After a June 25th trade to the Chicago White Sox, third basemen, Kevin Youkilis exchanged his pair of red sox and a slice of Italian from the North End for a pair of black sox and a deep dish pizza. After a promising career in Boston, winning two World Series and a Gold Glove after switching from third to the other side of the diamond, Youk's eight year career in Boston came to an abrupt end after the emergence of highly prospected third basemen, Will Middlebrooks.
However this past Monday, July 16th, Youkilis made a much anticipated return to the park and city he once called home.
As I looked forward to the first at-bat that Youk would take, I started to imagine the response in which Youkilis would receive. Although I had imagined the sea of fans that filled the seats of Fenway on monday would show their appreciation of the eight year career that Youk spent, I was interested in keeping a close eye on the reaction of his ex-teammates.
Batting second in the line-up, it was a mere two minutes after the first pitch of the game until Youkilis would step into the box. As imagined, the crowd gave Youk a welcoming home applaud, in which he respectively deserved.
The fans stood, applauded, and Youkilis removed his batting helmet in respect. As NESN surveyed the Red Sox dugout, all of the players which accompanied Youkilis in a Red Sox jersey throughout his career joined in the applause.
As the camera began to continue through a crowd, I saw a young fan holding a home-made sign that read, "Your sox will always be RED!"
Clearing my mind of the drunk fans screaming, players applauding and the announcement of number 20 approaching the plate, my mind could only process the home-made sign of a kid no older than 8 years old.
However, before I could imagine the career that Youukkkk had in Boston any longer, he had lined a single to centerfield and eventually scored a run by an aggressive style of base-running that Youk had always exhibited.
Kevin Youkilis always wore his heart on his sleeve. That's if you could look past the dirt covered uniform.
He is the epitome of what a baseball player should be. And will continue to be that in a different color pair of sox.
Welcome home Youk.
That reminds me of the first baseball game I went to at Fenway. I heard a lot of people talk about how popular Kevin Youkilis was, so I was shocked when he went up to bat and I heard most of the crowd screaming, "Boo!" It was only halfway through the game that my friend told me they were actually screaming, "Youk!" Oops.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this post about him- it was sentimental, but not too much. Also, the first line was a clever way to begin your post.
Very descriptive and well-written. I could imagine what it was like to be at that game. I look forward to future posts!
ReplyDeleteMatthew, I love how you started off this post. It was very creative and grabbed my attention, instead of coming in with a lot of sports related information you drew the reader in about changes in socks and food, something every person can relate too. Youk will always have Red Sox in my eyes!
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