Still basking in the glow of the Red Sox’s recent World Series victory over the Colorado Rockies, I couldn’t help thinking about the special events surrounding each Fall Classic since my birth in 1950.

Let’s face it, for a lot of us in New England, Red Sox baseball is not only a highlight of the summertime, but also a celebration of joyous times in our lives.

I grew up hearing about the 1946 Series from my father and other males on both sides of the family, who suffered with the hard-luck loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

The September day in 1960 when my father summoned me to our den to watch Ted Williams take his final at-bat, a towering home run to the right field bleachers, is when it all really got started for me.

That 1960 World Series provided my very first Fall Classic moment. The famed New York Yankees vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates provided all the excitement a classic matchup can bring. Ending with a ninth-inning, game-winning home run by Pirate infielder Bill Mazeroski, that, too, added to the romance created in our house for baseball.

There were family trips to Fenway Park in Boston, but in 1967, the year of The Impossible Dream team, all of New England was caught up in the magic of witnessing their beloved Sox move from ninth place in 1966 to first place and a trip to the World Series in 1967.

The 1967 Series saw Boston lose a heartbreaking one, four games to three, to the heavily favored St. Louis Cardinals. The loss wasn’t as hard as other Series to come would be, primarily because it was such a David vs. Goliath thing and we weren’t used to being in the postseason mix anyway.

There were no divisional series or league playoffs back then, either. They came about in 1969.

It would be another eight seasons before the Sox made it to the Series again. The 1975 World Series found the Red Sox playing the highly touted Big Red Machine of the Cincinnati Reds.

The hard-fought Series found Boston losing four games to three. My, what a Fall Classic that one was. The morning after the affair, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the largest daily paper in Ohio, printed these front-page headlines: Red Sox beat Reds 3 games to 4. Yes, the Sox did everything but win.

I was teaching school in nearby Indiana. Reds fans had a good time at my expense, but I was delighted to see so much good baseball there. With the likes of Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan starring for Cincinnati, it was a real joy to see so much great National League baseball for the three years I lived and taught school there.

It would be another 11 years before the Sox returned to the Series. The infamous Bill Buckner error in Game 6 will haunt Boston faithful for eternity. I never blamed Buckner for the gaffe. That game was blown long before that little ground ball up the first baseline.

For weeks, Sox skipper John McNamara had replaced the sore-kneed Buckner with surehanded utility first baseman Dave Stapleton at first base to close games in the late innings. Not so on this historic evening. The manager made a cardinal coaching error: He managed with his heart instead of his head, and it cost him, the team and all of the so-called Red Sox Nation.

The 2004 and recently completed 2007 World Series brought joy to Mudville like no other sports victories could in New England.

Baseball is the choice of sports offerings here, and despite the recent success of the New England Patriots – gosh, they’re good – Red Sox baseball is the lifeblood of seemingly all New Englanders.

BDN columnist Ron Brown, a retired high school basketball coach, can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net