Red Sox stars (minus Curt Schilling) from 2004 World Series team throw out Game 2 first pitch

Before Game 1 of the World Series, Carl Yastzremski continued a tradition started during the 2004 series by throwing out the first pitch of the series at Fenway. Every time he’s done it previously, the Red Sox won the World Series. This year, he bounced it and then got a re-do and honestly if he doesn’t get one of those who does.

For Game 2, Boston also took it back to 2004 with stars from that championship team throwing out the first pitch together. Former Red Sox stars like Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, Kevin Millar, Tim Wakefield, Jason Varitek, Keith Foulke, and Alan Embree all tossed one from the mound to kick things off at Fenway Wednesday night.

Pedro and Papi were of course already on site for the game and didn’t have to do any extra traveling to fulfill their first pitch duties. There were, of course, a few major people from that team who didn’t participate.

Dave Roberts, for one, who happens to be in the other dugout managing the Dodgers in this series. That’s understandable, seeing as he’s probably trying to stay in an anti-Red Sox mindset right about now despite being a postseason hero for the organization. He did hop out on the field for a quick hug with his former teammates and a cap tip to the crowd before re-focusing on the game at hand.

However, Curt Schilling also wasn’t anywhere to be seen despite living in the area. The Red Sox reportedly did not reach out, but whether that’s because of his company defrauding the state of Rhode Island for tens of millions of dollars or his routinely anti-immigrant and anti-journalist rhetoric remains to be seen. Maybe the Red Sox decided that this particular moment was not the right one to trot a Nazi memorabilia enthusiast out during the World Series. Who knows, really. Could be anything.

Dan Shaughnessy did get a pretty great quote from an anonymous Red Sox executive though, who said “We did not reach out to him, but it is not out of spite.” Hmmmm ... kind of feels like spite might have come into play here if that’s the first thing on your mind!

It was a good first pitch by all though, and it’s no surprise the Red Sox guaranteed the 2004 nostalgia button got pressed in one of the two guaranteed games at Fenway. That box is checked.