Page 135 - 1975 BoSox

128 ’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL
In 1976, after the Red Sox sent Dick Drago to California, Willoughby was the main short man out of the Boston bullpen for the whole season. While his record was an unfortunate 3-12, Willoughby pitched well. He recorded 10 saves and his ERA dropped to 2.82. e Red Sox failed to defend their American League East pennant and Darrell Johnson was replaced in midseason by third-base coach Don Zimmer. As Willoughby’s teammate Bill Lee recounted, most notably in his book e Wrong Stu , there was a culture clash between baseball lifer Zimmer and some of his players — a group of unconventional types known as the Bu alo Heads, whose number included Lee, Willoughby, Ferguson Jenkins, Rick Wise, and Bernie Carbo. ese young players came of age in the turbu- lent and countercultural 1960s and held a distinctly di erent worldview than that of Zimmer, a product of the Depression era. Zimmer rarely, if ever, drank and liked to spend his free time at the racetrack. e Bu alo Heads were more educated, were fans of rock music (which hadn’t then achieved mainstream ac- ceptance), drank, and experimented with drugs. Willoughby himself smoked pot and drank heavily, although he never took the mound drunk or stoned.
Willoughby was upset at the end of the 1976 season when assistant general manager John Claiborne ac- knowledged that the Red Sox had private detectives tailing their players that season. But what really upset him was learning from a coach about the existence of written reports that anyone with access to the locker room could have stumbled upon. Claiborne left after the 1977 season. e bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence was in 1976; the year also marked the independence of baseball players from the reserve clause. It was the dawning of the age of free agency. In the o season, the Red Sox signed Bill Campbell to be their bullpen ace. Campbell had been with the Minnesota Twins and made it from Vietnam to a factory league to the majors. With Campbell on board in ’77, Willoughby’s role with the team was reduced. He also spent time on the disabled list for the rst time in the majors. On May 22 he slipped on the out eld grass during pregame drills and broke his right ankle. He returned in August, but was not as
e ective, posting a 4.94 ERA, his highest ever in the majors (not counting those four innings in 1971). Although the Red Sox nished only 21⁄2 games back of the Yankees in an exciting pennant race, they decided to clean house over the winter.
Before the rst pitch was thrown in 1978, the Red Sox had traded Fergie Jenkins to the Texas Rangers for pitcher John Poloni and cash, Rick Wise was traded with prospects to the Cleveland Indians in a deal that netted Dennis Eckersley, and Willoughby was sold at the end of spring training to the Chicago White Sox for a gure barely over the waiver price. (Bernie Carbo was sold to Cleveland in midseason and Bill Lee, who staged a walkout after the Carbo sale, was traded to Montreal for in elder Stan Papi, prompting a gra ti artist in Boston area to paint,“Who the hell is Stan Papi?” on the Lansdowne Street side of the Green Monster.) According to Willoughby, he was never o cially informed by the Red Sox of his sale to Chicago. Peter Gammons of the Boston Globe was the one who broke the news to him.
e popular perception is that Don Zimmer broke up the Bu alo Heads because he didn’t like those players. Zimmer was also perceived as not liking pitch- ers as a class due to the several beanings he su ered during his playing days. While there may have been some truth to this, there may have been other reasons that the Red Sox shook things up.
Longtime Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey died during the 1976 season. After his estate was settled, the team was purchased by a partnership consisting of his widow, Jean R. Yawkey, former trainer Buddy LeRoux, and scouting director Haywood Sullivan. One result of this was the October 4, 1977, ring of general manager Dick O’Connell, whom Mrs. Yawkey disliked. Another was an attempt to maximize short-term pro ts at the expense of long-term success. LeRoux, for example, borrowed money to buy his stake in the team and needed pro ts from the Red Sox to cover his debt service. Also, the ownership group received tax-de- preciation advantages for a limited number of years and looked to hold down expenses during that time frame. e front-o ce sta was slashed. Veteran