Had former ML outfielder, Dave McCarty not died when he did (4/19/24) I probably wouldn’t have associated him with the 2004 Boston Red Sox world championship team. Editor’s note: I just checked Baseball-Reference-he didn’t play a postseason game for the Sox in 2004. He did play for that team and was a part of the celebration the Sox had a week before. I know from the stories I read, that seeing McCarty one last time was very important to fans and teammates, but that’s not the point of this post.

In fact, the point of this post isn’t about any specific individuals on that ’04 Boston team, but rather the bigger picture and what that particular victory meant.

I believe that every team should take every chance to celebrate and honor specific teams and as often as they see fit. I do think a certain amount of time passing is more appropriate. The team needn’t have won it all either..

Twenty years ago own, multi-generational championship drought. While not discussed nationally, the victory represented possibilities for franchises in similar circumstances. I know personally that Cub fans weren’t feeling overly optimistic after their famous failure in 2003. At the time, we didn’t know that 2004 would be a breakthrough.

I don’t remember anyone lamenting how long the Diamondback fans had to wait to finally win it all in 2001, after a three year wait since their inception (1998). It was however, the first professional championship for the Valley and their many transplanted fans. Furthermore, very few people commented about the long-suffering Angels fans who finally cashed in, in 2002.

Several franchises went on to win their first titles since…The White Sox ended their famous curse in 2005, the Cubs miraculously won it all in 2016 against another snake-bitten team in Cleveland. The Astros followed it up in 2017 (or 2022 if you’re a denier), the Nationals/Expos in 2019 and the Rangers last year (2023) after a couple losses in the WS in the last twenty years and fifty years of futility. It’s probably nothing more than coincidence, but I’m sticking with the premise, dang it.

Theo Epstein, notably, ended the curses in Boston and Chicago (NL) and had more to do with it than the particular era.