Phil Esposito, Cy Young Lead Upsets, But Remaining Legends Move On As Expected

by NESN Staff | May 10, 2010 | 3 Min Read

The round of 64 of Boston’s Biggest Sports Legends brought a healthy number of upsets. The second round was a bit more predictable.

The matchups featured some heavyweight names, but all the favorites except two are moving on to the round of 16.

The big upset was in the matchup of Cy Young and Tedy Bruschi. While Bruschi, a No. 5 seed, had a big role in all three of the Patriots’ Super Bowl wins, the lasting legend of Cy Young was bigger in the fans’ eyes. Young took in 58.8 percent of votes.

The other upset came in the Pedro Martinez–Phil Esposito pairing, as the fifth-seeded Bruin great received 55.16 percent of the votes over the fourth-seeded Pedro.

As a possible sign of things to come, Larry Bird had the largest margin of victory in the second round, garnering a whopping 94.65 percent of votes over Paul Pierce. The other No. 1 seeds also fared well, with Ted Williams getting 92 percent of votes against Jason Varitek, Bill Russell taking in 92 percent of votes over Manny Ramirez and Tom Brady garnering 83.45 percent of votes over Nomar Garciaparra — even with the fanfare of Nomar Night taking place at Fenway Park on Wednesday.

There was a matchup of two all-time Bruins greats, though Cam Neely (73 percent) was clearly fresher in the minds of fans than was Milt Schmidt.

The tightest race was between two of the more unlikely figures in the list: Adam Vinatieri and Terry Francona. The race came down to the final minutes of voting, and Vinatieri just edged Francona, taking in 50.48 percent of votes.

The next closest race was between 2004 Red Sox hero David Ortiz and Bruins great Terry O’Reilly. Ortiz advanced after receiving 51.97 percent of fans’ votes.

The complete Round 2 results are below:

1. Tom Brady vs. 9. Nomar Garciaparra
Winner: Tom Brady (83.4 percent)

4. Pedro Martinez vs. 5. Phil Esposito
Winner: Phil Esposito (55.2 percent)

3. Cam Neely vs. 11. Milt Schmidt
Winner: Cam Neely (73 percent)

2. Larry Bird vs. 7. Paul Pierce
Winner: Larry Bird (94.6 percent)

1. Bill Russell vs. 8. Manny Ramirez
Winner: Bill Russell (92 percent)

5. Adam Vinatieri vs. 13. Terry Francona
Winner: Adam Vinatieri (50.5 percent)

3. Bill Belichick vs. 6. Eddie Shore
Winner: Bill Belichick (74.5 percent)

2. Carl Yastrzemski vs. 10. Tim Wakefield
WInner: Carl Yastrzemski (87.7 percent)

1. Bobby Orr vs. 9. Dwight Evans
Winner: Bobby Orr (90.8 percent)

5. Tedy Bruschi vs. 13. Cy Young
Winner: Cy Young (58.8 percent)

3. John Havlicek vs. 6. Rocky Marciano
Winner: John Havlicek (57.3 percent)