Diamond Dilemma: Fenway's Sweet Caroline Fixation

Where it began, he couldn’t begin to know, so Jonathan Elias of Boston’s WBZ-TV reached out to learn how Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline became an 8th-inning singalong tradition at the Red Sox’ Fenway Park. The not-as-cool-as-you-thought answer, per the ballpark’s DJ: “They started playing it over and over again and it sort of became an institution.”

There’s another rumor, though TJ Connelly, who’s been on the board only since 2005, doesn’t put a lot of stock in it: “The reason it got played for the very first time was that someone had a daughter in the front office, and the daughter was named Caroline.” Regardless, expect to hear the faithful maul it yet again tonight, when the defending-champion Sox host the Angels in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.
(More Neil Diamond stories.)