World Series

NEW YORK - Marty Springstead, who at age 36 in 1973 became the youngest umpire crew chief in World Series history, has died. He was 74. Major League Baseball said yesterday that Mr. Springstead was found dead at his home in Florida on Tuesday night. A native of Nyack, N.Y., Mr. Springstead was an American League umpire from 1966 to '85. Among his three World Series were 1978 and 1983, and he also was an umpire at the All-Star game in 1969, 1975, and 1982, and at five American League championship series.

His promising sophomore season at Wheaton, one in which Sean Ryan (inset) was swinging away at a .367 clip through 15 games, ended last March against Clark, when the conference's reigning Rookie of the Year suffered a knee injury in a collision at first base. This season, the Wheaton College baseball team is riding a healthy Ryan to the program's first appearance in the NCAA Division 3 College World Series since 2006. The Lyons (38-9) punched their ticket to Wisconsin with a 2-0 win over Western New England in the New England Regional final...

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Paul Lindblad, a middle reliever who pitched in the World Series for the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics, has died after a long bout with Alzheimer's disease. Mr. Lindblad, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1993 and spent the last nine years in a nursing home, died on New Year's Day. He was 64. Mr. Lindblad pitched 14 seasons. In his last game, he pitched for the Yankees against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1978 World Series. The left-hander was part of two World Series championship teams in Oakland, pitching the ninth and 10th innings...

Palioca helps school to World Series berth In his first start of the season, Wheaton College sophomore Alec Palioca gave a hint of what was to follow. The former King Philip Regional High star pitched 7 ⅓ shutout innings of a 1-0 win over Webster University on March 11 in Florida. That no-decision was followed by eight consecutive wins, a catalyst for Wheaton's run to the NCAA Division 3 World Series for the second time in program history.

The World Series is set to begin this week. And while Red Sox fans may be less enthused about this year’s fall classic than in 2004 and 2007, many will still be interested. For those members of Red Sox Nation looking to whet their appetites a bit more, here are a couple of books that involve not just the Series but the hometown team. In “The Original Curse,’’ Sean Deveney examines the possibility that the Cubs threw the 1918 World Series to the Red Sox. Deveney provides a great deal of circumstantial evidence that suggests, as he puts it, that “something was not right’’ about that...

PITTSBURGH — Former big leaguer Jose Pagan, who drove in the eventual winning run for Pittsburgh in Game 7 of the 1971 World Series, has died. He was 76. Mr. Pagan died Tuesday. No cause was given by the Pirates, who announced it after learning of it from his family. Mr. Pagan broke into the majors with the Giants in 1959 and was traded to Pittsburgh in 1965, helping the franchise win the World Series in 1971. His double in the eighth inning of Game 7 gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead over Baltimore, and the Pirates hung on to win 2-1. Mr. Pagan also played for...

ST. LOUIS -- Hail the lovable idiots. Bless the baseball gods. Raise a cup to the good souls in Red Sox lore -- from Ted Williams and Joe Cronin to Gary Waslewski and Pumpsie Green -- who chased but never captured the game's greatest prize. The Red Sox are champions of the world. Avengers of 86 years of raw yearning, Terry Francona's raggedy renegades liberated generations of Sox fans from the purgatory of their unrequited dreams when they buried the Cardinals, 3-0, before 52,037 under a canopy of clouds beneath a Blood Red Moon at Busch Stadium to win their...

NEW YORK -- Vern Hoscheit, a coach on four World Series championship teams with the Oakland Athletics and the New York Mets, died Monday in Pierce, Neb. He was 85. Mr. Hoscheit, the Mets' bullpen coach from 1984 to 1987, died at Pierce Manor nursing home following a long illness, team spokesman Jay Horwitz said. Born in Brunswick, Neb., Mr. Hoscheit was a catcher in the New York Yankees' farm system for 12 seasons, starting in 1941. He was a general manager for Quincy (1955-56)

DENVER - When it happened the first time, in 2004, Terry Francona was stricken with temporary amnesia. "I actually don't remember getting out to the field," the Red Sox manager said of a moment burnished deep in New England memory banks. "You wait your whole life for that minute, and I don't know where the hell it went. " A minute that used to recur like a comet, once every 86 years or so and missed by generations of Sox fans, is beginning to feel like a birthright. For the second time in four seasons, the Red Sox are World Series champions, Francona...

A third-place team winning the World Series? Joe Maddon thought about the possibility. "There's no bellyaching," the Tampa Bay Rays manager said. "You know it's a possibility, so why are you going to cry about it at the end of the year?" First place ain't what it used to be. "Let's win!" has been replaced by "Let's get in!" Under the new postseason format, a third-place team can squeak into the playoffs in the final wild card spot and 12 wins later be spraying champagne, lifting the trophy and planning a parade.

Ace leads Jumbos back to World Series Her 2009 squad was almost expected to advance to the Division 3 College World Series, given all of its experience. This season, however, has been a pleasant surprise for Cheryl Pinzino and the women's softball program at Tufts University. The Jumbos are headed to the Series for the second time in four years after capturing the Willimantic Regional title this past weekend with a perfect 4-0 record. Tufts (40-5) will open play in the double-elimination tourney Friday against Roanoke in Salem, Va. "I knew we'd be...

I always enjoy reading Kevin Paul Dupont's "On Second Thought" in the Sunday Sports section. I just wish that last week's column, " Compounding the error ," had done more to correct the long-standing myth that it was Bill Buckner who cost the Red Sox the 1986 World Series. The Sox were up 5-3 with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the 10th. Then reliever Calvin Schiraldi gave up three singles, which, combined with what Dupont and I call Rich Gedman's passed ball (wrongly scored as reliever Bob Stanley's wild pitch)

To err is … profitable. The ball that rolled by Bill Buckner in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series was auctioned Friday. An unidentified buyer forked over a whopping $418,250 to own a piece of history that until just a few years ago represented the touchstone for decades of misery embedded in the broken souls of Red Sox Nation. "There's a little roller up along first … behind the bag … it gets through Buckner! Here comes Knight … and the Mets win it!" That was Vin Scully's call the night of Oct. 25, 1986, at Shea Stadium, when Mookie Wilson sent Bob Stanley's pitch bouncing Buckner's way. The...

There haven't been many ‘'celebrities" to wear the Red Sox uniform as manager of the team. Bobby Valentine fits the bill. He is a longtime manager with a colorful personality, and is also a restaurant owner and TV personality. Kevin Kennedy and Terry Francona went on to become media people after managing the Red Sox, but most Boston managers have been lifelong baseball men. Still, Joe Cronin, Ralph Houk, and Joe McCarthy could be considered ‘'celebrity managers," too. Cronin was a Hall of Fame shortstop, playing most of his career...

The ballpark has hosted some of the most memorable events in Boston history. Here are the ones that stand out: 1912: First game With the park still being finished, the Sox and Harvard played an exhibition game April 9, in front of a few thousand fans in wintry weather. Boston's Casey Hageman threw the first pitch to Crimson captain Dana Wingate, and the Sox won, 2-0. From April 10, 1912: Red Sox outlast Harvard in Fenway Park launch 1912: Series clincher Not only was Fenway's first season a success, the Sox won their second championship after eight years of middling...

Heartache has been familiar to Red Sox fans. Here are some of the most painful Sox memories from the first 100 years: Indians 8, Red Sox 3, October 4, 1948 The Sox forced a one-game playoff to settle the pennant by closing the season with four straight wins. However, that left manager Joe McCarthy with limited options for his starting pitcher, and he chose 36-year-old righthander Denny Galehouse. The controversial choice backfired immediately as Lou Boudreau popped a home run to left in the first inning.

This release from the Red Sox: Curt Schilling, whose legendary bloody sock is synonymous with the historic 2004 World Championship, heads the 2012 class of inductees into the Red Sox Hall of Fame. John I. Taylor, who owned the Red Sox and conceived and named Fenway Park, will also be enshrined, posthumously, in ceremonies at Fenway Park August 3. Taylor was the club's owner from 1904-11. Joe Mooney, one of Fenway's most colorful characters in a career that has spanned more than 50 years, will also be inducted for his care of the grounds.

DENVER - What? No movie crew? See, this is what happens when you win it all under the simple guise of just being the best team, absent the melodrama. You sweep the Rockies and neither Jimmy Fallon nor Drew Barrymore is anywhere in sight. This time the wait was only 3 percent as long as the last one. We didn't have to raid nursing homes to find people who actually saw the Red Sox win their last World Series. You're probably one yourself. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the experience wasn't the same.

Check out all of the galleries that depict scenes from Fenway Park's first 100 years. * Fenway Park in the 2000s * Fenway Park in the 1990s * Fenway Park in the 1980s * Fenway Park in the 1970s * Fenway Park in the 1960s * Fenway Park in the 1950s * Fenway Park before the 1950s * 1975: Carlton Fisk's home run wins Game 6 of the World Series * 1978: Yankees win one-game playoff over Red Sox * 1997: Roger...

This release from the Red Sox: Curt Schilling, whose legendary bloody sock is synonymous with the historic 2004 World Championship, heads the 2012 class of inductees into the Red Sox Hall of Fame. John I. Taylor, who owned the Red Sox and conceived and named Fenway Park, will also be enshrined, posthumously, in ceremonies at Fenway Park August 3. Taylor was the club's owner from 1904-11. Joe Mooney, one of Fenway's most colorful characters in a career that has spanned more than 50 years, will also be inducted for his care of the grounds.