Doug Mirabelli - Return To Boston: 2006-2007

Return To Boston: 2006-2007

Mirabelli was reacquired by the Red Sox on May 1, 2006, in exchange for catcher Josh Bard, setup man Cla Meredith, and $100,000 cash. This reacquisition occurred because Bard had trouble catching Tim Wakefield's knuckleball, committing 10 passed balls in just 7 games. The day the trade occurred, the Red Sox were to play their first game of the year against their rivals, the New York Yankees, at Fenway Park, and Wakefield was scheduled to start. It took a private jet and a Massachusetts State Police escort to get Mirabelli to the field in time. His plane from San Diego touched down at Logan Airport at 6:48 pm, he arrived at Fenway Park at 7:00 pm, and took his place behind the plate just in time for Wakefield's opening pitch at 7:13 pm. In an effort to conserve every second possible, the Red Sox sent a uniform along with the police escort for Mirabelli to change into while en route to Fenway Park from the airport. A special glove (which is actually a woman's softball catcher's mitt) which Mirabelli had used in previous years to catch Wakefield had been left in Boston by Josh Bard for Mirabelli. Soon after, the Yankees admitted they had tried to acquire Mirabelli from the Padres in an attempt to keep him from the Red Sox .

On April 25, 2007, while Boston was visiting the Baltimore Orioles in the teams' first match up of the season, a controversy arose when Orioles' play-by-play announcer Gary Thorne alleged during the fifth inning of his telecast that Mirabelli had told him years ago that Curt Schilling's bloody sock from the Red Sox's 2004 championship run was only a publicity stunt. "... That famous red stocking that he wore when they finally won, the blood on his stocking, nah. It was painted. Doug Mirabelli confessed up to it after. It was all for PR," said Thorne. Thorne's comments were first reported on The Joy of Sox, a Red Sox blog. Mirabelli initially vehemently denied talking about the incident to Thorne, and the comments by both individuals rekindled a controversy on a national level which had been dormant for years. Although Red Sox management refused to comment on the situation, Mirabelli faced the media the following day to try to quell a situation that had clearly gotten out of hand. While also making a point to affirm that the substance on Schilling's sock was undoubtedly his own blood, Mirabelli did acknowledge that there was likely a misunderstanding in a past dialogue with Thorne after the commentator had also admitted as much. Schilling's bloody sock now resides in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Mirabelli hit under .200 for the rest of the season and battled an ankle injury late in the year; Wakefield pitched just over .500 before suffering an injury in July and missing almost two months. Mirabelli re-signed with the Red Sox for the 2007 season, but his offense did not improve as he hit just .202 and once again battled various leg injuries late in the year.

In January 2008, Mirabelli agreed in principle to a one year contract to return to the Red Sox for the 2008 season. The deal was reported to have a base salary of $550,000 with incentives. However, on March 13, 2008, Mirabelli was released by the Red Sox when the team elected to use Kevin Cash as its backup catcher.