Cora, who helped the Astros win the 2017 World Series as their bench coach, who helped a storm-battered city find emotional solace in the run to a championship, who watched in awe and gratitude as that adopted city came to the aid of his native country — helping to pull Puerto Rico from the depths of its own hurricane hell — and who barely had time to enjoy a post-World Series parade before accepting the job to manage in Boston, is returning to Houston for the first time this season.

The jersey was packed well before Wednesday’s game even began, tucked inside the bags of longtime equipment manager Tom McLaughlin, safely bound for the next stop of the Red Sox season. Once it gets unpacked in Houston, the jersey will be back in Alex Cora’s arms, not on his back, bringing forth a year’s worth of unforgettable baseball memories nonetheless.


He never got the uniform top he wore in the Series-clinching game signed by colleagues and players, and he aims to correct that now.

Of course, Cora’s foremost aim is to win the four-game series against one of baseball’s best teams, to see how his juggernaut Red Sox stack up against the pitching-rich Astros, to gauge whether this is a potential playoff rematch. That’s his professional responsibility, and one the first-year manager has proven pretty adept at handling so far, leading a first-place team with a 39-17 record into this matchup.

But there’s no denying the personal stakes for Cora, too, the deep sense of gratitude he holds for the Houston franchise, the long list of lessons learned across one season under manager A.J. Hinch, the wisdom that made him realize how much he needed that experience as a bridge from the broadcasting booth and back to the bench.

He will be honored to take the field Thursday, his No. 20 Red Sox jersey replacing the No. 26 Astros one he wore before, to stand alongside bullpen coach and fellow former Astro Craig Bjornson and receive his World Series ring. And he’s thrilled for the chance to take that old jersey around and get it signed by those who won it with him.


“They gave me a chance to be a bench coach, to learn from them not only on the field but everything that goes on on a daily basis with that organization,” Cora said before the Red Sox wrapped up their three-game sweep of Toronto with a 6-4 afternoon victory at Fenway Park Wednesday.

“That’s why I’m here. I thought I was ready two years ago. But I wasn’t. Without that year, no chance I would have been ready. I can’t even imagine how tough it was going to be.

“It was an amazing ride, something I always tell them: You guys will always have a space in my office somewhere.”

The newly-autographed jersey isn’t likely to hang in Cora’s Fenway Park office, not as he laughed that it would only draw consistent jabs from his current colleagues. But it will find a place in his home. Cora and his family live in Puerto Rico in the offseason, and with efforts ongoing there to rebuild after Hurricane Maria (and the death toll sadly still rising), Cora will never, ever forget what Astros owner Jim Crane did in the storm’s aftermath.


“That guy, sending planes, supplies, sending another plane to get our families out of it, we had 150 people out of the island right after Maria, it was him,” Cora said.

So let Cora return to Houston and enjoy those ties, to revel in the memory of such an astounding shared experience, to savor a few moments when competition is trumped by companionship, to let his mind wander back to a championship run he’ll never forget. As those in Boston remember the Red Sox after the marathon bombing in 2013, or those in New York rode with the Yankees after 9/11, or those in New Orleans were carried by the Saints after Katrina, that’s what baseball did for Houston.

The ring reflects all of it.

“I’ve seen a picture,” Cora said. “They did an outstanding job. The trophy and then the city, Houston Strong, and then inside has jewelry. The cool part about it — and I know you guys like the history of it — to come here [to Fenway], go to Yankee Stadium [in the ALCS] and then Dodger Stadium [in the World Series], that was cool.”

What he learned along the way was important, too, showing Cora how the balance of analytics and intuition can be used to great advantage, providing proof that faith in long-term goals can pay off, even from the last-place depths the Astros routinely used to occupy.

“The communication has to be great for everything to happen,” Cora said. “Obviously the GM, the manager, that’s always there. But medical staff, analytics staff, everybody that’s in the equation, you have to have good communication.


“One thing people don’t know, people think that that organization, the Astros, you just get the information and go play. It’s not. It doesn’t work that way. There’s a lot of input from the coaches. You have to do your homework.

“They like when you question positioning, when you question the way they’re going to pitch to people. It’s an interesting dynamic before games, before series. It’s a lot of work. They do it right. You’ve got to give them credit.

“For them to go through the whole process and to be where they’re at, you start thinking about where they’re at right now and what they have in the minor leagues, they’re good. They’re really good.”

So are the Red Sox, and after these next four games, perhaps one of them will win bragging rights.

“As you guys know, there’s always stuff that goes off the field, whoever wins the series takes the other guy out, that kind of stuff,” Cora said. “No, I’m proud of them. We’ve played pretty good baseball for a while.”

Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at tara.sullivan@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @Globe_Tara.