Page 224 - 1975 BoSox

’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL 217
His life in baseball, though, was just entering a new phase. Johnny coached with the Denver Bears in the Yankees organization in 1955, then managed ve dif- ferent minor-league teams for the Detroit Tigers from 1956 to 1960.
Most of Pesky’s 60-plus years in baseball, however, were with the Red Sox. After his years managing for Detroit, the Red Sox called him back after the 1960 season. Johnny managed the Sox’ Seattle minor-league team in 1961 and 1962, and managed the big-league Red Sox in ’63 and ’64. As manager, he brought some re to the position, after years of yawns under the likes of Pinky Higgins. Some felt Pesky was a little too ery; he had a few run-ins with “Dr. Strangeglove” Dick Stuart, who committed 29 errors at rst base in 1963, but hit 42 homers and collected a league-leading 118 runs batted in. He also clashed with Carl Yastrzemski a number of times, and Carl made clear his discontent. As much as anything, that may explain Yawkey’s refusal to nd a position for Pesky within the organization when Higgins (by then the general manager) nally dismissed him late in 1964. Yaz was like a son to Yawkey, and Higgins was one of Yawkey’s drinking buddies. Pesky had originally been brought in as manager despite Higgins’ opposition.
When relieved as manager, Pesky hooked on with the Pirates and served as a major-league coach for three years, then managed the Pirates’ Columbus club for a fourth.
From 1969 to 1974, he served as a broadcaster for Boston, working with Ken Coleman and Ned Martin as a color commentator. ough he worked hard at improving himself, Johnny never felt comfortable except during rain delays when he could really stretch out with stories about players from his era.
During the same period, Pesky called on clients for the Sox, initiating a edgling marketing department for the club, working in tandem with former catcher Bob Montgomery. Pesky probably appeared at more banquets and events around New England than any other gure in Red Sox history.
He’s also one of the few people in baseball to have a part of a ballpark named after him. Fenway Park’s famed Pesky Pole — the right- eld foul pole — was given the nickname by Red Sox broadcaster Mel Parnell. A former teammate, Parnell was poking a little fun at Johnny’s lack of power—he hit just 17 home runs, and only six at Fenway — every one of which went out past the right- eld foul pole, as of 2014 the shortest distance for a home run in major- league ball.
From 1975 to 1984, Pesky was rst-base coach under Red Sox skippers Darrell Johnson, Don Zimmer, and Ralph Houk. From 1985 until his passing, Johnny was listed as a special-assignment instructor, evaluating players at lower levels in the Red Sox system, but also working with generations of Red Sox players at spring training and at Fenway Park. As late as 2003, Johnny Pesky — “Mr. Red Sox” in the eyes of decades of New Englanders — could be found on the eld at Fenway before games, hitting fungoes to in elders and gener- ally serving as a goodwill ambassador throughout the region.
It was a good year in 2004. Not only did Johnny enjoy some extra attention when his biography Mr. Red Sox was published, but he was able to revel in the Red Sox nally attaining the Holy Grail of Baseball, a world championship. For three years he proudly wore the championship ring the Red Sox presented him on the day that he and Carl Yastrzemski walked across the eld to hoist the 2004 World Series banner on the Fenway Park agpole. After the Red Sox won the Series again in 2007, he sported a second com- panion ring.
Johnny Pesky is a charter member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.
“Mr. Red Sox” died on August 13, 2012, in Danvers, Massachusetts.
Note
is biography originally appeared in the book Spahn, Sain, and Teddy Ballgame: Boston’s (almost) Perfect