2007: A Story

October 5, 2016

 

In the very near future I’m going to have a post highlighting all of the Indians’ past playoff series with the Boston Red Sox, dating all the way back to their one-game playoff in 1948.  However, I have a fun story about 2007 that goes a bit off topic.  So I decided it was worth its own post.

As I’m sure many of you remember, there was a bit of controversy in Game 7 of the ALCS in Boston as Joel Skinner gave Kenny Lofton a stop sign at third base after a Franklin Gutierrez single in the top of the 7th inning.  Down 3-2 at the time, Lofton represented the tying run.  Many believe that Lofton would have scored safely, and even he seemed frustrated by Skinner’s decision to stop him at third.

This would become a moot point as the Red Sox managed to add 8 runs over the next 2 innings, eventually winning 11-2.  It’s still fair to ask whether or not the outcome would’ve been different if Lofton scored to tie the game.  Different decisions would’ve been made, different levels of pressure would’ve existed…you just never know.

For a number of years, my husband and I have enjoyed going to Wahoo Club events from time to time.  We don’t always get a chance, but always enjoy ourselves when we are able to make it (I recommend going if you’ve never been).

We went to several events in 2007, one of which was a luncheon featuring Mike Hargrove.  This was right after he’d stepped down midseason as manager of the Seattle Mariners, a move which was relatively shocking at the time.  So the folks from the Wahoo Club politely asked that we not ask Hargrove any difficult or rude questions.  This wasn’t a media event after all, and he was nice enough to take time to come chat and sign some autographs.  Literally the very first question was “Why did you use Jose Mesa in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series?”  My husband and I laughed hysterically…because despite all of the pleas to avoid sensitive topics, there was something sensitive on the very first question.

Later that same year (post-playoffs) there was a luncheon featuring Joel Skinner and Len Barker.  Again, they pleaded with the people in attendance to be polite, avoid rude or difficult questions, etc. of Skinner.  My husband leans over and whispers “I’m going to ask Len Barker if he would’ve sent Kenny Lofton home from third in Game 7.”  For some reason we found this incredibly hilarious, and spent the rest of the luncheon breaking into spontaneous laughter over it. (Nobody actually asked either of them any sensitive questions).

So this started literally years of an ongoing joke for us – every time we were somewhere with an Indians player, coach, or someone from the front office, we would pretend to raise our hand and say “Excuse me (whoever it was)…would you have sent Kenny Lofton home from third in Game 7 of the ALCS?”  We never really asked it, but we got hours of amusement of pretending to do so.

As I said, we kept this act up for years.  I remember making jokes as late as 2010 or 2011, with people who had absolutely no connection to the 2007 Indians.  There was a point where it finally got a bit old, and we mostly stopped doing it.

Fast forward to the fall of 2012, when Terry Francona was hired as manager.  They had a Q&A session in the Terrace Club for season ticket holders, which we attended.  All of the sudden, someone in the room (not us!) asked “Terry…would you have sent Kenny Lofton home from third in Game 7 of the 2007 ALCS?”  I honestly think my heart stopped.  My husband and I completely froze, looked at each other in shock, and promptly laughed until we cried.  I had to put my head down on the table I was laughing so hard…I didn’t even hear the rest of the Q&A at that point.  It was like all of our dreams had finally come true.  We officially retired the joke at that point, because it could never be better than that moment.

So as we embark on another series with the Red Sox, I sincerely hope there are no other incidents like this.  Unless they happen to Boston…then their fans can ask questions and make jokes for the next 5 years.

 

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