Sometime after a brand-new Boston Red Sox ownership group fired general manager Dan Duquette in early 2002, I wrote a national baseball column extolling him for leaving the long-suffering franchise with a promising future.
Two years later, the Red Sox won the World Series for the first time since Babe Ruth pitched for the team in 1918, making Duquette look pretty good in the rearview mirror.
The new owners wanted some new blood in the front office, but the heart of that team was already pumping when Duquette was summarily dismissed during spring training of ’02.