Baseball Graphs is dedicated to the better use and communication of baseball statistics. Below, you'll find excerpts from, and links to, some of the best baseball writers on the Internet. Follow the links above to read my own intermittent attempts at wisdom (the Baseball Graphs blog), and the heart of this site, historical graphs of every season dating back to 1900.
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My good friend, Ken Liss, is a Yankee fan living in Boston. Many years ago, he met a woman at Fenway during a Yankee/Red Sox game, fell in love and married her. Jill is a Red Sox fan, of course. Despite this inherent genetic conflict, Ken and Jill are happily married and have even managed to create a family with two wonderful daughters, Naomi and Emma.
At their wedding, Ken made a solemn vow to Jill: “I will love you forever, or until the Red Sox win the World Series.” Maybe you can see the problem.
Not to fear, however. Last Wednesday night, at the conclusion of the Red Sox sweep, Ken handed the following poem to Jill:
Coda for a Mixed Marriage
At Fenway we met, `twas the Sox `gainst the Yanks;
An auspicious beginning for which I give thanks.
After two years we wed, and to you I did vow
That I’d love you forever, or, at least, anyhow,
Till the Sox won the Series (which never could be).
Things got a little hairy in 2003.
But the Curse reared its head, and things were as they should have been.
Leaving Sox fans to mourn once again for what could have been.
In 2004, it seemed nothing had changed,
But down three-to-nothing, the Sox rearranged
All the records and did what had never been done.
The Yanks were disposed of; the AL was won.
Then on to the Series, and they just didn’t stop.
After 86 years, Boston’s back at the top.So where does this leave us, this state of affairs?
“Is the marriage still on?” ask our two worried heirs.
How do I handle that long-ago vow?
Renounce it? Renege? Reinterpret somehow?
No. None of these things. But here’s what I’ll do.
That vow I made once, today I renew.
“I’ll love you forever,” I repeat it again,
“Or till the Sox win the Series,” dear Jill from your Ken.
I hope that’s enough to calm all of your fears.
After all, it should be good for another 86 years.