Red Sox Magic Number - 49

The Red Sox magic number is now 49.

The number 49 also happens to be the uniform number for Tim Wakefield.

The number 49 in sports is probably most associated with the San Francisco 49ers and you cannot mention the 49ers without bringing up Bill Walsh. I was remiss in not saying anything about the passing of Bill Walsh. He was truly both a genius and a giant of the game. How important Walsh was to the game of football did not truly hit me till after reading Michael Lewis' great book The Blind Side.

In many ways The Blind Side is the football version of Lewis' baseball book Moneyball and in The Blind Side Bill Walsh plays a central role as the guy who changed it all like how Bill James was portrayed in Moneyball.