanks then sweep the Red Sox, 7-5 and 13-3. June 5-The Yankees acquire B
oston pitcher Dan MacFayden for pitchers Ivy Andrews and Hank Johnson and $50,000.
July 3-The first Sunday game ever played at Fenway Park sees Boston lose to the Yankees 13-2. Sunday baseball was actually approved in Boston three years earlier, but not at Fenway because of its close proximity to a church. Red Sox Sunday games were played at Braves Field on Commonwealth Avenue before the law was changed.
August 3-The Red Sox trade pitcher Wilcy Moore to the Yankees for pitcher Gordon Rhodes.

1933
February 25-Multimillionaire sportsman Tom Yawkey purchases the Boston Red Sox from Robert Quinn for $1.5 million.
May 12-In a bit of role reversal, the Red Sox shell out cash for a Yankee player. Boston pays New York $100,000 for pitcher George Pipgras and rookie shortstop Bill Werber. Pipgras will be released two years later, and become an umpire in 1938.
June 6-Yankees pitcher Herb Pennock yields 11 hits but still shuts out the Red Sox, his former team, 4-0 at Yankee Stadium.
June 14-Lou Gehrig and his manager, Joe McCarthy, are ejected at Fenway Park for arguing that Boston's Rick Ferrell ran out of the baseline between first and second base. But Gehrig's consecutive-game streak is maintained at 1,249, as he goes one-for-three with a triple. The Red Sox romp, 13-5.
September 23-The Yankees overcome seven errors-three by Frank Crosetti-to beat the Red Sox, 16-12.
October 1-In his last game as a pitcher-and only his fifth since the Yankees bought him from the Red Sox 13 years earlier-38-year-old Babe Ruth hurls a complete game, defeating his former team, 6-5. He also homers.

1934
May 15-The Yankees trade infielder Lyn Lary to the Red Sox for infielder Fred Muller and $20,000.
August 12-A record 46,766 fans show up for Babe Ruth's final appearance at Fenway Park, and more than 20,000 are turned away. In the first game of a doubleheader, the Babe singles and doubles. Walks limit him to one official at-bat in the second game.

1935
February 26-The Yankees release Babe Ruth, who returns to the city he started with, signing with the Boston Braves of the National League.
June 1-At Yankee Stadium, the Yankees smash a record six solo home runs to defeat Boston, 7-2. Bill Dickey hits two, and Frank Crosetti, Ben Chapman, George Selkirk, and Red Rolfe each hit one. Boston's runs come on a two-run homer by pitcher Mel Almedo.
June 2-Finishing his career in the city he started-only in a different league-Babe Ruth of the Boston Braves announces his retirement at the age of 40.
September 22-For the second straight year, Fenway's attendance record is broken in a Red Sox-Yankees doubleheader, as 47,627 fans jam into the Fens. The Yankees win the first game, 6-4, and then slam seven ground-rule doubles into the roped-off crowd to take the second game, 9-0. Such crowds will never be repeated. After World War II, more stringent fire laws and league rule prevent the overcrowding that was allowed in the 1930s.

1936
April 26-In one of the wildest games ever played between the rivals, the Red Sox score six times in the bottom of the first inning and the Yankees come back with seven runs in the top of the second inning. New York goes on to win, 12-9.
August 21-Boston pitcher Wes Ferrell storms off the mound in the midst of a Yankees rally, only days after doing the same in a game against the Washington Senators. Red Sox manager Joe Cronin suspends the pitcher, fining him $1,000. "They can suspend me or trade me, but they're not getting any dough from me," Ferrell fumes. The suspension is lifted and the team trades him after the season.

1937
February 17-New York purchases the contract of first baseman Babe Dahlgren from Boston.
July 5-Joe DiMaggio hits his first career grand slam home run. It comes off Boston pitcher Rube Walberg.
September 8-The Yankees score eight times in the ninth inning with two out and defeat Boston, 9-6.

1938
May 30-A franchise-record crowd of 81,841 watches the Yankees sweep the Red Sox in a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. More than 6,000 fans are turned away, and 511 are given refunds. New York's Red Ruffing ends Lefty Grove's eight-game winning streak in a 10-0 win. The Yankees win the second game, 5-4. Yankee outfielder Jake Powell and Boston player-manager Joe Cronin fight after Boston hurler Archie McKain plunks Powell. Charging to the mound, Powell is stopped by Cronin. Punches are thrown, and both combatants are ejected from the game only to continue the fight in an area beneath the stands.

1939
April 20-Prize Boston rookie Ted Williams racks the ball off the 407-foot sign in right-center field at Yankee Stadium for his first major league hit, a double. He had struck out twice in previous at-bats against Red Ruffing. The hit comes for Williams in the season opener in New York, delayed two days because of rain. It will be the only game Williams will play against Lou Gehrig.
July 9-The Red Sox triumph, 4-3 and 5-3, running their winning streak to 12 and sweeping a five-game series in Yankee Stadium. Joe Cronin drives in runs in both games, giving him 12 straight games with an RBI.
September 3-Stalling to avoid a loss as a Sunday baseball curfew looms, the Yankees incur the wrath of Fenway fans who bombard the playing field with debris. The game is forfeited to the Yankees by umpire Cal Hubbard, but AL President Will Harridge later overrules him. He also fines the Yankees for their tactics.

1940
April 26-Yankee third baseman Red Rolfe has nine assists but the Red Sox win the game, 8-1.
May 12-Red Ruffing's six-hit shutout trims Boston, 4-0, and halts New York's eight-game losing streak. The Red Sox, however, remain in first place in the American League while the Yankees are in last place.

1941
May 12-Boston hurler Lefty Grove stops Lefty Gomez and the Yankees, 6-4 for his 20th straight win at Fenway Park. A Jimmie Foxx two-run homer is the margin of victory.
May 25-Lefty Grove of Boston yields a single to Joe DiMaggio and becomes the first pitcher to take part in two of the greatest records in baseball history. The single locks Grove into DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. Grove had also given up one of the homers in Babe Ruth's 60-home run season 14 years earlier.
May 30-The Red Sox and Yanks split a doubleheader. New York wins the opener and Boston trounces New York in the second game,13-0. The Sox cap it off with a triple steal. Ted Williams laces six hits in the doubleheader, while Joe DiMaggio hits in both games, running his hitting streak to 16.
July 1-Joe DiMaggio ties Wee Willie Keeler's 44-game hitting streak with a single off Boston pitcher Jack Wilson. DiMaggio's three hits pace New York's doubleheader sweep over the Red Sox in front of 52,832 at Yankee Stadium. The second game is called after five innings.
November 27-Joe DiMaggio is named American League Most Valuable Player. He nips Ted Williams in the voting, 291 to 254.

1942
September 27-Tex Hughson of Boston wins his 22nd game as the Red Sox edge the Yankees. A Fenway Park crowd of 26,166, including 4,293 youngsters who gained free admission by bringing 29,000 pounds of scrap metal, watches Hughson space 11 hits. Ted Williams, in his final appearance before entering the war, singles and finishes the season at .356. The Sox great wins his second straight batting title.

1943
June 26-Boston pitcher Tex Hughson defeats the Yankees for the eighth straight time.
September 12-The first-place Yankees sweep a doubleheader from Boston, mathematically eliminating the Sox from pennant contention. The twin victory completes a five-game New York sweep of the Red Sox at Fenway.

1945
April 17-In a Yankee Stadium opener against the Red Sox, steady rain holds attendance down to 13,923 as mayor Fiorello LaGuardia throws out the first ball. New York scores seven runs in the seventh inning to clinch its 8-4 victory.

1946
April 25-The Red Sox beat the Yankees, 12-5, to start a 15-game winning streak.
May 10-Before a Friday Ladies' Day crowd of 64,183 Boston notches its 15th straight wins, edging the Yankees, 5-4, at the Stadium. New York scores all of its runs on Joe DiMaggio's grand slam.
May 11-The Yankees end Boston's 15-game winning streak with a 2-0 victory. Tiny Bonham beats Tex Hughson and Boo Ferriss at Yankee Stadium.
May 12-The Yankees and Red Sox record just three hits each. But New York gives up two unearned runs and loses the game, 3-1.
June 18-The Yankees sell 33-year-old right-handed pitcher Bill Zuber to the Red Sox.
July 7-Happiness pervades New England as the Sox lead the Yankees by seven and a half games in the standings at the All-Star break. Boston goes on to win the American League pennant, the team's first since 1918, but loses the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

1947
April 14-The Red Sox sign pitcher Johnny Murphy after the Yankees release him.
May 26-The largest single-game crowd at Yankee Stadium to this date-74,747-is witness to a 9-3 Yankee win over the Red Sox.
September 3-The Yankees hit 18 singles against the Red Sox in a game played at Fenway.
September 29-Joe McCarthy, who led the Yankees to nine pennants, is convinced to "un-retire." He signs to manage the Red Sox. Joe Cronin becomes general manager.
October 1-Allie Reynolds of the Yankees scatters nine hits as New York defeats Boston, 10-3. Tommy Henrich's fifth-inning homer puts the game out of reach for Boston.
October 1-Ted Williams wins his second consecutive Triple Crown.
November 27-Setting off a storm of controversy, Joe DiMaggio is named American League MVP by a single point over Ted Williams. Williams, (.343, 32 homers, 114 RBIs) the Triple Crown winner, receives 201 points. A 10th-place vote would have given Williams the needed two points; however, writer Mel Webb leaves Williams off his ballot.

1948
March 29-In a spring training game, the Yankees and Red Sox play through four hours and two minutes to a 2-2 tie. Thirty-three players are used.
October 3-A 10-5 Boston win over the Yankees enables the Sox to tie Cleveland for the pennant and move into the first single-game playoff in American League history. The Red Sox will lose that playoff game to the Indians, 8-3.

1949
March 14-Joe DiMaggio signs a contract for $90,000. Ted Williams earns close to $100,000 a year.
June 29-Boston's Dom DiMaggio, bidding to break his brother Joe's record, has his consecutive-game hitting streak stopped at 34.
June 30-Joe DiMaggio completes one of his best series ever, winding up with four home runs and a single against Boston.
September 25-Seventy-one injuries kept players out of games, but the Yankee keep themselves in first place all season. The Yankees fall into a tie with Boston in a 4-1 loss at Fenway as Mel Parnell defeats Allie Reynolds. Parnell's 25th win gives him a 16-3 home record. Joe DiMaggio listens to the game from a hospital bed recuperating from pneumonia. The Yankees return to New York and are greeted at Grand Central Station by a huge crowd of fans, including Mrs. Babe Ruth, who predicts: "Whoever wins tomorrow should go all the way."
October 1-The Red Sox need to win just one of the season's final two games against the Yankees to clinch the pennant. They don't do it today, blowing a 4-0 lead and losing 5-4 in front of 69,551 at the Stadium. Yankee reliever Joe Page is virtually untouchable in five innings of work. A Johnny Lindell home run is the margin of Yankee victory.
October 2-The Yankees defeat Boston, 5-3, at Yankee Stadium in the final game of the season and take the American League pennant. Red Sox fans again are shocked and disappointed.

1950
April 18-On Opening Day baseball commissioner Happy Chandler gives Ted Williams his MVP Award, and then governor Paul Dever tosses out the first ball, delighting 31,822 fans. Boston racks Allie Reynolds with a five-run fourth inning, driving him from the game, taking a 9-0 lead over the Yankees. But a nine-run Yankee eighth inning sends the New Yorkers to a 15-10 victory. Billy Martin becomes the first player to get two hits in one inning (eighth) in his first major league game. Tommy Henrich triples twice.
July 1-At Fenway, Whitey Ford makes his major league debut. It is one he says later he will quickly forget-in four and two-thirds innings, the rookie southpaw gives up seven hits, six walks, and five earned runs. Boston rookie Walt Dropo rips a grand slam homer in Boston's 13-4 route.
October 1-Ted Williams records four hits to pace Boston's 7-3 win over the Yankees. Williams has three RBIs to finish with 97 in just 89 games.

1951
April 17-Mickey Mantle makes his major league debut and goes one-for-four in a 4-0 Yankee win over the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.
May 30-Yankee fans are depressed as rookie Mickey Mantle strikes out five straight times in a doubleheader. Red Sox fans are impressed as Ted Williams scores from second base on a sacrifice bunt and ties the first game with a home run. Boston wins the opener, 11-10, on a home run by Vern Stephens, then takes the nightcap, 9-4.
July 8-A Yankee pitcher fails to complete a game for the 20th straight time at Fenway Park.
July 13-Mickey Mantle strikes out four times in a doubleheader in Boston, and manager Casey Stengel sends him down to the minor league Kansas City Blues in Triple-A.
September 28-In the first game of a doubleheader against Boston at Yankee Stadium, Allie Reynolds tosses his second no-hitter of the season, defeating the Red Sox, 8-0.

1952
January 9-The U.S. Marines announce they will recall Ted Williams to active duty in the Korean War.
May 10-New York's Hank Bauer goes five-for-six in an 18-3 thrashing of Boston at Yankee Stadium.
September 2-The Yankees shut out the Red Sox in both games of a doubleheader, 5-0 and 4-0. Tom Gorman wins the first game, and Ewell Blackwell is the victor in the second.

1953
May 8-Boston snaps a 13-game losing streak to the Yankees, dating back to 1952, with a 2-1 victory at Fenway Park. Billy Goodman wins the game homering off Johnny Sain in the bottom of the 11th inning.
May 9-The first-place Yankees nip Boston at Fenway, 6-4. Mickey Mantle homers off Bill Werle. The Mick's bid for a second home run is denied as Jimmy Piersall makes a great catch in front of the Sox bullpen in right-center field.

1954
April 19-The Yankees sweep two games from the Red Sox on Patriot's Day in Boston. Jim MacDonald pitches a 2-1 one-hitter in the morning game. In the afternoon game, the Yankees roll over Mel Parnell, 5-0. Mickey Mantle hits his first home run of the year.
May 28-At Fenway, a ninth-inning walk to Joe Collins, the 20th of the game, is the winning run. The Yankees edge the Sox, 10-9, overcoming Boston's Jackie Jensen grand slam.
September 6-The Yankees use 10 pinch-hitters in a 6-5 victory over the Red Sox.

1955
January 26-Joe DiMaggio is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
April 14-Elston Howard, the first Yankee black player, singles in his first career at-bat in a game against the Red Sox.
July 4-Boston pitchers strike out four Yankee pinch hitters.
August 11-Ted Williams gets his 2,000th hit in a 5-3 Red Sox loss to the Yanks.
September 23-The Yankees beat the Red Sox, 3-2, to clinch the American League pennant.

1956
August 7-The Red Sox fine Ted Williams $5,000 for spitting at Boston fans at Fenway Park after he mis-played a swirling Mickey Mantle fly ball in the 11th inning. A bases-loaded walk to Williams in the bottom of the inning gave Boston a win over the Yankees.
September 21-Bill Skowron has five hits, but the Yankees strand a record 20 base runners, losing to the Red Sox in Boston, 13-9. A Mickey Mantle 480-foot homer into the centerfield bleachers lands a foot from the top. The Mick's three hits puts his average at .352, just four points behind Ted Williams.
September 30-Mickey Mantle nips Ted Williams for the batting title on the final day of the season to win baseball's Triple Crown. He finishes with a .353 average, 52 home runs and 130 RBIs.

1957
April 20-New York's Moose Skowron homers to the right of the center field flagpole out of Fenway, just one of only six balls ever hit out of there to that point in time.
November 22-Mickey Mantle is named American League Most Valuable Player, angering Red Sox fans who thought that Ted Williams should have won the award. Boston owner Tom Yawkey called sportswriters "incompetent and unqualified."

1958
September 2-Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle hit back-to-back home runs breaking a scoreless tie with the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees go on to win, 6-1.
September 3-It's the Mickey and Yogi show again at Yankee Stadium. Mantle homers in the eighth, and Berra follows with a three-run shot in the ninth, as New York overcomes a 5-3 deficit to beat Boston, 8-5.
September 24-Mickey Mantle hits his 42nd home run of season in Boston's home finale. The Yankees win, 7-5.

1959
April 12-It's 42 degrees as the Yankees and Red Sox play their season opener in front of just 22,559 fans. New York wins, 3-2, on Bob Turley's two-hitter. Norm Siebern homers for the Yankees in the eighth inning.
April 17-Boston pitcher Tom Brewer avenges an opening-day defeat to the Yankees and Bob Turley, throwing a two-hit shutout in Boston's 4-0 win at Fenway Park.
July 11-A 10th-inning grand slam home run by Boston's Don Buddin defeats the Yankees, 8-4.
July 13-Four days and 20 years after their historic 1939 five-game sweep of the Yankees, the Red Sox do it again, romping to a 13-3 win. Gene Stephens, who had come into the game as a pinch runner for Ted Williams, hits a grand slam home run as Boston bats around later in that inning.
August 14-The Red Sox defeat the Yankees, 11-6, aided by a pinch-hit grand slam by Vic Wertz off Ryne Duren.

1960
April 19-Boston mayor John Collins, wheel chair bound from polio, tosses the first ball, and Roger Maris makes his Yankee debut on Opening Day Patriot's Day at Fenway Park. Maris goes four-for-five with two home runs and four RBIs, and the Yankees win the game, 8-4, behind Jim Coates.
September 6-In his final game at Yankee Stadium, Ted Williams records his 518th career homer, pacing Boston's 7-1 win.
September 25-At Fenway Park, Casey Stengel clinches his 10th pennant in 12 years as Yankee manager. Ralph Terry pitches New York to a 4-3 win over the Red Sox.
September 30-The Yankees set an American League record for home runs as they defeat the Red Sox 6-5. Tony Kubek and Jesse Gonder hit New York's 191st and 192nd homers as the Yankees win their 13th straight game.
October 2-The Yankees win their 15th straight game closing out the 1960 season, beating the Red Sox, 8-7, on Dale Long's two-run homer in the ninth inning. Pittsburgh defeats New York in a seven-game World Series as Bill Mazeroski hits a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 for a 10-9 Pirates victory. There was much cheering in Boston.

1961
May 29-Mickey Mantle hits his first home run in two weeks, but the Yankees fall to the Red Sox, 2-1 at Fenway Park. Ike Delock out-pitches Whitey Ford for the victory.
May 30-Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris preview their historic race for Babe Ruth's single-season home run record. Both hit two home runs in a 12-3 drubbing of the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Moose Skowron also homers twice for the Yankees, and the trio ties a major league record for most players on a team, hitting multiple homers in a nine-inning game.
May 31-Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris homer in New York's 7-6 win over Boston at Fenway Park.
October 1-In the last game of the season, Roger Maris hits his 61st home run of the year, breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record. The historic shot comes off a 2-0 fastball from Boston pitcher Tracy Stallard. The home run gives the Yankees a 1-0 win, their 109th of the season, a victory shy of the franchise's 1927 record.

1962
September 9-Boston's Lou Clinton homers, triples and singles and makes four deft defensive plays. Still it requires 16 innings of baseball before the Red Sox claim the victory, scoring six times in the top of the 16th for a 9-3 win at Yankee Stadium. Dick Radatz pitches nine innings in relief for the winners.

1963
June 23-Boston first baseman Dick Stuart, known as "Dr. Strangeglove" for his ineptitude as a fielder, sets a major league fielding record. In the first inning Stuart snatches three first-inning ground balls and tosses to pitcher Bob Heffner for putouts, but the Yankees pound the Sox, 8-0, at Fenway Park.

1964
April 16-An 11-inning effort by Whitey Ford goes for naught as the Yankee left-hander loses to the Red Sox, 4-3, at Yankee Stadium. A Bob Tillman triple is the table setter as pinch runner Roman Mejias scores the winning run on a wild pitch in the top of the 11th.
April 17-At Fenway Park, in a JFK memorial game, the Red Sox nip the Yankees, 4-1.
April 20-Yankee rookie Bob Meyer debuts at Fenway Park and loses 4-0 to the Red Sox. Meyer is the last Yankee rookie pitcher in the 20th century to open in Boston.

1965
May 10-At Fenway Park, the ninth-place Yankees lose 3-2 to the Red Sox. Boston starter Jim Lonborg is lifted, and Dick Radatz gets the final out. It is Lonborg's first major league win.
July 20-Yankees pitcher Mel Stottlemyre hits an inside-the-park grand slam, the first pitcher to perform that feat in more than 50 years. The home run provides the margin of victory in the Yankees' 6-3 win over the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.

1966
June 29-Mickey Mantle opens the scoring in the first inning with a three-run homer at Fenway. In the third inning the Mick homers between circuit clouts by Bobby Richardson and Joe Pepitone. New York wins the game, 6-5.

1967
April 14-Behind rookie pitcher Bill Rohr, 21, the Red Sox shade the Yankees, 3-0, at the Stadium. Rohr's no-hitter is broken up by Elston Howard's single with two outs in the ninth inning.
April 16-The Yankees in New York beat the Red Sox, 7-6, on Joe Pepitone's two-out single in the bottom of the 18th inning. The game lasts five hours and 50 minutes. Carl Yastrzemski and Tony Conigliaro each record five hits for Boston.
April 21-Red Sox rookie Bill Rohr continues to have the Yankees' number, defeating Mel Stottlemyre, 6-1, at Fenway Park. But Rohr won't win another game with the Red Sox, and is out of baseball within two years.
May 14-Mickey Mantle hammers his 500th career home run.
August 3-The Yankees, with no chance of success in 1967, send catcher Elston Howard to the Red Sox, who are in the midst of a pennant race. New York receives cash and two players to be named later. Down the stretch, Howard hits only .147 for the Red Sox but helps steady the pitching staff. All New England cheers as Boston goes on to win the pennant, finishing 20 games ahead of the ninth-place Yankees.
August 8-The Yankees purchase the contract of catcher Bob Tillman from the Red Sox for the $20,000 waiver fee.
August 29-For the second time in 1967, the Red Sox lose a game to the Yankees that goes at least 18 innings. This time, New York tops Boston, 4-3, in 20 innings, in the second game of a doubleheader. Boston had won the first game, 2-1.

1968
September 20-Mickey Mantle hits his last home run, number 536, off Boston pitcher Jim Lonborg at Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox win, 4-3, paced by Carl Yastrzemski's three hits.
September 27-Mickey Mantle flies out in his final plate at-bat at Fenway Park. He is replaced by Andy Kosko whose homer ties the score in the eighth inning. Joe Pepitone's home run in the ninth gives New York a 4-3 win.
September 29-In the "Year of the Pitcher," Carl Yastrzemski goes 0-for-five in the season finale against the Yankees but still wins the battle title with a .301 batting average-the lowest to ever lead the league. No one else hits .300 in the American League this season. The Yankees beat the Red Sox, 4-3.

1969
April 28-The Red Sox streak of home runs in consecutive games is snapped at 11. New York pitcher Fritz Peterson shuts them out,1-0, at Yankee Stadium.

1970
January 17-The Yankees draft super prospect Fred Lynn in the first round of the January phase of the annual free-agent draft, but the outfielder does not sign with the team from the Bronx and later joins the Boston Red Sox.
April 7-The Red Sox jump out to a 4-0 lead over the Yankees on Opening Day at the Stadium and eke out a 4-3 win. Mel Stottlemyre starts his fourth straight season-opener.

1971
April 6-The Red Sox win their second straight opener against the Yankees, a 3-1 victory at Fenway Park. Boston's Ray Culp beats New York's Stan Bahnsen.

1972
March 22-The Yankees acquire southpaw relief pitcher Sparky Lyle from the Red Sox for first baseman Danny Cater. It will prove to be one of the best New York trades ever. Posting a 1.91 ERA in his first season in the Bronx, Lyle leads the American League in saves with 35. In 1977, he will become the first American League reliever to win the Cy Young Award. He helps the Yankees win three straight pennants from 1976 to 1978.
September 7-Tommy Harper and Rico Petrocelli pace a 10-4 Red Sox victory over the Yankees with three-run homers. The victory puts the Sox in first place over the Tigers, but Boston will finish the strike-shortened season in second place, a half-game behind Detroit.

1973
August 1-Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk and Yankee catcher Thurman Munson exchange blows at Fenway Park after a collision at home plate. Munson tried to score from third base on a missed bunt attempt. The Red Sox win the game, 3-2, although there is still doubt as to who won the fight.

1974
September 9-A 6-3 Yankee win over the Red Sox is New York's first triumph at Fenway Park since July 31, 1973.

1975
July 27-In the not-so-friendly confines of Shea Stadium (Yankee Stadium is being refurbished) Red Sox outfielder Fred Lynn's running, stumbling catch enables Boston to win the first game of a doubleheader against the Yankees. The Red Sox victory ends Yankee pennant hopes and closes out Bill Virdon's future as manager. For good measure the Sox win the second game for a shutout sweep.

1976
May 20-A spirited fracas takes place at Yankee Stadium after Lou Piniella barrels into Carlton Fisk at the plate. Red Sox lefthander Bill Lee injures his left shoulder in the melee.

1977
May 24-At Yankee Stadium, New York rallies to beat Boston, 6-5, thanks to back-to-back home runs by Carlos May and Graig Nettles.
June 18-Fenway Park is jammed with the largest Saturday afternoon crowd (34,603) in two decades. Boston cruises, 10-4, on five home runs, but the real story is the blowup in New York's dugout. Yankees outfielder Reggie Jackson dogs it on a Jim Rice bloop double, and is taken out of the game by manager Billy Martin. The two men almost come to blows in the dugout in front of national television cameras.
June 19-An 11-1 rout gives Boston a three-game series sweep over the Yankees. Boston is paced by five home runs, including Carl Yastrzemski's 460-foot shot that is the only ball to ever reach the right field roof facade. The Red Sox out-homer New York 16-0 in the series.
June 24-A 6-5 New York win at the Stadium breaks a seven-game Boston winning streak. Three Red Sox homers set a major league record of 33 home runs in 10 straight games.
September 28-Tiny Fenway Park draws its two-millionth fan of the season for the first time ever and becomes just the fourth stadium in the American League to break that attendance plateau. Boston makes a run for the division title but finishes two and a half games behind the first-place Yankees.

1978
January 13-Joe McCarthy, who managed on both sides of the rivalry, dies at age 90.
July 19-The Yankees trail Boston by 14 games in the standings.
September 7-The Yankees begin a four-game series with the Red Sox at Fenway Park, with Boston protecting a four-game lead. New York takes the first game, 15-3, setting the tone for the rest of the series.
September 10-New York completes its "Boston Massacre," a four-game sweep of the Red Sox that ends with the teams tied for first place after a ferocious stretch run by the Yankees. New York chases Boston pitcher Bobby Sprague after just two-thirds of an inning, and wins 7-4. The Yankees outscore the Bo Sox 42-9 during the series.
October 1-The Red Sox catch the Yankees on the final day of the regular season by beating the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-0, at Fenway Park, for their eighth straight victory. New York, with a chance to clinch the division, loses at home to the Cleveland Indians, 9-2.
October 2-The Yankees win the American League East, edging the Red Sox, 5-4, in just the second one-game playoff game in American League history. The day will always be remembered for Bucky Dent's three-run homer over the Green Monster. It's exactly 29 years to the date that New York won the pennant on the final day of the season with a 5-3 win over Boston. The Yankees go on to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series for the second straight year.
November 7-Boston's Jim Rice nips New York's Ron Guidry, 353-291, to win the American League MVP Award. Rice led the league in hits (213), triples (15), home runs (46), RBIs (139), and slugging (.600), and became the first American Leaguer to accumulate 400 total bases in a season since Joe DiMaggio in 1937. Guidry had gone 25-3 with a 1.74 ERA.
November 21-After eight seasons with the Red Sox, pitcher Luis Tiant, 38, signs as a free agent with the Yankees.

1979
July 1-Sliding home in a 6-5 loss to the Yankees, Boston speedster Jerry Remy, batting .304 on the season, injures a knee. He appears in only seven more games in 1979. September 12-Carl Yastrzemski singles off
Jim Beattie of the Yankees for his 3,000th career hit. Boston wins, 9-2, at Fenway Park.
November 8-Boston free agent first baseman Bob Watson is signed by New York.

1980
September 21-The Red Sox are eliminated from playoff contention when Yankee star pitcher Ron Guidry wins his 15th game of the season, a 3-0 shutout of Boston.
October 1-The Red Sox fire manager Don Zimmer who had guided Boston to a 411-304 record, a .575 percentage, from 1976 to 1980. Zimmer will go on to manage the Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs before becoming Yankee manager Joe Torre's right-hand man.
October 27-Former Yankee manager Ralph Houk is named Red Sox skipper. He will last five seasons with Boston.

1981
September 12-Yankee catcher Rick Cerone hits a double in the bottom of the ninth inning to break up a no-hitter by Boston rookie Bob Ojeda. Dave Winfield follows with another double, but Red Sox reliever Mark Clear comes on to save the 2-1 victory.
September 19-The Red Sox score seven runs in the eighth inning and defeat the Yankees, 8-5, at Fenway Park.

1982
June 14-New York's Ron Guidry stops the Red Sox to run his record to 8-1. For the remainder of the season, however, Guidry manages a 6-7 record and a 4.47 ERA.
August 6-The Yankees trade shortstop Bucky Dent to the Texas Rangers for Lee Mazzilli. Dent, whose 1978 home run at Fenway Park led the Yankees to a dramatic victory over the Red Sox in a one-game playoff, is hitting only .169 at the time of the trade.

1983
July 4-Dave Righetti no-hits Boston. It is the first Yankees no-hitter since Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

1984
September 14-The Yankees defeat the Red Sox 7-1, dropping Boston 16 and a half games back (with 16 remaining)-eliminating them from contention.
September 25-Ralph Houk, who managed both the Yankees and Red Sox, announces he will retire as Boston manager at the end of the season. Houk, 65, got his start with the Yankees in 1961, replacing Casey Stengel. He took over as Red Sox manager in 1981.

1985
April 8-At Fenway Park, 46-year-old Yankees pitcher Phil Niekro becomes the second-oldest pitcher to start an opening-day game. Niekro lasts only four innings, and the Red Sox go on to win, 9-2.

1986
March 28-In a trade of designated hitters, the Yankees send Don Baylor to the Red Sox for Mike Easler.
October 2-Breaking Earle Combs's team record set in 1927, Don Mattingly gets his 232nd hit of the season in a 6-1 win over the Red Sox.
October 4-Dave Righetti again makes history against the Red Sox, saving both games of a Yankees doubleheader sweep for a single-season major league record 46 saves.

1987
June 26-Boston ace Roger Clemens fails to hold a 9-0 lead against the Yankees, who win 12-11 in 10 innings. Boston's Wade Boggs has his 25-game hitting streak snapped.
September 29-New York's Don Mattingly sets a major league single-season record with his sixth grand slam, which comes off Boston's Bruce Hurst. The Yankees win, 6-0.

1988
June 13-Joining Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski, Boston's Jim Rice hits his 200th home run at Fenway Park, in a 12-6 loss to the Yankees.

1989
September 25-Boston's Wade Boggs gets four hits in a 7-4 win over the Yankees, becoming the first player in major league history to get 200 hits and 100 walks in four straight seasons. Boggs breaks a record he shared with Yankee Lou Gehrig.

1990
June 7-Greg Harris and Jeff Reardon combine on a one-hitter, as the Red Sox beat the Yankees, 3-0.
September 1-Boston's Mike Greenwell hits an inside-the-park grand slam in a 15-1 victory over the Yankees at Fenway Park. It's the third inside-the-park grand slam of the season, the first time that's happened since 1947.

1991
February 8-Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens signs a four-year contract extension worth $21.5 million, making him the highest paid player in baseball at the time. Boston begins the 1991 season with the highest payroll in baseball.

1992
June 15-Red Sox reliever Jeff Reardon picks up his record-breaking 342nd career save in a 1-0 victory over the Yankees. The Sox will trade Reardon to Atlanta later that year, and the following season, Cardinals stopper Lee Smith will break Reardon's record a year before being traded to the Yankees.
August 7-Red Sox slugger Jack Clark, a former Yankee, files for bankruptcy. He lists debts of $11.5 million and assets of $4.8 million.
December 15-After his first season ever to bat below .300, a .259 batting average with the Red Sox, Wade Boggs signs as a three-year free agent deal with the Yankees after 11 seasons with Boston, which had refused to give him a long-term contract. He will rebound in 1993, batting .302 for New York.

1993
August 31-The Cardinals trade reliever Lee Smith to the Yankees for pitcher Richard Batchelor. Smith had pitched for the Red Sox from 1988-90.

1994
May 8-Danny Tartabull, Mike Stanley and Gerald Williams key an 8-4 Yankees victory over the Red Sox with consecutive home runs in the sixth inning at Yankee Stadium.

1995
May 2-Former Seton Hall University teammates Mo Vaughn and John Valentin hit grand slam home runs in consecutive innings, pacing Boston's 8-0 romp over the Yankees in the Bronx.
October 3-The division champion Red Sox and the wild card Yankees begin separate postseason playoff series. The Yankees overcome Ken Griffey's two home runs, winning their opener over Seattle, 9-6, only to lose the series, 3-2. The Indians defeat the Red Sox, 4-0, to start a three game sweep of Boston.

1996
July 1-Pitcher Roger Clemens of Boston loses for only the third time at Yankee Stadium, as Jimmy Key out-duels him, 2-0.
July 17-The Red Sox blow a 9-2, seventh-inning lead over the Yankees at Fenway and trail 11-9 after eight innings. But a three-run home half of the ninth gives the BoSox a 12-11 victory.
September 28-In his final appearance for Boston, Roger Clemens strikes out 10 but loses to the Yankees, 4-2, at Fenway Park. Mike Aldrete and Bernie Williams homer for New York.
December 13-Roger Clemens signs a three-year, $24.75 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.

1997
May 22-Collecting 19 hits, leaving 16 runners on bases, the BoSox rip the Yankees at the Stadium, 8-2 behind homers by Mike Stanley and Mo Vaughn and Will Cordero's five hits.
May 30-Mo Vaughn homers three times, and goes four-for-four, in Boston's 10-4 rout of New York at Fenway Park.
August 13-The Yankees trade minor league hurler Tony Armas and a player to be named later to the Red Sox for catcher-first baseman Mike Stanley and Randy Brown, a minor league infielder.
September 9-Boston shortstop Nomar Garciaparra drives in his 86th and 87th RBIs, breaking a 40-year-old major league record for leadoff men, but the Yankees beat the Red Sox, 8-6, at Fenway Park.

1998
September 29-Both the Yankees and Red Sox are in the playoffs again, despite finishing light years apart in the American League East. New York finishes 22 games ahead of wild card Boston. In their playoff openers, the Yankees nip Texas, 2-0, while the Red Sox win their opener over Cleveland, 11-3. Boston is eliminated in the division series while the Yankees go on to win the World Series.

1999
February 18-The Yankees acquire one-time Boston superstar Roger Clemens from the Blue Jays for pitchers David Wells, Graeme Lloyd and infielder Homer Bush. Clemens, who won two Cy Young Awards with Toronto, is coming off a 20-6, 271-strikeout year. He had left the Sox in 1997 as a free agent.
September 10-Pedro Martinez strikes out 17 Yankees, one-hitting New York, 3-1, at Yankee Stadium-the most strikeouts against a Yankee team ever. The only New York hit is a Chili Davis homer in the second inning.
September 12-The Red Sox beat the Yankees, 4-1, in front of 50,027 at Yankee Stadium. The win completes Boston's first three-game sweep at the Stadium since 1986.
September 21-Pedro Martinez strikes out 12 and breaks Roger Clemens's Red Sox team record of 291 strikeouts in a season.
October 13-For the first time since 1978, the Red Sox and Yankees meet in a playoff game-this time with the American League pennant on the line. New York, which won the division title over the wild card Red Sox by four games, takes the series opener, 4-3, on Bernie Williams's home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.
October 16-In a much anticipated pitching match-up of Boston ace Pedro Martinez and New York ace Roger Clemens, the Sox crush the Yankees, 13-1, at Fenway Park. Clemens lasts only two innings against his former team, giving up five runs on six hits. Martinez, meanwhile, gives up only two hits while striking out 12 in seven shutout innings. Boston cuts the Yankees' series lead to 2-1.
October 18-The Yankees beat the Red Sox, 6-1, to win the series, four games to one. Orlando Hernandez picks up the win and the ALCS MVP award.
October 20-In a celebration of Boston's first ALCS appearance in nine years, a rally is staged on the steps of City Hall. Two hundred and fifty fans are present.
December 10-In the same season that "the Curse of the Bambino" strikes again, an Associated Press panel votes Babe Ruth "Player of the Century."

2000
June 19-The Yankees beat the Red Sox 22-1, Boston's most-lopsided home loss ever. New York scores 16 runs in the last two innings of the game.

2001
January 12-Boston signs pitcher David Cone as a free agent. The right-handed hurler had rejected a Yankee offer to attempt to make the club as a fifth starter. Cone, who struggled through a 4-14 season in 2000, will go 9-7 for Boston in 2001, his last season in the big leagues.
May 23-Behind Derek Jeter's five hits, the Yankees defeat the Red Sox, 7-3. Ex-Yankee David Cone is charged with the loss.
May 30-Pedro Martinez is victorious over the Yankees for the first time in more than a year. He had dropped five straight decisions to the New Yorkers. The next day Pedro made little of "The Curse," telling reporters: "Wake up the Bambino and let me face him-I'll drill him in the ass." Boston was defeated by the Yankees in the seven remaining games in 2001 after Martinez's comment.
September 2-Mike Mussina comes within one strike of a perfect game against the Red Sox, giving up a two-out, two-strike single to Carl Everett in the ninth inning. Everett's soft line drive falls between shortstop Derek Jeter and left fielder Chuck Knoblauch. Mussina ekes out a 1-0 win over ex-Yankee David Cone.

2002
August 28-Yankee pitcher Mike Mussina blanks the Red Sox, 7-0, at Fenway Park, a day after David Wells and Steve Karsay combine on a 6-0 shutout over Boston. It was the first time since 1943 that the Yankees had back-to-back shutouts at Fenway.
September 3-Roger Clemens fans ten Red Sox batters in seven and one third innings, recording his 100th win since leaving Boston.
November 20-Bucky Dent, 50, is named manager of the Columbus AAA Yankee farm team.
December 26-Red Sox President Larry Lucchino labels the Yankees the "Evil Empire" and says its tentacles extend even into Latin America. The comment is made after New York signs Cuban ace hurler Contreras, whom Boston was looking to add to its staff.
December 30-Yankee principal owner George Steinbrenner in a New York Daily News interview responds to Lucchino's comments: "That's B.S. That's how a sick person thinks. I've learned this about Lucchino: he's baseball's foremost chameleon of all time. He changes colors depending on where's he's standing. He's been at Baltimore and he deserted them there, and then went out to San Diego, and look at what trouble they're in out there. When he was in San Diego, he was a big man for the small markets. Now he's in Boston and he's for the big markets. He talks out of both sides of his mouth."

2003
August 22-New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner makes a $10,000 donation to the Jimmy Fund, the longtime Boston charity that works with children with cancer.
August 31-Roger Clemens notches his 100th win at Fenway Park in his final regular-season start there as the Yankees coast to an 8-4 victory over the Red Sox.
October 17-An 11th-inning home run by Aaron Boone off Tim Wakefield gives the Yankees a 6-5 come-from-behind stunning triumph over the Red Sox and the American League championship.
October 25-Red Sox nation rejoices in the Florida Marlins' 2-0 triumph over the New York Yankees in the World Series.
October 27-The Red Sox let manager Grady Little go less than two weeks after Boston blew a chance to play in the World Series. Little paid the price for sticking with Pedro Martinez in Game 7 of the ALCS against the Yankees.
November 28-Curt Schilling, a five-time All-Star widely ranked among baseball's most dominant pitchers, agrees to waive a no-trade clause in exchange for a two-year, $25.5-million contract extension for 2005 and '06 with a $13 million mutual option to remain with the Red Sox in '07. The Schilling trade is viewed as a shift in the balance of power in the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry.
December 4-The Yankees match the Red Sox in the offseason arms race by trading for Expos pitcher Javier Vazquez. New York sends first baseman Nick Johnson, outfielder Juan Rivera and left-hander Randy Choate to Montreal. On the same day, the Red Sox hire Terry Francona as their new manager, replacing Grady Little.
December 17-The Yankees continue their offseason makeover by signing Atlanta slugger Gary Sheffield to a three-year, $39 million contract. Still, Yankees manager Joe Torre says he's not sure his team is the favorite over the Red Sox going into the 2004 season. "If we were better than them last year by a very narrow margin, they have certainly caught up at the very least because of their pitching moves, he said.

Table of Contents

IntroductionVII
IMarch of Rivalry Time2
II2003 Playoffs: The Curse Lives on18
IIICollision36
IVPast as Prologue56
VThe Mood, the Culture78
VIBallparks: Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park108
VIIThe Yankee Clipper and Teddy Ballgame138
VIIIThe Marker Games154
IXTalkin' Rivalry188
XFor the Record238
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