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Stars share memories at ’86 Boston Red Sox reunion
- Updated: May 25, 2016
10:28 PM ET
BOSTON — Wade Boggs will ascend to the ranks of Boston Red Sox royalty on Thursday night when the team retires his No. 26 jersey in a pre-game ceremony at Fenway Park. As a warmup to that signature achievement, Boggs got together with a couple dozen old friends to reminisce, enjoy a cold beverage and lament what might have been.
The Red Sox, who are as adept as any team in baseball at celebrating the past, turned Yawkey Way into Memory Lane on Wednesday night when they paid tribute to the 1986 American League pennant club that lost to the New York Mets in seven games in the World Series.
Three decades later, many of the former Sox are predictably grayer, balder or girthier. They’re also slightly conflicted, taking pride in their achievements while acknowledging their star-crossed place in history. Before the Red Sox got off the schneid with titles in 2004, 2007 and 2013, the ’86 club was another in a long line of bonding agents for Boston baseball fans who reveled in their designation as “long-suffering.”
“It was a heartbreak,” Boggs said. “Everybody kept saying, ‘1918, 1918, 1918,’ and we got tired of hearing that. One thing people have to understand is, at the beginning of spring training we were picked to finish fifth. People said we underachieved. I don’t think we were underachievers at all. We were on the brink of winning one of the greatest World Series of all time. We didn’t bring a championship back to Boston, but thank God for 2004.”
After a video tribute to the accompaniment of Huey Lewis and the News’ “Stuck With You,” the Fenway scoreboard flashed a photo of late Red Sox general manager Lou Gorman and former manager John McNamara, who was not in attendance. With the ballpark about half-empty because of late arrivals, a long line of players and coaches appeared from the dugout and walked a red carpet to the center of the diamond.
The list of honorees ranged from prominent (Roger Clemens, Jim Rice and Dwight Evans) to obscure (Pat Dodson, Mike Brown, Rob Woodward and Mike Trujillo). Once they assembled behind …
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