Boston Red Sox go from worst to first in Major League Baseball
Boston go from laughing stocks to serious contenders for the World Series thanks to an unusual campaign to build camaraderie
The Boston Red Sox were one win away from clinching a play-off berth, and Fenway Park was packed with its biggest crowd of the season.
The fans didn't just come to this midweek game against Baltimore hoping to celebrate their team's return to the post-season. It was also "Dollar Beard Night", which drew more than 4,000 - with still more turned away - sporting real or phony facial hair to honour the hirsute heroes who turned a last-place and unlovable team into the best in baseball in just one year.
Werewolves of London played over the ballpark speakers while the scoreboard video cut from men with long-curated shrubs on their chins to women and children with fake facial hair glued or painted on. Even the team's mascot, Wally the Green Monster, slapped on some felt to get in on the Whiskers Rebellion.
"The beards are part of the camaraderie. It's almost intense," Red Sox owner John Henry said shortly after first baseman Mike Napoli homered to tie the game and set off the now-traditional beard-tugging celebration.
"I, for one, underestimated - potentially have always under-estimated - the effect of camaraderie."
A throwback to the times when the Red Sox had to hustle to sell tickets, "Dollar Beard Night" also brought back memories of the beloved Boston teams of the not-so-distant past - the "Dirt Dogs" of the 1990s, the "Cowboy Up" team of 2003 and the "Idiots" who in 2004 ended the franchise's 86-year championship drought.