Near the beginning of the most recent episode of American Horror Story, Violet is on her laptop, learning the details of her boyfriend Tate’s violent past. She scrolls down a website on a high school shooting massacre he was responsible for; the names of the victims are Kyle Greenwell, Chloe Stapleton, Amir Stanley, Stephanie Boggs and Kevin Gedman.
Greenwell, Stapleton, Stanley, Boggs and Gedman.
If it sounds like a snippet from the 1986 Red Sox roster, it’s with good reason: Mike Greenwell, Dave Stapleton, Bob Stanley, Wade Boggs and Rich Gedman were on the team that’s forever etched in baseball history for blowing Game Six of the World Series against the Mets.
It’s not the first Boston reference on the show; the Harmon family has relocated to Los Angeles from Boston as the series begins.
Here’s what IMDB offers up on exec producer Brad Falchuk:
Has stated in a film school interview that he grew up as a Boston Red Sox fan, and that the actions of David Ortiz during the 2004 playoffs (in winning a championship) have gone a long way towards changing Falchuk’s views on achieving his own goals.
An FX spokesperson acknowledges that Falchuk’s BoSox passion runs deep, and says the Horror Story co-creator was “surprised” to learn that someone picked up on the subtle Red Sox reference.
Another stalwart on that 1986 team, Bill Buckner, played himself this past season on Curb Your Enthusiasm, and poked fun at the horrific error that ultimately doomed the Sox in ‘86.
Twenty five years later, the Red Sox of course experienced their own American horror story–no gimp ghosts emerging from the basement or murdered former lovers climbing out of the backyard dirt, as on the show, but an epic failure that knocked them out of the post-season.
