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| The Red Sox & The Marathon Tragedy |
RED SOX : BASEBALL 2014
April 5,2014.
c/o Jason Mastrodonato
The Republican
BOSTON -- The questions are often the same: What do the Boston Red Sox have to do with the Boston Marathon bombing?
On the whole, they're fair questions. Why does a baseball team assume responsibility for helping a city heal over a monumental tragedy? Can a baseball team even do that? How long will this last?
The answers were written on the faces of the family members of victims who carried the rings from the Green Monster on Friday afternoon and walked slowly across the Fenway Park field before the Boston Red Sox opened their home schedule at 2 p.m.
These people weren't crying. They were smiling. They were waving. Each person carried a box of rings and delivered it to a table near first base. They shook the hands of Red Sox owner John Henry and the players in the dugout.
These people appeared generally happy, if only for a moment.
"It was one of those feelings where you're saddened, but you feel good about the people and the families that overcame that," said outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. "It's very special times. It is a good thing. Just letting the city know that we support them too and we support us. That's the mindset. We're all in this together."
Baseball provided the stage, and the Red Sox made it an electric one.
"You go through something like that and it happens so fast," said second baseman Dustin Pedroia. "You try to slow it down and take it all in, but all of it was so awesome. At the end, we're shaking everyone's hand, that was my favorite part."
Martin Richard, the 8-year-old boy who died in the bombings, was honored with his family on hand. Richard Donohue, the transit police officer who was injured in the hunt for the suspects, was also on hand.
It won't be easy to forget what happened last April 15, just like it won't be easy to forget the ways Boston celebrates Marathon Monday. The running is half of it. The baseball game is the other half.
"I don’t think it’ll fade," said outfielder Jonny Gomes. "It’s a historical moment and a historical day."
It wouldn't be right to let a celebratory moment go by without celebrating the lives of heroes. Firefighters from Engine 33 and Ladder 15, where Edward Walsh and Michael Kennedy worked and eventually died in the Back Bay fire last week, were honored on the field. They helped David Ortiz pull the American Flag to half mast.
Ortiz felt his heart stop.
"I tell you what, man, there was one point where everything went from happiness to sadness, just seeing those firefighters last week losing their life trying to save the others," he said. "I got to meet their family. It was kind of sad to see people going away like that just trying to do good things. All you can do is just pray for the family and support them."
"I mean, it was emotional on a lot of levels, you know?" Gomes said. "Sympathy for the marathon runners. They had firefighters and families. Then you bring out the people that are born here before. So it was definitely an emotional roller coaster and something that jumps right to the top of most exciting days as a baseball player."
Red Sox starter Jake Peavy could hardly contain himself while warming up in the bullpen.
"There were some nerves, excitement, but I"ve done it long enough to where you can channel that, harness it all in the right direction," he said.
Everyone channeled their emotions on Friday.
The baseball game helped. That's the connection.
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