Page 208 - 1975 BoSox

’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL 201
in one game, the second game of a May 21 double- header in Tiger Stadium. Montgomery was 4-for-5 that day, with an RBI triple in the ninth inning o Fernando Arroyo. e last game he was in, as the pennant drive was on in earnest, came against the Yankees on September 7 at Fenway, a 15-3 blowout for New York. He had two plate appearances, striking out the rst time and drawing a walk the second.
e last year of the 1970s was the last year for Bob Montgomery as a major-league ballplayer. He went out with his head held high, appearing in 32 games and batting a career-best .349 in 86 at-bats. When he played his nal game (September 9, 1979), he was 1-for-2 and scored a run, and also earned the distinction of being the last major leaguer to ever bat without a protective batting helmet on his head.
ough he tried to make the team in spring training in 1980, Montgomery just didn’t have it any more. In April he turned 36 and the Sox were going with Fisk and Gary Allenson (Allenson had seen a lot of work in 1979, though with distinctly less production at the plate than Montgomery. He turned only 25, though, in 1980 and the Red Sox elected to look to him to spell Fisk.) In 1980 and 1981, Monty worked a little in sports radio and did some Red Sox games on radio as a backup guy. For the 1982 season, WSBK, Channel 38, was looking to hire a new color commentator and interviewed Tony Conigliaro for the position. Tony’s heart attack removed him from consideration and Montgomery was hired to do the color on Red Sox
telecasts. Monty worked as Ned Martin’s partner doing TV for the Red Sox for 17 years, right up through the 1995 season, when Channel 38’s run with the Red Sox came to a close. He later worked as a color analyst for both the Pawtucket Red Sox and Portland Sea Dogs. He is credited with winning 11 Emmy Awards.
Montgomery began working in sales and marketing for Unison, a company based in Boston that specializes in signage work, and later for Adventures in Advertising, a marketing rm, involved in sale promotions and marketing premiums. He has also done work as a motivational speaker.
Bob Montgomery is a licensed pilot and an avid model railroader and golfer. He and his wife had one daughter.
Herb Crehan ends his Red Sox Heroes of Yesteryear pro le of Bob Montgomery quoting Monty as saying of himself, “I was what they call a 50/50 player. I didn’t help you an awful lot, but I didn’t hurt you either.” Crehan protests the modesty, terming Montgomery as “probably the premier backup catcher in the major leagues throughout the seventies.”
Sources
Most of the information in this article, and all of Bob Montgomery’s quotes, come from Herb Crehan’s pro le of Montgomery contained in his book Red Sox Heroes of Yesteryear (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Rounder Books, 2005). e always- helpful Retrosheet.org website provided a wealth of detail regarding Montgomery’s year-by-year and even day-by-day play.