David Ortiz Hall of Fame induction further pushing Boston sports into next phase
BOSTON -- Future generations might never properly understand what took place in Boston sports for the first two decades of the 21st century. Hell, current generations probably struggle to fully grasp what happened. The winning -- the relentless winning, the barrage of parades, the unfurling of banners, the shine of diamond rings -- that took place in the region was more than anyone could have rightfully expected or reasonably desired.
Alas, that era is over, and David Ortiz's induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown this weekend is really a hallmark moment in the transition to the new era.
To be sure, that doesn't mean Boston sports are destined to enter an era of doom and gloom. Another 15-year championship drought isn't on tap. The return of the '90s is not imminent. We need not schedule any Ray Bourque rallies at City Hall Plaza. The Celtics were oh-so-close to a championship last month, the Red Sox were fairly close last fall, and surely, there will be more championships in this city's near future. The fans demand it to be so.
Yet when it comes to those magical years, that time period is firmly in the past. We may have been distracted from that reality as Tom Brady has been keeping us all young by continuing to play at an absurdly high level, sure. But the reality is, the era of never having to wait more than two years for a championship parade in Boston is a thing of the past. Welcome back to reality, everybody.
Not that you need a recap, but because we're here ...
- The Patriots went to nine -- count 'em, NINE -- Super Bowls from 2001 through 2018. They went to four more conference championship games, too, meaning they made it to the semifinals in 13 out of 18 years. They made it to the Super Bowl in nine of 18 years. They won six of them. All of that is extremely, extremely stupid. No other team came anywhere close to that, and no other team ever will.
- The Red Sox -- formerly America's loveable losers -- ended an 86-year championship drought (or "curse," if you're 9 years old) to win a championship in 2004. For most Red Sox fans, all that they had ever hoped for in life had been achieved. Anything after that would be gravy. Turns out, there was a lot of gravy. They won it all again in 2007, then in 2013, and then in 2018. Four World Series in 15 years, after zero World Series in the better part of a century. Ridiculous.
- The Bruins and Celtics were a bit more modest in their winnings, with each team taking home one championship during the run. But they were important. For the Bruins, it was the first Stanley Cup since Bobby Orr hoisted it in 1972. For the Celtics, it was their first title since Larry Bird won his final title in '86. And they came in 2008 and 2011, helping to fill the championship "void" for the Red Sox and Patriots. Boston would have been thirsting for a parade if not for those titles to help cover the gap.
Taken together, it was a dozen championships in a 17-year span. You never had to wait too long without seeing the Lombardi Trophy on the mound at Fenway, or the Stanley Cup at the 50-yard line at Gillette, or the actual duck boats full of Red Sox players on the field before a Patriots game. It was mostly a nonstop party.
But now, the music is getting quieter. It's been heading that way. Pedro Martinez went into the Hall of Fame in 2015. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were inducted last year, a few years after Ray Allen. Ty Law became a Hall of Famer in 2019, and Richard Seymour will head into Canton this summer. They were all massive players in authoring that unprecedented run of success.
But outside of Brady, nobody was a bigger part of it all than David Ortiz, who turned this city's baseball fans from doubters into believers with his late-inning heroics in the fall of 2004. And he never stopped from there.
And given Manny Ramirez's steroid entanglement, and Curt Schilling's Curt Schilling entanglement, and Dustin Pedroia's injury-shortened career, Ortiz will stand as the only other Hall of Famer with Pedro from any of the first three Red Sox championships this century. (Mookie Betts, from the 2018 World Series, may well be on a Hall of Fame path. But, well, just like the old era of winning all the time, he's gone, too.) He also owns the distinction of being the only person born after 1900 to win three World Series with the Red Sox.
Of course, all good things must come to an end. And nothing will drive home the fact that this is indeed a new era in Boston sports -- that the past is firmly set in the past -- quite like seeing Ortiz memorialized forever with his own plaque in Cooperstown.