The Red Sox took out a full-page ad in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch "thanking the city for a good contest" in this year's World Series, according to Allison Sylte of KSDK.com. The ad begins with, "From one great baseball town to another." It is signed at the bottom by Owner John Henry, Chair Tom Werner and President & CEO Larry Lucchino (KSDK.com, 11/5). ESPN's Trey Wingo wrote, "Well done Boston." SI.com's Richard Deitsch: "Classy move from Red Sox management." But ESPN's Darren Rovell asked, "Good sportsmanship or too much?" (TWITTER.com, 11/5). Meanwhile, the Red Sox took out ads in the Boston Globe Sunday and Boston Herald yesterday to thank their fans following the team's World Series win (THE DAILY).
PAPI MAKES THE ROUNDS: Red Sox DH David Ortiz is making the media rounds after winning his third World Series with the Red Sox in the past 10 years. He appeared on "Live with Kelly & Michael" this morning carrying the World Series trophy on-stage and discussed winning the title a year after finishing in last place. He said one key reason was "having a new manager," as John Farrell replaced Bobby Valentine during the offseason. Ortiz: "Last year, we had a lot of issues with players going back and forth in various situations with the manager. This year it was different. ... This year all we had to focus on was just play. The manager took all the bullets for us" ("Live with Kelly & Michael," 11/5). Ortiz was on CBS' "The Late Show" last night, and host David Letterman said, "You have become sort of the standard-bearer for, 'By God, this is our city.'" Ortiz said it was a "tough time" when he addressed the Fenway Park crowd for the first home game following the Boston Marathon bombings. He said, "Living in Boston all these years and something that tragic happens when people are just trying to raise money, collect funds, to help people who really need it. ... Who expects something like that?" Letterman later asked about Red Sox players growing out their beards, saying, "I bet it was fun the first 10 days." Ortiz, who shaved his beard off yesterday as part of a promo with Gillette, said, "It starts itching after awhile" ("The Late Show," CBS, 11/4). Ortiz and Red Sox RF Shane Victorino also appeared on NBC's "Today" yesterday. Ortiz said he would grow his beard again for next season, while Victorino said he was going to start growing his beard the "whole off-season, because I don't know what my beard could be called honestly" ("Today," NBC, 11/4).
LIGHTNING DOESN'T STRIKE TWICE: ESPN.com's Joe McDonald notes Red Sox GM Ben Cherington "has been with the organization for 16 years and remembers what former GM Theo Epstein had to deal with after the team won the World Series" in '04 and '07. A lot of what Epstein "preached during those offseasons is still fresh in Cherington's mind." Cherington said, "If you just try to replicate exactly what you had this year, it's probably not going to work the same." Manager John Farrell following the team's victory parade on Saturday said that "as soon as he stepped off his duck boat, he and the rest of the team already knew it would probably be the last time this group would be together." This offseason "will take the Red Sox in a different direction" (ESPN.com, 11/4).
