By Marc Thaler
Staff Writer

HARDWARE HEAVEN – Red Sox relief pitcher Alan Embree shows off the World Series championship trophy to approximately 1,000 Granite State fans at Veterans Park in Manchester on Nov. 30. (Marc Thaler Photo)

MANCHESTER – Just over a week ago, the Neighborhood extended far beyond its normal boundaries, welcoming the New Hampshire contingent of Red Sox Nation to Veterans Park.

The Queen City hosted left-handed relief pitcher Alan Embree of the world champion Boston Red Sox on Tuesday, Nov. 30, where he raised the holy grail of professional championship hardware to tremendous cheers.

“Here it is – living proof,” said Joe Castiglione, longtime radio voice of the Red Sox, during a one-hour V.I.P. reception inside the Radisson Hotel.

Once outside and across the street, however, the number of spectators multiplied as the volume of screams was amplified.

“Hey, hey, quiet down,” Embree said to roughly 1,000 fans who flocked to the afternoon rally. “We need some order here. I don’t know what the big deal is. It’s just a piece of metal.”

Embree, of course, was joking, knowing full well what the trophy meant to a fan base that seems to double by the day.

“A lot better than a year ago, isn’t it?” said Embree, referring to the crushing Game 7 loss to the Yankees in the 2003 American League Championship Series. “It tastes a little better.”

From little kids to grown men and women, fans donned their championship apparel and took a one-day vacation to celebrate a franchise once defined by devastation.

Excluding the mammoth parade in Boston in the days after the team finally won the big prize, the Red Sox rally in Manchester was the largest of all the victory stops to date, according to Gov. Craig Benson, who also spoke to the crowd.

Scott Fedas, 19, was one Sox fan with a front-row seat who came to cheer the baseball team’s remarkable feat.

“I missed the (parade) in Boston because I had to work,” Fedas said. “I took the day off from school and got here at 8:45 this morning. It was worth it.”

Holding a sign that taunted Boston’s Big Apple-based arch rivals, Fedas recalled his favorite part of a magical playoff run.

“Beating the Yankees,” he said. “I’m a huge (Johnny) Damon fan. His two home runs in Game 7 were unbelievable.”

Embree, the man everybody came to see, didn’t disagree. The lefty who recorded the final out of the ALCS has been a member of seven playoff teams, including the ’04 Sox. Still, he called the club that snapped an 86-year championship drought “the most incredible group I’ve ever played with.”

“You guys saw the heart and determination,” Embree said. “And you guys also fueled that as well.”

So what were the lessons learned for fans in attendance? Yes, persistence pays off; the Red Sox never quit, even when they were three outs from being swept by the Bronx Bombers.

But perhaps more important, fans found out the following from watching Embree: Hoisting that heavy World Series trophy above his head for five-second spurts must’ve seemed like an eternity – not unlike the length of time it took the Sox to bring the title back to Beantown.