NPS #3: The Bloody Sock Traditional Cache
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This is the 3rd cache in our 'National Pastime' series.
As American as apple pie and also as obscure. Asking why is baseball the national pastime is like asking why apple pie is so popular (there are probably better tasting pies out there).
1. History- No other sport has had such a following for so long, in any country, ever
2. The large number of games- There are 162 games in the MLB season, almost double that of basketball and more than 10 times that of football. This allows more people to see games More often.
3. Farm clubs- There are many semi-pro or minor league teams that not only increase opportunities to see games but also opportunity to play. There is also a pride factor in that nearly every small town in America had someone at sometime who was involved in the baseball experience.
4. The Yankees – Red Sox rivalry- This is one of the oldest, most famous and fiercest rivalries in professional sports. For more than 100 years, Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees of the American League have been intense rivals.
5. It's always close- Games are never over until the final out. In football and basketball the majority of games end with someone running the clock out, not so in baseball.
On October 19, 2004, Curt Schilling won Game 6 of the 2004 American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees. Notably, he won this game playing on an injured ankle—the same injuries that contributed to his disastrous outing in Game 1 of the ALCS. These injuries were so acute that by the end of his performance that day his white sock was soaked with blood, which is now referred to as "the bloody sock". The win forced a Game 7, making the Red Sox the first team in MLB history to come back from a three-games-to-none deficit. The Red Sox would go on to win Game 7 and the ALCS and make their first World Series appearance since 1986. Schilling pitched (and won) Game 2 of the 2004 World Series for the Red Sox against the St. Louis Cardinals. In both series, he had to have the tendon in his right ankle stabilized repeatedly, in what has become known as the Schilling Tendon Procedure, after the tendon sheath was torn during his Game 1 ALDS appearance against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. As in Game 6 of the ALCS, Schilling's sock was soaked with blood from the sutures used in this medical procedure, but he still managed to pitch seven strong innings, giving up one run on four hits and striking out four. This second bloody sock was placed in the Baseball Hall of Fame after Boston's victory over St. Louis in the World Series. A four-game sweep of the World Series erased the Curse of the Bambino.
This is a unique shaped cache container. You will need a TOTT for log retrieval.
We have coached and watched our kids play baseball at this local ball field in Oxford. It is a nice area in town and this cache can be combined with our other cache "CARS" (GC31JQW) as a 2 cache gas saver.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ebyy, qb abg yvsg.