Here are the Top 10 moments in Red Sox history

BOSTON -- Few teams can match the number of iconic moments or players the Red Sox have had in their history. Be it on the October stage or a standout moment in the regular season, Boston’s baseball lore is filled with highlights that have lived on for more than a century.

A true challenge would be to narrow it down to the Top 10. I like challenges, so here goes.

1) 'Back to Foulke'
Though Game 4 of the 2004 World Series in itself wasn’t a classic, the ending meant so much to so many generations that it deserves top billing.

After becoming the first -- and still the only -- team to overcome a 3-0 deficit in a postseason series one round earlier against the Yankees, the Sox steamrolled the 105-win Cardinals in a sweep and never trailed in the series. Closer Keith Foulke fielded a ground ball by Edgar Renteria, flipped it to Doug Mientkiewicz and the Red Sox were World Series champs for the first time since 1918.

2) Roberts steals second
The Red Sox trailed the Yankees, 4-3, in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series, and Mariano Rivera needed just three outs to put his team into the World Series yet again. Not this time. Kevin Millar led off the ninth with a walk. Dave Roberts pinch ran and stole second base -- barely. Bill Mueller drove Roberts in with a single, David Ortiz mauled a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 12th, and the course of Red Sox history was forever changed.

3) Papi’s slam for the ages
Things weren’t looking good for the Red Sox early in the 2013 ALCS. The Tigers’ vaunted starting rotation had stifled Boston bats through most of the first two games, and manager John Farrell’s team was down four runs, just four outs from going to Detroit down, 2-0, in the series. Up stepped Ortiz, and he smashed the game-tying grand slam into Boston’s bullpen that changed everything. Adding drama to the moment was Torii Hunter, Ortiz’s close friend, falling into the bullpen trying to make an amazing catch, and a bullpen cop raising his arms in triumph -- in the shape of a “V,” no less -- as the home run landed. The Red Sox won the game, won the series in six games and went on to beat the Cardinals in six games in the World Series. Ortiz was the MVP of the Fall Classic on the strength of a .688 batting average.

4) Yaz makes the Impossible Dream possible
In one of the best pennant races of all-time during an era where the only postseason was the World Series, the Red Sox knew the only way they could keep the 1967 Impossible Dream going was to win their final two games at home against the Twins. Triple Crown winner Carl Yastrzemski took matters into his own hands, going 7-for-8 to lead Boston to the wins it needed to get to the World Series. Eventual AL Cy Young Award winner Jim Lonborg went the distance, and as the last out -- a popup to shortstop -- landed in the glove of Rico Petrocelli, Fenway went mad. “It’s pandemonium on the field!” Ned Martin told his listeners on the radio. Fans stormed the field with joy in celebration of the team known as the “Cardiac Kids.” This team spawned a new generation of Red Sox fans.

5) 'If it stays fair'
Eight years after the Impossible Dream came another magical Red Sox team -- this one led by the Gold Dust Twins -- rookies Fred Lynn and Jim Rice. But the moment that lives on forever came off the bat of New Englander Carlton Fisk, who ended a classic Game 6 of the 1975 World Series with a home run that clanged off the foul pole in left field in the bottom of the 12th inning. Adding to the moment was the revolutionary way it was captured on television, with unprecedented images of Fisk willing the ball fair with his arms and then jumping triumphantly as he ran the bases. It was such a joyful moment that Bostonians barely seem to remember the Reds won Game 7, 4-3.

6) 'We’re tied up!'
How did Fisk even get in a position to hit his legendary homer? Bosont was down, 6-3, with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. Bernie Carbo came up as a pinch-hitter and gave his team a chance, smashing a three-run homer into the bleachers in center against Reds reliever Rawley Eastwick.

7) Ted Williams caps career in legendary style
When fans got to Fenway Park on Sept. 28, 1960, only a select group of people in Williams’ inner circle knew it was his final game. The Red Sox still had a season-ending road trip to New York. Leave it to Williams to end his career in the most dramatic way possible, hitting a home run in his last at-bat in the Major Leagues. Add it to the list of storied accomplishments for a man who had a .344 career batting average with 521 homers despite missing several seasons in his prime to serve in the military.

8) Teddy Ballgame goes off on final day to hit .406
Williams had a .400 batting average after Game No. 153 of the 1941 season, and the Red Sox had a doubleheader left in Philadelphia against the Athletics to finish the schedule. It was unclear if Williams would sit on his batting average at least partway through the twin bill. Instead, he insisted on playing both games and went 6-for-8 to finish at .406. He remains the last player to hit .400.

9) Hendu saves the season
Down 3-1 in the 1986 ALCS in Anaheim, and down to their last strike of the season, Dave Henderson hit a homer that would have landed him a statue if the Red Sox had gone on to win the World Series that year. Hendu’s two-run shot put Boston up, 6-5, after opening the ninth trailing, 5-2. The Angels tied in the bottom of the ninth, but Henderson’s go-ahead sacrifice fly in the 11th stood up and lifted Boston to a 7-6 victory. The series went back to Fenway, and the Red Sox punched their ticket to the World Series by blowing out the Angels in Games 6 and 7.

10) Wounded Pedro silences Cleveland
For all the dominant performances Pedro Martínez turned in during his seven seasons with the Red Sox, perhaps his most noteworthy effort took place when he didn’t have close to his best stuff. Pulled from Game 1 of the 1999 ALDS against Cleveland with a shoulder/back issue, Martínez wasn’t expected to be available in a winner-take-all Game 5. But when the game turned into a slugfest in the first few innings, Martínez convinced manager Jimy Williams to let him come out of the bullpen. Martínez held a dominant offense hitless over six innings as Boston celebrated a 12-8 victory and a trip to the ALCS. The Red Sox had trailed the best-of-five series, 2-0.