By LARRY AMES
Ventura County Star

The sports staff of The Boston Globe celebrated a month of intensive coverage of the Red Sox' drive to a championship with champagne as the "Victory Edition" was rolling off the presses.

On the shelf next to Boston Globe assistant managing editor/sports Joe Sullivan's desk is a single bottle of champagne.

Amid all the baseball postseason coverage, special sections, commemorative bats, pins, DVDs, books and glossy souvenir photos that chronicled the daffy month of October 2004 and the Boston Red Sox's incredible drive to their first World Series championship in 86 years, the single bottle of champagne will long recall The Globe's celebratory mood in the early hours of October 28, 2004, after the paper's so-called Victory Edition was rolling off the presses.

"We popped the corks on the champagne early that morning," recalled Sullivan, whose staff had just completed a month of coverage that may never be equaled in terms of coverage for a single team's drive for a title.

For the month, The Globe had fed the reading frenzy of Red Sox Nation. The Atlanta Braves may claim to be America's Team, but the Red Sox own the six New England states and hold the hearts of countless numbers of expatriates worldwide. With 60 colleges in the Greater Boston area, there are millions around the world who have become part of Red Sox Nation during their four years in college.

The Globe sold more than a million copies on Oct. 28, more than double the daily press run on the day after Boston swept St. Louis. "They kept the presses rolling and they kept sending papers to the newsstands," said Sullivan.

On Boston.com, The Globe's Web site, a normal day is 5-6 million hits. On the day after the clinching victory, Boston.com recorded an incredible 21 million hits.

"We chronicle the hits by hour," said John Burke of the Boston.com staff, "and you could see early in the morning that day, the count from Europe was rolling in early, then the West Coast."

Sullivan, who assumed the duties as Globe sports editor from Don Skwar earlier in the year, said there was intense pressure to produce because of The Globe's tradition of excellent sports coverage. The paper had often been voted the No. 1 sports section in the country (when APSE actually named a No. 1 and not just a Top 10) and has been a Triple Crown winner (Top 10 daily, Sunday and special sections) in the APSE annual judging much of the time.

"When the World Series started, I ran into Jack O'Connell of the baseball writers group," said Sullivan. "He asked me how many writers we had covering the Series. I told him we had 10. His response was, 'Skwar had 12 in '86.' I began to wonder if we had enough."

But Sullivan needn't have worried. His staff of 10 writers and five photographers ably chronicled the Series.

View some selected covers of the Boston Globe during the ALCS and World Series: Oct. 21 (A) Oct. 21 (sports) Oct. 28 Oct. 31

The Globe had special sections for the ALDS, the ALCS and the World Series. It had special coverage in advance and after the parade, attended by approximately 3.2 million people. It ran a commemorative section.

But Sullivan's writing staff was tested the most on game days. Being in the Eastern time zone and with most games starting after 8 p.m., The Globe was unable to get the final result in its first edition. That meant the writing staff had to produce additional stories and columns for the early edition, which was a much harder task than usual because clubhouse access was not as open as during the regular season.

"We had a game plan to produce certain stories of interest for each game," said Sullivan.

For beat writer Bob Hohler, game day meant a running story and early notebook, followed by the game story and another notebook. Columnists Dan Shaughnessy, Jackie MacMullan and Bob Ryan and On Baseball columnist Gordon Edes wrote early pieces, as did veteran John Powers, who covered the opposition viewpoint. After the game, the postgame columns, sidebars and notebooks had to be written.

For the first time since 1918, the Boston Red Sox won a World Series championship. The Boston Globe fed the frenzy of Red Sox Nation through the World Series march. The Globe, on the day after the Red Sox swept St. Louis to win the World Series title: Sold more than a million copies of the Oct. 28 paper, 400,000 than double the daily press run. Recorded 21 million hits on its Web site, Boston.com.

Sullivan also cited the Globe sports copy desk. "They did an incredible job, particularly assistant sports editor Ken Fratus," said Sullivan.

For Sullivan, The Globe's coverage was more than just a task. "We were recording a historical story," he said. "It was journalism at its best."

Sullivan also said it was a great moment for The Globe newsroom "because we had tremendous cooperation and help from news side. We could not have done it all without their help."

Needless to say, Globe management was happy, too. "The Red Sox story was good for journalism and for business," said Sullivan.

In a time of declining circulation and circulation scandals, The Globe's success with the Red Sox story also showed the importance of a newspaper in a city and region.

Now that the month that produced no days off and 10-14-hour days for most of the sports staff is over, Sullivan and Co. can relish the memories. And if Sullivan needs any reminders, he can always look up at his shelf and see that lone bottle of champagne.

Larry Ames is assistant sports editor of the Ventura County (California) Star. He is an avid member of Red Sox Nation, Boston born and bred, and was assistant sports editor/schools for The Boston Globe for 16 years.