Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Day 10: Red Sox Sellout Streak in Jeopardy

The Boston Red Sox currently have the longest sellout streak in professional sports history... but most likely, not for much longer. The Sox believe that tonight's game against the Balitmore Orioles will end the run of selling out 820 consecutive games at Fenway Park.

Granted, a sellout at Fenway is much smaller than say a sellout at, say, someplace like Yankee Stadium. The last few years, Fenway tops out at around 37,000 for maximum capacity. Yankee Stadium holds just over 50,000. Then consider all the scalpers and tickets outlets and there's barely a ticket to be had at face value for your average fan.

We all knew it was going to happen, it was just a matter of when. And sadly, it appears tonight is the night. There comes a point where the organization realizes that the failures over the past couple of seasons would eventually haunt them. Fans can only take so much abuse, and the 2012 season was like never ending Chinese water torture.

The sellout streak lasted almost a full 10 years. The 820 games, which includes the postseason, broke the previous record of 814 set by the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers late last season. Their streak of 794 regular season sellouts is also the longest in pro sports, crushing the previous mark of 455 set by the Cleveland Indians from 1995-2001.
"When we were playing, I think we just expected it [to be sold out] every night," said former Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. "Winning really sells seats, too. So we had some great runs there in the early 2000s until I retired. I'm just proud to be a part of it."
At least the streak finished the way it started—with a win. The Sox beat the Texas Rangers 12-3 on May 15, 2003 to begin the streak, and ended it with a 3-1 home opener win over the Orioles on April 8, 2013. The Red Sox won two American League pennants and two World Series Championships during the nearly 10 year run.

So what do you say, Red Sox? Let's start another streak next week!

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