Fever Pitch

Fever Pitch is a romantic comedy directed by the Farrelly Brothers, in which a lovable Red Sox super fan (Jimmy Fallon) begins dating a business–minded workaholic (Drew Barrymore). The original intent of the movie was to highlight the fanaticism and loyalty that many die hard Red Sox fans exude, and how this obsession would hypothetically affect the super fan’s personal life. Historically the Red Sox have been considered a “cursed” team, mainly because of the powerhouse ball club’s inability to win a World Series ever since they traded Babe “The Great Bambino” Ruth in 1918.

The first finalized script of Fever Pitch had the Red Sox losing the World Series, and the super fan finding love in his personal life despite the constant disappointment of his lifelong sports love. However, during the last few weeks of shooting, the cast began attending live Red Sox games as the setting for the last few weeks of filming. While filming, the Red Sox went on an unbelievable run, overcoming a 10 ½ game deficit for first place in the regular season playoff race, and most memorably, after falling behind three games to zero, the Red Sox won 4 straight games in the AL championship to defeat their long time rivals, the New York Yankees (such a deficit had never been overcome in the history of the MLB).

With the looming realization that the Red Sox, who hadn’t won a series in 86 years, could actually win, the Directors frantically called writers Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel to write an entirely new ending in the case that the Red Sox happened to win. With the entire Production team in attendance, The Red Sox swept the NL Champion St. Louis Cardinals in four games. Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore were both seen rushing the field during Fox’s live telecast of the Red Sox 2004 World Series win. All footage in the final scenes of Fever Pitch was shot live, with real life-long Red Sox fans, as they celebrated the end of the 86-year curse with the production team.