The Parochial Shaughnessy

Shank was in Cooperstown this weekend, and he discovers a common theme:

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Everything is about Boston. Everything is about the Red Sox. Even on a weekend when the Sox didn’t have anyone getting inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Here are some vignettes from induction weekend, as the family of baseball gathered to enshrine Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, Pudge Rodriguez, John Schuerholz, and Bud Selig:

■ Juan Marichal and Rich Gossage spent part of Saturday morning in the village of Cooperstown, sitting side-by-side signing autographs for the benefit of a local fire department. Both looked as if they could still pitch. Marichal pitched for the Red Sox at the end of his career. Gossage had many big moments against the Red Sox. He’s the guy who got Carl Yastrzemski to pop to Graig Nettles to end the 1978 one-game playoff.

Wade Boggs gives some perspective on David Price running his mouth and confronting Dennis Eckersley:

■ “David Price has no idea what I went through,’’ said Wade Boggs, who played 11 calamity-filled seasons in Boston. “ ‘Yuck?’ That’s it?’’ Boggs asked. “Try living in my shoes back then.’’ Boggs showed me a photo of himself from his last trip to Boston, standing next to a statue of Paul Revere. “Two guys famous for riding horses,’’’ Boggs chuckled.

And on and on it goes, in that vein. His writing of stories that put Boston at the center of the sports universe seems to have diminshed somewhat recently.

Bonus - a Larry Bird sighting!

Column on Boggs a Sad Affair

I looked at the headline of today's piece on the retiring of Wade Boggs' number, and said the following:

• Chicken
• Riding the cop's horse after the World Series win
• Margo Adams.

Then I read the column.

"Only Wade could insist that he ate chicken three times a day, 365 days a year." Check.

"Boggs won a World Series with the Yankees and infuriated more Sox fans when he hopped on a New York City police horse to celebrate the victory at Yankee Stadium." Check.

Surprisingly, there was no reference to Margo Adams (although The CHB did throw in the anecdote about Boggs' wife running over him during spring training).

The rest is the usual soulless recitation of facts. So dull, in fact, a reference to Boggs' widely known affair with Adams would have been welcome.