Back in January 2002, John Henry, the then Florida Marlins’ owner, purchased the Boston Red Sox for $700 million. In collaboration with Larry Lucchino and Tom Warner, the first big three of Boston took to renovating the cursed Red Sox.

Not only did the team get a face lift, but Fenway Park did, too. The renovations to Fenway are what potentially convinced the Jean R. Yawkey Trust to sell the Sox to Henry. Instead of knocking down the small, fragile stadium with at least one pole in a fan’s view at all times, Henry chose to take Fenway into the 21st Century.

Since the 2002 purchase, Fenway has seen a plethora of changes, most notably that of the Green Monster Seats in April 2003. Updates have been made every year since, and it is what many old-fashioned Red Sox fans wanted to see happen to America’s Most Beloved Ballpark.

Henry was not alone in the bidding process, though. Thankfully, but unfortunately for the LA Dodgers, Frank McCourt was not the man with the winning ticket. McCourt had no prior experience in the business of baseball and was only a fan and Bostonian. Does that constitute a man worthy of purchasing one of baseball’s most treasured franchises?

McCourt’s vision of the Sox was one of luxury. He wanted the Sox to leave their home at Fenway for a more comfortable stadium in South Boston. The outrage of this exceeded far beyond the typical Sox fan. The city of Boston would not grant McCourt the permits required to build a stadium in the tight-spaced region in South Boston. Additionally, the Yawkey Trust refused to sell the team to man with intentions to abandon Fenway. For the record, other bidders had visions to leave Fenway, but McCourt was the only person to vocalize it prior to an official purchase.

So, with the sad saga that is the LA Dodgers, Red Sox fans can breathe a collective sigh of relief that McCourt was not the man for the job. This could have been us. Two years after losing out on the Red Sox, McCourt was able to purchase the Dodgers, still with no baseball experience.

With McCourt filing for bankruptcy protection as of this morning, it seems that there are more important things to be settled in Los Angeles than wins and losses. His messy divorce with his former wife and CEO of the Dodgers, Jamie McCourt, caused a debate as to who was the owner of the team.

McCourt has turned one of baseball’s historic franchises, the first to house a black ballplayer nonetheless, into a mockery. With 86 years of bad luck, the Red Sox can consider this the first of their victories. Who knows what would have happened  had McCourt purchased the Sox. Maybe 2004 and 2007 would just be years on the calendar.