Yankees Pitcher Explains Lost Red Sox Fandom During Childhood

The Red Sox and Yankees playing on Father’s Day opened up for a unique childhood story, courtesy of New York pitcher Michael King.

King, who was originally drafted by the Miami Marlins after playing college baseball for Boston College, has spent the entirety of his five-year major league career with the Yankees. However, during his childhood, King made the sacrilegious switch of crossing enemy lines from a Red Sox fan to a Yankees fan, which he explained during Sunday night’s game at Fenway Park.

“The story goes, it’s (during the) 2003 ALCS and Red Sox-Yankees, my dad has tickets, we’re on the T (train) on the way to the stadium and the game gets rained out,” King shared during ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcast. “So it gets rescheduled to like a Tuesday and now my dad’s working the 6-11:00 news so he can’t go. And my mom’s telling him to sell the tickets and he goes, ‘No, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime Red Sox-Yankees.’

“… My mom’s a massive Yankee fan. Her favorite Yankee ever was Mariano Rivera. And we watch — I don’t even know what game it was — but we watched the Yankees win and Mariano closed it out and I’m a little 8-year-old kid sitting in the stands. So now I’m like, ‘Wow the Yankees are such a great team.’ … My dad gave me 20 bucks to get a souvenir and sure enough, I go grab a Yankee hat and go back (home) and oh man was he upset with me.”

King’s father, Jim, who was a devoted Red Sox fan, was also in attendance and recalled the story himself, too. Yet, he’s gotten used to his son’s switch, which perhaps comes easier with the right-hander a part of New York’s bullpen.

“Blood is thicker than dirty water,” Jim King said. “You know what I’m saying?”

Entering the second game of Boston’s doubleheader with New York, the Red Sox have the upper hand with four victories in five matchups against the Yankees.