Johnny Damon was excited about his homecoming to Fenway Park.
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With the exaggerated tales of him as a “traitor” well behind him and the prevailing memories of his role on the 2004 World Series Champions, Damon came home looking forward to a big homecoming.
On Wednesday night the Red Sox honored the championship team that ended an 86 year drought and broke the supposed “Curse of the Bambino.” With Damon’s role on that team known as the “Idiots,” you can imagine that the ceremonial first pitch was going to be no ordinary ceremony.
Check out the video of what transpired below, courtesy of Jared Carrabis:
When asked about this return to Boston, in addition to the fact that Damon eventually played for the rival New York Yankees, here is what the eccentric outfielder had to say (from MLB.com):
"“I’m very proud of what I was able to accomplish on a baseball field and the championships,” Damon said. “I know some guys just go non-stop at collecting. Then you have to end up putting your stuff in the kitchen, in the living room. So I think we did a pretty good job.”"
It is not at all clear to me what Damon means by that, but then again, I am used to not understanding what Damon says about a myriad of topics.
If nothing else, Damon kept things entertaining over the course of his career. It is only fitting, then, that he would intercept this first pitch and then throw in the commando roll, or whatever that was, to punctuate things. It is fitting for him and for the championship team that was honored at Fenway on Wednesday night.