BOSTON -- As part of the festivities to kick off their annual Fenway Fest event on Saturday morning, the Red Sox announced the team’s newest Hall of Fame class, which includes a trio of players who guided the club to World Series championships earlier this century.
The “ace” of the class is lefty Jon Lester, who came back from cancer to win the clinching game of the 2007 World Series in Colorado and was the leader of the pitching staff for the “Boston Strong” Sox of 2013. Lester is in the pantheon of lefty starters for the Red Sox and is fourth in team history in starts (241). He will be on the Baseball Hall of Fame’s BBWAA ballot for the first time in 2027.
Leadoff man Johnny Damon, who helped symbolize the lovable band of self-proclaimed 2004 “Idiots” with his long hair, shaggy beard and relentless style of play, will forever be remembered for helping the Red Sox win their first World Series title in 86 years.
Rounding out the class is Mike Timlin, a core bullpen member of Boston’s title teams of 2004 and ‘07. Timlin also collected two championship rings with the Blue Jays teams that went back-to-back in 1992-93.
Timlin was on hand for the announcement, which drew roars from the sold-out crowd at the MGM Music Hall adjacent to Fenway Park.
“It’s actually kind of overwhelming,” said Timlin. “I never thought I would ever be considered in such elite and great company when you look at the names on the list. But when I first came here in 2003, being from the South, I thought the Northeast was never welcoming. Now that I've spent so much time here in Boston, this is my second home. I feel way more at home here in Boston [that] I do in a lot of other places, and it's all because of y'all.”
The Red Sox select a new Hall of Fame class biannually.
Sherm Feller, the late and legendary public address announcer at Fenway Park from 1967-93, has been chosen as the non-uniformed inductee.
Bill Mueller’s walk-off homer against Mariano Rivera that capped the Jason Varitek-Alex Rodriguez brawl game on July 24, 2004, has been selected as the “Memorable Red Sox Moment” to be recognized during this year’s induction ceremony, which will take place at a later date in the spring.
Mueller joined Timlin on stage. The moment Mueller was recognized for was just his second-biggest hit off the legendary Rivera, the other being the game-tying single in the bottom of the ninth inning that drove in stolen-base hero Dave Roberts in Game 4 of that ‘04 ALCS. The Roberts/Mueller sequence – followed by David Ortiz’s walk-off homer in the 12th inning – set the wheels in motion for the Red Sox being the first (and still only) team to come back from a 3-0 deficit in a postseason series.
“First off, my company line is I always shut my eyes at the right time against [Rivera],” said Mueller. “So that's how it worked out. But to have success against a Hall of Fame closer, sometimes there's a little luck involved. So I had a lot of luck. That's all.”
This year’s selections were made by a committee headed by Red Sox curator Sarah Coffin Ottinger and also included club executives, local and national media members, historians, and fan representatives.
The day after the induction ceremony, the trio of new team Hall of Famers will participate in first-pitch ceremonies prior to a game at Fenway Park.
In particular, the sight of Lester standing back on that mound at Fenway will bring back a flood of good memories for Red Sox fans.
Selected by the Red Sox out of high school in the second round of the 2002 Draft, Lester punched his ticket to Boston in ‘06. At 22 years old, Lester learned in August of that rookie season that he had lymphoma.
Lester was not just a fan favorite for the way he pitched and competed, but for the way he positively influenced others impacted by cancer. Lester founded the NVRQT Foundation, supporting cancer patients and their families.
Mel Parnell (123 wins) is the only Red Sox lefty who recorded more victories than Lester’s 110. Perhaps even more impressively, Lester’s 1,386 strikeouts are the most by a lefty and fourth behind Roger Clemens, Tim Wakefield and Roger Clemens. Lester pitched in 452 career games, all but one of them starts, going 200-117 with a 3.66 ERA and 2,488 strikeouts.
Lester’s time with the Red Sox ended when he was traded to the Athletics at the 2014 Trade Deadline. But his post-Boston days were highlighted by a strong six-year stint with the Cubs, which included being part of the club that won its first championship in 108 years in 2016.
When Damon came to Boston as a free agent in 2002, he immediately helped loosen up a clubhouse that had been notoriously tight before he got there, perhaps in large part to the burden of the team not winning it all for so long.
Mueller reflected on the zaniness of the ‘04 clubhouse on Saturday.
“In my younger years, the clubhouse was silent at 6:30 [for a 7 p.m. game],” said Mueller. “You’d get focused, you might do some stretching in there and start thinking about the game. You're trying to break it all down.
“But with the Red Sox, at 6:30 the music was so loud. I'm stretching next to [Kevin] Millar, and he can’t even hear me if I'm trying to talk to him, because Millar wanted the music up to [such high] decibels. I think we blew a speaker or two out during that time, and then we’ve got Johnny running around, doing things, stretching, doing weird things. Pedro [Martinez] doing weird things. It was a complete show for your 6:30 to 7 preparation.”
Terry Francona, the manager of that ‘04 team, used to joke that Damon would be doing naked pullups in the clubhouse at 6:30 and be on second base with a leadoff double 20 minutes later.
Damon was an All-Star for the Red Sox in 2002 and ‘05, and his October ‘04 highlights included two homers and six RBIs in Game 7 at Yankee Stadium and a leadoff homer that got the party started in clinching Game 4 of the World Series in St. Louis.
Though there were years of hostility from Sox fans when Damon fled to the rival Yankees via free agency after the 2005 season, things have softened recently, particularly during the 20-year celebration of ‘04.
In Boston, Damon was known for playing hard and playing hurt, as he hit .295 with an .803 OPS in his four seasons patrolling center field for the Red Sox.
While Keith Foulke and Jonathan Papelbon were the closers on the 2004 and ‘07 Sox respectively, Timlin was always referred to as the captain of the bullpen due to his leadership and dependability.
In six seasons with Boston, Timlin appeared in 394 games, including an AL-leading 81 appearances in ‘05.