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November 17, 2004 Issue/Cover | The Improper Bostonian | By Ezra Dyer

 

The 2004 Red Sox clubhouse got a lot of attention for it’s freewheeling ways. But amongst the pranksters, space cases and follicles gone wild, there stood Jason Varitek, the man who ran the game from behind the plate, calmed nervy pitchers and, when necessary, provide a 230-pound incentive for hit batsmen to go quietly to first base without make a detour to assault the battery. He was the crew-cut in a room full of shags – literally – and one of the central reasons that last season’s wild ups and downs culminated in a championship.

 

Along the way, Varitek was tested as much as anyone, particularly in the epic Game 3, 4 and 5 of the ALCS, which lasted a combined 15 hours. Was the man who was crouching behind the plate for nearly all that time completely gassed by the end? “It was probably tougher in Game because our pitching got slaughtered,” says Varitek.

 

It’s hard to believe that in the space of barely two weeks, Varitek went from suffering the ultimate front-row view of the Yankees’ Game 3 onslaught to gracing the cover of Time magazine in a delirious embrace with Keith Foulke, captured moments after winning the World Series. Winning the championship brought “pure joy,” says Varitek. “Thankfulness. It’s a lifelong dream. It’s the pinnacle of your occupation. I can’t really explain it more than that.”

 

Along the way, he had to corral Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball in ALCS Game 5 (“I missed a few balls. It’s stressful. But if you never miss any, you’re probably not catching many either.”) He watched Yankees nemesis Alex Rodriguez get his best comeuppance since Varitek himself stuffed his mitt in A-Rod’s face July 24 th. He switched his pregame headphone music from Eminem’s “Sing for the Moment” to Rascal Flatts “Mayberry”. Now that the demons have been slain, does this mean the pressure will be lessened for subsequent Red Sox teams?

 

“No,” Varitek quickly replies. “These fans are going to be as hungry as they ever were, but hopefully they’ll be able to lose some of their anxieties. They always expected a World Series, but they expected to get their hearts broken. This will bring more jot to spectating, without the back-of-the-mind hurt that Red Sox fans have had to live with from generation to generation.”

As this issue of the IMPROPER goes to press, it remains to be seen whether Varitek himself will be part of the team’s future. When I call the catcher at his home in Suwanee, GA, the first thing he says is, “This is really bizarre, but your voice….You sound exactly like our general manager.” As we near the end of the interview, I put forth a scenario that both Varitek and Red Sox Nation would like to see unfold: “Since I sound just like Theo, see how this sounds: ‘Jason, we’d like to offer you a five-year contract…' "

 

“Outstanding,” he replies.

 

Let’s hope that whatever the final terms, Varitek gets to say that same thing to the real Theo.