Episode 6: 2004 Boston Red Sox

In 2004, the Boston Red Sox were freed from 86 years of frustration with the help of a punk Irish baseball song called "Tessie". She was more than a song. She was a reincarnation.

It’s Saturday, July 24, 2004.   Boston's Red Sox are 52 and 44, second in the AL East, 9 1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees.  The Sox are loaded with talent, but so far they've lacked a spark.   The night before, at Fenway Park, the Yankees won, 8 to 7.  It’s starting to look like 2004 will be another season without a championship.  The 86th since 1918 when the Sox won their last World Series.  The 85th since they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees for $100,000.  When they fell under the Curse of the Bambino.

But wait.  Before the game there’s a band on the field:  The Dropkick Murphys.  The Dropkicks  cut loose with a punk Irish baseball song called "Tessie."  So what happens? A bench-clearing brawl, that's what.  And Bill Mueller's two-run walk-off home run gives the Sox an 11-10 win.

At the time nobody credits the turning point of the season -- and Red Sox history --  to "Tessie."  But in hindsight, all these years later, how could you not?  "Tessie" was more than a song.  She was a reincarnation.

Episode includes an interview with author/historian Glenn Stout.  Source material includes the books "Red Sox Century", by Glenn Stout and Richard Johnson; "Reversing the Curse", by Dan Shaughnessy, "Why Not Us?", by Leigh Montville, and the YouTube "Beer Bloggles" interview of Ken Casey by Michael J. Cloherty.  

Michael “Nuf Ced” McGreevey formed the first Red Sox fan club, the Royal Rooters, who made the original version of “Tessie” their fight song in 1903.

Alex Rodriguez (left) and Jason Varitek scuffled on July 24, 2004, after the Dropkick Murphys played “Tessie” live at Fenway for the first time. Bill Mueller’s two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth gave Boston an 11-10 win.