Talk about a living legacy and you’ll think of Herbert H. Hash, the oldest ex-pitcher for the Red Sox. He died last week aged 97 due to a stroke in his Culpeper hometown. He was surrounded by friends and family according to sports officials at the University of Richmond. Hash contributed the two best major league seasons with Boston. Beside baseball, Hash also found time to indulge in basketball and running the track. He was finally accorded the University of Richmond’s Hall of Fame in the year 1985 - 1986.

All eyes were on Terry Francona as he checked his mobile phone. He hesitates, then re-checks the message again: “David Ortiz wanted in” he declared.

Although he suffered a bad start in his current career, Ortiz is now back in the starting Red Sox lineup Monday night against the Cleveland Indians. Previously he sat out a game against the New York Yankees to clear his head and regain his excellent batting stroke.

Ortiz, or more fondly known as Big Papi and Senor Papi, previously played for the Minnesota Twins team. He has also been known to play in a grand total of four All Star games. Most notably, he was the major driving force behind the Red Sox’s victory in the 2007 season, helping them obtain their seventh World Series title. He managed to do so even when he is suffering from a torn meniscus in his right knee on top of existing injuries to his shoulder and quadriceps.

A construction worker, who was also a Red Sox fan, decided to use his vast superstitious know-how to jinx the Yanks when he was found burying a Red Sox shirt deep in the recesses of the concrete foundation of the new $1.3 billion Yankee Stadium. The news was revealed when two construction workers at the new visitors’ clubhouse told the public regarding the stint on the condition that they were to remain anonymous.

In his exact words, one of the construction workers said: “In August, a Red Sox shirt was poured in a slab in the visitors’ clubhouse. It’s the curse of the Yankee. Nobody knows about it. It’s in the floors, it’s buried.”

The second worker revealed his fear that the Yankees would be jinxed and that he did not want to be held responsible for causing the downfall of the franchise. However, the Red Sox team declined to confirm the allegations and instead told the public that this was just a mere April Fool’s joke!

Jon Lester, who returned from a cancer diagnosis last season to win this year’s WS clincher for the Boston Red Sox, was honored yesterday with the Tony Conigliaro Award for overcoming adversity through spirit, determination, and courage. The 23-year-old Jon Lester was diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in summer 2006. After cancer treatment, the pitcher started the season on the DL. The sportsman was recalled in July and finished the season 4-0 with a 4.57 ERA.

The Red Sox spring training ended 2 weeks earlier. This happened because of the season-opening trip to Japan, so the camp will open 2 days earlier. The team’s manager Terry Francona said yesterday that catchers and pitchers would report to Fort Myers on February 14, with the full squad due to report on February 20. Francona stated that the earlier start is going to give pitchers an extra-supervised turn on the mound before the beginning of the exhibition season on February 27. The team will break camp around March 18 before they head to Japan for 2 exhibition games.

Former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani, while on the campaign trail as a Republican presidential candidate, could not help but mention the Yankees in between discussing oil prices, the war in Iraq, and push polling. Recently, he has expressed hope that Joe Torre would be back as manager and said former right fielder Maris should be in the Hall of Fame. Rudy Giuliani also discussed the club’s intent to re-sign 3B Alex Rodriguez.

The name Red Sox was given to the team after the 1907 season and described the red hose in the team uniform. It was believed that “sox” is a shorter form of stockings, which was more headline-friendly as taking less space in newspapers and better fitting on a page. The name actually derives from the Cincinnati Red Stockings – a team, which was managed by Harry Wright – the same person, who later organized a new hockey team in Boston. In fact, the Cincinnati Red Stockings had a very special uniform: white knickers and red stockings, to which they owe their famous nickname. When later on Wright was hired to found a new team in Boston, he brought three teammates and the “Red Stockings” nickname along. That is how the nick was created – thanks to the team’s first manager. We should say that this nickname brought luck to the Boston Red Sox, because it won four championships in the five seasons of the new National Association, the first professional league. By the way, The Red Sox are one of two teams in the American League with Sox in their name. The other one is the Chicago White Sox