the bushy beards, the free spirited approach, the way they uplifted their city during the boston bombings. now, spring training has arrived and the boys are back. i spoke with three of the players who make up the heart of the club, johnny gomes, mike napoli, and david ross.

what is it like to be all back together again? >> you know as cliche as it sounds it was like being away from your family for four months. it was good to be back in the little safety nest that we built. >> you seem so close. >> i'll be talking to these guys hopefully when i'm 70 if they're still alive. >> everything you think you will -- >> i will be, i will be. >> your manager, john ferrell, said he had to do a little bit of a double take, especially seeing the difference. we got the side by side here. i mean, you know, this is not the same person when you look at the side by side photos. >> well, free agency here. you know, shave some years off, you know? so yeah, the whole thing was a setup. >> did anybody say wait, i don't quite recognize you? >> yeah, i had to pick them up the first day.

and when i was driving i couldn't even look at them. i wanted to talk to you. it was like -- driving, looking out the side of my eyes and it was just different. >> you didn't shave, you trimmed a little bit but you didn't shave. >> i mean, i liked it. i don't know, it is matter of me and i don't think i have a wife like these guys. >> i did shed a tear when i cut mine off. i was like man what did i just do? it was a lot of work to get that thing where it was. >> do you think if you hit a rough patch in the season maybe the fears are going to start to come out again? >> no, i mean, there was a couple of rough patches with the beard. we didn't want to take it off but -- >> my career is a rough patch. >> i tell you what, at the end of the day it is time to turn the page. there are some great athletes and ball players behind these beards. >> you guys had so many reasons to bring you guys together. and then of course the boston marathon bombing so early in the

season. what do you remember about that day and how the news kind of filtered to you? >> first thing that came to my mind, somebody left the gas on or there was an explosion or an electrical box blew up. everybody was on the phone. we were trying to call our families. we didn't know what was going on. cell phones not working. just a weird feeling. we didn't really know what to do. >> we had two buses going this way. and then just getting passed by fire trucks and ambulances and police cars. >> you guys were heading out to cleveland. >> we're going to cleveland, and obviously, the bomb explosion and now we're getting on the airplane. you know, the one thing you fear the most. >> and then by the time we got to cleveland i never saw as quick a turn around by these guys. i mean, the responsibility we felt as a team to come together, like this is a tough time, let's go out here and show them what

the red crosox is about. let's represent boston in the right way. >> you guys represented boston, in such an intrinsic way, that you were there, you were something reliable that people could hold onto. >> we were trying to do something good so that they could get their minds off it for a couple of hours. >> i thought there was a mindset, the civilians, maybe not coming to the game because of the safety. but that place was just packed. >> and after you guys won, one of the great traditions in boston, the great deck boat parade. and you laid down at the marathon finish line that trophy. >> yeah, i mean, that was unbelievable. >> god bless america. ♪ ♪ ♪ not many you know, parade championship parades that you

know, come to a halt. you know the fact that we put the world series trophy, put a bandaid on that. now people can go to that area and say that is where we put the world series trophy versus that is where the bomb went off. so i think that was extremely important. >> and it was a moment that during all the celebration and all the parade and everybody screaming for us, everything stopped like johnny said. this is what it was really about, this was important to us. >> and you guys are going to be playing again when they run the boston marathon just a few weeks from now. it is a tradition, the red sox play, that is how tied up you guys are in that event. what do you think it is going to be like? >> it is definitely -- i know for me personally, i'm about the nonrunner on the team. if i was playing baseball that is how i would want to run. that is how i feel tied to the city and the marathon, i would

be a part of that. >> when they do run, that is going to be the time where they pass around the fifth inning. don't be surprised if you see some of the players turn around and wave. all right, coming up we'll have much more from the red sox, and more from the talk show host, jimmy fallon. hey, buddy? oh, hey, flo. you want to see something cool? snapshot, from progressive. my insurance company told me not to talk to people like you. you always do what they tell you? no...

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i don't want to. >> you're tasting food from three weeks ago. >> we had some fun talk show appearances. >> thank you, red sox first baseman mike napoli for walking around boston shirtless after the world series parade, thereby earning the name mike "nip-oli". >> i would do it again. >> better him than one of us. because we might have been naked. >> that is how the text messages started. is mike alive? let's just make sure mike is okay. >> it was a good month. >> is mike nipoli going to catch on? what is the mentality like? >> clubhouse, and -- >> do you think there has been a little bit of a culture change in baseball because of your team last year?

>> i think so i mean, they're still not talking about our pitches. they're still not. >> it is just ironic how the team worked out, we didn't have one guy in the top ten cy young, one guy in the mvp, but we had the best team. you know at the end of the day i think it is a message to us that that works. that works 100%. >> as you now try to go out in the world and try to do this again you know that the record is not good. the world series hangover, no red sox team has made it back there after winning the year before. >> we're the second team in the history of the game to go from the worst to win the world series, so we already covered the impossible. to be able to roll into spring training with the worst record and set a goal to win the world series, it is either stupid or you guys are awesome. turns out we're awesome. so -- you know, the impossible has taken away. so i think we're up for the challenge. >> certainly sounds like they are, and we will talk pitching for a moment, too, red sox

right-hander john lackey who was just tremendous during the playoffs, he was just one of four pitchers who wouldn't even be playing baseball anymore if not for the procedure called tommy john surgery, named after dr. jobe, the surgery literally changed the entire course of the sport of baseball. and dr. jobe died yesterday at the age of 88, but i am now joined by tommy john, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me, rachel. >> tommy, you blew out your arm in 1974, and at the time, what was the prognosis that you got about whether or not you would ever pitch again. >> well, dr. jobe told me you really don't need the surgery, but i can tell you 100% if you don't have it you will never pitch major league baseball again. i said okay, if i have it, what

are the chances? i said give me numbers, i was a math a major in college. he said 2 or 3%, i was also valedictorian of my class, and said here are the numbers, dr. jobe was a genius, but he said no, we can't do the surgery until all the schedules line up and we can do the operation together. i said why, he said because i don't know what i'm doing and i need as many skilled surgeons as i can to open you up. the minute he said that, i said you're my doctor, let's go for it. >> well, we know he was a career saver, but what kind of a man was he? >> the most humble man, he has the right to thump his chest and

say, yeah, i did. he never used the word "i," he always said well, we did this, we did that. instead of a funeral, he wants to have a celebration of life at dodgers stadium. and what we're going to try to do is try to get as many tommy john recipients to come together and have a celebration of life. have a tribute, and take a picture in honor of dr. jobes. >> wow, that is amazing, how valuable were the surgeries he conducted in changing baseball? >> three people in my opinion altered the face of baseball, jackie robinson breaking the color barrier, marvin miller breaking the reserve clause and getting free agency for the players and frank jobe for coming up with tommy john surgery. those guys changed the face of baseball forever. >> well, thank you, tommy, we really appreciate you being here

with us. >> thank you for having me, rachel. >> all right, coming up after the break, we'll have more on the development of the oscar pistorius trial. possibly south africa's most famous athlete, now on trial for murder. stick around. people don't have to think about where their electricity comes from. they flip the switch-- and the light comes on. it's our job to make sure that it does. using natural gas this power plant can produce enough energy for about 600,000 homes. generating electricity that's cleaner and reliable, with fewer emissions-- it matters. ♪

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valedictori welcome back to "unguarded." those of you watching cnn tonight saw our special on oscar pistorius, the paralympic hero who ran alongside able bodied olympic hero. you have known and covered oscar since he was 17 years old. that is ten years. what has it been like for you to just watch him on trial for murder? >> extraordinarily shocking. you have got to remember i covered what was a boy at the

age of 17 at the athens paralympic games, who had extraordinarily come into the world without the shin bones in his legs and he has been this fairy tale story of a boy who felt he could run fast. and i had seen him grow into a man and fight the course of arbitration with sports, who had grown and become a global figure for the paralympic movement. a poster boy for the paralympic movement. so if you like, very much a fairy tale. and obviously plunged now into what is now a horror story having shot and killed his girlfriend. when you know someone in that situation, i have dealt with him dozens of times you begin to wonder if you really knew the person or not. >> and let's talk about this fall from grace. the perspective in what you would compare it to, we've seen

o.j. simpson and lance armstrong, is that on this level? >> it is definitely on this level. if you know south africa you know that they really hero worship their sports stars. and this young man was one of the iconic sports stars in south africa. this is a massive, massive trial. and of course, no jury and cameras in there. it is like the world is the jury in this case. >> did you see any signs of anything like that coming, anything in his temperament? >> i always found him honest and always found him open. when he was trying to qualify for the 2008 olympic games i sat in his hotel room with a previous girlfriend on his hotel bed chatting to her while he went into the bathroom to change into his evening legs for us to go out to dinner. and things like that have gone through my mind. >> he has had issues with guns before, is that correct? >> yeah, he has, he was stopped

once in an airport where there was a sort of gunshot residue in his clothes. there is a slight sort of pleasure he takes from this whole process being arrested and being checked. and it was just a mistake in the end. he had been at a range and shooting and some of the residue had had gotten onto his clothes and it was picked up by the airport, kind of testing indicators, if you like. >> do you have any sense how this will play out, what will happen here? >> you will know yourself, rachel, you get to know athletes over a period of time. we lionized him because of this extraordinary stroeory, almost e a miracle, he will always be tainted as the fastest man on no legs who killed his girlfriend no matter how the trial plays out. >> yeah, certainly a tragedy and a stunning turn of vevents for people who been watching him for years. thank you. all right, after this break, we'll introduce you to a young

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. welcome back to "unguarded." i'm rachel nicoles, this day it is not unheard of for girls to compete alongside boys in traditional sports. but competing is one thing, consistently beating them, that is another. cnn correspondent tom foreman brings up the name of one who is off of her third consecutive championship. >> reporter: on the mat, she is fast, fierce and female. it is a rare sight even now in this overwhelmingly male sport. but julie ernst is a rare soul, a young woman boeating the boys at their own game. how did you start wrestling? >> well, i started to wrestle because i had a great older

brother who would beat me up before dinner, and i decided i needed to defend myself. >> reporter: by freshmen year, the others had quit and julie stood alone. >> despite the fact that i have supportive teammates and coaches it is still weird to walk in a room and be the only person of your type. >> so when you had matches at other schools you encountered that. >> you can't really make nicknames for each other, talk about whatever cool moves you learned in practice. >> all right, julie. >> yet encouraged by her parents who were into martial arts she started winning over and over again. sparking a range of reactions, some boys would outright refuse to wrestle her, others? >> they're coming into the mat with the sense of pride and sense of superiority, they are male and therefore they're going to win the match, if i do end up

beating them often those are the kids that are going to go off and cry in the corner or be ashamed or have parents that come and yell at them. >> tell me what people find surprising about you. >> that i am feminine, i'll go to wrestling camps with boys, wearing the gear, and later on they will find me on facebook and won't believe that it is me. >> maybe that is because away from the gym she can be all smiles and charm. but on the mat she is all business. just ask her coach. >> she is one of the hardest working wrestlers i have ever met. the harde erest person is have met. whether it is schoolwork or athletics, she just goes as hard as she possibly can. >> that wins tournaments and fans. with the season winding down, julia, a team captain faced one match to become the winningest

wrestler in the school's history. >> everybody was on their feet shouting, julia, julia, and when she won, women were literally crying, people jumping up and down to see this victory. she has all of these comments, people saying that she is a trail blazer for women. >> her little brother may soon eclipse her record, but for now she reigns supreme, all against men. >> when you hear your coach talk about your record at your school, what do you think? >> i'm happy, very happy. i do a little bit of a happy dance maybe. >> her grades are impressive, too, so next fall she is off to harvard with hopes of wrestling

at the club level where she knows boys will be boys and she is convinced she will still be the girl who can beat them. >> great career. >> tom foreman, cnn, washington. >> love the idea of that happy dance, julia, you deserve it. all right, that is going to be it for us tonight but you can follow us on twitter, like us on facebook or visit us on the we be at cnn.com/unguarded. and of course you can find us here tomorrow night at unguarded where the end of the game is just the start of the story. good night. a religious zealot. >> god speaks to me. >> in waco, texas. >> he claimed that he was the lamb of god.