Remember this?

 

 

During the 2003-'04 offseason, the Red Sox were rebuilding part of their roster. After letting manager Grady Little go for obvious reasons, they signed various players, including Curt Schilling and closer Keith Foulke. One other player they were going after was Alex Rodriguez, the then Rangers shortstop and AL MVP (currently the last to win it despite playing on a last-place team). The Rangers wanted to trade him to clear up some of the team salary, and the Red Sox nearly got him, only for the Players' Association to veto it because it meant he had to have his salary reduced. Then, Aaron Boone suffered a season-ending knee injury, creating a hole at third base. The Yankees took advantage and traded Alfonso Soriano and Joaquin Arias to Texas for him, and A-Rod transitioned to third base, where he still is today.

 

Boston fans didn't take it too kindly, so when he played at Fenway Park for the first time, he got heavily booed and then got laughed at when he whiffed at Tim Wakefield's knuckleball.

 

But the big game came on July 24th. After an hour-or-so rain delay, the two teams played. The very series before, NYY swept Boston at Yankee Stadium, the series memorialized by

. Coming into Boston, the Yanks had an eight-and-a-half-game lead over Boston, and in the first of three, they overcame Kevin Millar's three home runs to win, 8-7, capped off by A-Rod's game-winning RBI.

 

On Saturday, July 24, 2004, the Yankees got to pitcher Bronson Arroyo early, taking a quick 3-0 lead.

 

Then, in the top of the third, with a 1-1 count and two out:

 

 

The result: a full-fledged basebrawl between Jason Varitek (who's no stranger to starting fights) and Alex Rodriguez. And it was pretty ugly by today's standards. You had punches flying, separate piles spilling further away from the middle of the diamond, and blood. Schilling was right in the middle by throwing a couple of haymakers to Rodriguex's cranium. While A-Rod was on the bottom of one pile, Boston's Gabe Kapler, Trot Nixon, and David Ortiz (who was appealing a five-game suspension for throwing a temper tantrum at an umpire the week before) scrapped with the Yanks' Tanyon Sturtze (their starting pitcher for that game).

 

The image, courtesy of J. Rogash of Getty Images, is iconic in Red Sox lore, symbolizing how Boston fans were absolutely sick and tired of losing to the Yankees. Sick of how much they were able to spend. Sick of their "entitlement." Sick of seeing them win twenty-six titles while Boston hadn't won one since 1918. When Boston fans see that photo, it reminds them of how much they couldn't stand the Evil Empire, and it personalized their move to the top.

 

As for the brawl itself, there were four ejections:

1. A-Rod
   
2. Jason Varitek
   
3. Yankees' Kenny Lofton (for being overly aggressive during the brawl and would later be fined by MLB)
   
4. Boston's Gabe Kapler (for punching and tussling with Tanyon Sturtze, who suffered a gash in front of his left ear)
   

The Sox then rallied, getting into their fragile bullpen and crawling back to within one run in the middle innings. In the bottom of the ninth, they trailed 10-8 with Mariano Rivera on the mound. A rally began, and Trot Nixon nearly tied it with a two-run shot, but it was enough to advance Garciaparra to third. But they still pounded Rivera, who subsequently allowed an RBI single by Millar.

 

Then, with one out and one on, third-baseman Bill Mueller came to bat.

 

 

Boston would take the next game to win the three-game set, and Boston would later trade Garciaparra and others to boost up their then terrible defense and running game (trades that proved dividends in their run to the 2004 title).

 

Today, the Red Sox are one of the more successful franchises. Since A-Rod was traded to the Yankees, they won one title, and he won two AL MVPs, but he's since become a major black mark in the franchise. Meanwhile, Boston won three championships, and they're defending their crown this year. Most Boston fans mark the A-Rod-Varitek brawl as the turning point of the franchise and rivalry altogether, and the iconic image is the symbol of this shift.

 

P.S.: Happy 50th birthday to Barry Bonds, who would go on to win his fourth consecutive NL MVP in 2004 (his seventh and last of his career).

 

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References:

1. http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/red-sox/alex-speier/2009/07/24/red-sox-independence-day-remembering-brawl-walk-and-cha
   
2. http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/07/24/ten-years-ago-today-the-alex-rodriguez-jason-varitek-brawl-changed-the-narrative-of-the-sox-yankees-rivalry/