Few and Chosen Red Sox: Defining Red Sox Greatness Across the Eras
208
Few and Chosen Red Sox: Defining Red Sox Greatness Across the Eras
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781617490576 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Triumph Books |
| Publication date: | 04/01/2004 |
| Series: | Few and Chosen Series |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 208 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
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Read an Excerpt
Few and Chosen
Defining Red Sox Greatness Across the Eras
By Johnny Pesky
Triumph Books
Copyright © 2004 Johnny Pesky Phil PepeAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-61749-057-6
CHAPTER 1
Catcher
The moment is frozen in time, vivid forever in the mind's eye of every long-suffering Red Sox fan. It was Game 6 of the 1975 World Series between the Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds, "the Big Red Machine." Cincinnati was ahead in the Series, three games to two, and the score was tied, 6–6, as we came to bat in the bottom of the twelfth. We had been down to our final four outs, faced with elimination, when Bernie Carbo hit one of the biggest home runs in Red Sox history, a dramatic, pinch-hit, three-run shot in the bottom of the eighth to tie the score.
Neither team scored in the ninth, and the game went into extra innings, the tension, especially in Boston, building with each pitch, each base runner, and each out. The tenth inning was scoreless. So was the eleventh, thanks to a great game-saving catch by right fielder Dwight Evans who leaped high to take a home run away from Joe Morgan.
In the top of the twelfth, Rick Wise came in to pitch for us. He was the 34 player in the game and the 12 pitcher. Wise got the dangerous Johnny Bench to foul to Carlton Fisk, who made a nice catch leaning over the railing into the crowd. But Tony Perez and George Foster got back-to-back singles, and the Reds had runners on first and second. Wise got Dave Concepcion to fly to right and threw a third strike past Cesar Geronimo, and the Red Sox had dodged another bullet.
1. CARLTON FISK
2. SAMMY WHITE
3. BIRDIE TEBBETTS
4. RICH GEDMAN
5. JASON VARITEK
Fisk was the first batter in the bottom of the twelfth against right-hander Pat Darcy, the Reds' eighth pitcher of the game who had come in to pitch the tenth. On Darcy's second pitch, Fisk hit a towering drive down the left-field line. I was coaching at first base; Don Zimmer was coaching at third. When the ball was hit, I could see right away that it was deep enough and high enough to get over the left-field wall. There was no doubt it had the distance, it was just a matter of whether it would stay inside the foul pole. Because I was watching the ball, I didn't see Fisk's act in the batter's box, but I have seen the replay at least 100 times. Pudge was standing at home plate watching the ball. His body was leaning to the right, and he began to head for first base waving his arms toward right field as if to help keep the ball fair. The ball hit the foul pole, Fisk started skipping and hopping around the bases, and Fenway Park was going wild.
Pudge could do everything you want in a catcher. He could run (in 1972, he led the American League in triples with nine), he could throw, and he could hit with power. He called a good game behind the plate, was a great handler of pitchers, and, when he wasn't hurt, caught every day.
Fisk's home run, one of the most dramatic and maybe the most replayed home run in baseball history, won the game, 7–6, and forced a sudden-death seventh game, which we lost, 4–3, when Morgan hit a bloop single to center in the ninth to score Ken Griffey Sr. Another disappointment for the Red Sox.
For his home run alone, Fisk would merit a place on the all-time Red Sox team and in the Red Sox Hall of Fame. But Pudge was more than just a one-hit, one-game wonder. He had a Hall of Fame career and easily deserves to be selected as the greatest catcher in Red Sox history. No other catcher comes close.
Fisk's career spanned 24 seasons, 11 in Boston and 13 with the Chicago White Sox. He played in 2,499 games and caught more games, 2,226, than any other catcher in history. When he retired, Fisk had hit more home runs than any other catcher in history, 351 (although Mike Piazza will soon break that record).
Pudge could do everything you want in a catcher. He could run (in 1972, he led the American League in triples with nine), he could throw, and he could hit with power. He called a good game behind the plate, was a great handler of pitchers, and, when he wasn't hurt, caught every day. He didn't shirk his duties. Five times in his 11 years with the Red Sox, he caught more than 130 games. Twice, he caught more than 150. And he did it at the most demanding position on the field. That's why Pudge is in the Hall of Fame, where he belongs, and is first on my list of all-time Red Sox catchers.
After Carlton Fisk, it's pretty much a scramble among Red Sox catchers. The fact is, all other Red Sox catchers pale by comparison to Fisk. The Sox have had a lot of good catchers, some who were excellent defensively, others who were pretty good hitters. But nobody comes close to Fisk as an all-around catcher, as they say in football, on both sides of the ball.
When I joined the Red Sox, catching was the weak spot in our lineup, and the team kept changing catchers, looking for someone who was not only a good receiver but who could contribute to the offense.
In 1941, the year before I got there, they had Frankie Pytlak, who had come over after nine seasons in Cleveland, and Johnny Peacock. In 1942, my first year, we had Bill Conroy, who hit .200, and Peacock. In 1943, it was Roy Partee. Then came the war years. When I returned in 1946, our catcher was Hal Wagner. In 1947, we had Birdie Tebbetts, who manned the position for four years. Then in 1950 came Matt Batts, who didn't. He hit .273 and had only four home runs and 34 runs batted in while splitting time with Tebbetts. After Batts, we got Les Moss, who came from the St. Louis Browns and batted .198. He shared the position with Buddy Rosar, who hit .229.
In 1952, the year I was traded, Sammy White was just breaking in. He batted .281 that year and went on to be the Red Sox catcher for the next seven years, usually batting in the .260 — .280 range with from 10 to 15 home runs and from 40 to 70 runs batted in, which, at the time, made him the most productive catcher the Red Sox had ever had offensively. For that, I'll put him number two on my all-time list of Red Sox catchers.
I always had a soft spot for Birdie Tebbetts. He was a pretty good hitter and a good receiver, very smart. He wound up being a manager for Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Cleveland, and for years he was a scout. He also was one of the great storytellers with that Irish blarney of his.
We got Birdie from Detroit in a trade early in the 1947 season, and he was a veteran catcher who fit in well with our team. He had spent eight years as the catcher for some pretty good Tigers teams. When we got him, he was 34 and didn't have a lot left, but he had all that experience and intelligence behind the plate, and he could still hit; he was a .280 — .290 hitter without much power, and for a few years, he solidified our catching.
Rich Gedman might have been better served with another year or two in the minor leagues, but when Fisk left to sign with the White Sox, the Red Sox had no other option at catcher, so they gave the job to Gedman. He always had a good left-handed bat — he hit 24 home runs in 1984 and had 18 home runs and 80 RBIs in 1985 — and he made himself into a good receiver — good enough to spend 10 years as the Red Sox catcher and help them get to the World Series in 1986.
This kid we have now, Jason Varitek, has a chance to be an outstanding catcher. He's big and strong, 6'2', 210, and a switch-hitter. He reminds me a lot of Gedman in that he's a hard-nosed player, has a good home-run bat, and is a hard worker who has made himself into an excellent receiver. He plays the game the way it should be played, hard and without fear, which has cost him. He's been sidelined a lot with injuries. If he can stay healthy, he could be the best catcher we've had around here since Fisk
CHAPTER 2First Baseman
I WAS PRIVILEGED TO HAVE BEEN associated with some of the greatest players in baseball history, with Ted Williams, of course, being number one. And I am fortunate to have been a teammate, for one year, of another of the game's great sluggers, old double X, Jimmie Foxx, who was the first baseman when I joined the Red Sox in 1942.
At the time, only four men had ever hit 50 or more home runs in a season, when that was a rare and tremendous accomplishment. That was before the home-run explosion of recent years, with the smaller ballparks and stronger players and, maybe, a little help from the manufacturer causing baseballs to fly out of stadiums at will. Babe Ruth, of course, hit 50 or more home runs the most often, four times. Hack Wilson and Hank Greenberg each did it once, and Jimmie Foxx, Ruth's successor as the game's greatest slugger during the thirties, did it twice. He hit 58 with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1932 and 50 for the Red Sox in 1938, still the team record, and he hit at least 30 home runs for 12 consecutive years, a record that had lasted 62 years until it was equaled by Barry Bonds in 2003.
1. JIMMIE FOXX
2. CARL YASTRZEMSKI
3. MO VAUGHN
4. CECIL COOPER
5. WALT DROPO
Foxx came to the Sox in 1936, when Connie Mack, the owner/manager of the Athletics, started selling off his big stars and Jimmie was still a productive hitter. In his first five seasons in Boston, Foxx hit 198 home runs.
The thing about Foxx is that he wasn't just a slugger. He batted over .300 13 times, twice led the American League in hitting, and had a lifetime batting average of .325 over a 20-year career. In 1938, when he hit 50 home runs, with 175 runs batted in, and a .349 batting average, he struck out only 76 times.
Ted Williams loved Jimmie and admired him as a hitter. We'd go into Detroit and Ted would stand in the dugout and point to the upper deck in left field and, in that booming voice of his so that all the players could hear him, including Foxx, he'd say, "See there, Foxx hit one up there." We'd go to Yankee Stadium and Ted would point to the bullpen in left-center field, about 450 feet away, and say, "Foxx hit one in that bullpen."
Foxx wasn't very big, about 6' and 195 pounds, built kind of like Mickey Mantle, but he was very strong, and he could hit.
By the time I joined the Red Sox in 1942, Foxx was coming to the end of his career. His home runs had gone down from 36 in 1940 to 19 in 1941. The year I got to Boston, his eyesight was failing and he was striking out a lot. He was missing so many pitches, he just couldn't see. He even tried wearing glasses, but they didn't help. In June, he was sold to the Cubs, and he wound up hitting only eight home runs that year for both teams.
Foxx held on for two more years, finishing his career with the Phillies in 1945. That year, he played in only 89 games, mostly as a pinch-hitter, batted .268, hit seven home runs, drove in 38 runs, and retired after the season. He came back to Boston and had a radio show for a few years. I think Mr. Yawkey, the owner of the Red Sox, arranged for him to come back. Mr. Yawkey loved Foxx. Everybody did. What a guy. What a wonderful man.
Carl Yastrzemski is number two on my all-time list of Red Sox first basemen. Although he played that position just a short time, Yaz deserves to be mentioned as a first baseman as well as an outfielder. Twice, when the Red Sox needed a first baseman and had a surplus of outfielders, Yaz moved. He went there for one season in 1970 and then went back there for four seasons in 1973 when the trade for Danny Cater didn't work out. And he played a damn good first base.
This tells me a few things about Yaz. He was a team player, a competitor, and a great athlete. He switched positions because the team needed him at first, and he worked hard and learned the position well enough to make the All-Star team as a first baseman.
I'll have more to say later about Yaz, who ranks second to Ted Williams as the Red Sox's greatest player.
Letting Mo Vaughn get away is one of the great tragedies of Boston baseball — not as tragic as letting Babe Ruth get away, but right up there. When he left after the 1998 season, Mo was on his way to putting up Hall of Fame numbers. Losing him was bad not only for the Red Sox, it was bad for Mo, who hasn't been the same player since he left.
You would think that getting away from Fenway Park would have been good for Vaughn, a left-handed power hitter. But it wasn't. Mo thrived in Boston and was one of the most popular players ever to play for the Red Sox. The fans loved him, and small wonder they did. He hit at least 26 home runs for six straight years, including 39 in 1995, 44 in 1996, and 40 in 1998. He drove in 100 runs four times, including a league-leading 126 in 1995 and 143 in 1996. And he batted over .300 five straight years, including .337 in 1998, second in the American League.
Look at his final season in Boston, 1998. He had a .337 average, 40 home runs, and 115 runs batted in. With numbers like that, Vaughn thought he should get a long-term contract extension. Vaughn knew he was a good player, and he was a good player. He grew up in Connecticut and had made Boston his home. He wanted to stay, and the fans wanted him to stay, he was such a fan favorite. But the team had other ideas, and when the general manager refused to give Vaughn the kind of long-term contract he wanted, he walked away and signed with Anaheim. It was a mistake — a mistake by the Red Sox and a mistake by Mo.
In his first game with the Angels, he fell into the dugout chasing a foul pop and hurt his shoulder. He missed almost a month but still came back to hit 33 home runs and drive in 108 runs, and the next year he hit 36 homers and drove in 117. After that, he was traded to the Mets and had a terrible time in New York. His average slipped to .259, his home runs to 26, and his RBIs to 72. People said he was too heavy. But he always was heavy, 6'1", and about 250 pounds, give or take 10 or 20 pounds. He's just a big man. He's heavy, but he's strong. He was heavy when he played for the Red Sox, but nobody complained about his weight back then because he was putting up big numbers in average, home runs, and RBIs. It's a funny thing in baseball; when you're hitting home runs, you're a big man, but when you stop hitting home runs, you're too heavy.
Mo always could hit. He hit some balls as far as anybody. And he hit a lot of them. I don't care who the pitcher was — left-handed, right-handed, submariners, sidearmers — he hit them all.
Not only was he a good player, Mo was a leader who was looked up to by the other players. He was great in the clubhouse. If you ever had a hassle in the clubhouse, he was right there, and he settled it. When it came to getting things squared away in the clubhouse, Mo Vaughn was the Ted Williams of his time.
When he came up, baseball people whom I respect in the game said he would never be a big-league ballplayer. I had a big-league manager tell me Vaughn would never be a big-league ballplayer. I told him he was wrong because I had seen what Mo could do. He became a good ballplayer when he got to the big leagues. He worked very, very hard in the minor leagues. He did a lot of work with his fielding, and he became a very good fielder with good hands because of all his hard work.
To me, Mo was an angel, small a, when he was with the Red Sox. We got along great because Mo knew I was in his corner. Not only was he a good player, Mo was a leader who was looked up to by the other players. He was great in the clubhouse. If you ever had a hassle in the clubhouse, he was right there, and he settled it. When it came to getting things squared away in the clubhouse, Mo Vaughn was the Ted Williams of his time. There is no greater compliment I can pay a player.
Cecil Cooper was another first baseman the Sox let get away. What a great kid he was. The reason the Sox let Coop leave was we had a good ballclub in those years, but we needed a right-handed hitter. So we traded Cooper to Milwaukee for George Scott, who had been with us before.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Few and Chosen by Johnny Pesky. Copyright © 2004 Johnny Pesky Phil Pepe. Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword by Carl Yastrzemski,Preface by Phil Pepe,
Preface by Johnny Pesky,
Acknowledgments,
Introduction by Ben Affleck,
ONE Catcher,
TWO First Baseman,
THREE Second Baseman,
FOUR Shortstop,
FIVE Third Baseman,
SIX Left Fielder,
SEVEN Center Fielder,
EIGHT Right Fielder,
NINE Right-Handed Pitcher,
TEN Left-Handed Pitcher,
ELEVEN Relief Pitcher,
TWELVE Manager,
Index,