The Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series Collector's Edition
For Red Sox Nation, this boxed set may be a book out of their own personal bible: the tale of their deliverance from decades of wandering through baseball's metaphorical desert. Forget the Pharaohs--the curse of the Bambino had been enough to keep Red Sox fans dying of thirst while their nemeses, the New York Yankees, seemed to waltz right into the Promised Land again and again. And then, finally, after 86 years, the Red Soxarechampions, and here's their chronicle:The Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series Collector's EditionDVD boxed set, the first collection of complete, unedited MLB games on DVD.For the devoted fan, this is your holy grail: all seven games of the incredible American League Championship Series against the Yankees, and the four World Series games against the St. Louis Cardinals. The material is fresh out of the broadcast booth: it's pure footage of the full games, unedited, and complete (minus the commercials), so you don't miss a single pitch. Forget the endless narratives and annoying camera cuts of the average sports highlight DVD; this is nothing but the games.MLB wisely configured the discs so you can navigate by the half-inning, moving straight to your favorite highlights without sacrificing anything from the game. Watch only the at-bats you want and set up your own personal highlight reel out of the moments you choose. Going one better than TiVO, the boxed set also includes a generously packed bonus disc, featuring the2004 World Series Film, narrated by Denis Leary, as well as 13 other extra features including footage of the post-victory celebrations and the 2005 Ring & Banner Ceremony. Even the packaging is custom-made for fans, featuring "SleeveStats" that contain complete inning-by-inning line scores, detailed box scores, team trivia, and much more at a glance on the DVD cover. It's like a baseball card on steroids. For baseball fans, this is the complete package and then some.--Dan Vancini