Sox-cess delights Catholics

"The race is not [always] to the swift, nor the battle to the strong" (Eccl 9:11) -- except, last week, it was.

The Boston Red Sox, for the first time in 86 years, won the World Series in a four-game sweep that left long-suffering fans surprised and jubilant. The Sox proved themselves a stronger team than the St. Louis Cardinals, dubbed by many sports commentators the "best team in baseball."

And this was after the Red Sox had defeated their arch-rivals, the New York Yankees, to take the American League pennant.

Late nights

Among the exhausted Red Sox fans who stayed up past their bedtimes to watch their team win were several die-hards in the Albany Diocese.

"I have toothpicks on my eyes" to hold them open, groaned Sister Anthony Marie Leary, CSJ, the day after the game. But she added quickly, "I'm in seventh heaven. I have two favorite teams: the Red Sox and whoever beats the Yankees."

She claims to have been a Red Sox fan from birth ("before I became a Christian" at Baptism) and, after the sweep, fulfilled her pre-Series promise that if Boston won, she'd don a Red Sox jacket over her traditional black habit and do laps around St. Joseph's Provincial House in Latham.

She confessed that she didn't actually take out the jacket until the World Series was over, because she felt a little superstitious that it might negatively influence her beloved team.

Is it real?

Mistrust that the Sox could really pull off a World Series championship was a sentiment expressed by others. Devoted fan Rev. Kenneth Doyle, diocesan chancellor for public information and pastor of St. Catherine's Church in Albany, remarked after the historic win, "I don't know how to feel."

Even when the Red Sox were tied with the Yankees three games to three in the American League Championship Series (ALCS) or when Boston led in the fourth game of the World Series by three runs, Father Doyle didn't let himself get too excited.

"They'd been breaking my heart for a quarter of a century, and I didn't want to let it happen again," he explained.

Confidence

On the other hand, Sister Mary Agnes Kehoe, CSJ, knew exactly how to feel: confident.

"This year, Boston had the chemistry," asserted the secretary at St. James parish in Albany. "They were a team. It was not one man. The four games that preceded the World Series, to me, are the games that will go down in history. To come from behind -- and they did it on their arch-rivals' field!"

Sister Anthony Marie was convinced the Red Sox were on their way to a championship when they won the first game of the World Series on her birthday.

Curses no more

Some of the fans were skeptical about the so-called "Curse of the Bambino" -- the legend that after the Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees, they could never win another World Series -- but had worried when the Sox lost the first three games of the ALCS.

"I never believed in the curse," Father Doyle joked. "But I'll tell you, when [Boston pitcher Curt] Schilling hurt his ankle, I started to wonder!"

"I have to admit, I almost gave up when they were down [by three ganes], but someone told me, 'You're the priest! You've got to have faith!'" said Rev. Leo Markert, pastor of St. Gabriel's parish in Rotterdam. Besides, "this [victory] is a dream come true: It's finally letting people know there is no such thing as a curse, because that's against the First Commandment. I think Babe Ruth is probably saying, 'It's about time my original team won!'"

"I've never bought into the curse," said Sister Mary Agnes. "I don't think Babe Ruth ever bought into the curse! I'll bet he is rejoicing with the best of them."

But Sister Anthony countered with a laugh: "I did believe in the curse. I think [Boston has] passed it on to the Yankees! Babe Ruth is probably scratching his head right now and wondering, 'What happened?'"

Missing the fun

As elated as the Sox fans were, there was a bittersweet note to their joy. Sister Mary Agnes said that her father, who began rooting for the team when his company transferred him to Boston, was among countless fans who didn't live to witness the BoSox finally emerge victorious in the post-season.

"I wish my dad could have seen them. I'm sure he was rejoicing last night," she said.

Father Doyle took some time after the Series to pray for all the deceased friends and parishioners he'd eulogized over the years with, "They'll have to get to heaven to see the Red Sox win."

One of those was Rev. Richard Downs, a Sox fan and retired priest of the Diocese who died in July. "We would discuss every spring whether 'this would be the year,'" Father Doyle recalled.

Diamond facets

Father Doyle called the come-from-behind victory "a great story for baseball: You're never out of a situation if you dig in and play hard."

Sister Mary Agnes found good life lessons even in the long hair sported by many Sox players this season.

"I have never been one to judge by looks. The man that's got the longest hair, [centerfielder] Johnny Damon, is the one who always goes to the media to talk and speaks in a way that's complimentary to his profession," she remarked. "When people talk about his hair, I say, 'He's had it cut twice for charity.'"

Poor Yanks

The Boston devotees, a minority in a New York State diocese, took a moment to offer consolation to the many Yankees fans in their midst.

"Red Sox fans are used to losing; Yankees fans are not," observed Sister Mary Agnes. "It's much harder for them."

"I have compassion for the Yankees fans," said Father Markert, who expects to see some of his favorite players wearing pinstripes next year. He predicted that Yankees owner George Steinbrenner will "get out his checkbook" and hire away many Red Sox who are now free agents.

"As they say, 'Pecunia loquitor' -- 'money talks,'" the priest said. Players "go where the money is."

(Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, a die-hard Mets fan, responded to the Red Sox' victory with a simple, "Amen, Alleluia!" Bosox rooter Ellen Hedderman, a former intern with The Evangelist, opined that this is the "beginning of a new Red Sox dynasty." Her advice to the team's management: "Sign [catcher Jason] Varitek, and possibly [pitchers Derek] Lowe and [Pedro] Martinez.")

(11/4/04)