Tito still toast of town in Boston

This story was excerpted from Ian Browne’s Red Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

BOSTON -- Terry Francona, who recently came out of retirement to manage his fourth team (the Reds) starting in 2025, made his last lineup card for the Red Sox 13 years ago.

But as much as time goes by, and no matter how many times he changes uniforms, Francona’s legacy in Boston doesn’t lose any luster.

Back in town for the New England Sports Museum’s annual Tradition event, Francona was the recipient of this year’s Baseball Legacy Award.

And what a legacy it is. Over eight seasons, Francona managed the Red Sox to two World Series championships and five postseason trips.

Francona was presented by former Red Sox catcher and current Rays manager Kevin Cash, and the two held a roundtable discussion moderated by NESN’s Tom Caron.

The man who guided Boston to World Series titles in 2004 and ’07 after the club hadn’t won any since 1918 displayed his typical humility when asked about the honor.

“When you start getting lifetime achievement stuff, that means you’re getting old,” said Francona, who is 65. “And I feel it. But again, these were eight years that we won two World Series. We had some really good teams, and you make a lot of really close relationships, and it, it's a good time to remember a lot of the good.”

At events like this, the memories come flooding back. Here is one Francona shared from the 2004 World Series, in which the Red Sox swept the Cardinals to cap a magical ride through October where they made history by overcoming a 3-0 deficit in the American League Championship Series.

“The one thing -- and I found out the hard way -- was during the playoffs, they had gotten this thing going where here they were having a shot of [whiskey before the games],” said Francona. “In St. Louis, I had left my lineup card back in the clubhouse so I had to run back in and here they’re doing this toast and [David] Ortiz yells, ‘Tito, come over here.’ I run over and I took a drink and [bench coach] Brad Mills told me that the second inning, in between innings, when they were playing the music, I was dancing.”

That one drew a good laugh from the assembled crowd at TD Garden. But it wasn’t his best line of the night.

What if Dave Roberts had been out on that legendary steal of second base in the ninth inning of Game 4 against the Yankees?

“If he’d been out, Cashy would have been here [tonight] giving Bobby Valentine an award,” Francona said.

While Francona has always been one to live in the present -- and he is laser-focused on setting the course for a productive Spring Training for the Reds -- Wednesday’s occasion was one in which he couldn’t help but be a little reflective.

The immediate aftermath of 2004 remains as fresh in his mind now as it was 20 years ago when it happened.

“We landed at the airport and we’re in these big busses going back to Fenway and we’ve got a police escort and there were people hanging off the Mass. Pike with signs,” said Francona. “We went by a cemetery where graves already had Red Sox stuff on it. It hit you so fast what it meant to those people. And then when that parade started, and we made a left onto Boylston, if you didn’t have a [fast] heartbeat, you didn’t have a heart.”

As the years go by, Francona gains more perspective on what it was like to be a part of one of the most successful eras in Red Sox history as witnessed by such a passionate fanbase.

“They're so passionate. My eight years here, there was not a game that wasn't sold out. That speaks volumes,” Francona said.

Cincinnati is another city that has a great baseball tradition, and Francona will try to get the Reds back to their winning ways. He feels recharged after his one year of retirement following his 11-year stint in Cleveland.

“I'm glad I had last year,” Francona said. “I needed it. I think now I'm situated where I can go back and do it the way you're supposed to, which, to me, is really enjoyable. If I can't do it like that, I don't enjoy it."