What is the origin of the tradition of singing Sweet Caroline at Boston Red Sox baseball games?
Amy Tobey knows the answer to the ”Sweet Caroline” question. Tobey began working for the Red Sox through her job at BCN Productions, a film and video communications company, having interned for the Boston Bruins. Her assignment was to decide what music would be played at the park from 1998 to 2004. She had noticed ”Sweet Caroline” was used at other sporting events, and she decided to send the sweetness over the Fenway speakers. The song was picked up by fans, and the more it caught on, the more superstitious Tobey became about playing it. Tobey would play the song somewhere between the seventh and ninth innings if the team was ahead, depending on whether she felt the team was going to win. She didn’t go by any specific margin of runs, but rather who the opponent was, and her gut instincts. ”I actually considered it like a good luck charm,” Tobey says. ”Even if they were just one run [ahead], I might still do it.
