Boston Bids Adieu to House That Ruth Built

Later today, the Red Sox will stroll out of the visitor's dugout and face the Yankees for the final time at venerable Yankee Stadium. There will be other goodbyes to the House That Ruth Built in the coming weeks, but with the Bronx Bombers a major longshot to play into October, this series seems to have taken on special significance.

Here are a dozen of the finest moments in the best rivalry in American sports, all of which took place at Yankee Stadium. Even Red Sox fans have to be feeling a little nostalgic about their team's final visit. After all, the franchise's finest hour took place there.

1. Oct. 16, 2003: The ghosts strike one last time. After Red Sox manager Grady Little leaves Pedro Martinez in well past the 100-pitch mark with a 5-2 lead in the eighth inning, the Yankees rally to force extra innings. In the 11th, Aaron Boone sends a deep fly into the Bronx night, sending New York to the World Series and crushing Boston's dreams of ending the Curse of the Bambino again.

2. Oct. 19, 2004: Visibly bleeding on the mound after an unorthodox surgical procedure on his injured ankle, Curt Schilling pitches seven innings of one-run ball as Boston becomes the first team in major league history to force a Game 7 after falling behind in a playoff series 3-0.

The Red Sox complete their improbable comeback the next night in a rout and win their first World Series in 86 years days later, but it is Schilling's masterpiece on one leg that provides the lasting image from one of the greatest playoff series in baseball history.


3. Sept. 10, 1999: New York's dynasty is no match for Pedro Martinez during one of the all-time great seasons by a pitcher. Martinez strikes out 17, the most in a single game in Yankees history, allowing only a solo home run by Chili Davis.

Pedro provides many other great moments in the history of the rivalry at the Stadium, including a May 2000 duel with Roger Clemens and a 2003 game where he plunked Alfonso Soriano and Derek Jeter and sent both to the hospital, but this was his most breathtaking moment there.

4. May 20, 1976: Yankee outfielder Lou Piniella collides with Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk at the plate igniting a fierce brawl that becomes a symbol of the genuine dislike between the rivals in the late 1970s. As the Piniella-Fisk clash dies down, a separate fight between Boston pitcher Bill Lee and New York infielder Graig Nettles breaks out. Lee ends up separating his shoulder, and is never quite the same pitcher.

5. July 1, 2004: The Yankees and Red Sox play a 13-inning marathon affair that YES broadcaster Michael Kay dubs "one of the greatest games you'll ever see." Manny Ramirez hits a pair of home runs, but New York prevails 5-4 after a spectacular diving catch into the stands by Derek Jeter. All the while Boston icon Nomar Garciaparra, who is later traded, appears to sulk on the bench.

6. Oct. 2, 1949: Needing just one win to clinch the AL pennant, the Red Sox are swept by the Yankees in the Bronx. New York seals a berth in the World Series instead and first-year manager Casey Stengel makes the first of many marks with the Bronx Bombers.

7. Oct. 1, 1961: On the final day of the season, Roger Maris hits his record 61st home run of the season against Red Sox pitcher Tracy Stallard.

8. April 18, 1923: The Yankees play their first regular season game at the Stadium against, who else, the Red Sox. The man later credited with building the place all by himself, Babe Ruth, fittingly homers.

9. Oct. 13, 1999: In Game 1 of the 1999 ALCS, Bernie Williams hits a walk-off home run off of Boston closer Rod Beck in the first playoff meeting ever between the two clubs.

10. July 4, 1983: Dave Righetti no-hits the Red Sox on Independence Day.

11. April 14, 1967: Notable mostly for its peculiarity, Billy Rohr comes within a strike of no-hitting the Yankees, before Elston Howard breaks up his bid in the ninth inning. Rohr wins just three games in his brief major league career, but two of those victories come at the expense of New York.

12. Sept. 18, 1993: Mike Stanley's apparent last out of the game is voided when a fan runs onto the field and the Yankees take full advantage, rallying for three runs without an out to spare to stun the Red Sox.