2 World Championships
6 Playoff Appearances
Millions of eternally grateful fans

How ya doin Tito? Well I hope. You deserve the best of the best and surely hope you get it. Thank you for taking the bitterness out of Sox fandom and giving us all years of good gamesmanship and hope! I look forward to your wit and baseball smarts - it will be a nice change....Aloha

You da man, thanks Tito. Winning that first World Series is an amazing memory for me!

Tito, you were a great manager and showed yourself to be even greater human being. Thank you for bringing two championships to Boston. Thank you for being honorable in all your doings. God bless you, and your family, and may your son come home safely. Semper Fi to him from an old Marine.

I just wanted to thank you for how great of a job you did as the Red Sox Manager. In my opinion, people are going so crazy over this Septermber thing, but aren't saying what needs to be said. You managed the team to two World Series wins. You'd been with the team so long, I feel like my Aunt got divorced and I'm losing my cool bald uncle.

Best Wishes

Thanks much, Tito.

You did a great, incredible job.

Here's to you enjoying your time off and broadcasting.

We owe you a lot and you will be missed.

thanks Tito, my Earthday Birthday Buddy~~

I am a diehard Yankees fan, but still offer thanks to Tito for 1) putting together great foils for my boys; 2) being classy enough/in the mode of Torre so that my hatred for the sox could be mitigated with objective admiration; 3) being a beacon of dignity during a sloppy time in baseball's evolution.

Happy trails!

Thank you for being the greatest red sox manager of my lifetime. You did a fantastic job entertaining the fans, protecting the players from the media spotlight, dealing with management and producing a consistently winning team. Plus, you did it all while staying humble and true to yourself. We in Red Sox nation will always be in debt to you for all you did for us.

I don't think I have the words...except, thank you for EVERYTHING. I will forever treasure the opportunity I had to say that to you in person this last Spring Training.

I will always love my Red Sox, but a piece of my heart left with you.

-- Francine

After 2003, I was so desparate and despondent that I almost gave up on one of my true passions in life - the Red Sox. You steadied the ship. You never gave up. I will never forget your post-game comments during the 2004 ALCS. You gave everything you had to the players, the team, the city and the organization. You brought us 2 World Series Championships!!! We will never forget you -- THE BEST RED SOX MANAGER EVER!! good luck and god bless!

Terry,

Thank you.

You managed a group of men to do what had become nearly impossible.

Then you did it again.

That you did it all with grace and humour in what must be the toughest scrutiny of any sports team in any markets is amazing. That you did that without ever throwing any one under the bus, be that a player, an opponent, management or the fans is next to impossible to believe.

But belief is what you gave us all.

Thank you,

Shep

Thanxz for it all Tito. You guided a team to greatness. The Red Sox are responsible for some of the most joyful moments in my life. Thank you for helping bring those moments to me.

My best memory of you, Tito, was from a spring training game in Bradenton in 2009. Ramon Ramirez came in to start an inning. Ramirez had been going through a rough spell, and the first batter he faced drilled a double to left center. It was easy to see from his body language that he was pretty discouraged -- but he bore down, retired the next three batters, and escaped the inning unscathed (or at least unscored upon). When Ramirez came off the mound, I saw you come all the way from your perch (behind home plate) down the third-base line to greet him at the far end of the bench, just to give him a pat on the back and tell him, "Good job!" You may not have seen it, but Ramon was visibly pumped up by the recognition and encouragement.

The poor guy wasn't as successful with the Red Sox as we would have liked, but I'm sure he gave his all for a genuinely supportive manager.

I wish I could say that for all of the 2011 Sox.

Thank you for the class that you consistently displayed, your humor, your dedication, and your honesty. For managing a group of highly paid, highly competitive, highly talented guys and somehow finding the right balance between simply letting them use their God given abilities and motivating them when it was called for. Thank you for the way that you dealt with the media in a town that can be unfair and opinionated – sometimes dishonestly. Thank you for embracing Red Sox Nation (and allowing Red Sox Nation to embrace you). We care deeply about our team and appreciate it when someone joins the organization that cares too. Thank you for two World Series Championships, for exorcizing the ghosts of the past, for redeeming wonderful players and teams that came so close, and for fulfilling a dream that so many Mom’s and Dad’s shared with their kids (and vice versa). Thank you for the pride that I feel when I wear my Red Sox cap (or shirts, or jackets, or sweat shirts, etc…). For the pleasure it gives me when someone stops me and wants to talk about the team. Winning is great, but you gave us more than that… teams that won the right way, teams that played hard and worked through the grind of 162 games, while still being teams that were fun to watch… “The Idiots”, Dave Roberts stealing second, Manny being Manny, Schilling’s bloody sock, Jacoby stealing home, Tek punching A-Rod, Papi’s smile, Pedey’s f-bombs, Papelbon doing his river dance on the field, Youk’s stance, Gonzo’s swing… In short the teams that you managed were teams that we were proud of. Whatever you do now, I hope it brings you as much joy as you have brought to so many of us.

Thanks man. You don't have a hoody thing going, like Belichick, or get all angry or red in the face like others, or have an unpronouncable name. Actually you were quite boring in your time here.

But, none of that matters because you did something that even working with Tim McCarver can never take away. You got a bunch of teary eyed men and women and children and old guys and gals the World Series Trophy... not once, but twice. I mean, once really would have been enough too, but twice.

Sad to see you go, but I have no doubt that you'll soon be back somewhere making everyone here wince as you're kicking the Red Sox's butts (that's still how it still works, Championships or no Championships). So. Thanks man! You rock!!

I was 10 years old when you were hired by the Red Sox. I didn’t know what to think of you at first, but after seeing a picture in the newspaper of you and Nomar Garciaparra together at some event, I remember thinking, “Well if my favorite player seems to like him, I’m sure I will, too.” In your first season you managed to accomplish what no one else in the history of the game had, and delivering New Englanders what they craved so badly in the most thrilling, implausible fashion. You finished with the most playoff appearances in team history and the second-most wins, managed personalities and egos with astonishing grace and persistence. The way you always had your players backs spoke volumes about the type of person you are. Tito, you’re a great man and were the perfect person for this franchise. I’m sorry it had to end this way. I’m sorry your players abused your approach that worked for so long; that’s on them, not you. I’m sorry that you feel like you let people down; though I can only speak for myself, I don’t feel let down at all by you; quite the opposite, in fact. You did things here that were unprecedented, and your constant and consistent success, patience and rationality shined through. I truly respected and admired your managerial style and your loyalty and care for your players. Red Sox fans wish you nothing but the absolute best; you will always be immensely appreciated and beloved in Boston, and sorely missed. We will always, always be grateful. Good luck, god bless, and once again, thank you.

When I was but a lad (seventeen years old), Calvin Schiraldi and others crushed me. Later that week, I was wearing a Red Sox cap at the local mall in upstate NY. A woman whom I would guess was in her mid-sixties saw me and said, "They may not win it in my lifetime, but they will in yours," So many thanks for proving her right. I hope she was also still alive. We used to salute "One of the 25" as they departed, but now I salute one of the one. You have been special here, I'm sure you know that.

Sadness is not the usual emotion Red Sox fans have when the team's manager loses (or leaves) his job. That's simply another one more reason why Terry Francona was unique.

He accepted the job as Red Sox manager shortly after the abrupt and soul-crushing end to the 2003 season, with the fans' frustration and the intensity of the rivalry with the Yankees at an all-time high. The first four months of the 2004 season were maddeningly ordinary, and he must have been under an unfathomable amount of pressure (in that season, and in every season since).

But we learned he was the perfect man for the job. Francona was open to progressive ideas, he grasped the Nation's connection with the team almost immediately, and although he maintained a close relationship with the front office, he could also be as goofy or irreverent as any of the players. Not living in Boston, I did not hear many of Francona's press conferences, but when I did, his interaction with the media, his responses and explanations and reassurances, were actually calming. He was an essential part of forever changing the way Red Sox fans feel about themselves, their team, and the game of baseball.

Of the Red Sox's 44 managers, Francona's "games over .500" record is the best in team history. And he became a cut-throat, no-bullshit "assassin" in October: 28-17 (.622) in post-season games and 8-0 in the World Series. Joe Cronin managed more seasons and won more games, but Francona is without question the greatest manager in Red Sox history.

He is also firmly on my list of Top 5 Red Sox - again, what long-time fan would have ever thought a manager could be as beloved as Tito - and I will be forever grateful for his steady, competent guidance of "my team". I've long said I wanted him to manage the Red Sox until he no longer wanted the job. Sadly, that day has come much quicker than I expected.

Terry Francona: I wish you as much joy and peace of mind in the years ahead as you gave me (and millions of other Red Sox fans) during those 11 exhilarating and unforgettable and surreal days in October 2004.

I'm grateful I was conscious, present, and accounted for during the entire eight year tour of duty that you managed the Red Sox.

I will never take for granted how great you were in Boston, and with Boston (players, fans, the 'Nation) while handling your job. To hear a manager speak without Bull Durham vagueness and sports clichés - and with directness, candor, passion, humor, and (yes, despite some differing opinions here) toughness and discipline - is extremely rare. And you did it for a goddamn baseball lifetime.

We always chime back to the amazing innings we witnessed in the 2004 post-season. During the comeback from 0-3 against NYY- a moment-to-moment existence where every fan's heart was raw on their collective sleeves, as bloody as Schilling's sock. Hearts that first beat slow at what always inexorably happened in the past, but then quivered as you ground it out, inching us closer to believing in a grand new future with each pitch, swing, inning, and out in those playoffs, until our hearts pounded and burst when you delivered the extraordinary conclusion and catharsis of a world championship in my lifetime.

THAT'S how I will always view you as manager of this team, and this town. You are as much soul and spine of this team as anyone else that wore the laundry.

By my reckoning you left it all out on the field every moment, every pitch, and every night, for damn near 1300 regular season games, most of which I saw, listened to, read, talked about, and posted about. And while I'm sad that I won't take that same journey/odyssey as a fan with a future Red Sox manager ever, ever again, I'm happy I have these eight years as your Boston legacy.

The best manager that the Red Sox have had in my lifetime, and my wife's "favorite player" is gone. I really hope the "I just felt it was time for a new voice" bit is legitimate, and not "you're gone, how do you want to go about it to save face for us all?" PR crap.

In either case, I will always be thankful for how Terry Francona managed for the long haul, managed the media, and presented himself as the manager of the Red Sox. Even when we know he absolutely had to be worried internally, he projected calm. Not the "ignorance is bliss" calm of Grady Little, but the "Relax, we've got this" calm of a man who knew that the team would win that day, even when they didn't. All the little added color - the banter with David Ortiz, the relationship with Pedroia, the famous quote about Youk - made following the team just a little bit more enjoyable. I didn't always agree with Francona's moves, but after 2004, I pretty much always trusted him to have *a* reason for whatever he did, and that made me trust him on the "distant but still present" emotional fan level. I appreciated the class of never throwing players under the bus, even when we later found out (or were led to believe) that one or more of those players desperately deserved to get eviscerated. I wish Francona only the best in all of his future endeavors...unless he goes to the Yankees someday, of course, in which case I'll wish him a speedy and blissful retirement.