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Red Sox best ever? Mull it over for awhile

By Alan Greenwood - Staff Writer | Nov 3, 2018

Alan Greenwood

Once the confetti settled on the streets of Boston and David Price announced his intention to stay put, discussion seamlessly shifted to the 2018 Red Sox standing in franchise, not to mention baseball or even world history.

It is impossible to veer past the reality that this Red Sox team achieved more than any other. No other Boston team won 108 games or tended to its postseason demands with such tremendous efficiency. Still, it is unwise to make a claim of all-time superiority without at least moving some distance from season’s finish line.

During the clubhouse celebration moments after the 2004 Red Sox shattered The Curse, Curt Schilling hoisted a champagne bottle and declared that to be the greatest Red Sox team of all time. True to his form, Schilling waited for a TV camera to point his way before making his declaration.

That was a good ballclub, but to at least one set of skeptical eyes it was not the best ever.

The 1978 Red Sox won nothing in its roller-coaster ride through the last two months of the season, ultimately crash-landing thanks to Russell Earl (best known as Bucky Bleeping) Dent. But when it comes to what-ifs, that club stands atop the mountain.

That leads us to another variable: The older someone gets, the more he becomes convinced that the old days were always better.

Was this the best Red Sox team of all time? It won more games than any other, but no other club had the advantage of recording 13 wins against the 2018 Baltimore Orioles. Its 11-3 record in the postseason was achieved in spectacular fashion, but Dave Roberts did not exactly enjoy his finest managerial moments in the World Series.

So it may not be the best Red Sox team thus far in the franchise’s history, but it earned an eternal place in the conversation.

TIME TRAVEL: Nov. 4, 1968 – “The Nashua Giants, backed by a superb defensive effort and an adequate offensive surge, remained tied for first in the Boston Bantam Pop Warner Football Conference by blanking Randolph here Sunday afternoon by a 16-0 count.

“Outstanding on defense were Paul Malenfont, Mark Cormier, Bill O’Bryant and Doug Marshall.”

It would seem a mere adequacy was all that was needed from the offense.

FINALLY: Former Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Jim Boylan has filed an age discrimination suit against the team. At age 63, Boylan says that in firing him, now former coach Tyronn Lue said upper management “wanted to go younger in that position.”

That has anyone north of age 60 wondering where to go to get a birth certificate altered.

Alan Greenwood can be reached at 594-1248, agreenwood @nashuatelegraph.com or

@Telegraph_ AlanG.

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