Six months after Sports Illustrated featured one of the most iconic photos from the Boston Marathon bombings on its cover, the magazine is honoring the city — and its heroes — once again.
The Nov. 11, 2013 edition of SI features a photo on its cover of Boston Police officers Javier Pagan, Rachel McGuire and detective Kevin McGill alongside World Series MVP David Ortiz. The title? “Boston’s Finest Hour.” The three representatives from the Boston Police Department are the same members of the force that were depicted helping a fallen elderly runner up from the ground on the initial April 22 cover just days after the bombings, according to the magazine.
Selecting Big Papi to join them on the cover was no accident, either.
“If any one person were to lead the Red Sox and — given the team’s cultural importance in New England — by extension Bostonians through a terrible time, it was a man with an outsized capacity for resilience,” SI senior writer Tom Verducci said.
Ortiz certainly lifted his team and the city up with his actions and words — from his declaration that “this is our … city,” to his otherworldly play during the postseason. The 2013 Red Sox were able to bring smiles to the faces of so many who, in April, were shaken to their core.
Check out the cover below.
Photo via Twitter/@BostonPolice
