Rematch of first World Series should excite

In 1903, the first World Series of baseball pitted the Boston Red Sox against the Pittsburgh… In 1903, the first World Series of baseball pitted the Boston Red Sox against the Pittsburgh Pirates. This week, 100 years later, interleague play has those two teams playing a three-game series in Pittsburgh.

Since the only other way the Red Sox, an American League team, can play the Pirates, a National League team, is in the World Series, it’s also the last time they’re likely to play each other for about another hundred years.

My allegiance to the Bucs makes sense; I’m from Pittsburgh, I returned here for college and I’ve considered it home more than anywhere else I’ve lived. I grew up in Pittsburgh during the golden years of Bonilla, Bonds, Van Slyke, Drabek and an annual playoff exit, courtesy of the Atlanta Braves.

The Red Sox, on the other hand, are a team for which I can’t honestly justify my fandom. I’m not from New England and I’ve never even been to Boston. I have no roots there, and this series is the first time I’ve seen the Sox play. Still, there is a strange logic to being a fan of both teams.

I think I was first attracted to the BoSox because all of my teams love tragedy. Just as the Pirates of my childhood had the tomahawk-chopping nemesis year after year, Boston has had the Yankees, the evil empire of the baseball world. Both the Yanks and the Braves are consistently among the richest and best teams in their respective leagues, gleaming and bland in their dominance.

The Pirates and the Sox, on the other hand, are almost always underfunded and composed of players who are before and after their primes. The good years are always surprises, the bad years always excused. They’re the Phil Mickelsons of the baseball world, playing with nothing but heart and always coming up one break short of the shining boy wonder.

Maybe because of that, both teams are teams of potential. I know people who say that potential is the kiss of death for any player, because it only means you could be good and aren’t.

Still, there’s a part of me that loves hoping every game will be Jeremy Giambi’s breakout game, that the next start will the beginning of five consecutive dominant seasons for Kris Benson. It’s not that I expect it to happen, it’s that there’s always a seed of hope. The Pirates’ seasons are like the Red Sox’ playoff chances – always just close enough to success to disappoint when they don’t quite touch it.

The martyrdom of Pittsburgh and Boston fans is something that we wear as a badge of courage. “Sure,” our frayed, black-and-gold caps say, “it would be easier for me to have pinstripes and a big New York logo on this hat, but I am a True Fan. I endure your sighs of pity out of my boundless devotion. My team may not always be good to me, but I love them anyway and know that somewhere, someday, they’ll change.”

Boston has now fallen a game and a half out of first place, and I’d like to believe the Sox will overtake the Yankees. I’d also like to believe that the Bucs, spurred on by Reggie Sanders’ amazing turnaround, will take the pennant from those stupid, chanting fools in Atlanta.

So, as I take a week off from work to go to all three games at PNC Park, I’ll be able to rejoice in every strikeout, every comeback, every blown save. Every play will be a sign of progress for one team, and there will always be something to cheer for.

And even though the series will not end in a rejuvenation of glory for either of my history-burdened teams, there will be more than enough hope for a lifetime.

Greg Heller-LaBelle is using his week off this summer to see a historic baseball event. When he gets back, he can be reached at editor@pittnews.com.