The three former players enshrined in the Red Sox Hall of Fame on Thursday all achieved great career success before and after their time in Boston.<\/p>\n
Right-hander Mike Timlin already had two World Series rings from his Toronto tenure when he joined the Red Sox in 2003.<\/p>\n
Outfielder Johnny Damon won a ring with the 2009 New York Yankees.<\/p>\n
Left-hander Jon Lester, the rare homegrown Red Sox ace, went on to star on the 2016 Chicago Cubs team that broke its own 108-year cursed championship drought.<\/p>\n
But Boston is a world apart. On that they could all agree.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s everything,\u201d Lester said of what Boston and the Red Sox mean to him.<\/p>\n
Lester was drafted by the Red Sox in 2002, and debuted almost exactly 20 years ago, on June 10, 2006. Barely two months later, he was scratched from a start due to a sore back, and found out he had lymphoma. After offseason chemotherapy, he returned to the Red Sox and helped pitch them to the 2007 World Series championship, and a second trophy in 2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo go through kind of my personal stuff in \u201806 and \u201807 and to stick with me, and treat my family the way they treated us,\u201d Lester said. \u201cTwo of my kids were born here. I mean, this was home for us for a long time, and it meant a lot to us, and the rots that we had here, the friendships we had. And you add Fenway Park and the Boston Red Sox to that equation, just makes everything kind of perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Timlin won four World Series championships in an 18-year career from 1991-2008. The Red Sox were his sixth and final big-league team, but the one for whom he pitched the most innings and games.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I won the first two in Toronto early in my career, \u201892-93, I don\u2019t think I really had the experience in the league to know what it meant to win the World Series,\u201d Timlin said. \u201cI mean, it was really cool and it was a lot of fun, but to go through the next 10-plus years trying to get back, and meeting so many guys that have never been, have been in the playoffs very few times, you finally get a sense of, this is what the culmination of a season is. And to get back, and to win it here, and then at the time that we did, to end the 86-year drought, it was like a cherry on top.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI had four amazing years here that was topped by winning a World Series in 2004 and breaking the curse, being a part of history, changing the culture here,\u201d Damon said.<\/p>\n
Induction carried a different meaning for Damon, who went from beloved to betrayer when he signed with the Yankees after the \u201805 season. Growing up in Florida, he had no concept of the rivalry until he joined it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get to Boston, and spring training games were a big deal against the Yankees, and I just never saw it until I saw the passion, and I loved it,\u201d Damon said.<\/p>\n
Damon then found out what it was like to switch sides: not pleasant. He had to literally cut away the free-spirited self-proclaimed \u201cIdiot\u201d Red Sox version of himself, the long hair and beard that earned him Jesus and Caveman nicknames, in order to comply with the Yankees\u2019 grooming policy. At the short-haired, clean-shaven Damon\u2019s first game back at Fenway in 2006, fans held up a sign that read \u201cJUDAS DEMON.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back in the Boston fold in recent years, Damon is long-haired once more.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I feel back,\u201d Damon said of his hair.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a tough departure,\u201d Damon said. \u201cThe sports world, I mean, the business side of it is absolutely horrible. We understand everything that happened, but everyone knew how much I loved playing for Boston, and how much I love coming back here. I\u2019m going to be spending a lot more time here in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he\u2019s thrilled that Red Sox fans are happy to see him again. He\u2019s looking forward to re-immersing himself in the organization he never wanted to leave in the first place. So much so that he saved the trimmings from that infamous first Yankee haircut.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sure hope (fans are over it), because it\u2019s been 21 years,\u201d Damon said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely \u2018let bygones be bygones.\u2019 \u2026 Became the fan favorite, and when the fan favorite isn\u2019t brought back and you go elsewhere, it\u2019s a tough one. And I saw so many fans yesterday who congratulated me, and told me the reason why they love the Red Sox and I was their favorite back in the day, and hopefully still their favorite now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth sides of (the rivalry), was fantastic just seeing how the fan bases interact over that eight-year stint that I had with these two teams,\u201d Damon added. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing. I\u2019m glad I was able to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut everyone knows this was home, this, Boston had a very special place in my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
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