I was on ESPN in October, and someone had an article entitled "What if? Wondering what could have been". Someone had all these different "what if's" that had to deal with the Red Sox. I will post some of them. Take a stab at them if you want.
Here they are:
1. What if the Red Sox did not sell Babe Ruth for $125,000, plus a $300,000 loan?
2. What if the Red Sox had done the right thing and signed Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays when they had the chance?
3. What if Jim Lonborg did not take up skiing?
4. What if the Sox kept Sparky Lyle instead of trading him to the Yankees in 1972, thus helping the Yankees win two championships?
5. What if Jim Rice had not been hit by a pitch on September 22, 1975 and was healthy for the 1975 World Series? And instead his replacement Cecil Cooper went 1 for 19.
6. What if Bowie Kuhn did not void the purchase of Rollie Fingers and Joe Rudi from the A's in June of 1976?
7. What if the Red Sox had Cecil Cooper in 1978 instead of George Scott? Cooper was traded after the 1976 season for Bernie Carbo and George Scott and became a hitting star for the Brewers.
8. What if the Red Sox had not mailed Carlton Fisk's contract to him two days late, thus allowing him to become a free agent and sign with the White Sox in 1981?
9. What if Roger Clemens had not begged out of game 6 of the World Series in 1986 after 7 innings?
10. What if the Red Sox had accepted the Braves offer of a young Tom Glavine for Mike Greenwell?
11. What if the Red Sox had traded Scott Cooper instead of Jeff Bagwell for Jeff Andersen in 1990?
12. What if the free agent signing of Sammy Sosa, Kevin Appier, and John Wetteland in 1994?
And, here are some more:
13. What if the Red Sox had not traded Curt Schilling and Brady Anderson for Mike Boddicker in 1988?
14. What if Bernie Williams had accepted the Red Sox free agent offer?
15. What if Nomar Garciaparra had accepted the Red Sox offer of 4 years and 15 million per year?
16. What if Grady had pulled Pedro Martinez in game 7 of the ALCS in 2003?
17. What if the players union and Gene Orza had not intervened and allowed Alex Rodriguez to be traded to the Red Sox?
18. What if Tom Seaver's right knee was OK and was able to pitch in the 1986 playoffs instead of the ineffective Al Nipper?
19. What if the Sox had retained Orlando Cabrera instead of acquiring Edgar Renteria?
20. What if the Red Sox had kept Kelly Shoppach instead of trading him along with Marte to Cleveland for Crisp and Bard? They would not be worrying about the catcher position this offseason.