When Joshua Hollingworth’s father left their Toms River, N.J., home in the late 2000s, 12-year-old Hollingworth stayed with a string of family members before he could fully support himself.
He couldn’t consistently play baseball as a result of his unstable living situation, but he still managed to develop a love for the Red Sox deep in Yankee territory. Hollingworth watched games whenever he could, regularly wore his Red Sox jersey to school, and proudly displayed Boston bumper stickers on his car.
“People would be like, ‘I’m not pumping your gas. You’re a Red Sox fan,'” he recalled.