A younger but no less devoted set of fans watched history unfold in the Clubhouse, where the walls are decorated with photos of Red Sox icons -- such as Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Carlton Fisk -- who never won it all.
Among the revelers were newly minted supporters with the zeal of converts. "There's something about this team that just draws you in and makes you want to like them," said hostess Mary Lent, 22, who grew up in Penn Yan, N.Y., and never followed baseball before moving to Boston in May.
Boston first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, left, and catcher Jason Varitek, right, leap into pitcher Keith Foulke's arms after the Red Sox defeated the Cardinals 3-0 in St. Louis to complete a four-game World Series sweep.
(Sue Ogrocki -- AP)
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"My friends at home think I am crazy," she said. "They ask me what I am doing when they call, and I'm always like, 'Watching the game.' "
At game time, police dressed in black, padded riot gear flanked the streets around Fenway Park, hoping to avoid a repeat of the rowdiness that followed the Red Sox' victory over the Yankees last week. Victoria Snelgrove, 21, a student at Emerson College, died after being struck in the eye by a plastic pellet fired to subdue the crowd.
"This is probably wishful thinking," said Lt. Kevin Foley, "but I hope that when people take a look at what happened last week, they won't even come down here at all."
Some longtime baseball enthusiasts were left wondering whether being a Red Sox fan would ever be the same.
"Think of the sweetness, but also consider the great question before all of them," said journalist David Halberstam, a lifelong baseball fan who has written extensively about the Red Sox. "What happens now that they have won? Is it possible that the victory will destroy the mystique?"
The office of Mayor Thomas M. Menino said that the victory parade, which according to some estimates could draw millions of fans from all corners of New England and beyond, would be held tomorrow or Saturday. "The whole world's going to be here," Wilson said. "And that's no exaggeration."
