"Sweet Caroline"

The night after the bombing at the Boston Marathon, baseball stadiums across the country played a tribute to  Boston in the form of a song. The song "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond was played over the PA systems, with the crowds singing along. For those of you that aren't familiar with Red Sox tradition, this song is played at every home game in the middle of the 8th. But you might be wondering why that song? And where did this tradition come from? Today, we will take a look into the story of this tradition.

The origins of this tradition can be traced to 1997. An employee in charge of playing music played the song over the speakers as a tribute to a friend of hers who'd had a baby named Caroline. Over the next five years,  the organization saw that there was always a good response when they played song, but they only played it occasionally. Firstly, they only played it later in the game when the Sox were winning, and secondly, because of this, they wouldn't play it at the same time in the game. Sometimes it was the end of the 7th, sometimes the middle of the 8th, and sometimes the end of the 8th. There was no consistency.

In 2002, Charles Steinberg started working for the Red Sox as executive vice president of public affairs. He noticed that the fans really enjoyed the song and would sing along to it. He asked a member of the control room if they were going to play the song one day, and the response was "Oh no we can't play that today. It's not a 'Sweet Caroline' day." A 'Sweet Caroline' day is a day when they were winning, near the end, and the mood was upbeat and festive. Steinberg argued that if the team was losing, they'd need something like 'Sweet Caroline' to lift their spirits. He insisted that the song be played, and played regularly. He also insisted that it be played before the Sox batted to lift the mood if they were losing, and to release their joy if they were winning.

Ever since then, the song has been played at every home game in the middle of the 8th since then. It has become a staple of Boston. When the tragic events at the Boston Marathon occurred, this song popped up across the country at other baseball games and even other sporting events in tribute for Boston.

An additional note about the song: it was written about Caroline Kennedy. When President Kennedy was shot, there was a photo taken of young Caroline Kennedy. Neil Diamond saw the photo and was inspired to write the song for her. Years later, she was at Fenway Park and Steinberg asked her if the song was inspired by her. She didn't think so, but it turns out it was.