“I remember watching the replay thinking, ‘Please God let him be in the end zone,’ ” Buck said. By the end of the comeback madness, those Patriots fans and Buck were rooting for the same thing - that James White had indeed crossed the plane in overtime - but for different reasons. Perhaps nothing proved that better than the Super Bowl comeback two years ago, when delirious Patriots fans turned a traditionally corporate crowd into a New England house party. The Boston Red Sox are world champions.” - Buck can strike a balance of emotion and information. And most importantly, when the moment demands it, he knows how to elevate his words to match what’s happening on the field.įrom a heartfelt homage to his father (legendary sportscaster Jack Buck) after David Ortiz’s post-midnight home run in the epic 2004 ALCS - “Ortiz into right field, back is Sheffield, we’ll see you later tonight!” - to his simple acknowledgment of a near-century of sadness when Boston finished it off - “Red Sox fans have longed to hear it. Much as your emotions might insist otherwise, he gets you. I prefer that, because it’s done for the right reason.”Īnd that’s reason enough to give Buck a break (even though he’s not asking for it). They like to be heard, say their piece, and then talk about the team. Most of the time, if someone gives me trouble at a bar or something, saying, ‘Why do you hate the Red Sox or Patriots?’ they end up buying you a drink or whatever. If they give me trouble, think I’m rooting for other side, it’s mainly because they’re living and dying with every pitch and every play and think I’m rooting for the other side. I just consider Boston and New England incredible sports fans. Louis, where they consider themselves great baseball fans. There are certain fans on a different level. “You always want to do games for fans that seem to really care. To get them again in ’07, in ’13 against the Cardinals again, all those Red Sox moments which are just terrific because they’re at Fenway, and then you do the Patriots and do them three times in the Super Bowl, and then to have them and call the first overtime Super Bowl, it’s been a great run. “And you’re lucky if you get one as a broadcaster. “I think about that all the time, that in 2004 - and of course they were playing the Cardinals - when nobody but the ’27 Yankees was going to stop them after they came back from 3-0, that you live for those moments. The league’s best pitchers were Cleveland’s Addie Joss (24-11, 1.16), who threw a perfect game on October 2, and Chicago’s Ed Walsh, who started 49 games and ended with a 40-15 record in 464 innings pitched.“They still think I hate the Red Sox and the Patriots,” said Buck. The Tigers’ Ty Cobb led AL batters with a. The Pirates also finished just 1 game back, tied with the Giants, after losing to the Cubs in their last game of the season on October 4.ĭetroit took the AL crown by 1/2 game over Cleveland, on the strength of a rained-out game that was not made up. 354 average and 109 RBI, just ahead of the Giants’ Mike Donlin in both categories. Pittsburgh’s Honus Wagner topped NL hitters with a. Brown (29-9) and Ed Reulbach (24-7) ranked just behind Mathewson in pitching during the season. Chicago rallied for a 4-2 win, the Cubs’ fifth in a row. The NL season finale on October 8, Cubs star Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown relieved starter Jack Pfeister in the first inning and faced off against Giants sensation Christy Mathewson, the most dominant pitcher in the league (37-11, 1.43 ERA, 259 strikeouts). After the excitement of those races, the World Series was anticlimactic with the Cubs disposing of the Tigers in five games. Detroit and Chicago both had a chance to be champs when they met in the regular season finale the Tigers won the game, and the White Sox finished third, a mere 1 1/2 games back. In the National League, the Cubs outdueled the Giants on the last day of the season. 1908,The two most hotly contested races in Major League history came in the 1908 season.
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