Ex-Bostonians Get Their Revenge: Tony Pena, Roger Clemens, and More

A couple of things made me write this post.

First, we have to wait until next weekend for the Super Bowl, as the NFL has decided to do the skip-a-week routine this year again. What a letdown in the AFC title game though! The Indianapolis Colts choked against the San Diego Chargers one week earlier in the divisional round, meaning the Colts didn't get to play the New England Patriots, and ex-Pats kicker Adam Vinatieri didn't get a chance to haunt his old team and break the undefeated streak...Thankfully.

Second, this past week was Bob Sweeney's birthday. Sweeney is a native of Boston and played for the Bruins from 1987 to 1992. He was a decent player, but one thing that has always bugged me was the fact that he couldn't get a goal in the 1990 playoffs and the Bruins lost to the Oilers in the Finals. Had he popped a couple in during the Edmonton series—he had chances in the triple OT game—the Bruins would have won the Cup that year.

At the start of the 1992-93 season, the Bruins waived Sweeney and he was picked up by the Buffalo Sabres. Sweeney came back to Boston Garden in Game One of the playoffs with the Sabres, scoring the OT winner. He later added a crucial goal in Game Three in Buffalo. The Bruins fell in a four-game sweep.

Ah yes, those ex-Boston players coming back to haunt us. I decided to take a look back at some of the recent “traitors” to stick it to the Boston teams.

In 1991, the Red Sox were just two games out of first place on Sept. 26, with 11 to play following a victory in the first game of a doubleheader in Baltimore. The Orioles (63-88) were down 4-0 and 5-1 in the second game, but managed to pull to within 5-4 going into the last of the ninth.

With two outs, Cal Ripken Jr. singled home the tying run. The Orioles loaded the bases, and there was former Red Sox great Dwight Evans at the plate, with the game—and the Red Sox’s season—on the line. And there was Evans taking ball four from Boston reliever Greg Harris to drive in the winning run. The Red Sox never recovered and finished seven games out at season's end.

Evans, of course, had spent the first 19 seasons of his major league career with Boston—bashing 379 homers with more than 1,300 RBIs—before joining the Orioles in his final year in 1991.

In 1993, the Red Sox were again in contention, tied with both Toronto and the Yankees for first place in the AL East. Winners of 10 straight, and holding a 2-1 lead in Milwaukee on July 26, the Red Sox were one out away.

There was former Sox right fielder Tom Brunansky (1990-92) hitting a two-out, two-run home run off Jeff Russell in the bottom of the ninth to beat Boston 3-2, ending the 10-game streak and knocking the BoSox out of first place for good.

Tony Pena (1990-93) did one better than Brunansky. In the opener of the 1995 American League Division Series, Pena, a backup catcher with the Cleveland Indians, got into the game in the late innings and proceeded to hit a game-winning, solo home run in the bottom of the 13th to beat the Red Sox, 5-4. The Red Sox ended up getting swept. Were the Red Sox better than the powerful Indians (100-44) back then? No. But did the Red Sox have a chance in the series. Definitely. However, Pena changed all that with one swing.

March 1988—The Bruins sent winger Geoff Courtnall and goalie Bill Ranford to the Edmonton Oilers for goaltender Andy Moog. Fast forward to March 9, 1989, just one year and two days later. Courtnall, now with the Washington Capitals, returned to Boston Garden and scored three goals on three shots on Moog.

Then in the spring of 1990, it was Ranford who brought his Oilers back to Boston Garden and won three games on Garden ice. Ranford’s MVP puck-stopping performance helped Edmonton capture the Stanley Cup. (And Ranford was mediocre when he returned to the Bruins in 1995-96 for a second tour of duty.)

Dennis Eckersley (1978-84). A 20-game winner for the Red Sox in 1978, Eckersley became a closer in Oakland for the great A’s teams in the late 80s. In the 1988 ALCS, the former Red Sox star picked up four saves in four games against Boston without yielding a run. In 1990 Eckersley got two more saves against the Red Sox in the ALCS, again having a 0.00 ERA.

So, Eck was essentially perfect when it mattered in the post-season against Boston. And yet when Eckersley returned to the Red Sox for one final big-league season in 1998, it was a different story. The Red Sox made the playoffs. In Eck’s first post-season appearance with Boston in Game Three at Fenway, he gave up a ninth-inning home run to the first man he faced—Manny Ramirez. The Red Sox rallied but lost the game by one run. Bummer. It was his only playoff appearance in a Boston uniform.

Ah yes, The Rocket. Roger Clemens (1984-96) left the Red Sox and went to the Blue Jays. In his first start back at Fenway, on July 12, 1997, Clemens gave up just four hits and struck out a Blue Jays record 16 in only eight innings, leading the Blue Jays to beat the last-place Red Sox, 3-1.

Since leaving the Red Sox, Rocket Roger has gone 8-5 against Boston while pitching for the Jays and Yankees. With the Yankees, Clemens won two championship rings. It was only after he went to Houston that the Sox finally got past New York in the post-season.

And of course, everyone knows the Babe Ruth story. No need to rehash it here.

But what about the rest of you? Any Toronto stories? Any other "traitors" that haunted your home teams? Discuss.