RED SOX FOR LIFE

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RED SOX IN JAPAN

WE GOT SOME GREAT PICTURES OF THE JAPANESE OPENER FROM A FAN HERE IS THE LINK JAPAN GAMES

HERE YOU GO MARK, NOW YOUR FAMOUS!

OUR BIGGEST SUPPORTER

MARK NORTON OF CUMBERLAND with son Liam

NEW YORK'S 3RD TEAM

BLEACHER REPORT  JOHN FENELLY SR WRITER

I had to find out: Just what makes this group tick?

I'm a life-long New York Mets fan approaching 50 years of age. I have been following Major League Baseball for as long as I can recall and have been to many games in many cities. Needless to say, I've interacted with fans from all walks of life.

New York has two very popular baseball teams: the elite, historic, decorated Yankees and the Mets, the team that never fails to disappoint.

I did not know until this weekend, when I visited Citi Field for the first time, that there was a third team in New York: the Boston Red Sox.

Now, we have almost nine million people in this city, and there are tons of sports fans who may root for the provincial favorites, clubs from other geographical locations, both, or neither. But in recent years, it appears the Red Sox have grabbed more that their allotted share of New York baseball fans.

This past weekend, the Mets hosted the Red Sox in a two-game exhibition series to open their new ballpark. The Met fans showed up mainly to check out their new digs, but also to root on their team.

Interestingly enough, just as many Red Sox fans were in attendance to do the same.

That never bothers me or any other Met fan. Everyone is welcome in our house, even Yankee fans.

But now we have that third team creeping into our 'hood, and it's getting crowded.

My father, who has been watching New York baseball since Lou Gehrig, Mel Ott, and Carl Hubbell were in their primes, was as shocked as I was at the unusual number of visiting team faithful.

In reality, I guess we shouldn't be. The Red Sox are the team of choice in no less than six (yes, six) states: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Plus, they dominate a big chunk of upstate New York; that all adds up to a huge demographic.

And Red Sox fans are a group that loves to travel to see their team play. No matter where the game is, you'll find both transplanted and vacationing Bostonians in the audience.

Over time, many New Englanders have moved west and south, but they never lose those BoSox stripes. They usually remain loyal regardless of where they end up.

Now, combine that with all of the individuals from around the country who went to college in the Boston area (a staggering number) that return home with Red Sox fever, and you have perhaps the biggest fanbase in all of baseball.

In years past, this "nation" was one without teeth, as the organization had not won a championship in in eight-and-a-half decades. Of course, that changed in 2004, when they finally exorcised the ghost of Babe Ruth by beating the Yankees en route to a World Championship. They won again in 2007 to end any "fluke" talk.

Now there is no stopping the Red Sox Nation. They are growing and have bite now.

They no longer ride into your town under the guise of humility. They are loud and refuse to be silenced.

It used to be the Yankees that fans loved to hate. Now, fans and media types are directing those negative sentiments towards the Red Sox.

I found most Red Sox fans yesterday to be good people. Sure, they were heard, but they were there to enjoy the game, not act like the British soccer "hooligans" some people make them out to be.

I understand the Nation a little better now. I had to talk to dozens of them to get a feel, plus do a little research.

I know now that all it is is a group of people rooting for a baseball team, and there's nothing more American than that.

Fan for life

Shirley Doane may have turned 100 in November — a milestone marked with family, friends and cake — but in her

opinion the real celebration happens today.

Opening Day for the Boston Red Sox.

Doane, a tiny figure of a woman with curly white hair and sky-blue eyes, will be eagerly awaiting the first pitch out of Fenway Park from her room at Rutland Manor Residential Care Home, where she takes in every game on cable television.

Her first-floor room is decorated with Red Sox memorabilia, including a letter she received in November from the team, signed by several players wishing her a happy birthday, and a package of dirt from the ballpark that accompanied the note. She is quick to note that she received a letter from former President George W. Bush, too.

Doane's eyes light up when asked about the team she began following as a child growing up in Springfield.

"Many members of my family were Red Sox fans so that's why I began to follow them," she said Sunday, as she sat in the living room of Rutland Manor. "I used to go to games in Boston with my father and brother … now I have to stay home and watch the games on TV."

And she's up on what's happening in the baseball world. She thinks any player, such as Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez, found to have taken steroids should be banned from baseball and thinks recently retired Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling should make the Hall of Fame despite experts' speculation he might not have the support.

"How about that gutsy performance he put on, with that bleeding ankle," she asked. "That should be enough."

She was "jubilant" to see the Red Sox win their first World Series since 1918 in 2004.

"I wanted to hit the ceiling I was so happy," Doane said. Although she was almost 10 years old when the team last won, she said she doesn't recall that championship.

Over the years she has seen some of the team's legends take the field. She recalls Carlton Fisk and Carl Yastrzemski, and dons a big smile at the mention of Ted Williams, but she pauses when asked about Babe Ruth.

"That is before my time," she said. "Most things aren't but that is."

She attributes her longevity to keeping up with current events and her favorite sports teams, if not her beloved Red Sox, then the New England Patriots or whatever game is on, according to staff at the Rutland Manor.

"She has cable but really all she watches is sports, if not baseball," said Stephanie Kimball, a nurse's aide at the facility.

Doane was raised in Springfield and graduated from Springfield High School in 1926. Afterward, she moved to Massachusetts to attend Bradford Junior College, from which she graduated in 1928, and Katherine Gibbs School in Boston, where she graduated in 1929.

After graduating, she then worked in Worcester as an X-ray and lab technician before returning to Springfield in 1934 to work as a secretary for her brother, Dr. Whitney Doane. She also worked with her mother, Lucy Doane, at the popular Springfield store Childrens and Gift Shop. That business was eventually sold and she went to work for Vermont Research in North Springfield until her retirement in 1973 at age 65.

stephanie.peters@rutlandherald.com