The Fenway Faithful embraced a Boston icon today as the Sox opened up Fenway today in style.
It was a forgone conclusion to most fans that the past and present greats from the Patriots, Bruins, and Celtics would be on hand to welcome the Sox back to Fenway, much like it was for the banner being unfurled and displayed the way it was.
But what wasn't was who would throw out the first pitch. On the Globe's site there were a number of predictions: Kevin Millar, Whitey Bulger, Kevin Garnett, Roger Clemens, Jose Canseco, and the most predominant suggestion/prediction would be for Bill Buckner to come back to Fenway, throw out the first pitch and chase the demons out of his life that have been with him since Game 6.
And they were right. He was there, he had a 2 minute standing ovation, he cried, he laughed, he chased the demons out of his life for good. He threw a perfect pitch to former teammate Dewey Evans.
It was such a spectacular display of love and affection from the Faithful to a guy that was at his worst for one damn play, someone that was a recluse holed up in Idaho for years, and for some reason took a chance to end all the suffering and heartache he's gone through over the last 20 plus years. He couldn't have hoped for a better reception, and that is the best highlight of the entire day for me.
Yours truly wasn't on hand to take these pictures, they're from the Globe and the staff that took them. Sometimes pictures are better than words.
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