The New Sports Illustrated Revisits the BPD Officers From Their Marathon Issue

Sports Illustrated released the cover image for their November 11 issue Tuesday, and it’s a cool idea: They mark the Red Sox’ World Series win by featuring the same three Boston Police Department officers that appeared on the April 22 cover in the wake of the Boston Marathon attack.

Originally the officers Rachel McGuire, Javier Pagan and Detective Kevin McGill were pictured with weapons drawn, running on Boylston Street in the confusing moments after the attack. A fallen Marathon runner lay at their feat.  The photo was taken by the Boston Globe’s John Tlumacki and SI’s use of it brought their cover acclaim as one of the better treatments of the tragedy. This time around, the three officers look a bit calmer, standing beside David Ortiz on the field of Fenway Park.

SI’s issue hits newsstands Wednesday, and the headline sounds like the story accompanying the image focuses on the team and its unifying role in the months since the attacks. The cover line reads: “Finest Hour: From a team divided to a city united. From worst to first: Papi and the 2013 Red Sox.” An SI.com blogpost excerpts the story by Tom Verducci:

If any one person were to lead the Red Sox and — given the team’s cultural importance in New England — by extension Bostonians through a terrible time, it was a man with an outsized capacity for resilience.

However much the story does or doesn’t focus on them, using the same officers that appeared that week in April really does make for a cool before-and-after shot to demonstrate the change in mood brought to this city in part by the Sox’ improbable performance.