An East Boston native and a graduate of St. Mary’s High in the nearby suburb of Lynn, Tony Conigliaro got the opportunity to live the dream of New England school boys everywhere when he signed with the Boston Red Sox in September of 1962. With Boston’s intermediate Single-A affiliate in Wellsville, NY the following year, “Tony C,” as he was known later to Boston fans, tore through the Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York League (known today as the New York-Penn League), batting .363 with 24 home runs and 74 RBI in only 83 games. It was only too easy then for newly-crowned Boston manager Johnny Pesky to find a spot for the 19-year-old prodigy on the major league roster the following spring in Arizona. Less than a month later, stepping to the plate at Fenway Park for the first time, he took a pitch from Chicago White Sox pitcher Joe Horlen over the Green Monster and onto Lansdowne Street for his first career major league home run; with that, a legend was born.

By late July of his freshman campaign in the majors, Conigliaro had smashed 20 home runs and driven home 42 runs, but an errant pitch thrown by Cleveland’s Pedro Ramos on 26 July in the second game of a doubleheader sidelined the young outfielder for over a month. He eventually finished with a .290 average, a career high, 24 home runs, and 52 RBI in 111 games played, but the injury had ruined his chances to walk away with American League Rookie of the Year honors, which instead went to Tony Oliva. Over the next two seasons, he would continue to demonstrate remarkable power numbers at the plate, becoming the youngest player ever to win the home run crown in 1965 after collecting 32 long balls and hitting another 28 the following season.

1967 saw Conigliaro jump out to a strong start. Before a two-week stint on the disabled list in late May, he was batting .304 with two home runs and 15 RBI; when he returned, he hit eight home runs and drove home another 26 runs in the month of June while keeping his average close to .300. In July, he hit another nine round-trippers, highlighted by career number 100 in the first game of a doubleheader on 23 July off John O’Donoghue of Detroit to become the youngest player to reach that milestone. As Boston ended a road trip the same day having won ten straight to close within a half-game of first place, fans and the media were caught up in pennant fever and Conigliaro, along with his teammates, were on the verge of greatness.

Unfortunately, his part in the pursuit of a long-overdue championship for the franchise was instantly shattered on 18 August. Settled into the batter’s box in the bottom of the fourth inning at Fenway Park, California Angels pitcher Jack Hamilton threw his first pitch high and inside; Conigliaro never had a chance as the pitch struck his face below his left eye, causing his cheekbone to get crushed and his eye ball to implode. Conigliaro immediately dropped to the ground as coaches and players raced to his aid and the Fenway crowd sat in stunned silence. Conigliaro not only missed the rest of the “Impossible Dream” season but the 1968 campaign as well as he recovered from the devastating injury.

His return in 1969 earned him Comeback Player of the Year honors as he socked 20 home runs and plated 82 runs in 141 games; he followed that season with career-highs of 36 home runs and 116 RBI in 1970. To the surprise of everyone outside the organization, Boston traded the beloved Conigliaro that October to California, but he lasted just 74 games with the Angels in 1971 before he announced his retirement at age 26 due to lingering problems with his eyesight.

Not willing to hang up the cleats for good, Conigliaro made one last attempt to return to the game he loved. With the addition of the designated hitter’s position in 1974, he figured he might be able to make an impact with his bat for the club and told Boston in November of 1974 that his depth perception was back 100%. The following April, on Opening Day against Milwaukee at Fenway, 30-year-old Tony Conigliaro made his triumphant return to the Boston lineup and received four standing ovations, responding to the warmth of the crowd with a single in his first at-bat. However, the good times were short-lived as he appeared in only 21 games, batting just .123 with two home runs, before making his last appearance for the Red Sox on 12 June, grounding out to second in his last at-bat.

Following retirement, Conigliaro moved away to San Francisco and found work as a sportscaster on a local area television station. When a position became available to become a television analyst for the Red Sox, he jumped at the opportunity to return to his roots and flew back to Boston in early January 1982. Unfortunately, as he was being driven back to Logan Airport by his brother Billy to return to California, he suffered a massive heart attack that left him severely incapacitated. Tragically, he died in 1990 in Salem, MA; he was just 45 years of age.

After closing the gap for the lead in the American League pennant race to a half-game in late July, the Red Sox entered August 12 games over .500; in a month in which the team went 19-10, the highlight had been the club’s surprising ten-game win streak that took them from the middle of the American League standings to second place, two games out of first place. The team not only found itself in the midst of a late-season push for the post-season, but suddenly beloved by a region of fans that had, for the most part, ignored them for nearly a generation as they had floundered one season after the next; everyone from office workers to dock workers tuned in to listen to announcers Ken Coleman and Ned Martin over the radio and on television. The Red Sox no longer seemed like a team content to stay in the cellar; general manager Dick O’Connell and manager Dick Williams, almost like magic, had turned perennial losers into playoff contenders.

Even so, that magic was almost in danger of disappearing overnight just as August began. After winning six-of-eleven on a nine-day homestand that included two double-headers in three days, Boston stumbled at the start of a nine-game road trip by getting swept in Minnesota; in the series finale, Twins pitcher Dean Chance won a rain-shorted 2-0 contest in which he retired all 15 batters he faced as the Red Sox would suffer a series sweep for the first time all season. The team would then lose the opener of a three-game set in Kansas City before roaring back to win the last two games and surprisingly stay within one-and-a-half games of Chicago. Finally, with its last stop in California, Boston would suffer yet another surprise series sweep at the hands of the Angels that caused the team to drop one place in the standings each day. The Red Sox limped home from a 2-7 road trip not to be greeted by throngs of supporters at Logan Airport as the team had enjoyed only a few weeks earlier at the end of its ten-game winning streak; though still only 2-1/2 games out of first, some wondered if the celebration of the team’s success in July had been premature.

Returning to Fenway Park, the intimacy of home seemed to turn around the team’s fortunes. Over the next twelve games at home, Boston would win ten and enjoy a modest seven-game winning streak, the end of which vaulted the team into a first place tie with Chicago. Perhaps the only downside during the streak of good play was the tragic beaning of outfielder Tony Conigliaro on 18 August as the Red Sox opened a series with the Angels; inevitably, Conigliaro would not only miss the rest of the season but all of 1968 as well and problems with his eyesight from that point forward would eventually cost him his baseball career. Yet, even with the loss of a teammate, the young club chose to carry on; Boston held on to win that night, 3-2, and then exacted its revenge on many levels with a sweep of the four-game set, winning the dramatic final game of the series 9-8 after the Angels posted an early 8-0 lead. The Sox closed the homestand with four wins in a five-game series versus Washington and, just like that, moved into a tie for first place one week after falling behind by 3-1/2 games.

Back in the hunt, Boston jetted off to Chicago for an important series with a chief rival for the division crown. The two teams split a doubleheader to open the five-game set, highlighted by a dramatic 4-3 win in the first game for Boston as catcher Elston Howard, recently acquired from New York, blocked the plate on a high throw from right fielder Jose Tartabull and then tagged out the potential tying run at home with two outs in the ninth. The next day, Red Sox moved alone into first place the next day with a 6-2 win, the first time that Boston had been in sitting on top of the American League this late in the season since 1949.

Splitting the last two games of the Chicago series, Boston fell back into a tie for first with Minnesota and headed to New York to face the struggling Yankees. A win to open the series was followed by a double-header split with the Bronx Bombers that included a 20-inning contest in the second game, eventually won 4-3 by the home team. Even so, with Minnesota losing in Baltimore, the Red Sox jumped back into a half-game lead. Boston closed its series with another extra-inning affair, this time won by the visitors 2-1 on Carl Yastrzemski’s solo home run in the eleventh inning as Yaz broke out of a 0-for-18 slump after entering the game as a defensive replacement for George Thomas in the eighth inning, as the Red Sox jumped to a one-and-a-half game lead in the American League.

Boston would finish the month at 20-15 with a loss to Chicago to start a brief home series; though the team was alone in first place, the race was far from decided. With a month to play, four teams, Boston, Minnesota, Detroit, and Chicago, all had a shot to win the pennant, with only one-and-a-half games separating first place from fourth.

As Ted Williams closed one chapter in Red Sox history with his retirement from baseball after the 1960 season, Carl Yastrzemski was ready to write a new one for the franchise the following year. The man who would affectionately be known as “Yaz” by legions of Red Sox followers nearly signed a contract with New York, having been born on Long Island and spending his youth in the shadows on Yankee Stadium, but instead spent all 23 years of his career wearing a Boston uniform. Though he loathed being labeled the next Williams by the media, his impact was almost immediate with the Red Sox; despite the fact that his club never finished above .500 during his first six seasons in Boston, he averaged .294 at the plate, 16 home runs, and 77 RBI each season and was named to the All-Star team three times during that stretch. He was also named team captain during spring training in 1966, the first Red Sox player in 20 years to receive that honor since Bobby Doerr but, as with the comparisons to Williams, it was an honor he accepted reluctantly.

Less than a year later, with Dick Williams in charge of the club, Yastrzemski finally came of age as a leader on his team, though it would be after one of Williams’ first acts as manager, which was to strip the 27-year-old outfielder of his title as captain. Feeling that weight lifted off his shoulders, Yastrzemski took a different approach to his game and spent the off-season focusing on getting in top physical shape. Then, after starting the season off slow at the plate, he received some tips from Doerr, a legendary hitter in his day, which appeared to have a near-immediate impact. After batting .281 with only two home runs and 13 RBI through his first 25 games, Yaz hit at a .346 pace over his next 54 games through the All-Star break 1967 to raise his average to .324, hitting 17 home runs and driving home 43 in that stretch.

His exceptional play at the plate continued through the rest of the season, saving perhaps his best stretch for the final two weeks of the season as the team contended for the pennant; over the team’s final fourteen games, he batted an astonishing .451, getting 23 hits in 51 plate appearances while hitting another five home runs, driving home 16 runs, and crossing the plate 14 times. Not only had his bat been key in Boston winning its first pennant in 21 years, he had finished the season as the league leader in batting average and runs batted in (.326 and 121, respectively) while tying for the home run lead with 44 round-trippers, as Yastrzemski earned the batting Triple Crown and ran away with the American League Most Valuable Player award.

Steady production at the plate proved to be the norm for Yaz through his career; when he finally retired after the 1983 season, the 18-time All-Star finished with a lifetime batting average of .285, having hit better than .300 in six different seasons. He also managed to collect 3,419 hits, sixth all-time in major league history, and hit 452 home runs; as of 2007, he is the only American League player and the fourth player ever to collect 3,000 hits and 400 home runs, joining Stan Musial, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays. He also won seven Gold Gloves as an outfielder between 1963 and 1977, though he also saw many games at first base and, later in his career, as the designated hitter.

Unfortunately, much like Williams, opportunities to shine in October were rare during Yastrzemski’s tenure. Besides 1967, he appeared in baseball’s post-season only one other time with the Red Sox as a member of the 1975 pennant winners and made the most of his opportunity; in the AL championship series against Oakland, he batted .455 with a home run and two RBI while in the World Series, he batted .310 with four RBI. When Yaz finally hung up his cleats, he had played in 3,308 games for Boston, the most appearances by a player in a Red Sox uniform. Elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1989, he is also one of only five former Red Sox players to have his uniform number (8) retired.

In 1966, the Boston Red Sox began the month of July dead last in the American League at 27-47, 22-1/2 games behind first-place Baltimore; now, exactly a year later, the Sox were three games above .500 and faced only a 5-1/2 game deficit with more than half the schedule still ahead of them. Manager Dick Williams was quietly pleased with how his team had persevered through the first few months but also knew that this was a critical point in the season, as other Boston teams in recent years had faired well through the early going, only to fade down the stretch. Still, his players gave him no reason to believe that would be the case in 1967. Over the first few days of the month, the team finished a sweep of the Athletics in Kansas City and opened a series with California by besting the Angels, 9-3; just like that, Boston had made up two games in the standings.

Just as quickly, however, the team hit a bump in the road on the road; after Boston started an arduous two-week road trip that began at the tail end of June by winning five-of-seven, the Angels took the last two games of its series with the Red Sox at Angel Stadium of Anaheim as the visitors fell back to 5-1/2 games out of first place. With a four-game series in Detroit to end the unofficial first half before the All-Star break against the second-place Tigers, Boston hoped to make up ground against a league rival that was also looking to take the lead in the American League standings. Unfortunately, the Red Sox, despite a ninth-inning, three-run rally in the opener to tie the score, ended up on the losing end of a 5-4, 11-inning contest, then proceeded to get shut out the next day in a complete-game effort by Denny McLain, running the deficit to a season-high seven games. Boston only managed to save face the following day by winning the second half of a doubleheader 3-0 behind a strong start by Jim Lonborg, who finished with 11 wins at the All-Star break; the win also snapped a five-game losing streak as the Red Sox limped home still having managed to win six of 13 over two weeks away from Fenway Park.

Just two games above .500 and six games out at the break, Williams’ club had generated little interest at this point to be considered serious contenders as the unofficial second half of the season began. Back at Fenway Park facing Baltimore, Boston began the series as it had ended the first half four days earlier with a split of a doubleheader. The team then won the final two games of its series with the Orioles and won its next two games against Detroit to close out a successful, if somewhat modest 5-1 homestand; along the way, the team also jumped ahead two places in the standings and moved to within 3-1/2 games of first, though that was hardly enough at that point to raise eyebrows around baseball. However, with Boston going on the road and sweeping a brief two-game series in Baltimore, the Red Sox not only had a six-game winning streak under their belts, the club had suddenly jumped to within one-and-a-half games out of first, the closest the team had been all season to the top spot in the league.

Boston next traveled to Cleveland for a four-game series at Cleveland Stadium to complete the road trip, hoping that the team’s recent stretch of good fortune would follow. The Red Sox easily won the first two games to run their winning streak to eight games and, even more importantly, put themselves in second place, just a half-game out of first place. Then, with a Sunday doubleheader scheduled for the final day of the series, the Red Sox swept the Indians 8-5 and 5-1 and put themselves 12 games over .500 thanks to a ten-game winning streak. Returning to Logan Airport that night, thousands of fans caught up in the club’s sudden success flocked to the airport, surrounding the team’s plane and spilling onto the runway as the Red Sox received a hero’s welcome back to Boston.

A 6-4 loss to the Angels to begin the next series at home not only ended the team’s winning streak but also pushed Boston two games out of first as the White Sox swept a series against the hapless Indians in Chicago, but the club’s winning ways continued as the team won the final two games of the series to reduce the deficit back to one game. The Red Sox then finished the month on somewhat of a down note, losing three-of-five to Minnesota at Fenway Park although winning the final game of the series 4-0 behind Lee Strange’s impressive complete game shutout in which he retired the first 20 batters he faced. Even with the series loss to the Twins to finish the month, the Red Sox had gone 19-10 in July to jump from 5-1/2 games to just two games out of first and, for the first time in years, Boston appeared to be in a pennant race going into the final two months of the season.

Two years after being drafted by Boston out of high school, Rico Petrocelli made his Red Sox debut at Fenway Park in late September 1963, hitting an RBI double in his first at-bat in his only appearance that season. Six foot tall and just a shade under 200 pounds, Boston recognized that he would add some pop to the lineup once he was ready to be an everyday major league ballplayer, so the Brooklyn native spent 1964 playing for Triple-A Seattle before he finally made the team for good in the spring of 1965. In his rookie season, he managed just a .232 average on a team but also clocked 13 home runs and knocked in 33 runs on a club that hit rock bottom with 100 games lost. He also showed solid play at short; even with 18 errors and a .958 fielding percentage, the unusual combination of power and glove work normally uncommon among infielders made him a valuable commodity for the franchise.

In 1966, the second-year player hit another 18 home runs, including two grand slams, and drove home 59 base runners; the following season, as his team with 100-to-1 odds to win the pennant shocked fans and baseball alike, Petrocelli batted a respectable .259 average while hitting 17 home runs, driving in 66, and making the first of two All-Star appearances. He also managed a fielding percentage of .970 in 141 appearances while also assisting in 73 double plays; he even made the final out of the season, catching a soft pop-up in shallow left that clinched the pennant for Boston. His efforts were enough to earn consideration for the American League Most Valuable Player, though he finished well behind teammate Carl Yastrzemski for that honor.

Petrocelli continued to flex his impressive power at the plate; in 1969, he batted a career-high .297 while amassing 40 home runs, then a record for a shortstop, and drove in 97 runs while crossing the plate 92 times. He also improved defensively, too, committing just 14 errors, which tied a then-record at that position, and assisting in 103 double plays. Over the next two seasons, he would collect another 57 home runs and 192 RBI and also began the transition from shortstop to third base; when the Red Sox signed future Hall of Fame player Luis Aparicio prior to the 1971 season, Petrocelli became the full-time third baseman in Boston and responded by making just 11 errors and leading the league in fielding percentage at his new position.

Though he continued to perform well in the field, his offensive numbers took a sudden downward turn after that season. In 1972, his home run total fell from 28 the year before to just 15, and his batting average was back down to just .240. Then, injuries began to take him away from the game; elbow problems in 1974 caused him to miss time at the start as well as the end of that season, though he still managed 13 home runs and 76 RBI. The following year, Petrocelli began the season hitting only .136 through the first month of the season and didn’t stroke his first home run until the middle of May; a leg injury halfway through August then put him on the disabled list for better than two weeks and finished the season with just seven home runs and 59 RBI to his credit, totals well below his career average. He would play one last season with Boston in 1976 and, upon his release before the end of spring training in 1977, finish his 13-year career with 210 home runs, 773 RBI, and a .251 batting average along with the recognition as one of the best power-hitting infielders in Red Sox history.

Signed as an amateur free agent in 1963, Jim Lonborg was pitching for the Boston Red Sox less than two years later, as the Stanford University graduate left spring training in 1965 as part of the team’s starting rotation. A fast start out of the gate that included two wins against New York had him at 4-2 with a 2.48 ERA at the end of May, but the young right hander would struggle the rest of the way along with a club that finished with 100 losses; at the end of his rookie campaign, the 23-year-old had posted a record of 9-17 with a 4.47 ERA in 31 starts. Fortunately for Lonborg, as the season came to a close, so did the end of an era as the insufferable general manager Pinky Higgins was replaced by relative visionary Dick O’Connell; whereas the potential of a player like Lonborg might have been shipped elsewhere for an overpriced veteran by Higgins, O’Connell preached patience and persistence in developing raw talent that might someday bring a franchise back to prominence. Although 1966 would not be much of an improvement over the previous season for the club, under the tutelage of pitching coach Sal Maglie, Lonborg bettered himself as a future big-league pitcher while going 10-10 in 23 starts.

When 1967 rolled around, Lonborg had two years of experience under his belt, ready to take the ball as Boston’s Opening Day starter; the day would end with a 5-4 victory for the Red Sox over the White Sox at Fenway Park and Lonborg’s first of 22 wins that season. Five straight wins between 14 May and 02 June had him at 7-1 with a 2.85 ERA and made him an easy selection for his first and only All-Star appearance. He averaged better than eight strikeouts per nine innings over the course of the season, striking out a season-high 13 in a complete-game shutout against Kansas City in late April, and struck out ten or more eight times to finish with a league-best 246 strikeouts. The imposing 6-foot-5 pitcher also led the league in hit batsmen with 19 as Maglie had taught him to pitch inside to keep hitters honest, a historic advantage to pitchers at Fenway. On the last day of the season, with Boston needing a win to at least force a tie for first place, Lonborg made his last start perhaps his most memorable; he went the distance and allowed just three runs on seven hits, four walks, and five strikeouts as the Red Sox won 5-3 over Minnesota and the delirious Fenway faithful celebrated by storming the field and lifting him into the air. For his efforts that season, Lonborg easily walked away with the first American League Cy Young Award (the honor had previously been bestowed since its inception in 1956 to a single major league pitcher) as well as enough votes to finish sixth for Most Valuable Player honors.

Unfortunately, the aura that surrounded the success of that season quickly faded for the young right hander; just over two months after the conclusion of the 1967 World Series, as he enjoy a day on the slopes at a Lake Tahoe ski resort, Lonborg tore ligaments in his right knee as he made his final run of the day. Though neither he or the Red Sox showed much initial concern, the extent of the injury was enough to keep him out for almost the first two months of the season before he returned to action as a starter in mid-June of 1968. The effects of the accident were immediately apparent; on the heels of a break-out season, Lonborg would win just six games in 17 starts as Boston failed to defend the pennant. Over the next few seasons, Lonborg would continue to struggle to reclaim the magic of that dream season; he missed time at the start of 1969 and, despite a 6-0 start, won only one more that season and finished at 7-11. Then, after a promising start in 1970, he would last through just the first quarter of the campaign before being shipped to Triple-A Louisville with arm troubles, making just two more appearances in relief for the rest of the season. Finally, after more troubles limited him to 26 starts in 1971, despite 10 wins to his credit, the Red Sox made the decision to part ways with the seemingly ineffective Lonborg and traded him to Milwaukee in a huge ten-player trade.

However, to the disbelief of many, Lonborg stuck around for another seven-plus seasons in the majors and won an additional 107 games. With the Brewers in 1972, he made 30 starts and won 14 games with a career-low 2.83 ERA. The following season, having been traded to Philadelphia, he won another 13 games, then made an impressive 39 starts in 1974 and won 17 games. Two years later, he surprised baseball yet again with another 18 games in 32 starts and collected 11 more wins in 1977 but, within two years, he was done, making just one start in four appearances in 1979 before he put his glove away for good and finishing with 175 wins and a 3.86 ERA over a 15-year career. Today, after attending and graduating from Tufts University Dental School in Boston, Lonborg practices dentistry, not too far from where he pitched for seven seasons with the Red Sox.

Entering the month of June, the 1967 Boston Red Sox were two games over .500 and trailed first-place Detroit by 4-1/2 games; that was in sharp contrast to the same point the previous season, when they had been nine games under .500 and 11-1/2 games out of first place, doomed to finish once again in the American League cellar. In Boston, the media and the fans were surprised at the team’s sudden success, but perhaps that had to do with the fact that, with the everyday business of the team no longer under the control of Tom Yawkey’s front office hacks, general manager Dick O’Connell had the team and the manager needed to help shed the losing reputation that had become so accepted to the Boston faithful. It wasn’t that the team gained any ground in the standings in June; in fact, the team lost ground, falling as far as seven games behind first on 28 June before ending the month 5-1/2 games behind Chicago. The Red Sox also failed to put together any sort of stretch of winning games; the longest win streak was a mere three games. Even so, there were plenty of signs that the team had the potential to be more than just another also-ran at the end of the season; after playing to empty stands for years, the Red Sox watched as older fans returned and a new generation arrived to see Boston suddenly not just winning, but contending.

Most apparent was that O’Connell’s efforts to develop his young players through patience and persistence had finally been rewarded. One example was pitcher Jim Lonborg; with two years of experience under his belt pitching in Boston, the tall right hander won his first start in June, marking his seventh win in 11 games, a 2-1 win over the Indians in Cleveland, in which he had allowed a season-low three hits while striking out seven in a complete game effort. O’Connell was also willing to make mid-season moves to better the team as needed without making major concessions. On 03 June, the team picked up veteran utility player Jerry Adair, who would later be referred to as “the Red Sox secret weapon”[1] by manager Dick Williams and compared to the Boston Celtics’ “sixth man” coming off the bench;[2] the next day, Boston would trade for pitcher George Bell, a nine-year veteran and two-time All-Star with Cleveland, who would win five starts in his first month with the club, including three complete game efforts. Even team veterans responded to the winning attitude that filtered through the clubhouse. After six seasons of watching his efforts go for naught, Carl Yastrzemski immediately recognized that the team was building to win now rather than in the future and played like a man possessed; in June, he responded by batting .381 with eight home runs and 22 RBI in 28 games played.

More remarkable was the team’s knack to grind out some exciting wins. On 09 June, trailing 6-2 against Washington, Boston scored four runs in the fifth inning as Joe Foy and Reggie Smith hit back-to-back home runs and Yastrzemski hit a third one two batters later to tie the score at six. Yastrzemski and Foy would each hit another home run and the Red Sox would go on to win, 8-7. One week later, on 16 June at home against first-place Chicago after splitting the first two games of the series, the Red Sox and White Sox went 11 innings and the visitors appeared to have the game in hand after scoring a run in the top of the frame, followed by two quick outs for Boston. However, after Foy singled to left, a slumping Tony Conigliaro came to the plate and drove a pitch into the screen above the left field wall, giving the Red Sox an impressive walk-off win in front of 17,000 fans at Fenway Park. With six wins in its final nine games in June, Boston would finish the month at 37-34; though the team had still not seriously contended for the top spot in the American League, it was evident to many that, for the first time in years, the Red Sox were in a pennant race.

[1],[2] Stout and Johnson, Red Sox Century: The Definitive History of Baseball’s Most Storied Franchise, Expanded and Updated (Sport in the Global Society). Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 2005. 544 pp.

Michael Jay Andrews, drafted by the Red Sox in 1962, was another example of Dick O’Connell and Dick Williams‘ young core of players that revitalized the Red Sox five years later. After a quick cup of coffee in 1966, five games and with three hits and a run scored, the 23-year-old second baseman was brought up to fill a volatile position for the Boston organization, as there had not been a consistent presence in that role since Chuck Schilling covered the right half of the middle infield between 1961 and 1963.

Andrews got off to an impressive start in his first full year in the major leagues; by the end of May, despite some ups-and-downs, his average stood at .290, thanks in part to a 10-game hitting streak, in 38 games played. Though his average would tail off by the end of his rookie season, batting only .254 from 01 June forward, he finished a respectable .263 with eight home runs, 40 RBI, and 79 runs scored. Though not perfect at second, finishing with 16 errors and a .976 fielding percentage, he solidified his position by appearing in 139 games in that role for the foreseeable future.

Although the team stumbled the year following the “Impossible Dream” season as Williams’ club struggled from start to finish, Andrews was one of the few players who improved, though only slightly. As a sophomore, he batted .271 and drove home 45 while hitting seven home runs and crossing the plate 77 times. The next year, 1969, was the pinnacle of Andrew’s brief career; he batted .293 with 15 home runs, 59 RBI, 79 runs scored, and made his lone All-Star game appearance as the backup second baseman, grounding out in his only at-bat.

Andrews took a slight hit in 1970 as his batting average dropped 40 points to .253, though he appeared in 151 games while also posting career highs of 17 home runs, 65 RBI, and 91 runs scored. He also continued to be somewhat erratic at his position; his fielding percentage continued to hover just above .970 and he committed 19 errors in 148 games at second. With the front office making several bold moves after the end of the 1970 season, Andrews found himself traded to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for perennial Gold Glover and future Hall of Fame shortstop Luis Aparicio. He enjoyed a mild rebound in his first season in the Windy City, batting .282 in 109 games played, but his average dropped hard the next year as he finished 1972 at .220.

Following his release from Chicago midway through his final season, Andrews was picked up by Oakland and reunite with his old manager, Williams, as the Athletics made their way towards the teamâ’s second straight World Series title. Despite just 18 appearances to conclude the season there, it was his brief stay out on the West Coast where he became the focal point of a heated controversy. In Game Two of the 1973 Fall Classic against the New York Mets, two consecutive errors by Andrews in the top of the 12th inning allowed three unearned runs to cross the plate as the Mets went on to win 10-7. Despite the fact that errors by three other fielders had totaled two more unearned runs earlier in that game, owner Charlie Finley forced Andrews to sign a false affidavit saying that he was disabled, making him ineligible to play for the remainder of the Series.

The immediate response from Williams, Andrew’s teammates, and the public over Finley’s unfair actions resulted in then-baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn forcing the owner to reinstate Andrews. Back on the bench, he made what would be his final appearance in the majors late in Game 4, grounding out to third base as a pinch hitter in an eventual 6-1 loss that knotted the Series at two games apiece. Though his hand had been forced by the league office to keep Andrews on the roster, Finley ordered his manager to bench him for the rest of the series; fed up with his owner’s meddling in the whole affair, Williams announced that he would resign following the end of the Series. Today, forty years after making his debut with the Boston Red Sox, Andrews is the chairman of the team’s official charity, The Jimmy Fund, an event fundraising organization affiliated with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute of Boston.

Signed as an amateur free agent by the Red Sox in May of 1962, George Scott made his mark by winning the Eastern League Triple Crown and MVP with Double-A Pittsfield in 1965; his efforts at the plate as well as on the field at first base made it easy for new Red Sox general manager Dick O’Connell to promote the youngster to Boston for the 1966 season. Although just 22 years of age, he made a quick impression in the American League, tearing out of the gate with 11 home runs and a 14-game hitting streak between late April and the middle of May, putting his batting average as high as .355. His fast start earned the man nicknamed Boomer a nod as the starting first baseman in the Mid-Summer Classic of 1966, the first rookie to start an All-Star game since former American League Rookie of the Year and Red Sox first baseman Walt Dropo in 1950. Though he would tail off as the season progressed, hitting just .245 and striking out 152 times, he hit 27 total home runs and collected 90 RBI playing all 162 games that season, enough to earn him third place in the Rookie of the Year vote.

Despite his success in 1966, Scott was met with resistance to begin 1967, not because of the color of his skin, which had for several years made it next-to-impossible for a black ballplayer to make it with Boston, but because new manager Dick Williams was not going to show favoritism to anyone, starting All-Star first basemen included. Only five games into the season and batting .182 despite getting a hit in four of those starts, Scott was benched and given pinch-hitting duties for three straight games as punishment. When asked about his relationship with the second-year player, Williams growled: “Trying to talk to George Scott is like talking to cement.”[1] Though his tactics seemed irrational and demeaning on the surface, it was the rookie skipper’s way to try and motivate his players to reach a level where the club had not been for more than two decades. Back in his starting role after his brief stay in Williams’ doghouse, Scott responded with six hits in his next thirteen at-bats to raise his average up to .270, the start of a 20-game span in which he got at least one hit per game 18 times and raised his average to a more-impressive .311. His season would end with a .303 batting average, good enough for fourth in the American League, 19 home runs, 82 RBI, and AL MVP consideration. Also, despite 19 errors at first for a .987 fielding percentage, Scott won the first of two consecutive Gold Gloves with Boston and eight all-told in his career.

As well as Scott did at the plate in his first two seasons, no one expected him to slump as badly as he did in 1968, dropping his average to .171 in 124 games played, while stroking on three home runs and 25 RBI. The next season, he was moved across the diamond to third base and stayed there for nearly two seasons as he regained his stroke. His average climbed each season (.253 and .296, respectively), while hitting another 32 home runs combined. In 1971, he returned to his regular position at first base and won a third Gold Glove award, appearing in 143 games in that role while making just 11 errors for a .992 fielding percentage. However, despite 24 home runs and 78 RBI, numbers which approached his then-career highs, his average slipped once more to a mediocre .263. With 1967 a near-distant memory in Boston, O’Connell and the front office, feeling pressured to return to the playoffs at any cost, sent Scott, fellow 1967 teammate Jim Lonborg, and four other Red Sox players to Milwaukee shortly after the season ended in a huge ten-player deal.

Scott did no better in his first season with the Brewers but seemed to regain form in 1973, stroking 24 home runs and 107 RBI while establishing a career-high in batting average of .306; two years later, he batted .285 while further establishing career highs with a league-leading 36 home runs and 109 RBI while making his second All-Star team. His defensive skills had not diminished, either; he won Gold Gloves in each of his five years with Milwaukee, which today places him third all-time at that position behind Keith Hernandez (11) and Don Mattingly (9) for career Gold Gloves. He also proved durable, appearing in all but 22 games over that time. In 1977, Scott returned to Boston in a trade along with Bernie Carbo for Cecil Cooper, and enjoyed one more great season with a career-high 103 runs scored, 33 home runs, and 95 runs driven in while batting .269 and slugging .500, earning another appearance on the American League All-Star roster. Unfortunately, his homecoming was short-lived; the next season, he batted only .233 for the Red Sox while slipping to just 12 home runs and 54 RBI in 120 games played.

He would play just one more season before hanging up his cleats for good, finishing his career with a .268 average and 271 home runs; with Boston, he hit 154 home runs, placing him 15th all-time in franchise history. In 2006, along with his former manager from the “Impossible Dream” season, Dick Williams, George Scott was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame.

[1] Stout and Johnson, Red Sox Century: The Definitive History of Baseball’s Most Storied Franchise, Expanded and Updated (Sport in the Global Society). Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 2005. 544 pp.

With a modest record of 8-6 to begin the month of May in 1967, Boston was just one game out of first place in the race for the American League pennant. The Red Sox opened the month scheduled to play nine games in ten days on the road, beginning in Anaheim against the California Angels. In the opener of that three-game series, pitcher Dennis Bennett not only pitched a shutout but helped his own cause with a three-run home run to right field in the fourth inning as the visitors cruised to a 4-0 victory. However, over the final two games with of that series, Boston would lose consecutive one-run contests, including a demoralizing 2-1 loss in the final game of the series when starter Jim Lonborg, trying to go the distance, gave up a one-out RBI single in the ninth to tie score at one run apiece, then allowed the winning run to cross the plate on a wild pitch. Two losses to start the next series against the Twins in Minnesota dropped Boston to 9-10; four days later, the Sox would limp home having dropped six games in nine tries on the trip, quickly dropping them 4-1/2 games out of first.

With Detroit in town to begin a nine-game homestand, Boston would lose the first two games of the series, with former Red Sox pitcher Earl Wilson earning the win for the Tigers after a ninth-inning rally by the home team fell one run short. However, Boston would save face in a series-ending Sunday doubleheader; while both teams combined for 28 extra-base hits in the two games (an American League record), including 16 by the Red Sox, the home team made it a sweep, with Lonborg winning the opener 8-5 over Denny McLain and Jose Santiago besting Mickey Lolich 13-9 on the back end. For Lonborg, it was his third win of the season, while for Santiago, it was his first win as a starter in 1967. One week later, after losing three-of-four at Fenway Park facing Baltimore and Cleveland, the Red Sox swept another doubleheader, this time against the Indians. In the opener, down 3-0 entering the bottom of the eighth, Carl Yastrzemski hit a one-out triple to score two runs and George Scott followed with a home run, his third of the season, to complete the comeback for Boston. That win sparked a modest four-game win streak for the Red Sox, who bettered their record to 18-17 after winning 1-0 over the Tigers in Detroit on 24 May behind a complete game shutout from Lonborg and a solo home run from third baseman Dalton Jones.

Just as quickly, however, Boston faltered again, losing three straight by a combined score of 6-23. A 10-0 shutout in Baltimore, only three days after Lonborg’s gem, featured four errors from Red Sox infielders, including two by backup first baseman Tony Horton, soon to be traded in early June to Cleveland for pitcher Gary Bell, and one by starting pitcher Bucky Brandon, who would give up seven Baltimore runs in four-plus innings of work. The ugly loss was the club’s worst performance to date but the team responded the next day with a 4-3 win to avoid a series sweep by the Orioles; Lonborg won his fourth straight start, pitching into the eighth and improving to 6-1, while Rico Petrocelli hit a solo home run and speedy Reggie Smith doubled, took third on a sacrifice bunt from Mike Andrews, then scored the winning run on a wild pitch. With yet another doubleheader on 30 May, the fourth one for Boston that month due to a rainout the previous day, the Red Sox swept a twin bill for the third time, besting the Angels 5-4 in the first game after falling behind 4-0 early in the game, then cruising to a 6-1 win in the second game. The team then closed the month of May by edging Minnesota 3-2 at Fenway Park, which gave the club a record of 22-20 and place them four games behind second-place Chicago and 4-1/2 games behind first-place Detroit.