Red Sox Win 2013 World Series!

By Mel Allen

Oct 21 2013

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Photo Credit : Elise Amendola/AP Photo

There were generations of Boston Red Sox fans for whom October meant falling dreams and spirits along with the leaves floating to earth. The Red Sox of Ted Williams and Johnny Pesky and Carl Yastrzemski and Carlton Fisk and Fred Lynn and Wade Boggs and Bill Buckner, brought fervent fans to the brink of a world championship time and again, only to find heartbreaking loss after heartbreaking loss which made New Englanders wonder if indeed the “Curse of the Bambino” carried an edge of truth. Today Red Sox Nation, which extends from far northern Aroostook County in Maine, to that vague border south of New Haven, Connecticut, where Yankees fans start to intrude, may not quite understand how hard it is to get to the World Series. After all The Red Sox broke the curse in 2004, and then only three years later, once again rode the Duck Boats through Boston while tens of thousands of fans cheered, thinking no doubt they were about to become New England’s own baseball dynasty. Maybe that is why this year’s bearded bunch won the hearts not only of newcomers to the Nation, but all those who remember the heartbreaks. Only a year ago, the Red Sox were the burnt toast of the town—the team nobody wanted—and with good cause. They were a dysfunctional and disheartened team, hard to root for, all but impossible to love. Plus they lost and lost and lost. New England has always been about resilience and redemption, and this team rode the emotional turmoil of the Boston Marathon bombing and recaptured a region with its pluck, talent and improbable tale of last to first. The Red Sox won the 2013 World Series, proving that the old ballpark still has magic. Click through this slide show for links to some of Yankee Magazine’s favorite Red Sox themed stories. [slideshow post_id=”532165″ exclude=”532233″]

Mel Allen

Mel Allen is the fifth editor of Yankee Magazine since its beginning in 1935. His first byline in Yankee appeared in 1977 and he joined the staff in 1979 as a senior editor. Eventually he became executive editor and in the summer of 2006 became editor. During his career he has edited and written for every section of the magazine, including home, food, and travel, while his pursuit of long form story telling has always been vital to his mission as well. He has raced a sled dog team, crawled into the dens of black bears, fished with the legendary Ted Williams, profiled astronaut Alan Shephard, and stood beneath a battleship before it was launched. He also once helped author Stephen King round up his pigs for market, but that story is for another day. Mel taught fourth grade in Maine for three years and believes that his education as a writer began when he had to hold the attention of 29 children through months of Maine winters. He learned you had to grab their attention and hold it. After 12 years teaching magazine writing at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, he now teaches in the MFA creative nonfiction program at Bay Path University in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Like all editors, his greatest joy is finding new talent and bringing their work to light.

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