BOSTON, MA – AUGUST 17: Mickey Gasper #30 of the Boston Red Sox hits a solo home run in the seventh inning during the game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Monday, August 17, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Joe Sullivan/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Strikeouts are fascist.* The Red Sox, ergo, stand for democracy and classically liberal values, because last night they did this:
The @RedSox are the first MLB team to have all 9 starters collect an RBI with none of them striking out since the Red Sox themselves did so against the St. Louis Browns on June 25, 1949. pic.twitter.com/mgeJat1pJq
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) August 18, 2026
In baseball terms, 1949 was a looooooong time ago. Players still left their gloves on the field, for chrissakes!
Like a lot of baseball fans (maybe?) I’ve long wondered what it would be like to travel back in time and see how the game was played in another era. Deadball Era baseball was essentially an entirely different game, but I bet I would have loved it. We typically think of the pre-Babe Ruth version of the game as having less action because of the lack of homers, but think of how much more often the ball was in play! You wouldn’t be able to take your eyes off the field for a second, lest you miss something. Last night we didn’t exactly get the Deadball Era, but it might be the closest we denizens of the modernity may ever get to it.
Talk about your favorite historical era of baseball and whatever else you want in this space and, as always, be good to one another.
*The only good line from an otherwise horrible and horribly overrated movie.
** How insane is it that we ever thought it was okay for players to leave their gloves on the field? Ankle injuries for everybody!
