Red Sox honor 1986 AL champions

BOSTON — Thirty years later, the memories come flooding back for the men who created a magical baseball summer in Boston.

The fact that the 1986 Red Sox came one out shy of winning a World Series did little to take away from the warm reunion that took place at Fenway Park prior to Wednesday night’s game against the Colorado Rockies.

“We were a bunch of guys who were determined to try to bring a World Series to the great city of Boston,” said Wade Boggs, who won the third of his five batting titles in ’86, and will have his No. 26 retired at Fenway on Thursday.

In the end, determination gave way to some breakdowns in execution, and a resilient Mets’ team pulled off one of the great comebacks in sports history.

“We had the feeling. One out or one strike away, whatever you want to call it,” said Roger Clemens, who won the American League’s Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Awards in ’86. “We had a championship season. It was a lot of fun. It’s always exciting playing when the lights are the brightest. It’s very exciting as an athlete. You work hard to get to those moments of your career.”

Nearly 30 players and coaches put on their white Red Sox jerseys for Wednesday’s ceremony, including Clemens, Boggs, Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Marty Barrett, Rich Gedman and Bill Buckner.

If there was one bittersweet aspect to the event, it was the fact that Dave Henderson — who had the …

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