Boston Red Sox: Mike Napoli on Triumph, Tragedy and One Boston Day

As baseball quickly gave way to community and family, the Red Sox-fresh off of completing a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians-returned to Fenway Park for the first time since the attacks.

With uneasiness and fear that had yet to clear the air from the tragedy that struck just days before, one thing was on Napoli’s mind when he stepped out of the dugout that day.

“We wanted to win for them. We wanted to take a couple of hours out of their day just to get their minds off of it and watch some good baseball,” he recalled.

But that level of uneasiness isn’t easily solved. It’s not like a headache or a cold, you can’t just take medicine to alleviate the pain.

No. Unfortunately, that pain stays with you and that fear stays looming in the back of your mind. Feeling this too, one member of the team prescribed a dose potent enough to not only jumpstart the hearts of the 35,125 fans in attendance but extract the emotions and fears of those watching across the country.

“He earned that respect from the fans, and coming from him, even being his teammate you don’t expect him to say anything less,” said Napoli of the famous speech delivered by David Ortiz following the attacks.

“When something like that happens, you know David is gonna speak for us and tell everybody how we feel as a team. So he was definitely the perfect person for that. He’s a God there, so it was good to have him talk to the fans and have him get us started in the right direction.”

Boston went on to win eight of their next twelve games and would clinch the A.L. East Division title by September 20th. A staple in the offense of the 97-65 team, Napoli hit .259/.360/.482 with 23 home runs and a 128 OPS+.