On April 20, 2013, in the emotional first game back at Fenway Park after the Boston Marathon bombings, Diamond came out to the diamond to play "Sweet Caroline" live. And it was "so good, so good, so good!"
For younger Sox of fans, Fenway Park is synonymous with “Sweet Caroline” blasting out of the sound system during the 8th inning. But that wasn't always the case. So when and how did this musical tradition start?
During a 1997 game at Fenway, Amy Tobey, an employee in charge of ballpark music during the season, played "Sweet Caroline" because someone she knew had just had a baby named Caroline. For the next few years, the song would be played on select occasions at the ballpark.
But that all changed when Dr. Charles Steinberg came to the Red Sox as executive vice president of public affairs in 2002. Every time the song played, he could see the transformation in the crowd and could hear that the fans were singing responsively. So, Steinberg decided to make it a tradition. And it stuck.
Now here we are, 25 years later, and it's a tradition that shows no signs of ending anytime soon.
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