It was the sound that scared Bryce Florie. Or rather, the absence of sound.
There were 33,861 fans in Fenway Park that early September Friday night, a sellout crowd to watch the first-place New York Yankees and second-place Boston Red Sox, with ex-Red Sox ace Roger Clemens starting for the hated Yanks. Fenway gets loud on nights like that, and it was a tight 2-0 game until Florie allowed a two-run single to Derek Jeter with two outs in the ninth to make it 4-0.
What happened next silenced Fenway and changed Florie's life forever.
Ryan Thompson followed Jeter to the plate, and Florie threw him a first-pitch slider.