Patriot’s Day is observed every year in Massachusetts every third Monday in April. It commemorates the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which were the first battles of the American Revolutionary War.
Every Patriot’s day, the Boston marathon, the world’s oldest annual marathon is run. Also, the Boston Red Sox have played at home every Patriot’s Day since 1959 (with the exceptions of rainouts or strikes). And since 1968, the games have begun at 11:00 AM.

On April 21, 1980, the 84th Boston Marathon was run, and there was great controversy. Rosie Ruiz appeared to complete the marathon with a record time of 2:31:56, and was crowned the winner. But, she appeared well rested. In the thousands of photos and extensive film shot at the event, Ruiz appeared only in the last half-mile. After eight days of controversy, Rosie Ruiz was stripped of her title, but she maintained her innocence and refused to return her medal. Finally, spectators came forward to say they had seen Ruiz join the race less than a mile from the finish. At the same time, officials began to question her time in the New York Marathon, where she had qualified to run Boston. Witnesses said that they had spoken with her during that race — riding on the subway. Ruiz was eventually disqualified from the New York Marathon.

Given the overwhelming evidence, the board of the Boston Athletic Association voted unanimously to strike Ruiz’s name from the record books and declare Jackie Gareau as the winner of the women’s division. Ruiz continued to insist that she had won fairly and refused to give up her medal.

The Boston Red Sox also had a good game against the Chicago White Sox on that day, as they won 9-8.

The Red Sox starting lineup was as follows:

Dwight Evans rf
Rick Burleson ss
Fred Lynn cf
Jim Rice lf
Tony Perez 1b
Carlton Fisk dh
Ted Sizemore 2b
Glenn Hoffman 3b
Gary Allenson c

And Bruce Hurst was the starting pitcher. Skip Lockwood got the win and Dick Drago got the save as the Red Sox, down 8-6 in the bottom of the 8th came back with 3 runs to go ahead 9-8. They held on for the win in the 9th. Unfortunately, all I have is the box score. If anybody finds, or knows the details of this game, let us know.

Boston Marathon reference: http://www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=120