The 1967 Impossible Dream Boston Red Sox team captured fans’ hearts and imaginations, and began a 40-year love affair with the team that shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. Two members of that team_pitcher Jim Lonborg and shortstop Rico Petrocelli_were at the Baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday as part of a Legends Series event held in the Grandstand Theater honoring the team Saturday afternoon.

Lonborg was one of two indispenseable members of the team, accumulating a record of 22-9 while winning the Cy Young Award that season. The other was Hall of Fame outfielder Carl Yastrzemski, won won the Triple Crown in 1967, hitting .326 with 44 home runs and 121 runs batted in. Just for good measure, Yaz also led American League outfielders in assists while winning a Gold Glove in left field. No one has won the Triple Crown since.

To appreciate the Red Sox 1967 season, one first has to realize where they came from, said event moderator Curt Smith. Boston finished last in 1966, completing a miserable five year run for the team.

``The fans hated us,’’ said Petrocelli of Boston fans pre-1967. ``They used to come to batting practice and yell at us and I think if they had shotguns they would have shot us.’’

That all changed in ’67.

``We played well the second half of the ’66 season,’’ said Lonborg. ``The big key was Carl. He was the first athlete to start conditioning in the off season, and it really paid dividends. In those days, most of us had to work in the off season, and didn’t pick up a glove until the day before spring training. But Carl started to change all that. He was an incredibly hard worker.’’

Lonborg said the turning point for the Red Sox occurred midway through the season when they went a perfect 10-0 on a road trip.

``When we returned home and were flying into Logan Airport, we had to be diverted to another runway because 10,000 fans were waiting for us,’’ he said. ``That’s when we realized that things had changed and we were having a special season.’’

Petrocelli remembered a particular game in August, when Boston trailed the California Angels 8-0, and rallied for a 9-8 victory.

``We were in the dugout saying we’re not going to lose, and we actually came back and won,’’ Petrocelli said. ``That’s the kind of season it was, we just found a way to win all the close ones.’’

Still, the pennant wasn’t decided until the final game of the regular season.

Fittingly, Lonborg was scheduled to pitch against the Minnesota Twins on that final Sunday.

The Twins had handed him three of his nine regular season losses, but Lonborg started what proved to be game-winning rally with a bunt single leading off the bottom of the sixth that eventually led to a five-run inning.

Lonborg pitched a complete game, with Petrocelli catching the final out on a pop-up.

With the victory, and a Tigers loss to the White Sox, Boston clinched the pennant and advanced to the World Series against Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals. Besides hall of Fame pitcher Gibson, the Cardianls also had eventual Hall of Famers Lou Brock and Orlando Cepeda on that team.

``No one really gave us a chance, but we thoight we could win,’’ Petrocelli said.

After losing Game One, Lonborg won game Two, pitching a one-hitter in the process. Lonborg also won Game Five, and after the Cardinals won game Six, Lonborg faced Gibson in Game 7, pitching on just two days rest. The Cardinals won,

``Gibson wasn’t going to be denied that year,’’ Lonborg said. ``He was ferocious.’’

Both Lonborg and Petrocelli said the ’67 season was their most enjoyable in baseball.

Petrocelli, then a third baseman, also played for the Red Sox in 1975 when they lost to the Cincinnati Reds in seven games in what many say was the most exciting World Series ever. The Red Sox won their first World Series since 1919 in 2004, and Red Sox Nation seems to be an ever-increasing group of fans.

``That 1967 season was the spark for the enormous popularity of the Red Sox,’’ Lonborg said. ``I don’t think any of us realized the signifigance while we were playing, but it’s a great baseball legacy for all of us.’’