BOSTON STRONG -
THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION
The Red Sox celebrate
with their fans

October 31, 2013 ... The end of the World Series meant that 147 players across baseball became free agents. That included Stephen Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, Joel Hanrahan, John McDonald, Mike Napoli, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. 

The Red Sox have until Monday at 5 p.m. to decide whether to make any of those players a qualifying offer of one year and $14.1 million. That would guarantee the Red Sox draft pick compensation if the player signs with another team.  Players have a week to either accept or decline the offer.

Officials from the Hall of Fame collected equipment from the Red Sox after Game 6 that will be displayed in Cooperstown starting in early December.  The items include a bat used by World Series MVP David Ortiz in Game 5, spikes worn throughout the World Series by closer Koji Uehara, the jacket worn in Game 6 by Farrell, the catcher's mask worn by David Ross, Drew's glove, and batting gloves used by Xander Bogaerts.

November 1, 2013 ... With close to 1 million riders expected to take the MBTA to the Red Sox Rolling Rally on Saturday, transportation officials urged revelers, especially those dependent on the commuter rail, to get a spot on an early train.

The Red Sox exercised their $13 million contract option on lefthander Jon Lester for the 2014 season.

November 2, 2013 ... Amid raining confetti and resurgent sunshine, Red Sox fans roared their thanks from Fenway Park through Boylston Street's canyon of high-rises to the banks of the Charles River in a World Series victory celebration that was a poignant mix of rejoicing and remembrance.

The exuberant chants and cheers quieted noticeably as the procession paused in Copley Square at the Boston Marathon finish line, where the bombings nearly seven months ago killed three spectators and injured scores of others. Sox left fielder Jonny Gomes climbed down from his duck boat with the World Series trophy, set it gently in the center of the finish line, and draped it in a 617 Boston Strong jersey. Too large to stay silent long, the crowd joined Irish tenor Ronan Tynan in singing "God Bless America" as Gomes and catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia remained vigilantly close to the trophy. Soon afterward, World Series MVP David Ortiz stepped off his boat to jog across the Marathon finish line on foot.

Tens of thousands of fans began streaming into Boston at first light to celebrate the resurgence of a team many had written off after two dismal seasons, and the emotional resurrection of a city shaken by the bombings.   Fans traveled from at least as far away as Syracuse, N.Y., and northern New Hampshire on a day when police and medical officials reported no arrests and just minor injuries during the parade. Later in the day, however, several fights near downtown bars left three hospitalized and resulted in two arrests.

Predictably, facial hair was on prominent display along the parade route, where signs proclaimed messages such as "In Beards We Trust." Women twisted ponytails into makeshift whiskers. Children wore fake beards. Even the duck boats sported a 5 o'clock shadow.  If this year's Red Sox were less a team of destiny than of dogged determination, the same was true of fans who started out wary of a third consecutive bad season. As the team prospered and beard mania took hold, those who didn't know certain players' names without a program in April knew by fall that catcher David Ross had a graying stripe in his beard, while first baseman Mike Napoli's facial hair was solidly dark and biblically bushy. By parade time, the Fenway faithful had found faith anew.

Throughout Boston, good cheer was in abundance and little grousing could be heard as fans arrived to find long lines were the order of the day. At Fenway Park shortly after 7:30 a.m., one line of fans waiting to get in stretched from the Yawkey Way gates around the corner and up Brookline Avenue, past Lansdowne Street, and over the Massachusetts Turnpike, where it hooked down Newbury Street.   Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia jerseys and shirts appeared to be the most popular.