Red Sox ‘megafan’ predicts another World Series win
Paul Tennant The Eagle-Tribune
HAVERHILL — With a few exceptions, every true New Englander is, of course, a Red Sox fan. Greg Caliri could be called a megafan.
He’s a proud member of the BoSox Club, the official booster club for the Old Town Team. He faithfully attends spring training in Florida every year, and he gets to 30 home Sox games a year. For the last 22 years, he has had grandstand seats behind first base.
A computer analyst, he’s also a member of Lost Nation, an online group of Sox fans that gets together about five or six times a year.
He sat for this interview in the basement of his Bradford home, in one of two bleacher seats he salvaged from Fenway Park after renovations. They are seats 1 and 2, from row 28, section 38, in case you remember where you sat a few years ago.
The North Andover High grad has been a Sox aficionado for most of his 57 years and remembers Ted Williams playing. And yes, his wife, Joan, is also a fan.
His best moment as a fan?
July 1, 2005, when the Sox got “shellacked by Toronto.” What made the occasion special was that his daughter, Army Maj. Jill Caliri, was home from Iraq and attended that game.
Jill went to school with Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Carlos Pena, a native of Haverhill, and they still keep in touch.
“She wants the Red Sox to win, but hopes he does well,” Greg Caliri said.
During the long drought, Caliri was always a believer, “even though I sat through two seventh games,” in 1967 and 1975. He was also present for that October 1978 game when Bucky Dent’s homer dashed the Sox’s hopes for a championship.
His favorite player?
“Bill Lee. He exemplified the rebellious spirit of the 1970s.”
His favorite in the current lineup?
“Jon Lester. He came back from adversity and became a star.”
Caliri was a diehard supporter of Manny Ramirez, until the Red Sox-turned-Dodgers slugger declared that the Sox didn’t “deserve” him.
He predicts another championship this year.
“Wouldn’t I be unfaithful if I said they won’t go on to win it all?” he said.
