Page 223 - 1975 BoSox

216 ’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL
where he’d be playing, since Boston had acquired Vern Stephens from the St. Louis Browns and it looked as if Billy Goodman — another in elder — would make the team. Stephens contributed 137 RBIs in ’48; clearly manager Joe McCarthy’s decision to play him proved wise. (Stephens led the league in RBIs in ’49 and ’50. Goodman stuck, and hit .310. In 1950 he won the AL batting title with a .354 average — with a bit of an assist from Pesky. Johnny approached 1950 manager Steve O’Neill late in the season and o ered to take himself out of the lineup so that Goodman could accumulate the necessary at-bats to qualify.)
e problem was an embarrassment of riches. ere were just too many good hitters on these Red Sox teams. Johnny Pesky’s average fell o sharply in 1948, down to .281. Almost certainly part of the reason was that McCarthy slotted Stephens in at short, and shu ed Pesky over to third. He put a brave “team face” on it, but being asked to learn a new position was unsettling. So, too, was the pay cut Joe Cronin imposed on him after the 1947 season. All he’d done was led the league in hits for each of his rst three years, but Cronin cut his $20,000 pay to $17,500 for 1948. “ ey asked me how many home runs I hit and how many runs I had knocked in,” Johnny explained 50 years later. is was certainly a discouraging situ- ation, and Pesky did pop a career-high three home runs in 1948. He may have been pressing more than a little.
e 1949 season saw a bit of a rebound, Pesky’s average back up to .306 and, with an even 100 walks, an on-base percentage of.408. Johnny, always a team booster, allowed, “What a lucky guy I am. Instead of wearing these shoes, I’d probably be shining them for some other guy in the Coast League.” ere were endless rumors, though, about trades said to feature Pesky. From time to time, he admitted, these rumored trades proved distracting for him.
e 1950 season was a tremendous year o ensively for Boston. Pesky hit .312, walked 104 times, and boosted his OBP to a solid .437. His elding at third base drew frequent accolades in the Boston press. Scoring 112
runs, he joined teammate Ted Williams as the only other player to have scored 100 or more runs each of his rst six seasons of major-league ball. is was the year Pesky, in e ect, took himself out of the lineup so that Billy Goodman could have a shot at the batting title. Boston Herald sportswriter Bill Cunningham wrote, “ e sporting part about his gesture is that he made it for the man who took the job away from him.” Years later, in 1985, the Lynn Sunday Post editorialized that Johnny Pesky led the majors in “Most Friends.”
By 1951, though, the bloom was o the rose, and when the Marines called Williams back in 1952 to y combat in Korea, the golden days were gone. ere were signs that Pesky was slowing a bit. He stole only two bases each in ’50 and ’51, down somewhat from earlier years. He maybe wasn’t getting to as many balls as an in elder as he had earlier. Lou Boudreau had been brought in by Yawkey, and was projected as the shortstop. Even though Pesky’s career .316 average at the time ranked him fth among active players, here he was — once again — having to ght for a spot. Johnny got o to a slow start, but wound up the season at .313. Boudreau hit .267.
Johnny’s 1952 season began poorly, and he was hardly ever used by Boudreau, now the manager and seeking a“youthmovement”inBoston.Hamperedbyinjuries, he was hitting a pitiful .149 when he was traded to the Tigers in a monster deal. Boston sent ve players to Detroit, a full 20 percent of the 25-man roster. In exchange for Pesky, Walt Dropo, Fred Hat eld, Don Lenhardt, and Bill Wight, they got four Tigers (Hoot Evers, George Kell, Johnny Lipon, and Dizzy Trout). Johnny pulled it together a bit and hit .254 for Detroit. It truly was a subpar season.
Pesky cracked 300 at-bats in 1953, and hit .292 but he was in decline. After appearing in 20 games for the Tigers in ’54, he was traded to Washington, where he nished his playing career with a .246 mark between the two teams.
Johnny Pesky wound up his major-league career with a .307 average, and an on-base percentage of .394.