Red Sox embark on a season defined by resilience and the enduring spirit of baseball.
by Greg Cunningham
In the movie The Shawshank Redemption, Red, a prisoner who has spent most of his life in incarcerated, tells Andy, a newly arrived inmate, “Hope is a dangerous thing.” According to Red, hope can drive a person insane, especially when the odds against are seemingly impossible.
Toward the end of the movie, Andy counters Red’s assertion, “Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
It is these differing perspectives that seem to divide Red Sox Nation entering into the 2025 season. Hope, it seems, may have come in the form of Garrett Crochet, Alex Bregman, and Walker Buehler. The additions to improve the pitching rotation and significantly upgrade the batting order provides some optimism in the Olde Towne Team not seen these past few seasons.
But, questions remain, especially about the health and durability of some important parts of the starting line-up. Can Trevor Story play the whole season? Can Tanner Houk recover from a terrible Spring Training and be a legitimate top of the rotation starter? Will Rafael Devers adjust to being a full-time DH?
All questions which the 2025 season will answer in due time. Predictions by the “experts” have the Red Sox all over the place, from winning the AL East, to missing the playoffs and finishing fourth.
But on Friday, none of that really matters. Friday is a day on which dreams are made, a day that brings hope, a day that allows us to believe with the naiveté of a child A day when the magic and the majesty of baseball will be reborn. Friday is Opening Day at Fenway Park.
On this magical day, somewhere in the ballpark, a child will arrive to Fenway Park and see the splendor of this baseball citadel for the first time. The massive wall in left field overshadowed only by the fresh grass on the field, both as green as a leprechaun. The baselines will be as white as freshly fallen snow.
A day at school could inspire no such lessons about optimism, potential or hope. For it is children who dare to dream and the job of adults to nurture those dreams. On Opening Day, adults permit themselves to share the child’s vision and retain a piece of those dreams long after the final out is called. Only when we dare to dream, dare to hope, can we turn those dreams into realities.
The gospel for Opening Day, written by W. P. Kinsella, still remains true after all these years: “The one constant through all the years, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steam rollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again.”
It is a day to let our minds wander. A day to see a child’s game played by men. A day to believe. A day to hope, because hope is indeed a good thing.
It is what Opening Day at Fenway Park is all about.
Greg Cunningham attended his first Red Sox game in 1978. He has been a season ticket holder since 2004. Greg is also a JFYNetWorks learning specialist.
Other posts authored by Greg can be found here.
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