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| One day in the life of the Red Sox |
I decided when I set up the new office in March that there was finally room to hang it in a distinct and prominent position in the office, having decided not to hang a bunch of other things, even including an autographed picture of Neil Armstrong. OK, that one may get put back up pretty soon, but for the moment it is stored.
At any rate, having too much time on my hands one day, I decided to try to figure out what the picture actually was of, because of course I needed to know that. Well, we know it is a picture of a live ballgame at Fenway Park in Boston; it's just that the picture was, or was not, of a really important day in the long history of the Red Sox. I didn't know, and one day I had to.
Plus, today is Friday, and I know I'm tending toward the irrelevant on Friday.
Because of the odd shaping of the picture, which is actually a photograph rendered on canvas, it doesn't convey in this column the way I wish it did. Many of the key scoreboard words are not distinct enough to make out. But there are, trust me, at least some distinguishing clues to help decide what is going on. The first-baseline scoreboard indicates a 1-0 count on the hitter, in the fifth inning. It is not clear the score, except it looks like it is maybe 5-4 against the Sox. There are seats above the left field wall (the "Green Monster"), dating the picture to no older than the 2003 season, when they were installed.
The Green Monster is not visible save its extreme right end, which says that Atlanta will be playing in LA against the Dodgers later. The lights are on, and it appears to be a night game; a clock on the main scoreboard appears to be showing "8:38", confirming that. The big scoreboard in center field is very blurred, but you can make out that the batter is named, and it is Kenny Lofton, and that he is wearing number 7 (the batter himself is facing you, so you can't read his uniform, but you can see he is black and looks like Kenny Lofton). And his uniform front is blurred too, but distinct enough to make out "XAS", confirming that the opposing team is the Texas Rangers.
The only other clue is that the pitcher is a lefty, and is number 61. He is stretching his right (glove) arm before getting a sign. And from that, it was time to date the picture.
Baseball Reference is a wonderful resource for aficionados, providing all the information you need on games, players and teams. I head there regularly, because there is always a question. And I figured I could start with the pitcher, since "61" is a number usually given to minor leaguers up for a time in the big leagues before they show themselves worthy of a lower number.
Sure enough, without even getting to Baseball Reference, www.redsoxdiehard.com was available with their all-time list of uniform numbers. Number 61 has only been worn by two lefty pitchers since 2003, Kason Gabbard (2006-07) and Felix Doubront (2010-12). The latter is a more swarthy Venezuelan player, and the pictured pitcher appears Caucasian, but better to use more evident facts.
Doubront faced the Rangers at Fenway only once in 2010, pitching into the fifth inning. In 2011, he did not pitch in the fifth inning of any such game, and in 2012 he did not face Texas at Fenway at all. And in that game in 2010, Kenny Lofton did not play (he was not on the Rangers that year). So it was indeed not Doubront pitching. That leaves Kason Gabbard.
Kason Gabbard pitched for three years in the majors, with a 4-0 record in 2007 for Boston before being traded to -- of all teams -- Texas, at the end of July. He did not face the Rangers in 2006, which makes the single appearance he made against Texas, on July 2, 2007, the actual game appearing on the canvas in my office. I know there was nothing special about that game, but I figured I'd see if I could trace the exact moment.
Baseball Register has the pitch by pitch accounting. Boston and Gabbard went into that fifth inning with a 4-0 lead. Lofton was the sixth batter of the inning; the previous five had gone walk, strikeout, single, three-run homer, walk. Lofton came up to bat with the tying run at first and one out. So we know that the score on the picture that looked like 5-4 Texas was actually 4-3 Boston, and we know that the count was definitely 1-0, so there were no fouls to have to count.
We know that Lofton would eventually ground out on a 3-2 count, which was the sixth pitch of the at-bat. So the picture is of the moment shortly after the first pitch of the at-bat, after ball one, with a 1-0 count on Kenny Lofton of the Texas Rangers, who were trailing Boston 4-3 at that exact moment, on Monday, July 2, 2007.
Eric Hinske would double in three runs for Boston in the bottom half of the fifth, Gabbard would pitch through two outs in the 6th to get the victory, and the Red Sox would go on to win 7-3. They would further go on to win the American League East, would win the Division and League Championship Series and then sweep the Colorado Rockies to become 2007 World Champions.
Three and a half weeks later, Kenny Lofton would be traded back to the Cleveland Indians, where he had spent most of the first half of his long career, and would retire after that 2007 season. A few days after that trade, Kason Gabbard would be traded to the Rangers, for the reliever Eric Gagne.
And at some point, someone decided that the picture that was taken of that particular moment at Fenway would make a great picture to put on canvas, and my son would discover it and decide it would make a great gift for his dad.
And that, they say, is the rest of the non-story. Have a great weekend.
Copyright 2018 by Robert Sutton
Like what you read here? There's a new post from Bob at www.uberthoughtsUSA.com at 10am Eastern time, every weekday, giving new meaning to "prolific essayist." Appearance, advertising, sponsorship and interview inquiries cheerfully welcomed at bsutton@alum.mit.edu or on Twitter at @rmosutton.
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