Millions of people rejoiced when the Houston Astros defeated the New York Yankees in the wee hours of Monday morning, but few know how it feels to be on the receiving end of Yankees fans’ targeted torment.
Count Pedro Martinez among them.
For most of the first century of the American League, the Yankees were the Boston Red Sox‘ greatest tormentors, and in the late 1990s-early 2000s, the fans set their sites on Martinez. It certainly didn’t help that he served up the verbal equivalent of meatball for them in late September 2004, inadvertently giving the rival fans a grand slam taunt to throw back in his face:
Martinez has spoken before about how hard the Yankees made it for him, but since that historic 2004 postseason run, the Sox have had the upper hand, and he reminded Yankees fans of that in his postgame coverage.
“Who’s your daddy? “
And before any Yankees fans pipe up to say “rent free!” or “stop living in the past,” here’s a video of Yankees fans chanting “Who’s your daddy?” less than a week ago:
https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1582473849483894785?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1582473849483894785%7Ctwgr%5Ec7ab04ee19ff3946b3caf82d601c47960917513b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbosoxinjection.com%2F2022%2F10%2F19%2Fyankees-fans-cocky-red-sox-taunt-may-backfire%2F
Martinez remains devoted to the Sox and has been with the organization as a special assistant for the last decade. And since the Rivalry is lukewarm at best since the historic 2004 upset, it’s always a pleasant dose of nostalgia to see him inject some classic fire back into this barely-flickering conflict, especially since his best pal David Ortiz is buddies with Alex Rodriguez now and apparently doesn’t have a problem giving Aaron Boone advice.
While Martinez acknowledged that he and Ortiz have passed the mantle of ‘fatherhood’ on to the next generation of potential Yankee parents, the iconic Sox duo are forever cemented in history as the originals. The 2004 Sox broke the mold when they battled back from a 3-0 deficit to win the remaining four games, something that had never been done before and hasn’t been replicated since.
Just call them the founding fathers.
Yankees fans’ ALCS behavior could drive Aaron Judge straight into Red Sox’ arms
If Yankees fans keep booing Aaron Judge, he might decide to leave and sign with another MLB team, perhaps the Red Sox, instead.