You thought you knew the story
of the Four Red Sox.
But there's a new Netflix doc
that's been out for a couple of
weeks now that reveals a lot of
new insights with terrific
access to the stars and
performers of one of the
legendary teams in our sport.
Colin Barnacle is the director
of the film.
Colin's career is fascinating.
He has covered everything from
the US C to the UFC, to the NFL
to um the mob and now the Boston
Red Sox, which I would imagine
Colin, it was something of a
passion project for you.
Good morning.
Thanks for being on the show for
us.
Thanks for having me.
Uh You, you a little Red Sox fan
in you.
Is that fair to say?
Yeah, that's fair to say.
I grew up right outside Boston.
Um So, and I was actually at the
uh the first game I went to in
regular season or postseason
play outside of Boston was a
game 7, 2003 in New York.
So thanks dad and that's kind of
where, that's kind of where this
thing picks up.
I know and harold has a whole
bunch for you here too.
But I guess I wanna start with
that because, 03 to 04 for the
Red Sox was this transitionary,
uh, off season.
It changed managers, uh, they're
absorbing a brutal loss and
that's kind of where you begin
your, your piece on the 04 team.
Yeah, I, I always felt like, you
know, we know the ending, they
come back from three down.
Um, but I always, we were always
looking for where's the ignition
point on the change of the
organization?
Because they're, you know, it's
not really a rivalry with the
Yankees if you lose for 85
straight years.
So, you know, we were looking
for that ignition point of when
did the culture change in the
ownership and the front office
and the clubhouse and as we kind
of built back from that 30
comeback, it just naturally
happened that 03 season was a
huge part of it.
You know, Colin it's interesting
, um still intertwined in this
whole thing was alex Rodriguez
and that's a big piece in this
whole deal.
Um What if we, you unearthed
that we did not know about the
Alex possible of going to
Boston?
Yeah, there was, you know,
there's a series of things, but
I mean, he was so close.
I remember Jed Hoyer, he has a
uh in his files, an actual
signed contract with uh on Red
Soxx letterhead with a Rod's
name on it.
Um Like that's how close it was.
I think the actual monetary
difference was about $12.5
million that uh the Red Sox were
unwilling to put up, that the
Players Association said they
had to put up and uh they said
no, um a lot of that is kind of
personal animosity stuff.
But um I mean, he was, he was
really, it's one of those
unbelievable sliding doors
moments, you know, did you sit
down with alex in this
documentary?
He, he talked about that he
didn't want no, he didn't want
to be in it.
I, I feel like a lot of the
Yankees don't want to be in it
because it's like, you know, I
get it.
They don't want to rehash maybe
the worst series of losses in
their franchise history that
they had to be a part of.
I get it.
I, I'm curious about a couple of
things here.
Um And without, you know,
without cannibalizing your own
product because we wanna watch
this thing after all.
Uh Was there an interview that
you were, I guess surprised by,
was there a reveal that came to
you in creating this film that
you, that, that made you pause?
Uh Yeah, I mean, there's a
couple of things, by the way,
I've been cannibalizing the
whole film to anybody who will
listen to the, talking to a
sandwich guy at my local bodega
and being like, hey, this is
what happened.
Um I think um, I think the
interview that I thought we
wouldn't get that we did was, uh
, Grady little, the manager in
2003 because of that whole game
seven.
in 2003 where, you know, Pedro
isn't taken out of the game and
they leave him in the Yankees
end up coming back against him.
Um, and it's just kind of a,
it's, it's systematic of the way
the Red Sox were kind of running
themselves for 80 years, you
know, these heartbreaking
losses.
And I was surprised that uh he
sat down but, you know, I was
thankful for it and I get it.
I get why he sat down.
He's, he's kind of, you know,
whitewashed from 2004.
But a lot of those players that
became icons to the Red Sox,
Bill Miller, Kevin Millar, David
Ortiz, they all matured under
him.
They were all kind of in the,
the scraping of um uh major
league baseball.
I mean, Kevin Moore was going to
Japan.
His career was in major league
baseball was over.
Uh David Ortiz was released by
the twins.
Bill Miller is coming back from
a horrific knee injury.