'It's always great to be back in Boston'
The Boston Red Sox welcomed a number of familiar faces to Fenway Park on Sunday as the organization honored the 2013 World Series team as a way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the beloved ballclub.
A handful of former Red Sox players — David Ortiz, Jon Lester, Koji Uehara, John Lackey, Jacoby Ellsbury, among others — took the diamond during a pregame ceremony and were on hand when the 2023 club earned a series-clinching victory over the Los Angeles Angels. NESN had time to catch up with a few of those players as Dustin Pedroia and Shane Victorino each joined the in-game broadcast while others participated in NESN’s pregame coverage.
You can check out some highlights of the events here.
No matter who you talked to, though, the common sentiment was how excited they were to be reunited in Boston.
“When you go through the experiences that we all went through together, it’s a family-type feeling and then we had that with a whole city,” pitcher Jake Peavy said, as seen on a NESN. “It’s just great to be back. We’ve fallen right back in place. The banter on the bus rides and the events, it’s been no different than it was 10 years ago. But it’s always great to be back in Boston.”
Jared Saltalamacchia added: “Being with these guys again that I hadn’t seen, it feels like we were just together the other day. So just excited to get back together and who knows, maybe they might throw us on the field for an inning or two.”
It’s safe to say those bonds won’t be broken even as we continue to get further and further away from the title-clinching moment itself.