Welcome returns are nothing new for Ellis Burks. Fans who know their trivia about the 2004 Red Sox’ World Series victory and all the sweet details of the postscript will remember that it was Burks — and not a playoff hero such as David Ortiz, Johnny Damon, or Curt Schilling — who carried the championship trophy off the plane upon arrival from St. Louis the morning after a victory that was generations in the making.
Burks, then 39 years old, played just 11 games that season, the last of his superb 18-year career that began with six seasons in Boston and took him to the White Sox, Giants, Rockies, and Indians before his Boston coda.