Copyright (C) Robert s. Rosson 2004. All rights reserved.
Schilling Takes Stitches for His Team and Tendon. Headline, New York Times, October 24, 2004.
I am the true hero of the 2004 Boston Red Sox comeback victories over the New York Yankees for the American League pennant and the sweep over the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. No, it isn’t David Ortiz or Mark Bellhorn. It’s not Damon or Lowe or Manny or Pedro. And no, it’s not even Curt Schilling, even though he pitched two courageous games in pain with blood oozing through his sock. It’s me, Clark O’Shaughnessy, and I lived in Charlestown, Massachusetts for most of my 72 years. I was a loyal, long-suffering, diehard Sox fan. I used to skip school in the 1950’s to sit in the bleachers at Fenway (75 cents admission, 25 cents for beer). I would sit with my fellow shirtless Bostonians and yell insults at the players: “Golden Boy (Jackie Jensen) You Bum!”
When I grew up I worked in the Navy Yard, married and had a son. I remember sitting with him in 1986, watching the game on TV as the ball squirted through Bill Buckner’s legs, costing us the World Series. Our joyous dancing turned to tears as we were forced to face the fact that “The Curse of the Bambino” was real.
Anyway when I got sick, my doctor said that all those pints after work at O’Malley’s had damaged my liver pretty bad. So bad, in fact, that if I got a liver transplant, the new liver would probably reject me! At least I didn’t have Lou Gehrig’s disease-I couldn’t stand dying from a disease named after a Yankee!
So I told my doctor that when I died I wanted to will my body to Harvard Medical School in case I could help someone else. On October 17th I was in the hospital and fading fast, when the Red Sox team doctor, aware of my bequest, came to see me. He said he had an idea to help Curt Schilling with his ankle, but it had never been done before. He asked if he could practice on me when I passed away and I said “Sure, Doc, if it’ll help the Sox, go for it!”
I died on October 18th, 2004. The rest is history.
Published originally in YJHM November 4, 2004
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