[matttb324]

I've been doing my historical simulations for some months now but just recently have really had time to look at some of the other ones in any depth. This one is fascinating to me from a personal standpoint. I grew up in West Roxbury, MA (part of Boston) and was 11 in 1985 and so these Red Sox players are the ones I grew up with and have a place in my heart for. I can remember imitating with friends the batting stances of guys like Dave Stapleton or Mike Easler or Rich Gedman or Glenn Hoffman. Not exactly household names but they were the guys on TV38 that I saw everyday. Hoffman was actually my favorite player because he was a SS like me. My Dad used to say, but the guy barely hits .200 but I didn't care. As a kid, I really loved Steve Lyons too as he was sort of an atypical Sox player of that era in that he could sorta run a little and he was a bit of a wild player as I remember. Sadly, I didn't really care for him as a broadcaster later. Rice, Evans, Boggs were like gods even if now I see some of their issues as players or as men. Anyway, I'll keep an eye on this progression, I'm curious to see if '86 was a fluke year or we should have won or what. As it was happening, I remember feeling like we had no business being there but probably because I was 12 and we had never won before. Uff but the name Calvin Schiraldi still makes my knees a little weak.