Red Sox almost bid farewell to 'Sweet Caroline' after 2012
It's true. The Boston Red Sox almost threw away Caroline (or the singing of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline") along with the fried chicken bones and empty beer cans of the 2012 season.
Dr. Charles Steinberg, Red Sox executive vice president confirmed via the Boston Globe's Geoff Edgers that the Fenway Park staple track was about to drop out of the eighth inning for good.
“For some people, they had had enough,” Steinberg said. “For other people, it is as much a part of a visit to Boston and Fenway Park as having clam chowder or a lobster roll.”
Steinberg argues that the song "motivates and mobilizes fans so that they participate" and the cumulative effort changes the energy in the ballpark. 'Sweet Caroline' is apparently a tune of transformative power.
Though Edgers isn't so convinced Caroline should win the hearts of all who enter Boston's sacred green walls. He writes:
We don’t need a baseball-ready Prozac to make us forget what we’re watching. Sometimes, reality bites. That’s sports. If this year taught us anything, it’s that winning heals all.
When all was lost -- literally and figuratively -- the Red Sox continued to play the uplifting melody during the 69-93 campaign of 2012.
Dr. Steinberg cites April 21, 2012: Boston had a 9-0 lead over the Yankees and then managed to lose 15-9. Steinberg heard fans singing Caroline's name in the eighth inning and it meant the show would go on without the winning part.
“When people were wondering aloud about whether we should keep it, the answer was, the answer is, the fans determine it by their participation in the song,” Steinberg said.
All of baseball honored the victims of the Boston bombings earlier this season by singing 'Sweet Caroline', and Diamond tweeted "You scored a home run in my heart." The singer made an unannounced visit to Boston to perform the song.
Though for Edgers, the song that has played nearly 900 times in regular season play at Fenway Park since 2002 shouldn't be the staple anthem.
"Treat the playlist like a baseball team. If a song doesn’t work, option it to Pawtucket," he writes.